Different temperatures on screen and on display

[souwesterly]

Hi Folks,
I've been having these little blips recently.....
From time to time my Watson W8681 console shows a different temperature to my on-screen (on my computer monitor) display.
There can often be several degrees difference - and occasionally my console reading jumps, perhaps by as much as 5C for a few minutes - and then back again.
For example, there's currently a 1.7C difference for some reason.
Update - two minutes later - they're now the same!
Update again - another minute - now there's over 3C difference...!
I guess my console is playing up - it is about 8 years old, but is there any other reason?
I did check the batteries and found that one was borderline on power, so it was replaced, but the anomaly persists.
(The batteries in the weather station itself were renewed recently)
Also - which reading is the correct one?

(I might also add that when I checked and changed the battery and powered it up again, my max temperature suddenly shot up to over 24C and my rainfall for the day exceeded 1 metre!)

[steve]

It sounds like either the console or the sensor is faulty. If you zip up the diags folder and attach it, I'll take a look.

[souwesterly]

Hi Steve,

One zipped file attached for your perusal.
(Hope I've sent it properly!)

Cheers

Chris

[steve]

I can't see anything obviously wrong there (other than the fact that you're using an out of date version of Cumulus ), the temperature just gradually rises from 14.4C at 12:15 to 14.7C at 13:05. But the diags log doesn't show every reading, just the latest one each time a log entry is made. So it's likely that intermediate readings would show the fluctuations you're seeing.

[souwesterly]

Hi Steve,
Right - I've just installed the latest version! Hadn't noticed there was an update.....apologies!

I too have scanned through the daily logs and so on to see if I could spot any anomaly and failed.
And if I bring up the on-screen select-a-graph temperature record, no jumps or blips can be seen.

However, yesterday, as part of the strange happenings, as I changed the battery, my pressure reading fell drastically - and came back with a different offset calibration. The attached screen shot shows it.
I've left it as it is for now as my reading now seems fairly close to local readings.

Guess things need replacing due to sheer old age.....

[steve]

Yes, I'd expect the relative pressure setting to be lost if you reset the station. You had previously set it to 9.6 mb above station pressure, and it reset itself to +0.8 mb. Did you not leave the USB cable plugged in while you changed the batteries? That should have kept it powered and hence not reset.

If Cumulus is being sent correct temperature readings, then that suggests to me that the problem is the console display rather than the temperature sensor.

[souwesterly]

No Steve - I unplugged it.
To be honest, the cable they supplied is so short that it only just reaches from a USB port to the console as it is, and if I move the console, it tends to unplug itself anyway. Should get myself a longer USB lead but never have......

I wonder if my high offset was because an anomaly was being shown - that then led me to believe the wrong reading....so therefore I adjusted the offset accordingly? No worries for now because, as I said, I'll leave it as it is for a while....

As for the console display - fair comment.
Time to replace it - so I'll make suitable noises in the right ears.

Thanks for your help - it's been much appreciated.

Chris

[steve]

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I about hardware matters will be along soon and may be able to suggest something.