Hi Techies

I joined the forum recently when I was attracted after I did a Google search for more info on the Watson W-8681 weather station and Easyweather software. I recently bought one from Maplin's at a bargain price of £70 - which is amazing considering you get a wireless weather station and the base station stores data in EEPROM when the PC is not connected via the USB interface. I noted recently, that there is a new model out - the W-8682 which is more expensive than what I paid for the 8681 and doesn't have the USB interface, so I wonder if the first very cheap one was a marketing excercise.
Regarding comments on display brightness, I note that there is an internal relay which changes from battery to USB power when connected, so in theory, it could be made brighter.
The wind direction is a bit ropey - only has 8 compass points and swings a lot, but I wonder what upgrades can be done - got to find out what signals there are on the connecting cables - does anybody know about compatibility between instruments?

When I first bought the unit, the USB interface didn't work and I didn't get a response from Maplin's FAQ page, so before I sent the unit back I decided to open the base station up and look for broken connections. Much to me amazement, I saw that the USB interface chip had been soldered into the circuit displaced by one row! I can post a picture of it if anyone would like to see the problem. Checking the base diagram (thank you Google again!), I guessed that the chip wouldn't take any power so probably wasn't damaged, so I unsoldered the surface mount device and replaced correctly. All worked OK afterwards.
I decided I'd keep the working unit rather than relying on Maplin's excellent quality control (sic) for a replacement.

Thank you to Thermocline for sending details of web software for the Watson. I wonder if you have had any success with getting upgraded software which doesn't gobble up resources?

One other criticism I have seen of the unit is that the external temperature and humidity sensor can stop working after a time, and the battery box is not well sealed and also that the connecting cables are too long bewtween the instruments when mounted on the provided mast. I have found an easy solution to this - I separated the wind instruments from the transmitter and rain gauge, and put them at the top of a mast. The cable is long enough to have them on a 10 foot pole and the cable run down the mast to the battery box/transmitter mounted under the eaves of a shed or similar. The rain gauge can similarly be mounted in a convenient position. I am surprised that the fairly comprehensive instruction book doesn't suggest such alternative mountings.

I have one problem which someone out there might have faced - when I moved the mast the after a couple of weeks in the wrong location, I had the power on, and managed to jiggle some virtual rain into the sensor. Despite all attempts at editing the data fiile and/or resetting the unit I havn't been able to get the EasyWeather software to give me the correct week/months rainfall. Various hourly, daily, weekly etc totals are calculated and stored in the data file and are very difficult to correct, even using search editors. Has anyone succeeded in fixing such problems?

Anyway with such a low cost weather station around, I guess there may be many people like myself tempted to start recording the weather, so keep in touch and lets see what we can do with the Watson machine.
ps I also have an expensive 'Wattson' power consumption display and logger with 'Holmes' software - any owners out there with stories about these?

Great post deneb2, We seem to be getting a lot of attention from Watson owners, searching the web for their specific probelms, so stand by for action

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Thanks for the feed-back deneb2, looks like you are going to be the new 'techie' lead on the Watson So be prepared to take photos of the innards, connections, keep a track of links for diagrams, software, etc. etc. etc.

Now you're sorry you found us

Regarding the cable lengths you have got it exactly right ! (and something they have right !)

You will see many 'stations', especially expensive ones, with all sensors in one place.
This is NOT the way it's supposed to be, it's done for neatness and to keep 'Her Indoors' happy.

Anemometer should be 30 feet above ground, Temperature sensor approx. 1.5+m (old head height), and rain bucket stable and level approx. 0.5m off the ground and clear of other objects to avoid rain / mud splatter and 'shadowing'.

Welcome to the Mad House Forum .....

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I've uploaded a couple of images to the gallery under 'general'. One shows the misplaced USB interface chip and the other shows the installation with the battery box/transmitter in a dry location making use of the long cable to the anemometer.

Thanks for the update deneb2, it's great to hear how you've got on with the Watson, especially as they're not very common yet. Your post will be very useful to anyone thinking of getting one. Hopefully you get all the niggly problems sorted out and have many happy years with it (before deciding to save up and buy a dead expensive "professional" station, which is what I'm sure most of us will end up doing now that we're hooked on the weather ).

Hi deneb2

Just purchased a W-8681 and have had the usual set up problems, although apart from the fact that the radio reception icon has just disappeared the installation now appears to be working satisfactorily. The 'externals' are all on a swan neck mast fixed to the wall just below the ridge, some 24ft up. So the radio reception, 7 miles north of Brighton, should be ok.

I have two other 'DCF' clocks in the house and they occasionally loose sync, but only during adverse weather conditions. Apart from going up the ladder yet again and re-inserting the batteries I can see no way of re-establishing the connction. If I am up there I might well follow your advice and move the transmitter down the mast and put it under the ridge over-hang, or even in the loft if the cable will reach, this will make replacing the batteries easier, given that the unit outlasts them.

The brightness/readability of the display is the most disappointing aspect, I do have a variable voltage 300mA power supply and was thinking of connecting this to the base station to increase the contrast, or permanently light the back light. Any ideas if/how this might be acheived?

Thanks Noel

Nice post - very interesting. As a follow-up to the software issue I did manage to fix the resource hungry version of Easy Weather by finding an earlier version. The version supplied is V2.0 and I've found that rather unstable. I found a site somewhere (can't recall where now) that had V1.0 of Easy Weather. I downloaded that and it has been working fine for quite a while now. It seems much more stable than V2.0 and seems to do exactly the same.

Thermocline

Thanks for the welcome,Im new to this game and have recently purchased a Watson 8681 weather centre i thought i had it all set up ok as everything was showing on the monitor,the next day when i checked the monitor both the outside temperature and wind speed had dissapeared do what i can i still cannot get them to stay on screen,its as if there was no sgnal being received,even placing them 1 meter apart does not help,the instructions are a bit confusing as well.
Hope this all makes sence .
malc

Hi Thermocline

I found a useful website with more experience of the W-8681 and it also has links to the Chinese manufacture (Fine Offset Electronics) with new software - perhaps this is where you found the version you tried. I downloaded the new version - looks the same as the old but is supposed to be more stable, and the 'about' points to Fine Offset, rather than Waters and Stanton. The website is:
Watson W-8681 Wireless Weather Station
and the manufacturer:
Fine Offset Eletronics Co.,LTD.

Hi Malc

Can't offer any real advice presently except to make sure the batteries are connected OK in the transmitter. I guess you could use a scanner to listen if the 868MHz signal is present. As you heard from me previously, the quality control of the kit leaves a lot to be desired, so opening boxes and looking for dodgy joints would be a good idea before sending stuff back.
My unit has continued to operate OK, so I have no further quibbles presently.

good luck