Warning new WRM 200
Posted: Fri 21 Nov 2014 10:46 pm
Stay away from Oregon Scientific WMR200. It is not worth your money.
From past I have a Fine offset wh1080. Works fine but since I would get myself a weather station for mountain hut, I decided to buy a higher quality station at home and bring Fine Offset station to the hut. My selection of station was dramatically wrong.
After a check on internet and EBay I decided to import an Oregon professional WMR200 from US since prices in Europe is beyond any sense (professional sounds good).
After few weeks the station arrived. Mounted it and made the necessary setup. Station worked apparently fine the first days in nice autumn weather. After a change in the weather who gave cloudy weather with high humidity and periodically rainfall, some problems occurred. Outdoor temperature and humidity sensor lost it’s range and signals to the console. Only 30 cm range (outdoor unit placed close to the main unit(indoor)). Took it indoor and checked it up. Batteries and their connectors were checked. After drying the unit, a new test indoors was completed. Worked fine in a distance of 18 m and a 4 walls between the console and the sensor. Ok, fixed, I thought. Outdoor again. After few hours, disconnected again. Indoors again, dried it and sprayed the circuit board with CRC Contact protect. After this it works as it should. But for how long (it is still working after one week)? Seems that the circuit board cannot withstand moisture.
The rain sensor seems rather inaccurate. It is precisely positioned horizontally. Testing with the specified quantity of water (found on internet) in a relatively short time, gave correct measurement on console (and Cumulus). But in light rain it fails. Light rain (a little on an off) in 8 hours, gives 2 mm on the console and 4 mm in a traditional rain gauge. It is low temperature here (2-4 degr. C and latitude as Alaska) and the water has not evaporated.
Measurement and comparison of wind sensor: Cannot see any reason to spend time on this.
Dealer in US refer to Oregon support. Support in US and UK seems to be dead. No response to request for assistance. Freight and customs makes it uninteresting to return the product.
I have made a misjudgment and would like to share it with others who are thinking of buying a weather station.
So, my advice is to stay away from this low quality shit. Instead of buying a WMR200, buy a Fine offset station (or other low-budget stations), save money and get something that works stable and even with better accuracy than this “professional” station.
Regards
Frustrated and ..... Norwegian
From past I have a Fine offset wh1080. Works fine but since I would get myself a weather station for mountain hut, I decided to buy a higher quality station at home and bring Fine Offset station to the hut. My selection of station was dramatically wrong.
After a check on internet and EBay I decided to import an Oregon professional WMR200 from US since prices in Europe is beyond any sense (professional sounds good).
After few weeks the station arrived. Mounted it and made the necessary setup. Station worked apparently fine the first days in nice autumn weather. After a change in the weather who gave cloudy weather with high humidity and periodically rainfall, some problems occurred. Outdoor temperature and humidity sensor lost it’s range and signals to the console. Only 30 cm range (outdoor unit placed close to the main unit(indoor)). Took it indoor and checked it up. Batteries and their connectors were checked. After drying the unit, a new test indoors was completed. Worked fine in a distance of 18 m and a 4 walls between the console and the sensor. Ok, fixed, I thought. Outdoor again. After few hours, disconnected again. Indoors again, dried it and sprayed the circuit board with CRC Contact protect. After this it works as it should. But for how long (it is still working after one week)? Seems that the circuit board cannot withstand moisture.
The rain sensor seems rather inaccurate. It is precisely positioned horizontally. Testing with the specified quantity of water (found on internet) in a relatively short time, gave correct measurement on console (and Cumulus). But in light rain it fails. Light rain (a little on an off) in 8 hours, gives 2 mm on the console and 4 mm in a traditional rain gauge. It is low temperature here (2-4 degr. C and latitude as Alaska) and the water has not evaporated.
Measurement and comparison of wind sensor: Cannot see any reason to spend time on this.
Dealer in US refer to Oregon support. Support in US and UK seems to be dead. No response to request for assistance. Freight and customs makes it uninteresting to return the product.
I have made a misjudgment and would like to share it with others who are thinking of buying a weather station.
So, my advice is to stay away from this low quality shit. Instead of buying a WMR200, buy a Fine offset station (or other low-budget stations), save money and get something that works stable and even with better accuracy than this “professional” station.
Regards
Frustrated and ..... Norwegian
