WH3080 up and running – comments & observations

[colinpb]

A few weeks back I decided to get a PWS, and soon discovered most weather software was overly complicated and looked like it was designed on and for Windows 95, and for me hardware without decent software is a non-starter. Then I came across Cumulus which is not only designed to make use of Windows7, it’s the crispest looking and easiest to use. I’m now the proud owner of a WH3080 supplied by Signatrol, and Cumulus and this forum has been instrumental in my decision. So I would like to say a big thank you Steve, a donation is on its way. The following may be of help to others considering a WH3080.

Wind vane to transmitter 8.5ft of cable. Rain gauge to solar sensor 8.5ft of cable.

I aligned the wind vane as per manual, then coupled top and bottom with a piece of masking tape. Once cables installed and transmitter and console powered up, I removed tape and raised and aligned mast.

The WH3080 seems to have greater flexibility than past FO models when synchronising consul/transmitter. I get the impression that synchronising the earlier models is somewhat hit or miss. I just took my time inserting batteries, and though some readout’s were missing they had all appeared in under 10 minutes. You can also manually start synchronisation by pressing the down key on console for 4 seconds.

DCF reception comes and goes, but as the clock and calendar are accurate without it, I don’t worry about loss of DCF. Something I have noticed is that if it can’t find DCF within the first minute, the screen display doesn’t update for around 5 minutes whilst it searches. I haven’t seen any data logging problems yet. I would have chosen WH3081 but couldn’t see it anywhere in the UK.

Relative pressure – The suggested way is to check a nearby site. However I found a website that does away with the guesswork www.csgnetwork.com/barcorrecthcalc.html Just add the adjustment figure to absolute pressure.

Wind/pressure charts – I prefer http://xcweather.co.uk/GB/observations rather than the Met Office. Charts seem much the same, but I couldn’t find the level of detail at the Met that I could at XC.

UV sensor is wildly optimistic. In Cumulus I use a multiplier of 0.3333 (from posts on this forum)

Converting Lux to Watts/m2, Cumulus uses a multiplier of 0.0079(not configurable). That means 1000 Lux is approx. 8 watts/m2, so a console display of 20.0k lux is 20 x 8 = 160 w/m2. When not running Cumulus, on a day to day basis I find w/m2 mentally easier to compare than 1000’s of Lux.

For checking my setup there’s a Vantage Pro 8 miles east of my site, and at the same altitude. With perfect weather on Sunday 18 November, my Relative pressure, UV and Watts/m2 were within a whisker of the Vantage Pro.

Colin

[steve]

Relative pressure – The suggested way is to check a nearby site. However I found a website that does away with the guesswork http://www.csgnetwork.com/barcorrecthcalc.html Just add the adjustment figure to absolute pressure.

The problem with doing it that way is that it assumes that your weather station's absolute pressure reading is accurate in the first place. Calibrating against a reference site not only gives you your altitude adjustment, but it also (to a certain extent) compensates for inaccuracies in the raw reading.