Now on my third Fine Offset!

[jim-easterbrook]

OK, I'm a glutton for punishment.

I've just bought a Maplin N96GY at £60. It's described as "black" - I assumed this only meant the console unit, but the outside sensors are also darker than usual, being a sort of battleship grey colour. I wonder if this will have better UV resistance? I suspect the darker shade is a bad idea for the louvred sun shield, so I'm using the white one from the N96FY I bought two years ago.

There are other differences between them. The new unit has a longer time window to pick up the outside sensors when batteries are put in. (My older units time out after 48 seconds, this one goes for a couple of minutes or so.) It also doesn't pick up signals from the two year old N96FY transmitter. I note that Maplin's replacement transmitter (N80NF) claims to work with both the N96FY and N96GY. There must also be a manufacturing date dependency which isn't mentioned.

[logjam]

I suspect the darker shade is a bad idea for the louvred sun shield, so I'm using the white one from the N96FY I bought two years ago.
.

Agreed. Totally incomprehensible! I initially spray painted mine with white enamel. It made a big difference to the temperature variation. Later I made my own screen.

[AllyCat]

Hi,

Yes indeed, just a few days ago I was considering starting a thread entitled "Have Fine Offset totally lost the plot"?

I'd just bought a replacement anemometer head which happened to be the "black" version and noted that the "sun shield" in the photo is the same (dark grey) colour. Then there is their crazy arrangement on the 308x models that the solar pod (lux sensor) is captive (cable runs through a small hole) on the sun shield, which virtually forces the user to locate the temperature sensor/transmitter in direct sunlight. Also "splined" in place so you can't point the PV panel south (as recommended) and optimise the direction of the Radio Controlled Clock antenna (towards the German transmitter).

Then there is the "bad luck" they've had with USB lockups, solar pod software hangs/crashes and a dodgy batch of anemeometer/vane bearings, etc.. And (on the 308x models) the move away from the (admittedly horrible) "touchscreen" to buttons, when everybody else is now using touchscreens.

IMHO the "original" FO stations were really quite impressive. Certainly designed down to a (very low) price and with an assembly/soldering quality akin to a schoolboy working in his bedroom (perhaps they were). But some aspects of the design were really quite clever, and the plastic mouldings (and that "chromium plated" mast) are of good quality.

But perhaps there's a glimmer of hope. They have redesigned the anemometer head so that there's less chance that water turning to ice can lockup the rotor and I've heard (but not seen) that they're reduced "splash out" from the latest rain sensor. The 308x versions have abandoned the thermistor (for external temperature) with a shared A/D converter (also used for the wind vane), which may reduce the incidence of "temperature spikes", but I have yet to discover if that's been adopted in the updated 108x models.

Cheers, Alan.

[ironeagleuk]

OK, I'm a glutton for punishment.

I've just bought a Maplin N96GY at £60. It's described as "black" - I assumed this only meant the console unit, but the outside sensors are also darker than usual, being a sort of battleship grey colour. I wonder if this will have better UV resistance? I suspect the darker shade is a bad idea for the louvred sun shield, so I'm using the white one from the N96FY I bought two years ago.

This isn't a new development....the first Fine Offset I bought was a Maplin Gadget one back in 2009, and the outdoor instruments were grey back then