Welcome to the Cumulus Support forum.

Latest Cumulus MX V3 release 3.28.6 (build 3283) - 21 March 2024

Cumulus MX V4 beta test release 4.0.0 (build 4017) - 17 March 2024

Legacy Cumulus 1 release v1.9.4 (build 1099) - 28 November 2014 (a patch is available for 1.9.4 build 1099 that extends the date range of drop-down menus to 2030)

Download the Software (Cumulus MX / Cumulus 1 and other related items) from the Wiki

First upgrade, but to what?

Talk about anything that doesn't fit elsewhere - PLEASE don't put Cumulus queries in here!
Post Reply
g0rsq
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 03 Sep 2016 11:05 pm
Weather Station: Fine offset N96fy
Operating System: windows 10

First upgrade, but to what?

Post by g0rsq »

Hi

New on here :)

I have been using a fine offset N96fy (WH1080?) in the UK for a few years, connected to Cumulus.

Been quite reliable, with usual dropped connections, and minor repairs. Biggest problems are erratic readings -100deg C, 200MPH winds, 1000mm/hr rainfall etc!

I would like to upgrade to include UV and daylight measurements, but struggling to find anything to move to, other than another Fine Offset (Excelvan professional).

I have a budget of about £200, but there seems a void in the market between £100 and £400.

Would love a Davis, but with UV sensor they start at £1000.

Thought about Oregon Scientific WMR89, but no Cumulus, and poor software supplied. The WMR200's are too expensive in the UK, and cant import one from states due to radio frequency concerns.

I bought a "Maplin Professional Solar Powered Wi-Fi Weather Station" very cheap, then realized it only worked with Weather Underground :roll: (I want to keep the historic data locally and not on a third party website that could go bust, or loose my data!).

Any suggestions or recommendations or should I go for another Fine Offset or use the Maplin WIFI one?

Is it possible to retain my data when using Weather Underground, and view it via Cumulus?

Peter
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by steve »

The only thing at that budget that would give you solar and UV and would work with Cumulus would be a Fine Offset.

I can't think of any way that you could get data from WU into Cumulus, other than perhaps reading the data using their API and somehow converting that to something Cumulus can use, either data logs, or feeding it in pseudo-live fashion by creating an easyweather.dat file.
Steve
AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. Have you seen the WeatherDuino Project ?

Certainly be prepared for a lot of work (and waiting) but it potentially could give Davis-type performance at nearer to your price-point.

Cheers, Alan.
User avatar
ConligWX
Posts: 1570
Joined: Mon 19 May 2014 10:45 pm
Weather Station: Davis vPro2+ w/DFARS + AirLink
Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Location: Bangor, NI
Contact:

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by ConligWX »

my guess with erratic rainfall readings is wind and the location of your rain sensor. if it is high on a mast near the rest of your Wind and temp sensors the wind can make the mast move and thus make the tipping bucket move. I had this issue a lot in high winds, until I moved the rain sensor to the base of the mast.

If your wanting a UV Sensor then its really a Davis Pro2 Plus, or one of the Oregon stations. the WMR88 is cheaply priced and you can get a UV sensor for it afaik. Also Cumulus supports it.

Failing that save a bit cash more and pick up a WMR200 for about £300.
Regards Simon

https://www.conligwx.org - @conligwx
Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus with Daytime FARS • WeatherLink Live • Davis AirLink • PurpleAir •

Image
g0rsq
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 03 Sep 2016 11:05 pm
Weather Station: Fine offset N96fy
Operating System: windows 10

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by g0rsq »

Thanks for the helpful responses.

Especially the weatherduino!

My hobbies are electronics, and micro controllers, though i only work with PIC and program in "asm" :ugeek:

Will definitely look into this in more detail. Could be an opportunity to move into the Arduino world.

Also i am a radio ham :geek: , so this fall neatly into my technical interests.

Going to start reading the board on this.

Noted about the rain bucket and wind. It is mounted near the base of my short mast (insecurely) attached to the apex of my garage, so a possibility, but the random -200deg C ( August this year!!!) and 182 MPH winds (May!!) suggest there is corruption of data occurring.

Thanks again

peter
AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by AllyCat »

Hi Peter,
g0rsq wrote: i only work with PIC and program in "asm" :ugeek:
Yes that's my preference too, but I now write largely in PICaxe Basic, being more maintainable and decypherable by others. ;)

You'll also find me on the Weatherduino forum, where my long-term aim is to offer an alternative (PICaxe) Wireless transmitter that doesn't need a square foot+ of Solar Panel and a SLA battery to power it (particularly in UK). ;)

The Fine Offset protocol does include a CRC so the errors are rather surprising. Either their Console software doesn't bother to check the CRC, or there are so many errors that a random 1 in 256 is still enough to cause problems. The Arduino "Virtualwire" protocol is rather more sophisticated, but I think the Weatherduino is more reliable because it blasts out a lot more power and uses proper antennas!

Cheers, Alan.
g0rsq
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 03 Sep 2016 11:05 pm
Weather Station: Fine offset N96fy
Operating System: windows 10

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by g0rsq »

Very interesting reading on the Weatherduino site.

one TX and one RX board now ordered :D

Thank you so much Alan (allycat) for the lead :clap:

Just wish I had come across it months ago!

regards

peter
g0rsq
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat 03 Sep 2016 11:05 pm
Weather Station: Fine offset N96fy
Operating System: windows 10

Re: First upgrade, but to what?

Post by g0rsq »

Just recorded -22.4 degC at 2:45 this morning! 22.5 degC at lunchtime today :groan:

Anyway wait now until Weatherduino is operational then see where errors are coming from!

Peter
Post Reply