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Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
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TechnoDribble
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue 16 Feb 2016 8:36 am
Weather Station: Maplin /FO; Ecowitt HP2551
Operating System: Win 10 / Pi
Location: Guildford

Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Post by TechnoDribble »

Dear all, I thought I would post here about my findings on the latest Fine Offset weather stations.

If you are not aware Fine Offset have started or are collaborating with a new sister company in Hong Kong/Shenzen called Ecowitt.
Ecowitt's aim is to bring direct to market all the goodness that Fine Offset are making.
I have been in dialog with Lucy from Fine Offset/Ecowitt through out this year and they have some really exciting projects underway to make them serious budget challengers to Davis etc

Please see my experience with one of their latest weather consoles and sensor arrays here:
https://www.netweather.tv/forum/topic/9 ... 50/page/3/

What I will add is that I have not yet figured out how to connect my Cumulus Mx installation on my Pi to the new station, leaving it for now connected to my ancient Maplin FO system.
I will say that when you get a new station and run them side by side you can quickly see how after more than a few years the sensors degrade horribly. My new station now matches almost precisely the reading from the local Met Office site at Wisley, Surrey which is 7 miles away or so.

There is hope however as if you read the posting you will see I also have a GW-1000 (Matchbox sized) data logger from Ecowitt. Its like a mini console with integrated temp/hygro/barometer and can read the data signals from any sensor arrays out in the garden. At the moment I have this uploading the data to WU and to Ecowitt.net (proprietary data hosting which is really good) but my ambition is to extract the data and send to the Pi and Cumulus MX. Ecowitt has not published the API yet but are promising to do so and have worked with Boris to allow the Meteobridge to read the data just this week. So if it can be done on Meteobridge it must be possible to code it for the Pi and Cumulus.

Anyway that's enough warbling for now. If you are interested in a new Fine Offset weather station then take a look at Ecowitt.
For UK peeps like me the best route is to send an e-mail to Lucy at sales@ecowitt.com and ask for a quote about what options you would like and Lucy will give you a shipped quote in USD$. Don't forget to specify what frequency option you want.

Anyone interested I am more than happy to field questions.
For example Ecowitt have in development a Ultrasonic rain gauge, weather cam and lightnening detector amongst others and you can see the some of the newer kit on their website already. I have the soil moisture sensor and the Air quality sensor (PM2.5) in play on my weather station.
Captain Canada
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun 16 Jan 2011 12:28 am
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Pro2+
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: Manitowaning Bay, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada
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Re: Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Post by Captain Canada »

I purchased the Ecowitt HP3500B weather station with the USB connection to a PC running Windows 10. I have been able to get it to connect to the EasyWeather2 software that Ecowitt provides (with no effort at all - plug & play) but have had no success getting it to talk to Cumulus 1.9.4 build 1099 which is what I use for my main weather station. The EasyWeather2 software is pretty rudimentary and I am far from happy with it. Have you had any luck since your posting in May?
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mcrossley
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Location: Wilmslow, Cheshire, UK
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Re: Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Post by mcrossley »

TechnoDribble wrote: Wed 01 May 2019 5:36 pm Ecowitt has not published the API yet but are promising to do so and have worked with Boris to allow the Meteobridge to read the data just this week. So if it can be done on Meteobridge it must be possible to code it for the Pi and Cumulus.
If there is no published API, then there is almost zero chance of adding it. Steve came to the view that he needed API documentation, AND access to test hardware before attempting to add new station types. After having looked into adding a new station by remote email debugging I think I share his view!
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akasonny
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Re: Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Post by akasonny »

I was shopping online yesterday and ran across Ecowitt. It may be a long shot, but have you tried to use the Fine Offset selection box?
TechnoDribble
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue 16 Feb 2016 8:36 am
Weather Station: Maplin /FO; Ecowitt HP2551
Operating System: Win 10 / Pi
Location: Guildford

Re: Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Post by TechnoDribble »

Apologies MRCrossley, I failed to notice your previous reply.

The newer Fine Offset weather stations do not support USB access and all comms are by IP and most are not directly addressable in other words its a transmit only station.
The solution to this is the GW-1000 which does allow data to be read in real time if required via TCP/IP on your local network. However the API is not yet released and I will need a volunteer to look at coding in the capability to read the data from the GW-1000.

The advantage of this is that in theory once done the GW-1000 will support most if not all current and future sensor arrays and so their data becomes available to MX. You simply tell the GW-1000 which sensors to use that it can see and these are presented as data.
In other words the usual Sensor all in one sensor arrays out on your roof but in addition Soil Moisture, Air Quality sensors, Lightning (in development) and others.

For clarity Ecowitt are the direct to market company in Hong Kong that works with Fine Offset. You cannot buy from Fine Offset directly unless you bulk purchase in other words to resell yourself! So if you want the latest Fine Offset kit then for ordinary folks you purchase through Ecowitt. They have Amazon marketplaces in Auz, Canada and the US but sadly not yet UK. So in the UK if you want to purchase kit you need to contact Ecowitt via Lucy at support@ecowitt.com and she will give you a USD quote which can be paid via Paypal and they will build your order test and ship from Hong Kong.
ExperiMentor
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue 24 Nov 2015 11:30 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset & Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Windows 10; Raspbian Buster
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Re: Ecowitt/Fine Offset weather stations

Post by ExperiMentor »

... or you could just order from Amazon.com for delivery in the UK (or elsewhere). The "Import Fee deposit" is basically UK VAT, which with Amazon Global Shipping is paid in advance, whereas with a small company all sorts of things can go wrong.

You can certainly see what a range of sensors etc they are selling
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