WS-2350

[Olejul]

I am a newbe in this forum

I am considering to have the WS-2350 with USB connection (marked as NEW at La Crosse home) - it seems to be a fair compromise between low end units and Davis.

After reading many of the subjects in this forum, I am a bit concerned about the mentioned problem with RS-232/USB adapters (occasionally loosing data).

So - has La Crosse just included such an adapter or has the station been modified to be a true USB interface?

After been surfing around on the subject 'Weather Stations' a have seen quite a lot of weather station home pages, but far from one as Cumulus in terms of simplicity and good design - I am very much impressed.

[steve]

I don't think the WS-2350 is new - in fact it seems to have been replaced now by the WS-2355? And that one also seems to have the USB/serial adapter interface.

I have to admit that I don't have any real experience of the La Crosse units, but I don't really understand what advantages they offer over the Fine Offset stations, given that they are twice the price?

[Olejul]

Hi Steve and thank's your speedy replay.

It seems also to me that the current model is WS-2355.

I favor the Le Crosse model because I can cable the system together incuding the display and that the units can separated with up to 10 meters of cable (and probably more using better cable).

But I do agree - it's some what more expensive than Fine Offset's (58 percent WS-2355 and WH-1081 here in Denmark.

I will most probably go for the Le Crosse and then install Cumulus and se how it goes and subsequently report back to you.

I also need e bit of advice:
The idea is to make a small WEB server including a single WEB Cam as many other users of Cumulus have done - is your software what is needed to implement that (besides Windows off course)?

Best regards

Ole

[steve]

The idea is to make a small WEB server including a single WEB Cam as many other users of Cumulus have done - is your software what is needed to implement that (besides Windows off course)?

I haven't made my webcam software available, because I've lost the source code, so I can't support it. I know that there are some reasonable free offerings out there, but I'm a bit out of touch with exactly what's available now as I'm not using a webcam myself just now.

[Gordon-Loomberah]

I'm using the WS-2350 with a Belkin Serial to USB adaptor, and as far as I can tell, I have had zero problems with data loss due to the adaptor in 3 months of use.
Loss of data over the 60m of wireless transmission between outdoor sensor and base unit is however a problem. It can be good for many days then there will be a half or one hour gap.

[Olejul]

One of my reasons to choose WS-2355, is the possibility to have wireless substituded with cabling.

I intend to use shielded Cat5 and use the 8 leads with 4 in parallel for ground, 2 in parallel for supply and rest for signal.

It's nice to hear your USB adapter seems to cause no trouble - that has bothered me a bit reading all the entries about that problem in the forum.

Best regards

Ole

[Gordon-Loomberah]

I'm thinking of going to cable myself, not least to stop the missing data. Another feature is that the outside data only gets transmitted every 128 seconds via wireless, but every 8 seconds via a cable. I'm sick of seeing strong wind gusts blowing trees around, while my LaCrosse tells me its a gentle 10km/hr breeze! By the time the weather station decides it might be time to check the wind again, the gust has passed.
I'm not sure if 60m is too far to run a cable though.

[Olejul]

Hi Gordon.

Look at http://www.lavrsen.dk/sources/weather/windmod.htm
It's a very clear description on how to use Cat5 cable.
The description is aimed for the wind sensor, but I don't see why it should not do the job between the sensors and the display - that's what I intend to do.
The crimp tool could be avoided by cutting the original cable and solder the leads together according the instruction.
Concerning 60 meters - it might on the high limit but it's worthwhile to give it a try.
Could be an idea to test with say 50 percent longer - if that works 60 meters would definately also do.
The higher update rate is a very important fringe benefit.
It would have been nice if the aneometer stored the maximum gust in between the data transmissions.

[Gordon-Loomberah]

Thanks for that URL Ole, I'll give it a try

[Mike60]

HI owner WS23xx

I have changed cable between PC & base station and base station & termo sensor with shielded cable.
Cable between ext. sensor and anemometer are flat black telephonic cable 6 wire - 35m !!! .
One or two errors / week ( OFL or 91,8km ).
Connection base and PC are serial. Not USB. I have original adapter from LaCrosse but I don`t like it.
PC are HP NC-4200 with docking station ( serial port ).

Mike