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Aercus (Fine Offset) Instruments WS3083 USB Lockup Solution?

From build 3044 the development baton passed to Mark Crossley. Mark has been responsible for all the Builds since. He has made the code available on GitHub. It is Mark's hope that others will join in this development, but at the very least he welcomes your ideas for future developments (see Cumulus MX Development suggestions).

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Thorbum
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri 04 Sep 2020 5:26 am
Weather Station: Aercus/Fine Offset WS3087
Operating System: Windows 10

Aercus (Fine Offset) Instruments WS3083 USB Lockup Solution?

Post by Thorbum »

Hi all,

I bought my Aercus WS3083 in New Zealand from an outfit called "Scientific Sales" and although they did replace two failed parts without argument I'll never buy from them again for one reason - I recorded twice a 1 star review of this product. The reviews were polite, just noting the issues I'd had, failed parts and USB lockups included and guess what?!? Those reviews were never posted.

In fact only 4 and 5 star reviews were on their site for this low quality product. I got the message! But....

Recently after another round of USB lockups I got on the web again and nothing leapt out at me, but I was curious that this had appeared on the Scientific Sales website: "https://scientificsales.co.nz/aercus-in ... eshooting/" 2nd half item 12.

BS I thought, I already use a USB cable with built in choke, though without the loop around. But as the fates had it I actually had a clip on collar choke from an unrelated project lying around. So I stuck it in, loop and all.

So far, I haven't had another USB lockup. It may be too soon, only about 6 weeks, and it is so random who can tell....

That said my run of lockups every few days to weekly is over!

I'll try post an update, especially if I do get another lockup.


Cheers all
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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
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Re: Aercus (Fine Offset) Instruments WS3083 USB Lockup Solution?

Post by Super-T »

I have the same base station from scientific sales and have had the clip-on chokes on both ends of the USB cable for a year or so, and now rarely have a USB lockup. Not completely cured but heaps better.
Thorbum
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri 04 Sep 2020 5:26 am
Weather Station: Aercus/Fine Offset WS3087
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Aercus (Fine Offset) Instruments WS3083 USB Lockup Solution?

Post by Thorbum »

An update. I added the choke on 31/03/22 and went over 7 weeks before another lockup, or rather, series of lockups:

31/03/22 Choke added.
23/05/22 53 days
26/05/22 3 days
31/05/22 5 days, second choke added at other cable end

Date today 24/6/22, 24 days and counting, no further lockups (did I just jinx myself???).

Like Super-T said, not completely cured but heaps better. But I wonder what triggered the lockups in that quick series in May. Nothing changed I know of.

Speculation - is the issue not Radio Frequency Interference but the usb port on the console not handling waveform transients (hi-low/low-hi transistions) on the usb datalines from the computer? Adding chokes may modify or smooth the usb waveforms making lockup less likely?

Another curious thing, during June we had lots of thunder storms, unusual here. On two separate occasions I found Cumulus Mx in a loop, just repeating a message it had connected to the station. I restarted Cumulus, it connected, downloaded archive data and all back to normal, no data lost. Haven't seen that before.

Not so surprising on two more occasions during the storms, the indoor console lost contact with the outdoor sensors and needed a manual re-sync command (hold down arrow for 4 secs). That did lose yet more data. And the lightening was miles away!
water01
Posts: 3201
Joined: Sat 13 Aug 2011 9:33 am
Weather Station: Ecowitt HP2551
Operating System: Windows 10 64bit
Location: Burnham-on-Sea
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Re: Aercus (Fine Offset) Instruments WS3083 USB Lockup Solution?

Post by water01 »

I assume you have checked that the USB hub has power saving switched off.
David
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flort
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu 17 Dec 2020 9:06 am
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Re: Aercus (Fine Offset) Instruments WS3083 USB Lockup Solution?

Post by flort »

Last year I purchased an Aercus WS3085 (the website said the WS3083 had been retired and replaced with the WS3085). I'm in Australia and purchased mine through Monax Test & Weather who source their stock from Auckland.

It wasn't long and I was having lock-up issues happening randomly. I worked with Monax for a couple of months trying to resolve the issue without any success. The end result was that the WS3085 was not recommended for 24/7 connection to a computer for live weather reading. They updated their website with this information and gave me a full refund.

Not sure if there is a design flaw in these units that they haven't been able to get to the bottom of.

Regards,
Trevor
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