Cumulus Support

I have installed an Ecowitt WS80 based sensor array i.s.o. my Davis VP2+. At first instance because of a price: the whole of what I bought cost less then the Davis solar sensor alone which I thought was pretty convincing. I installed it two months ago and with some tuning for the calibration I am now satisfied with the whole of the station. I especially liked the Ultrasone Wind gauge, I fine, advanced device, working great.

Until last night.

Because the current weather is typical lowland weather in the boggy old sea marsh surroundings where I live: without much wind and continuous light rain, fog or wet snow. So to my surprise this morning (see screenshot) the wind had it totally wrong. Windspeed meters have the bad habit of being mounted in most awkward places but this one is not too bad: just at the other side of a totally muddy horse pasture, 50 m from my house so dismounting was not to big an effort.

When lowering it and holding it horizontally, I saw the water gushing out: apparently, there is a reservoir where the transmitters and the microphones are absorbing the ultrasound.
After it had been emptied and remounted it was working again (see screenshot).

So if you have an awkward place to mount the windspeed meter, take this into consideration.
I will notify Ecowitt as well, a minor redesign with a water drain may be useful!

[EDIT: forgot the screenshot]

Ecowitt have already a new hardware design/revision for the WS80 which attends to the water entry issues. Unfortunately (for those in extreme consitions) this is with the new models only.
There are a few related posts in wxforum.net in their Ambient/Fine Offset/Ecowitt board

Ok. Thanks.
Mine is only 2 months old. How new is that new design?

This might depend on whom you purchased it from.
If you purchased it from Froggit, it could likely still be the 1st version, whereas if you purchased it directly from Ecowitt the probability for having already the 1st revision model is higher.

Directly from ecowitt but apparently not the new design.
How to check?

take a photo of the trasducers and upload them here. I can check for you. Have you also update with the new firmware ?

@Carbonara: yes it has the latest firmware. But what do you mean taking the photo of the transducers? It is just the device as you can see on the Ecowitt site. There is no specific photo to take of the transducer. I don't think the problem is the electronics, the problem is the water which remains in the middle of the apparatus.

@Hans
have a look at https://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=41294.0
at least later in the thread your case (or a similar one) is described - and you also get to know why @Carbonara asks for the picture/photo of the transducers

@Gyvate, @Carbonara :

I read the whole, interesting, tread. I would like to separate the spikes which are observed and the problem which is observed like by @wardie. That is similar to the problem I have. I don't think additional photo's will add anything. My photo's explaining the situation with water visible are not taken and my problem was of 5 days ago.

But let's be clear about one thing: the problem did not go away by itself (I had the longest duration, roughly nine/ten hours without touching the device). When I solved the problem, I took it down, emptied the cup (that's what it was) and the measurements resumed. I did not touch or reset software. Software will not solve this, that seems more something for incidental peak values.

I don't want to get in @Mapantzes argument that the ultrasone equipment is faulty and worthless by definition. I disagree. But apparently in some weather conditions water gathers on and below the gauze and if there is little wind it does not evaporate. Therefore I suggested a redesign to drain the water. I don't know the function of the gauze (protection of a sensor below?) but I am sure alternatives can be found. If there were a drain surely some cleaning routine would be necessary (it actually is necessary for any wind device).

Do photo's exist of the space below the gauze?

I'll put this response to the wxforum thread as well.

@Hans
you may want to send a PM at wxforum.net to @mauro63 from Italy. He knows more details about the WS80 hardware.
Not sure if he has time to read the thread mentioned before as he tends to be very busy.

@Gyvate: OK, I'll give it a day, if he does not respond I'll write a PM.

The new version is this:

There is a little cover near transducers. This new version with the new fw. does not have problem

credits: misol

@Carbonara: I seem to have the new version (i'll try to make a photo later today but I'll not dismount the apparatus so for quality we'll see).
I don't think the issue is there. The issue as far as I concluded is with the gauze and the space below. That seems to gather water and when emptied it continued its measurements.

My photo of my WS80, the best I could make at 3 m height at the low winter light conditions.
Again, the transducers are moist of course but it never gets worse than this because the water falls off. The water then really assembles at the gauze and below the gauze. So in my opinion, that should be drained. As far as I can see, there is no water entering by the sides of the glass on top (as was suggested by Ecowitt).

And how it is attached in the field: