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Recommendation for station upgrade and upgrade to MX first?
Posted: Sun 12 Jul 2020 8:31 am
by KarenP
My aging WH1080 weather station has had many replacement parts over the years, but now the rain gauge has stopped sending data we think it's time to replace the whole thing.
So two questions:-
Can you recommended a replacement station?
Should I upgrade to Cumulus MX from 1.9.4 now or after we get the new station?
Station requirements are quite basic (rain, temperature in/out, pressure, wind) - we are more interested in current/historic data than forecasting.
We currently have two display screens (one of which plugs into the PC) and send data to a web page which we host ourselves and the PWS Watcher app which we have just found and really like.
I'm very much struggling to find a suitable choice which isn't too basic, nor too complex or doesn't only link to Weather Underground.
Any help appreciated, thank you.
Re: Recommendation for station upgrade and upgrade to MX first?
Posted: Sun 12 Jul 2020 10:10 am
by sfws
KarenP wrote: ↑Sun 12 Jul 2020 8:31 am
now the rain gauge has stopped sending data
The rain gauge might be easily fixed. The mechanism might be blocked by something like a spider web. The rain gauge might have a corroded connection or a wire that has either snapped or come adrift. Of course it might be the microswitch has broken, it can be replaced, but that needs a new part and some skill with solder. That is not to say stick with your old station, but just to point out it might be an easy fix to make it last a little longer!
KarenP wrote: ↑Sun 12 Jul 2020 8:31 am
Can you recommended a replacement station?
I leave that to someone else, I still use an old station.
KarenP wrote: ↑Sun 12 Jul 2020 8:31 am
we are more interested in current/historic data than forecasting
You might therefore want a station that includes a logger, some modern stations "broadcast" current information only, so you might end up with gaps for past data.
KarenP wrote: ↑Sun 12 Jul 2020 8:31 am
Should I upgrade to Cumulus MX from 1.9.4 now or after we get the new station?
I don't think there is any rule about when to move away from Cumulus 1.
Cumulus 1 is stable, and currently as reliable as whatever pc you run it on. There are still many more people using Cumulus 1 than MX, but a number have moved across in 2020 as MX has had a lot of functionality added in the last 6 months.
The extra functionality available only in MX includes being able to talk to new stations and new sensors that Cumulus 1 cannot get readings from. So it is likely you will need to use MX from when you start with a new station. Maybe you will want to experiment with MX whilst you can still go back to Cumulus 1 with your existing station? You might want to read
https://cumuluswiki.org/a/Migrating_fro ... us_1_to_MX EDIT: link updated
Re: Recommendation for station upgrade and upgrade to MX first?
Posted: Sun 12 Jul 2020 10:45 am
by KarenP
Thank you, I will read the moving from Cumulus 1 link.
The rain gauge appears to be mechanically OK (we've got quite used to evicting spiders from it) and the connection seems to be good. We thought we had fixed a microswitch problem but now get the odd rain reading when it's not raining at all. I could buy another replacement rain gauge but the various bits of plastic on the whole station are starting to look a bit frail.