Hi,
AllyCat wrote: ↑Mon 11 Apr 2022 1:23 pm
Beware that I once purchased a "spare" T/H/Wind transmitter Module which did have 6-pins in its Rain socket, but did NOT transmit the Pod data, so presumably not all are WH308x compatible.
I strongly suspect that at some point FO "standardised" on the 6p6c socket in the T/H transmitters (to reduce their supply inventory), but not all support the Solar Pod. I have always warned about identification of these "spare" transmitters (in particular) because there are so many versions: Not only the three ISM frequencies (433, 868 and 915 MHz) and W/WO the Radio-Controlled Clock receiver hardware (that transmits a separate data packet), but some don't support the wind vane (and transmit a shorter, incompatible data packet) or maybe even a different vane (using Hall not Reed magnetic sensors), others not the Solar Pod, and at some time they appear to have reversed the Ground and "Pullup" pins on (IIRC) the "Wind" socket. The latter not an issue unless you were trying to "rationalise" the (Earth) cores in a CAT5 extension cable up to a Wind/Solar array on the roof (which I was).
The cable between the Solar Pod and the T/H Transmitter uses only 5 cores, but appears to perform a number of functions (in addition to simply looping-through the "Rain" signal from one RJ12 socket to the other). Firstly the Transmitter supplies power TO the Pod, which is
essential when using the normal Consoles because the transmissions MUST continue (precisely every minute) overnight, since their Receiver is powered up only when a transmission is "expected" (to economise on Console battery consumption). Then it receives the fully-encoded Data signal (containing a different Address) from the Pod to "Repeat" via its transmitter hardware. The Pod LED should flash once every
exactly 60 seconds (but NOT the Transmitter LED at this time).
I'm not clear how the Reset switch works, but it does appear to synchronise the Pod transmissions so that they are always "interleaved" between the T/H packets (i.e. they are always at least a few seconds apart) and don't ever "collide". That's a potential issue with a totally independent Pod (for which its PCB appears to have been designed), that is perhaps why FO never seems to have sold such a device.
The RJ12 connections are documented on the (Pod) PCB, so you should be able to "see" the 1-minute period "DATA" packet with a 'scope, Logic Analyser or even a Multimeter or LED); my suspicion is that it's not getting through to the T/H Transmitter hardware. If so, a "local" 433 MHz transmitter module is probably the simplest solution, but you will probably also need a battery power source (or a supercap) to give sufficient current to drive the transmitter (typically 25 mA for 100 ms).
Cheers, Alan.
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. Another of my favoured suppliers has some 
