[markkkk42]

I have built my Pro Plus and currently getting it into boxes etc, I managed to get a second hand Davis VP2 at a great price so I have grafted the Davis sensors to it and it works a treat. The mrs loves this and asks me to build another one for here so Werk I will order another Plus board. The one on test here at home will be going some 300km away from here at our farm and I will keep the good sensor pack up there but she wants a unit here. Been searching for more Davis sensors but no luck at a reasonable price. I even have been trying to get a FO set at a reasonable price but they are quite expensive for what they are out here. To make a long story short...after lots of ebaying and other searches I stumbled across a Bunnings video for the "IWeather" weather station...it has the full standard FO sensor suite and its only AUS $98.00 inc their display. So I will just use the sensors and toss the display.

So anyone in Australia go to your local Bunnings store and pick one up...even if its only for spares

[markkkk42]

That pic didnt post very well. I will try again

[AllyCat]

Hi,

I don't think that is actually manufactured by Fine Offset, it seems that the Chinese are now even making copies/fakes of their own products!   Most of the sensors may be "compatible" or perhaps even interchageable, but I would look at the wind vane (resistor values) in particular.

Yes the FOs (in Jaycar) do seem to be expensive there now, some time ago the 308x (Solar) stations were cheaper than in UK, but they were probably trying to clear their shelves of the (more) unreliable/faulty early production units.  The Holman/iWeather may well be as good (or better) than the FO sensors, but do keep a watch on the actual calibration factors (as you have some Davis reference sensors) and tell us what you find.  

Cheers,  Alan.

PS: There's GOT to be something dodgy about this 308x: AU$55 and only $10 shipping (Australia post from NSW) to the UK. (Ah yes, 5 sold in the last day but a zero feedback score).

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Wireless-Prof...2#shpCntId

[markkkk42]

I am going to set the Holman up here on its original LCD until the board arrives from Werk so it will be interesting to see how much different they are. Not going to the farm for a couple of weeks so will be able to compare the readings

Mark

[markkkk42]

Putting it together I decided to have a look at the resistors in the vane...well blow me down..this is somewhat different... the wind speed is just a reed switch and this connects to the wind vane so its some sort of serial bus to the main brain

[JT118]

Uk prices just a thought, http://www.maplin.co.uk or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maplin-Replace...SwnipWWHUK

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spare-Rain-Gau...Sw7FRWWLVX

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replacement-Wi...Sw8d9Uzzzn

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201786267152?_...AMEBIDX%3A

£17.49 + shield

+ postage to Aus? £20 approx. http://m.royalmail.com/mt/www.royalmail....ice-finder
+ Aus tax?

[werk_ag]

Hi JT118

Unfortunately Maplin doesn't ship to outside of UK.

International Delivery

Online orders can be shipped to anywhere in the UK, Channel Islands or the Republic of Ireland, unfortunately we cannot ship to locations other than these at present.

But there are other sources with good prices for FO instruments, that ship internationally.
I bought many times from this one in Spain:
https://www.astroradio.com/es/514023

[markkkk42]

Werk Have you seen this type of weather vane electronics in the FO sensors?

[AllyCat]

Hi,

I doubt if that is from Fine Offset because the output pin connections appear to be different (assuming the output cable is a normal flat/ribbon to a RJ11 plug).  I've never seen one like that before (however, I've not had any reason/opportunity to see the inside of many wind vanes) but that photo tells quite a lot. 

The 8 reeds have obviously been replaced by "Hall Effect" magnetic sensors (YH1 to YH8) which are similar to reeds but require a power supply and normally respond to only one polarity of magnetism (reeds close regardless of the N-S or S-N magnetic direction).  It's interesting that the anemometer socket has only two connections (labelled GND and WIND),  even though the socket has 4 pins, so they appear to have no plans to replace the anemometer with a hall sensor.  Note that the "Output" pins appear to have ETH and WIND (anemometer) on one "side" of the cable whilst FO put them on the two centre pins (of 4 for RJ11, or 6 of RJ12). I don't think the central "processor" is doing anything with the windspeed pulses.

The other two connections on the output cable are the (necessary) power supply voltage (still from two AA cells like FO ?) and the Wind "Data".  Since this vane obviously has a central microcontroller (presumably there are no markings on its package?) the data might be in any format and would need some moderately sophisticated equipment (sometimes not very expensive these days) to test it.  It's probably a fairly simple stream of pulses, but it would be "possible" (with difficulty) to make it compatible with the method that FO use to read their Vane resistance*.

*As part of my own "FO project", I have a small microcontroller which reads the FO Vane resistance (quiet easy) and then generates a "Pulse Width Modulated" pulse to fool the FO transmitter to report a different value.  My long-term aim is to average the measured vane direction and to fill in the "gaps" between the major (8) directions (N, NE, etc.) to give a "true" (equal occurrence) 16 directions.  BTW, I wonder how well those Hall sensors discriminate the 8 intermediate directions (NNE, etc.)?

I guess the "silver discs" inside the white circles are just manufacturer's test points.

Cheers,  Alan.

[markkkk42]

If you were going to make your own setup why not use one the new magnetometer chips that will give you a compass reading out. Put that into the micro and change it to FO language