Cumulus Support

Does anyone know if the Smartweather WH1090 station takes power from the USB connection, or got any modification to permit it - so saving the batteries. Also, does anyone know if being permanently connected to a PC via the USB drains the batteries faster than the manufactureres 12 months? I have just acquired my 1090 and am trying to have it connected to a PC via Cumulus. So far though I am having problems losing the transmissions - and am getting very suspicious of my Plasma TV screen that I use for a monitor on this particular PC causing possible interference - anyone got any views? Seems to work fine when I have transmitter and receiver close together - but when I put the receiver near the computer (and plasma screen) I lose transmissions .... it is driving me nuts. So I guess I got two questions in this post - 1. Power via USB and possible plasma interference.

The station does take power via USB, you can run it without batteries while connected. It's not clear (to me) whether it uses USB in preference to batteries when batteries are present, one would assume it does.

Plasma TVs are well-known generators of radio interference, Google "plasma TV RFI" for lots of examples. So I think it's quite likely the cause of your signal loss problem.

Thanks for that information - now I can rest easier - well I hope I can - and assume the USB is supplying power whenever the pc is turned on. Taking your comments on the plasma screen on board I've been and got a USB extension cable so I can move the display further away form the plasma. It's fingers crossed now and hoping all is resolved. I've made another posting asking how to reset any captured data so that I can get rid of the void periods and false rainfall readings caused by knocking the sensors about as I installed them.

Andrew, I am pretty sure that the USB supplies power when the computer is off and not unplugged from the mains power but that is settable in XP anyway.

There's (what looks like) a power supply connector next to the USB socket. I haven't seen any mention of it in the blurb.
I'd guess it would take 3v or 5v, positive centre. Does anyone know?

Reentrant wrote:There's (what looks like) a power supply connector next to the USB socket. I haven't seen any mention of it in the blurb.
I'd guess it would take 3v or 5v, positive centre. Does anyone know?

i looked at my Interface with a huge great magnifying glass...........It's stamped 6 Volt / Centre positive


Keith

Yes, it is indeed 6v centre positive. What priority USB/battery/external supply takes is anyone's guess though!! Can you confirm that if u leave your 1090 connected to a PC via USB connection it continues to work OK for extended periods?? I am still only able to survive by only connecting when I wish to transfer data to PC and then immediately unplugging the lead once transfer is completed. This is a pain in the backside, but does mean that I am resetting the 1090 less frequently. If I do not do this then I just know that I will eventually get dashes in place of all external sensor readings to which I have to disconnect power, reset time and relative pressure and off we go again. I've also recently realised that disconnecting all power is also clearing the memory on the receiver despite what the blurb says. Anyone else got this problem or are your units working as described on the packet as it were??

I've had mine connected for over a Month now with no problems at all ( In fact I've even cable Clipped the USB lead to the wall & around to my USB Hub)

I'm currently running both C1 & C2 on the PC & have not encountered any "Data Hiccups" in that period of time.

i've tried every variant (leaving C1 running for 4 days) & then Running C2 & Vice Versa, each time I get a Full upload of stored data to each of the programmes

graphical is correct, History is correct, Current is correct & Time stamp is correct. if it helps my station is some 45 feet from the Receiver with no other "electrical" objects in between ( Tv's, Marine 2 way Radio, & PC Ect)



Keith