Cumulus Support

Hi everyone.

My name is David and I'm from Spain.

I bought a Lacrosse WS3650 as a gift for my Dad: http://www.weather-station-products.co. ... ion-ws3650 that I sadly have to return as it only has a serial port and all my computers have just USB. I've tried several USB-serial convertors without success and, reading some forums over the Internet, it seems like you really need a "OEM" serial in your computer to make it work. A pity as I had found it for a bargain price.

So now I'm in the search of something similar with USB. The obvious choice would be the famous Fine Weather (In my case it would be a PCE or Watson, easy to buy in Spain, but the same station anyway). It also has a touchscreen, and it can store quite a lot of data in its own memory so you don't have to download the data to your computer everyday.

So in price-quality is hard to beat (€ 120 shipping included), but I just found this shop that is offering great prices for this two interesting Oregon stations:

Oregon WMR88 (115 € shipping included): http://www.electroprecio.com/estacion-m ... -4696.html

Oregon WMR100 (169 € shipping included): http://www.electroprecio.com/estacion-m ... -4006.html This is quite similar but is suppossed to be more "profesional" and the external temperature gauge is different. It also has a ipod style dial for navigating the menus but in general is very similar to the WMR88. I don't know if it's worth the difference in price.


So I don't know what to do now. As I see it, the advantages of the Fine Weather over the "Oregons":

- Touchscreen (and it also seems bigger).
- Solar powered.
- Temperature sensor comes with a casing (I read it's not anything great but at least better than Oregons "naked" sensor, isn't it?)
- More popular (easier to find support for it).
- Comes with a mast.


Advantages of the Oregons:

- Rain gauge is round, what I heard it's more precise than the rectangular one from the Fine Offset.
- Sensors are independent so I can mount rain gauge away from the anemometer or temp sensor.
- Oregon software is in spanish (that's important for my dad as he doesn't speak english) neither easy weather or cumuls come in spanish. I know he can learn the few words needed to understand the software in a short time but he will manage better if it's in spanish.

Then there are two things I'm not sure:

- Quality and accuracy: Searching the Internet, I've read more complaints about Fine Offsets and derivates than about Oregon, but that might just be because they are more popular.
- Memory on the Oregons: I've read the users manual several times but still don't find any reference to the amount of data they can store.

So, what do you think? Any other station you would recommend in this price range? (max. € 180).

I'd greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks a lot in advance!!!

PS: Excuse me if it's a bit hard to read me, my english is a bit basic for this kind of technical explanations!!

ecco123 wrote:- Memory on the Oregons: I've read the users manual several times but still don't find any reference to the amount of data they can store.

The WMR88 and WMR100 don't have any memory at all for logging periodic data readings, so you have to have your software running all the time.

ecco123 wrote: Advantages of the Oregons:
....
Sensors are independent so I can mount rain gauge away from the anemometer or temp sensor.

Here in UK, the wire that comes with Fine Offset is long enough to mount rain gauge and anemonmeter on separate posts to transmitter with temperature and humidity sensors, and there are posts elsewhere on this forum about extending those wires (use search facility).

ecco123 wrote:
PS: Excuse me if it's a bit hard to read me, my english is a bit basic for this kind of technical explanations!!

Your English is great! Better than mine, but I'm Australian

A couple of points,
* The serial - USB converters do work, but sometimes take a bit of mucking around.
* The LaCrosse and FO's (I feel they come out of the same factory), are OK for the money (just) and can last a couple of years easily. That is if it doesn't get hit by birds :/ These stations also suffer from data spikes, these are a real pain in the but.
* If you use Cumulus updating your website, can you just change the language of the website. See the dropdown box on the right side of my website for example. http://www.users.on.net/~cond/weather/index.php

Everything you said in you post was a good round up.
If I had the money, I'd spend more on a better station.

Good luck!

steve wrote:

ecco123 wrote:- Memory on the Oregons: I've read the users manual several times but still don't find any reference to the amount of data they can store.

The WMR88 and WMR100 don't have any memory at all for logging periodic data readings, so you have to have your software running all the time.

Thanks a lot. Oregons are discarded then, as my dad's only computer is a laptop he often moves so he can't have the station connected all the time.

sfws wrote:

ecco123 wrote: Advantages of the Oregons:
....
Sensors are independent so I can mount rain gauge away from the anemometer or temp sensor.

Here in UK, the wire that comes with Fine Offset is long enough to mount rain gauge and anemonmeter on separate posts to transmitter with temperature and humidity sensors, and there are posts elsewhere on this forum about extending those wires (use search facility).

Thank you, that's good to know.

uncle_bob wrote:

ecco123 wrote:
PS: Excuse me if it's a bit hard to read me, my english is a bit basic for this kind of technical explanations!!

Your English is great! Better than mine, but I'm Australian

A couple of points,
* The serial - USB converters do work, but sometimes take a bit of mucking around.
* The LaCrosse and FO's (I feel they come out of the same factory), are OK for the money (just) and can last a couple of years easily. That is if it doesn't get hit by birds :/ These stations also suffer from data spikes, these are a real pain in the but.
* If you use Cumulus updating your website, can you just change the language of the website. See the dropdown box on the right side of my website for example. http://www.users.on.net/~cond/weather/index.php

Everything you said in you post was a good round up.
If I had the money, I'd spend more on a better station.

Good luck!

Thank you uncle bob.

I've seen a serial to USB that I've been told always works but costs €35, I paid €165 for the La Crosse (good price as the cheapest I've seen it online shops is €230), but add €35 and it's €200, almost twice the price of the Fine Offset and it seems it's not that much better than the FO.

That's a good point about changing Cumulus language via web!.

I could spend a bit more in a better station, but it seems like the next step in quality is the Davis Vantage Vue, isn't it?. The cheapest I can find it in ebay is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAVIS-6250-VANT ... 416fd24956

Then I believe I have to buy the software + data logger if I want PC connection: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Davis-WeatherLi ... 3a4b0dec96

Or can I just use a freeware like cumulus?

Add shipping, and crazy spanish custom Taxes and we are talking about €520, almost five times the price of the Fine Offset. I know the Davis is a great step in quality but I can't afford that amount of money at the moment.

Isn't there an intermediate in price and quality between FO/Oregon/LaCrosse and the Davis?

Hello again David.

I think, if I was you, I probably would start out with a cheap station that can log the data while "offline". Your Dad will get the experience and maybe later the bug will catch him and he'll want to upgrade to a better station and a permanently online presence.

uncle_bob wrote:Hello again David.

I think, if I was you, I probably would start out with a cheap station that can log the data while "offline". Your Dad will get the experience and maybe later the bug will catch him and he'll want to upgrade to a better station and a permanently online presence.

Thank you uncle bob, I think that's the sensible option.

I think I'm leaning more toward returning the La Crosse and getting the FO.