Cumulus Support

Hi all,

I have a La Crosse WS 2355 and it has performed well. One think I have noticed this past winter, is that when it gets to cold out side the external part of the la crosse station ceases to function. Check out todays trend page - http://www.users.on.net/~freespirit/weather/trends.htm
As you can see the external station died at ~1 degree C. The station alway die's in the wee hours of the morning....

I was wondering if any of my fellow La Crosse owners have also experienced this?
I'm assuming the battery is getting to cold or something...

Interestingly, of recent we have had day were the temperature has hung around most of the day(day light hours) at 1C, and the external station did not cease functioning.

Another thought...... Since installing Cumulus 1.9, another bug - abnormally higher wind speeds and abnormally low temp & wind chills(these abnormal figures used to always occur between the 2am-6am time frame) - has disappeared. I wonder if this is also a Cumulus bug?

So does anyone else experience this? - i.e. the external part of the La crosse station ceasing to function in cold weather?

Cheers

James
http://www.users.on.net/~freespirit/weather

p.s. I love Cumulus and have used it since day one - A great piece of software Steve!

jlfutari wrote:Another thought...... Since installing Cumulus 1.9, another bug - abnormally higher wind speeds and abnormally low temp & wind chills(these abnormal figures used to always occur between the 2am-6am time frame) - has disappeared. I wonder if this is also a Cumulus bug?

I haven't done anything in 1.9 (do you mean 1.9.0 or 1.9.1?) that would improve the data quality, and as it's well known that these stations give spurious readings with other software, I'm reasonably confident that it's not a bug in Cumulus.

What type of batteries are you using? I believe Lithium batteries give better results in code weather.

Hi Steve,
I'm using AA Duracell Alkaline batterys and have tried rechargable NI-MH batterys.
Can you buy AA lithium battery's?
And Yes, I'm using Cumulus 1.9.

Cheers

James

jlfutari wrote:Can you buy AA lithium battery's?

Yes - well, in the UK, anyway. "Energizer" are one well-known brand.

And Yes, I'm using Cumulus 1.9.

Yes, hence my question - 1.9.0 or 1.9.1? There's a big difference.

My WS2355 has been wired for most of its life and has recorded temperatures below 0 on a number of occasions so it shouldn't be the actual sensor/sender unit...

Does it come good automatically when it warms up again?

Hi Greebo,
Yes once it warms up the external station starts recording/sense again, just as normal.

James

steve wrote:

jlfutari wrote:Can you buy AA lithium battery's?

Yes - well, in the UK, anyway. "Energizer" are one well-known brand.

And Yes, I'm using Cumulus 1.9.

Yes, hence my question - 1.9.0 or 1.9.1? There's a big difference.

Sorry - I'm using 1.9.0

James

jlfutari wrote:Hi Greebo,
Yes once it warms up the external station starts recording/sense again, just as normal.
James

It does sound like its losing power probably due to the batteries giving out at the low temps.. As others have suggested I'd try something like Energizer or Duracell Lithiums. They are advertised at operating at bigger temperature extremes than other non-Lithium based AA's

Thanks Greebo, I'll give the lithium batteries ago. Spring is in full swing and the night time temps have risen..... So i may not be able to truly test the Lithium batteries capabilities until late Autumn.
Cheers!

James

jlfutari wrote:I haven't done anything in 1.9 (do you mean 1.9.0 or 1.9.1?) that would improve the data quality, and as it's well known that these stations give spurious readings with other software, I'm reasonably confident that it's not a bug in Cumulus.

Hey Steve, just FYI, I'm still not getting any abnormal wind speeds or low wind chills/temps, since upgrading to Cumulus 1.9.0 Not one. I used to get at least one incident a week of abnormal readings...... now nothing. So I think, the software changes between 1.8.9 & 1.9.0 have fixed something (or maybe the weather gods have blessed my weather station!).
Cheers

James

jlfutari wrote:or maybe the weather gods have blessed my weather station!

I think that must be it

I've got a 2357 and it stops receiveing from the extrarnal sensor when the indoor temperatur (where the central unit are) falls below approx 15 degres celsius. The indoor readings works well all the time. When I first noticed this, the limit was approc 12 degres, I complained and got a new unit, but his one stops working at 15 degres - bad luck. Looks like this is an undocumented feature for the La Crosse. I tried to ask La Crosse, but was'nt to any help.... So it looks I've got to buy another brand or heating up my cottage above 15 degres, not sure what's the cheapest solution is...

Regards Per

I've never had any problems with my internal unit, in regards to inside temp and unit not receiving a signal from the external station. Maybe its a external unit problem? Try putting in Lithium batteries to you external station and see how it goes.

James

I'll try litium batteries, I'll give report back in approx 14 days!

//Per

Litium batteries didn't change anything....