Solar and UV sensors going off line - fix?

[uncle_bob]

Possibly a Zener diode or something hasn't been populated?

[Stephenwx82]

Jaycar charges way too much for the 1081, its not a bad station at all but being tech savvy like all other fine offset users having another parameter to trace is just like putting a free liquor sign in front of an alcoholic haha.

1hr running so far and she's still ticking over

I'm not surprised you've had to change the cap, but with negligible voltage drop it should enhance the reliability well theoretically....

I didn't realise you needed to push a console button, thank you for that tip! I've just been ripping out the batteries alone.

[aussiewmr]

Arghhhhhh!

Just checked and it has failed again.

I am getting more and more convinced that there is an issue with the increased light levels perhaps causing an analogue input into the solar microprocessor to go out of range thus making it hang or maybe that the firmware in the processor is not handling some situation that occurs.

I am heading out to puts a dark rag over the sensor and see if that affects things.

BTW - I noticed that the web links to the Fine Offset site are not working - has anyone had any luck getting onto their site lately? Does anyone have a contact (the OP or one close to it referred to one)? I don't want to give up if I can help it.

Phil

[aussiewmr]

Possibly a Zener diode or something hasn't been populated?

Its possible - there's a lot of un-populated circuitry on the board. It looks like there's room for a display, one or two more ICs and some other connectors of soughts.

Phil

[Stephenwx82]

that seriously sounds like a processor issue, mine is working in all levels of light at this point in time, its partly cloudy so its alternating between cloud and blue sky and yet its still ticking over.

[aussiewmr]

Hi Stephen,
The thing that bothers me is I bought two stations and both Solar / Lux units are failing the same way.

Anyway I have added a doubled up white rag and light levels are reduced about 80% so lets see!

Phil

[Stephenwx82]

Hi Phil,

that is beyond annoying!

that rag will tell you if its a data overflow due to light levels or not, if so could have been a faulty processor or firmware load batch.

2 and a 1/2 hours coming in variable conditions here and trace is still A ok

Stephen

[41south]

My replacement solar/uv unit from FO has been running without a hiccup since it was installed. They sent me 2 of them (not sure why, does it show a lack of confidence in their product?? ) I might take the other new one apart and compare it to the failing unit which I still have and see if they made any glaring component changes.
I might also put the cap mod on the old one and see if it comes back to life.

[Stephenwx82]

top idea re checking out the new unit, 3hr mark running here shortly

Full sun this afternoon and its still going

[aussiewmr]

Well 7 hrs - all day since about 1045, which is almost a record. Still won't be getting excited until about lunchtime tomorrow. I broke scientific experiment protocol and changed the rough rag for a cut end of a sock, fits perfectly and may be less attenuating than the rag which was excessive at about 80% attenuation. The sock will be more like a third from what I can tell.

Colin, good to hear about Fine Offset sending you replacements. Did you deal with them initially or did you source the weather station from somewhere else? It sure would be nice if they could come clean as to the real issue with these solar units.

See you all tomorrow

I will either be or I will be

Phil

[Stephenwx82]

9hrs run time now since I applied the solder fix and fixed the short in the solar panel wires.

If it makes it through tomorrow I'll declare it a success

They really should not be releasing products with inadequately earthed oscillators!

[aussiewmr]

Happy new year to all.

Hi Stephen,

You are lucky the crystal seems to have fixed the issue. It was the first thing I did and it did not work, has not worked for others as well.

Its after 8 am here and mine is still working (at greatly reduced light exposure via an old white sock) this is basically a record for me - nearly 22 hrs. So like you if I make it through today I will be happy that I have found the possible issue with mine at least. Just need to work out if its the Light Sensor or UV Sensor.

I just have to deal with the supplier now. I emailed him again yesterday and he has progressed to blaming static electricity for the problem (previously it was too close to "tin" but I have no tin I have concrete tiles!) and he also says "its not a fault with the unit". He suggested I move it (which I actually did 3 days ago to get better wind readings) and it may help if I try the reset procedure I have done 15 or 20 times in the last 6 days.

This is a confusing response because if he believes static electricity is the problem then in my book he is also admitting the product is poorly designed, perhaps defective, certainly not fit for purpose and it should be recalled.

<Rant> If he continues down that track its off to Davis I go and I will mail the two weather stations back to him smashed into 1000's of pieces to abate frustration and save postage. Seriously - its working great as a basic PWS, its just that I feel if they supply a solar / lux unit then they are responsible for making it work reliably - as reliably as its other parts is not an unreasonable expectation and whilst they are not perfect (e.g. wind dir sensor) at least they work without intervention every day. < Rant over>

Phil

[Stephenwx82]

Thats a big shame that they can't stand behind their product, it was definitely the Oscillator in mine because I'm almost up to the 24hr mark now and its been running all night and into the morning.

you shouldn't have to have a sock over it to get reliablity....

There should be a recall for these stations I do agree, the average joe isn't going to know what to do even when told and shown photos, its just lucky I'm tech savvy and I'm lucky it was just the oscillator, static electricity haha clutching at straws.

If you don't start getting somewhere its time to contact fair trading...

[aussiewmr]

If you don't start getting somewhere its time to contact fair trading...

Its made my day someone understands...

I don't think its worth the hassle to go down the fair trading route for a $110 weather station. I am more inclined to somehow attenuate the sensor responsible and deal with that separately.

Steve - if you are reading this, assuming its a simple matter of attenuating the light (lux) sensor can we have a calibration factor (probably just the multiplier) for Lux? I will hunt down the suggestions section and add it there as well. I personally believe we should have a mult factor in any case as the two solar units I have differ by about 20% or so with the second unit going well over the theoretical max W/M2 even when I change the factor to 90% which is probably unrealistic.

Back to the issue - I think its going to be the Lux sensor. I say this because this sensor is a two wire thing, probably an LDR behind a diffusior. It will be great if it is because a simple variable resistor / trimmer will probably be all I need.

I don't think its the UV sensor as this appears to be a semiconductor with a few pins so I am willing to bet it outputs 0-14 UV as a digital signal as opposed to the Lux which is probably an analogue input to the processor. Still its possible that the UV semiconductor "freezes" if UV is high causing the processor to lock up, but unlikely as I would expect this UV to Processor coms to be TWI or I2C or the likes meaning external devices should not be capable of locking up the processor.

I now think its time to isolate the sensor responsible, might make that tomorrows task.

I am going to fish out the photos I took of the solar board and temp / hum board and post them in another more related link. I will update this thread when done.

Phil

[steve]

Steve - if you are reading this, assuming its a simple matter of attenuating the light (lux) sensor can we have a calibration factor (probably just the multiplier) for Lux?

I'm not sure what you do with the 'raw' Lux figure, but you can control the factor which Cumulus uses to convert Lux to W/m2 by adding a line to the [Solar] section of cumulus.ini thus:

LuxToWM2=x.y

where x.y is the conversion factor you want to use. The default is 0.0079.

Steve