CAUTION to WH3081/3080 Buyers/Users!

[glen.day]

I would like to warn users who are thinking of purchasing and users that have already purchased a WH3080/WH3081 Fine Offset weather station of a potential issue.

I recently purchased a WH3081 and noticed that it wasn't recording rain (this took some time to discover this as it hadn't rained for some time), I knew there wasn't an issue with the rain sensor as I had used this sensor for my previous Fine Offset station. I then decided to perform some tests to find out why the readings were not being displayed.

1. I removed the solar/UV/Light cable which connects to the 'Rain' port on the thermo-hygro sensor then connected the rain cable (from the rain sensor) directly to the 'Rain' port on the thermo-hygro sensor (this just disconnects the solar/UV/Light sensor) and then tipped water in the rain sensor - this then sent readings to the console. By doing this this eliminated an issue with the rain sensor.

2. When connecting the solar/UV/Light cable back in to the 'rain' port (on the thermo-hygro sensor) and the rain cable in to the solar/UV/Light sensor marked rain - readings are not read when I tip water in to rain gauge.

The above tests confirmed that there was an issue with the solar/UV/Light sensor, I contacted the vendor and they were kind enough to send me another one. The replacement unit I was sent corrected the rain issue but then wouldn't send light data to the weather station - I wasn't sure what to do next, should I send the replacement unit back? I studied both sensors units and to my surprise I found that the pins on the end of the RJ12/RJ11 cables where not pressed down correctly to contact the small wires - this was the same for both sensors!

I had a RJ11/RJ12 crimping tool which I pulled out of the garage and pressed the pins down - guess what it worked! The unit started to send all correct data to the weather station console.

Is this a coincidence that I received two faulty sensors that had issues with the RJ11/RJ12 cable ends, I don't know? I'm not telling you not to buy this weather station I just wanted to warn potential buyers and new users just in case its a wide spread issue.

[Gina]

I had a similar problem with a 1081 - in this case the wires just about made contact but were loose. So I think Fine Offset have always had connection problems on a few units.

[werribee_au]

glen.day, where did you purchase it from?

What was the cost? I'm interested in one for a work project.