Welcome to the Cumulus Support forum.

Latest Cumulus MX V3 release 3.28.6 (build 3283) - 21 March 2024

Cumulus MX V4 beta test release 4.0.0 (build 4017) - 17 March 2024

Legacy Cumulus 1 release v1.9.4 (build 1099) - 28 November 2014 (a patch is available for 1.9.4 build 1099 that extends the date range of drop-down menus to 2030)

Download the Software (Cumulus MX / Cumulus 1 and other related items) from the Wiki

Rain recording without raining

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
Post Reply
Konst2981
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon 17 Jan 2022 12:15 pm
Weather Station: watson w-8681
Operating System: Windows 7

Rain recording without raining

Post by Konst2981 »

Hello,

I have a watson w-8681 weather station and lately I have a really disturbing issue. More specifically my rain gauge records rain in sunny and zero wind speed days. It starts to record approximately 100mm per signal. At first I thought that something was wrong with the rain gauge, so I checked if a spider's web was stuck inside, but this was not the case.

I removed all batteries from the base/transmiter, but it continued the same.. As a consequence, I have daily rain in cumulus history which is thousands mm..

I need to state here that as it suddenly begins to record, so it suddenly stops.. So when the day starts I have zero mm of rain, when mysteriously starts to record like crazy... and then, after of couple of hours it stops.. then it starts again for an hour, and then it stops again!

Does this thing means that I need a new rain gauge ?!

Thanks in advance
water01
Posts: 3215
Joined: Sat 13 Aug 2011 9:33 am
Weather Station: Ecowitt HP2551
Operating System: Windows 10 64bit
Location: Burnham-on-Sea
Contact:

Re: Rain recording without raining

Post by water01 »

Isn't that just a tipping gauge? If it is is being attacked by a bird or a bird landing on it, because that would explain the sudden tips. Or has become loose and is waggling in the wind?
David
Image
User avatar
Super-T
Posts: 890
Joined: Tue 09 Sep 2008 3:37 am
Weather Station: wh-1081
Operating System: Weather Laptop - Windows 10 Pro
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Contact:

Re: Rain recording without raining

Post by Super-T »

Perhaps its time to dismantle the transmitter and check for any water or dirt shorting the tracks for the rain gauge? Also check the pins in the socket or cable aren't rusting,
Konst2981
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon 17 Jan 2022 12:15 pm
Weather Station: watson w-8681
Operating System: Windows 7

Re: Rain recording without raining

Post by Konst2981 »

water01 wrote: Mon 17 Jan 2022 8:33 pm Isn't that just a tipping gauge? If it is is being attacked by a bird or a bird landing on it, because that would explain the sudden tips. Or has become loose and is waggling in the wind?
Definitely not the wind.. No, I checked, it's not any bird around when I have these strange readings
Konst2981
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon 17 Jan 2022 12:15 pm
Weather Station: watson w-8681
Operating System: Windows 7

Re: Rain recording without raining

Post by Konst2981 »

Super-T wrote: Mon 17 Jan 2022 10:26 pm Perhaps its time to dismantle the transmitter and check for any water or dirt shorting the tracks for the rain gauge? Also check the pins in the socket or cable aren't rusting,
Maybe you're right. I'll check it and I'll update my post. Thanks for the answer!
User avatar
Philip
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu 21 Jan 2010 12:05 am
Weather Station: Maplin N96GY
Operating System: windows Xp Sp3
Location: Rushden Northants England
Contact:

Re: Rain recording without raining

Post by Philip »

A good look at the RJ45 connector is worth while, they ofter have corrosion on them and that leads to intermittent readings.
I've just got back from doing my wind connector it has been stopping on north for hours at a time then just start working again. It's fixed at the moment having cleaned them both, the corrosion on both was huge.
Hope this helps Philip
Konst2981
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon 17 Jan 2022 12:15 pm
Weather Station: watson w-8681
Operating System: Windows 7

Re: Rain recording without raining

Post by Konst2981 »

Sorry for taking so long to update. You were right! The RJ45 connector it rusted and mold formed near the metal terminals. I replaced the cables with new one, but the problem persists. Probably I need to cut off the edge of rain gauge cable because while it was apparently not rusted, it had probably been affected as well.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Post Reply