Watson W-8681

[andrew]

Hi i own a Watson W-8681 weather station the temp outside always reads 2-3 degres higher than my other sensors in full sun it has a screen around the temp sensor . Dose any one else own a watson weather station and have the same problems. Dose any one know how i can get the temp down.

[steve]

It's a problem in full sun, even for more expensive models. I think someone here made a better screen for theirs (Harry?) but I can't seem to find the thread at the moment.

Steve

[Super-T]

I mounted my temperature sensor/transmitter under the eaves of the house as is normally recommended. That is why your Weather Station probably came with long leads for connecting the various devices together. Mount the Weather Vane and Wind Speed Device, on a pole, as high above surrounding buildings etc. as practical, mount the rain gauge at a level point on the gutter or other flat area exposed to the rain, and mount the transmitter under the eaves.

I hope that helps.

[goldrush]

Just to add to Terry's post, if required the 1081/ws8681 lead between the sensors and transmiter unit can be extended (see other thread) to enable better siting of the units.

[harrym1byt]

Sorry, only just spotted the thread...

Mounted too close to a building the temperature sensor will pick up the heat or cool radiated by the building, unless it is well shielded from it. Mine is mounted out in the open, but like yours I found it was very affected by the sun falling on it. I came across an idea to use a series of upside down round plant pot plastic drip trays, which I find works very well...

I bought several (about 7 or 8) quite large ones (7 or 8"), at just a few pence each. Cut a circular hole in the centre of all but two of the dishes, just large enough to slip over the top of the temperature/humidty/transmitter unit. Then drill three evenly spaced holes around the large hole, to suit three threaded rods, including the two dishes without a large hole in the centre - I used 3x 8mm rod, with six matching nuts. Next make some 1" long spacers, three for each drip tray except the top one - I used 20mm plastic electrical conduit for this, but any suitably sized tube or pipe will do.

Fit three nuts on the ends of the three rods, fit them up through the first dish, with the dish the right way up (with no large hole), add three spacers, then another dish (no large hole), three spacers and another dish (with the large hole) and so on - finally finish with your three remaining nuts to hold it all tightly together. Now turn it the right way up, dishes upside down and spray with some matt white spray. Usefully, you could add some sort of insulation between the top two dishes, polystyrene works well.

It works very well - it not only prevents the sun hitting the sensor, but also keeps the rain away from it and the poorly sealed battery compartment. I made no provision for fixing it, it just drops down on top of the unit, its own weight keeping it in place with the lip of the lowest dish resting on the sensors support arm.

Drip trays, threaded rod, nuts, tube or pipe, matt white spray paint.

[andrew]

thanks a lot for the information when you make the screen do you still use the original screen as well under the diy one

[andrew]

Harry is it possible to post some images of your d i y sensor cover. To give me a clearer idea please .thanks andrew

[rexhugin]

Hi Everyone

I am a new member to the forum and this is my first post. Yes, maybe silly? me, as a few days ago I purchased a Watson W-8681 W. S. Since then and reading all sorts of comments elsewhere re this model, (most being particularly non inspiring), I was beginning to wonder whether I had made a big mistake in this purchase. Apart from the obvious very poor display, I have to say that so far I am quite reasonably happy with it after a couple minorish issues to start with. The main problem was using the Easy Weather 4 program that came with the unit. I decided to try out Cumulus after my cousin’s recommendation and made what turned out to be a big mistake of running Easy Weather and Cumulus at the same time! Lessson learnt, don’t do it as it corrupts both programs I discovered. Looking at the WS manufacturers site, I found Easy Weather 5 which I am now using. Since then, and not accidentally opening Cumulus at the same time, both programs seem to have settled down well and appear to be working as they should.

The 8681 is mounted on a 9ft pole in the middle of a fairly large lawn by today’s standards and is probably about 15 yards, (yes yards not this km nonsense), almost line of sight to my PC. Like other users I am finding that when the sun is on the sender unit it does inflate the temperature of course, got to do something about that! The nearest shade is shrubbery about 20 ft away. I would consider extending the sender cable to there but am concerned about any drop along the cable would interfere with the data. Incidentally, in that shade I have an Oregon temperature sender unit to a receiver in the kitchen which seems to give good sensible readings, (old fashion me uses Fahrenheit only as it gives finer readings in my view). A couple of July’s ago that sender recorded 101.6 degrees F! in the shade of course, this is in Essex by the way. Other points re the Watson, the wind direction vane needs to be modded as I find just the same as someone else mentioned, that it thinks it’s a helicopter, as I have seen it spin at times. This is mainly in very light winds; there have not been any stronger winds for me to see what it gets up to then. I can’t really comment much on the rain guage either, as there has been little rain to speak of. There was some drizzle for a time a couple of days ago and the guage did register 0.01 inch, so it is apparently working. Summing up the above, the 8681 is giving me near enough what I was looking for at a price of only around a quarter of the price of other makes. Like everything else, one gets what one pays for, so I am not complaining, (yet), about the system. If anyone with a similar model has made any successful modifications, I would be very interested to hear about it. In the meantime I will give some thought to any mods that I can dream up and if they work I will of course post the info.

Cheers to all…………….Rexhugin

[dc1500]

Andrew, this is a link to various types of homemade screens with pictures. In the list at the bottom, the first one entitled "Stevenson Screen" (which it isn't!) explains and shows how to make the above type.
http://www.wxqa.com/shields.html
Dave C

[fivebellies]

Hiya everyone,
My Watson w-8681 sensors are mounted on a 10 ft pole on the rear of the house....you have to make sure that the transmitter cover is firmly fitted over the transmitter FULLY pushed home into the little lug inside the cover....this seems to sort out any temperature problems. My sensors are fitted exactly as the manual diagrams are displayed and high enough away from the house/roof. I have read about this problem before on another forum and the simple check sorted that problem out to.
Cheers then....Mark

[Bogget]

I have found the sun shines through the sensor plastic if you spray it silver with car paint it cures the problem, but i also notice a few of the watson sensors read +1c over actual, i use "Weather Display" software on mine and it allows correcton of such errors by setting an offset, i have tested it from 0c to 40c it seems OK now.

I also agree under the eaves is not a good place it will give false reading, it must be at least 5 yds from a building with temp sensor at head hight, rain gauge same and anemometer at 20 to 30 Ft hight.

Bogget

[Dr Nick]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum but also new to being interested in the weather enough to join a forum about it.
The reason I have joined is to ask about the WH1080, I believe it is the same or very similar to the Watson W-8681.
I am interested because I am going to start keeping bees in a residential area and the wind direction and strength are very important things to know, firstly for placing the hives (so the bees flight paths do not interfere with my neighbors too much, and also placing the hives out of direct wind, bees hate the cold, and hate the wet even more.
I have been looking at both the Watson W-8681 and WH1080, both appear to do what I want them to in terms of features, I have seen very mixed reviews about both models, some say they are excellent for the money while others have had nothing but trouble with them (poor build quality, not working properly etc), I see that they can be connected to a PC and the info downloaded, what format does this take? please don't get too technical here, I use Windows XP on the PC and Vista on the laptop, and I also use MS Office, will the downloaded data work in this environment, and if so how compatible is it?
Thanks for now.

Chris.

[starman316]

I bought my W-8681 a few days ago, and so far, am mixed feelings with it

its reading incorrect outside temperatures in sunlight

The sensors are mounted on a standoff bracket about a foot above my gutter on the roof,

Any Suggestions guys??

I want to get it to report the correct or near normal temps

I have the supplied cap over the temp sensor, so I assume its not sufficient enough

what about mouting just the temperature sensor under the flat eves, i see it is out of the sun?

Cheers

[steve]

I see that they can be connected to a PC and the info downloaded, what format does this take? please don't get too technical here, I use Windows XP on the PC and Vista on the laptop, and I also use MS Office, will the downloaded data work in this environment, and if so how compatible is it?

I suspect the reason you haven't had any answers is that people don't understand the question. The format of the data on the PC is (mostly) a function of the software you use with the station, not the station itself. As you're not asking about Cumulus, I assume it's Easyweather you're interested in (the software supplied with the station). This produces an easyweather.dat file, which is in CSV format, so you could import that into Excel. The format of the file is available in a few places on the internet (Google easyweather.dat format). I believe it also has the ability to export a formatted text version of the file, but I'm not really familiar with the format of this.

[steve]

Any Suggestions guys??

I believe a number of owners of these have constructed screens for theirs, made from things like plant pot saucers. If you search the Fine Offset section of the forum, you should be able to find the details.