Author Topic: My modified Thermor wireless weather station (Read 10800 times)

laskey · « **on:** February 06, 2005, 06:38:27 AM »

This is my test rig for my cheap weather station. I got it at Christmas, and have been trying it out. It's wireless, but it kills my cheap batteries pretty quick (with in 2 weeks, often much shorter), so I decided to solar power it. Well, Environment Canada does it, why shouldn't I?

I "accidentally" shovelled a couple of my solar garden lights this winter and destroyed their bases, so I took them apart cut the feed to the light circuit, and wired the battery sections in series. These ones run off a single AA rechargeable each. So the two in series are required to power the weather station's transmitter.

The bonus with these solar lights is that I got them at zeller's for $5 each last summer so they were super cheap. (well, for Canada anyway...) About the price of rechargeable batteries alone.

Cya,

Chris

thumbnail101 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 06, 2005, 01:26:54 AM »

nice, i was thinking of the same thing

that is solar powering the unit, you

are useing recharable batts?

Nando · « **Reply #2 on:** February 06, 2005, 09:37:55 AM »

Chris:

Good Idea, NICADs do not live well under prolonged cold temperatures, install them inside a thick plastic foam container.

Nando

DERFMOOSE · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2005, 11:13:52 AM »

great idea. Mine were eqipted with nickel metal bats seem to work in cold ran for 3hrs yesterday (got mine froom stupid store)

laskey · « **Reply #4 on:** February 06, 2005, 12:17:07 PM »

Yeah, these unit's have Ni-cads in them. I figure it'll be okay. They run the Leds of the lights for a couple of hours most winter days, so running the weather station's burst transmission every 30-40 seconds should last until next morning anyway. We'll see I guess.

I was thinking of putting in another set of ni-cads in the station's battery compartment, there by doubling my amp-hours. I actually tried it, but the old set of recharge-ables I had must have been laying around too many years... they wouldn't hold a charge, and pulled the system voltage to zero. As soon as I took them out it when right back up, and started transmitting.

Cya,

Chris

edy252 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 06, 2005, 12:59:40 PM »

hi ...

i dont know a single thing about such stations (i didnt even know how they looked like b4 seeing this pic :-) ) would u please tell me more about it?......accuracy? price? how to read the data? any websites offering such stations?

thx in advance

picmacmillan · « **Reply #6 on:** February 06, 2005, 01:29:25 PM »

you can buy the weather stations at home depot or walmart in canada for about 95 bucks canadian..if i remember reading mine it says they are accurate to + - 3 kms an hour for wind speed, not sure about temperature outside, but it seems pretty accurate to me...telling the wind speed is why i bought mine and that can help us to determine the output of the gennies

laskey · « **Reply #7 on:** February 06, 2005, 05:25:54 PM »

Yep Mine too... $98 Canadian at Zeller`s. Mine had a note in it that said the wind chill was not accurate, and would be fixed. I called the phone number and they sent me another base station for free.

I solar powered mine because I got tired of trudging out in the snow every 4-10 days (depending on the temp) to change the batteries. It`s been cold.

as for specs, the manual says:

Indoor and outdoor temp +-2C (-40 to +60 out, 0 to +40 in)

Humidity +-7% (20%-95%)

Wind speed +-3Km (0 to 100km)

wind direction 16 direction

Air Pressure +-4mb (840 - 1200 mb)

rainfall +/-.5cm (0 - 99.9cm)

and it should transmit over 100 meters

It seems pretty accurate to me as well.

laskey · « **Reply #8 on:** February 06, 2005, 05:43:00 PM »

Here I`ve marked my image so you can see which device is which.

Things like air pressure, and indoor temp are sensed on the base station.

Cya,

Chris

richhagen · « **Reply #9 on:** February 08, 2005, 01:25:13 AM »

I like the recycled charging system. Rich

Gadgets · « **Reply #10 on:** March 01, 2005, 06:11:06 PM »

I really like this solar powered idea. I might experiment with that when the weather gets better. However I need to make mine work first! I'm looking for any thoughts here. I just installed my system this past weekend, had a hell of a time getting the outdoor information to be sent to the in-house unit. Then all of a sudden, it started working and all was good. This was by mid afternoon, went to bed just after midnight all was good. got up the next day and back to no outdoor info at all, only the indoor stuff. I'll list what I have done.

-Brand new Lithium batteries, yes they are at full voltage under load

-Tried base unit on batteries and adapter (with batteries removed)

-I have tried the transmitter within inches of the base, a few feet, and up to maybe 30 feet away still no transmission.

-Tried starting from scratch again on the powering up of things, still nothing.

-Tried the reset button on the transmitter

- verified that I have the correct item (rain sensor, wind sensor) plugged into the correct sockets

-At this time the transmitter is mounted outside on a wooden window frame and the base is on a table about 5 feet away inside in the same room

Everything to do with indoor info appears fine, was even forcasting now. Has anyone had this problem to know if is the transmitter, or the base not working. I have a feeling from the short time it was working, that the base suffers from the "software mis-calculations" with the windchill. I haven't gotten home in time to call Thermor because they are closed, so thought I'd give you guys a shot in the mean time. :-)

pyrocasto · « **Reply #11 on:** March 01, 2005, 11:52:16 PM »

I still cant find a good weather station for that price. The cheapest I have found so far is $150 US which I dont think is bad, but the rest start jumping up there.

Templer · « **Reply #12 on:** March 05, 2005, 12:12:53 PM »

I installed wooden batteries in mine ! that is 2 pieces of dowel each with a wire connected to a screw on the top and this to a 3 volt wall wart. I made no changes to the transmitter and if needed these "wooden batteries" can be just pulled out and lithiums installed. It has been working fine so far ! since about November.

What I would like is to find a way to have the information sent to my computer instead of the display...Thermor say next unit !

patriot10 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 06, 2005, 06:20:40 PM »

Just wondering if you have that Phone #

I lost my paper that cam with my weatherstation.

Thx Patriot10

patriot10 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 06, 2005, 06:22:19 PM »

Do you guys still have the Phone # to get the base replaced. I lost the paper and would love to get my windchill problem fixed. thanks.

Patriot10

fsnerch · « **Reply #15 on:** March 12, 2005, 02:31:58 PM »

I have made similar arrangement for this weather station which I also think is good value. Question, in my situation I would like to have the solar panels exposed to the sun as much as possible. Have you had any success placing the solar panels for the Thermor weather station in what I call bright shade? That is in an open space but does not get totally direct sunshine in the day and certainly not in the winter.

My second question to have any idea what the furthest distance from the transmitter that the solar panels can be located?

rhart · « **Reply #16 on:** March 17, 2005, 10:12:33 AM »

Hi,

The number you are looking for is 1-800-387-8520.

My unit has stopped sending the wind speed, the barometer starts and stops when it wants to, and the wind chill problem exists in my unit as well.

They agreed for me to send it back for repair or replacement at their expense. I was impressed with that.

Bob

shania · « **Reply #17 on:** April 17, 2005, 09:15:21 AM »

Is there anyway to hardwire the base station to the display panel?

Then you wouldn't have to worry about power supplies.Then your data would be transfered in real time, not once every 128 seconds. As i understand it the base station uses its power to send the fm signal.So if it was hardwired that should eliminate the need for a power supply..

WeatherMan · « **Reply #18 on:** June 04, 2005, 06:04:08 AM »

Has anyone had the problem of intermittent sending from the outside wireless device??Thats what happened to mine.. It was sending like every 4 minutes, and I called in to thermor, and they are now sending me one...free of charge!!!

If anyone is wondering where Thermor is located SPECIFICALLY... here it it-they're a division of MicroLife.com. I am pretty sure thats them.

Canada

Thermor

395 Cochrane Dr. Markham

ON L3R 9R5

Canada

Tel. (905) 947 9449

Fax (905) 947 1034

patriot10 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 15, 2005, 07:51:01 PM »

Hey everyone.

Question is there a way to reset the rain display, or does it reset on it's own.. ?

Patriot10

zameluzza · « **Reply #20 on:** December 17, 2005, 11:08:29 AM »

laskey or anyone.

I need your help please,

I got my husband this weather station for christmas and I know he will have something to complain LOL he is a cheap guy!! LOL

I have 2 solar lights that I would like to use to build this batterie charging thing.

Can anyone please give me instruction STEP BY STEP please on how to do this.

Thanks

carmen

merry christmas to all of you

laskey · « **Reply #21 on:** December 19, 2005, 09:47:20 AM »

Yep, You push and hold the + button for like 5 seconds.

Cya,

Chris

smithy01 · « **Reply #22 on:** January 10, 2006, 05:25:29 PM »

Hi Chris,

Just got the weather station this Christmas

And am inquiring did you use the Phone plug (ext power supply)on the sender with the solar battery setup?

If so What was the Neg & Pos pins on the plug? was 1=pos 2&3 empty and 4 Neg?

Thanks

Smithy

Majic · « **Reply #23 on:** June 01, 2008, 03:18:23 PM »

My transmitter has 4 AA batteries. Does that mean I use 4 solar panels (will charge a 1.5 volt battery) wired in series to charge my batteries and run the weather station.

Majic

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Author Topic: My modified Thermor wireless weather station (Read 10800 times)