Solar and UV sensors going off line - fix?

[aussiewmr]

OK,

Couple of days on and the UV / Light sensor is still a BIG issue! There must be quite a few WH3080/3081 users out there -are there only a handful of us having these problems?

I have done the Crystal Mod mentioned and had zero effect.
I have disconnected the solar panel to rely on batteries only (thought the higher daytime solar panel voltage out may have been a cause) but also zero effect.
I have re-crimped the RJ11 (or RJ12 to be correct) - zero effect.

What I am sure is that the solar info simply stops transmitting but the receiver is looking for it. This was confirmed with my hand help scanner set to 433.92 MHz
From my tinkering, it seems that the Solar unit uses the Temp / Hum Tx but has its own processor (so 2 processors as mentioned elsewhere)
So I think the Solar processor is "going out to lunch" and not coming back (probably too much beer)

This only occurs during the day, it seems to work all night and for the first hr or so in the morning, when I get to about UV2, 100 W/m2 it fails, then when reset at one or two stages throughout the day. If I reset after about 3 or 4 pm then its fine until the next day.

I have had one reply from the guy I bought it off (Auzzie ebay, probably Chinese importer) suggesting it was too close to Tin (roof?) but I replied saying no tin here - not heard from since

I bought 2 - 1 fails more frequently than the other (and interestingly vastly different Solar readings to the tune of between 300 and 400 W/m2 on a cloudless day)

I am starting to hum "Off to Davis I go...."

Phil

[GraemeT]

Phil,
My concern about Davis is the cost.... More than my faulty WH-3081, existing LaCrosse WS2355, pc, gigabit switch, and router combined

On a more serious note, I believe FO should do something about their quality control.

There seems to be a disproportionately high number of 3080/3081 problems when compared with the 1080/1081 and most, if not all, seem to be the remote/solar sensor.

[41south]

I agree entirely regarding the quality control from FO. The sales rep who was sorting out my replacements even made mention that they were double checking the quality of them before sending them out to me. So far so good with the new one. I am getting a little tired of having to restart the console due to a memory error or such like that stops the usb communication - but that as they say, is another story.

[Stephenwx82]

I received my brand new WH3081 today,

out of the box I have every reading but I don't think my UV/Lux sensors are working.

Dreaded dash in the UV section and dashes in the Lux section

does it show dashes when there is no reading available? or when there is no signal from that sensor?

[Stephenwx82]

disregard performed a cycle reset and I have signal now, hopefully no further issues, think I was a bit slow on the power up procedure

[aussiewmr]

Hi Stephen,

Can you keep us informed how you go?

You will know when / if it fails. The console will show -- where the numbers should be and Cumulus will flat line at the last good value.

Meanwhile I have bitten the bullet and I am playing around with the solar / lux module. I did some measurements and noticed that the supplly rail dips from battery volts by 200 mv when transmissions occur. There is a 100 uF elect cap across the supply in the solar module. I have replaced this with a 1000 uf cap and now the dips only about 20 mV. Will leave it running as a test to see how it goes.

Phil

[Stephenwx82]

Hi Phil,

I sure will keep you informed

in return please let me know how replacing the cap goes...

I thought as much I've owned stations for years and the universal signal for no sensor signal is the dreaded - or -- hehe

Power cycle reset gave me 0's and I shone my LED maglite onto the sensor to check and it showed readings

Data registered into Cumulus (brilliant program, I swear by it alongside many other stormchaser friends of mine.)

I owned a 1081 previously but desired to upgrade to the 3081.

Hopefully I get no further issues *touches wood*

[Stephenwx82]

station had signal all night long, solar sensor ran for 2 hours this morning and has promptly crashed, how disappointing!

I'll power cycle it once more and if that doesn't resolve it, contact fine offset...

note: this station is not even 1 day out of the box yet!

[Stephenwx82]

power cycling is doing nothing, no signal....

majorly disappointed!

[Stephenwx82]

opened up the casing, no tin on the oscillator...

think its soldering time!

[Stephenwx82]

tin applied to the oscillator but I also went through the circuitry with a fine toothed comb to make sure that nothing was shorting, the power supply input/output wires from the solar panel may have been touching at the point they contact the pcb, I had to bend them outwards as it looked to me there was a short being caused there, this would definitely make sense as to why some people are reporting non charge from the panel.

An observation to make, I applied the tin last and as soon as I did the little LED on the solar panel was flashing at it's proper interval under the tungsten lamp I was using, if thats not an indication for bringing it back to life I don't know what is!

Anyways I shall keep everyone posted on if this fix worked, the oscillator was sitting over the earth rail but I doubt the contact was doing much, I gently moved it off it and applied the solder very very minutely.

[aussiewmr]

Hi Stephen - exactly the same failure mode I am experiencing.
Reset and it works all night and then about 2 hrs after the sun wakes up - bam!

Point to note - I have learnt the correct way to get readings. A simple reset of the solar unit (which also resets the temp humidity unit) is not enough. As soon as you reset you need to bolt over to your console and press the down arrow for 5 secs+, you should see a receive symbol constantly on at the top RH corner of the display. The console is now searching for the transmitter.

The reason for this is because its now obvious to me that the console only enters receive mode for about 1 second when it "expects" to hear from the transmitter (which is once at T zero + 48 secs and once at T zero + 60 secs and multiples of those there after). The Temp / Hum / Wind / Rain is transmitted every 48 secs, and the solar / lux every 60 secs. When you reset the outdoor stuff it is going to be very unlikely the new transmission times will match the old ones although the transmission interval remains the same. Hence the need for a resync. All in aid to save console battery I am sure.

It is shame this is how it works because a simple work around for our little issue would be to make a timer and reset the solar unit periodically, but because of the need for a resync this makes it all too hard.

On the mod, it ran all night in my test room, and was still running even though the one outside had failed 2 hrs earlier. I am not too excited about this (but have some hope) as I am worried its the action of the increased light level by the sun that is the issue.

Non the less I decided to improve things a little and put a bigger electrolytic cap (and a brand new one too) of 1500 uF (6.3v) and my test now shows negligible volt drop during transmission (< 1mv). The cap is now properly mounted using hot glue and connected using two short insulated wires to the board. I have also put a 0.1 uF ceramic in parallel as I noticed some high frequency noise with my oscilloscope. The noise is roughly halved. I wanted to make sure the noise was not part of the problem.

If I get this thing running for more than 48 hrs I will post pictures of what I have done. Basically the 1500 uF, 6.3V cap ith 0.1 uF cap soldered on the end is fitted on the same side but where some batteries are designed to go (but not used in our case). This allows the board to fit back in with the bigger cap with no issues.

Lets see how it goes - 1 hr with fluctuating light levels and all is still good. Going by history if I reset in the morning it will fail mid afternoon - so fingers crossed its still working tonight.

Phil

[uncle_bob]

where some batteries are designed to go (but not used in our case).

Hi Phil,
maybe installing some (rechargeable) batteries may help?

[aussiewmr]

Hi Phil,


Data registered into Cumulus (brilliant program, I swear by it alongside many other stormchaser friends of mine.)

I owned a 1081 previously but desired to upgrade to the 3081.

BTW I agree Cumulus is fantastic and as soon as my Paypal Acct recovers from Christmas spend I will be donating to Steve. He deserves it.

Also I was in Jaycar wand was shocked to see how mucy the 1081 is there (or the equivilant - it looked like the 3081 but no solar / lux circutry) - $199. I got two 3081 units for $228 from eBay and to be fair all the functions of the 1081 work fine (except for possible wind dir sensor improvements).

Phil

[aussiewmr]

where some batteries are designed to go (but not used in our case).

Hi Phil,
maybe installing some (rechargeable) batteries may help?

Yeah thought about that (actually thinking about a super cap), but there is no voltage present on any terminal where the batteries would go