I am interested to know if anyone here has an Ecowitt WS90 and how they are getting on with it, particularly about rain and solar readings? If you have one how long have you had it and what is your opinion of it?
Stuart
Hi Stuart
I have had mine for over a year now all seems good, BUT the sensor on top went and i got mad mad rain readings, but ecowitt changed it.
I have a manual rain gauge and the readings are almost the same within ± 0.2mm. Solar cant help as i just use it as its comes out
I don’t know if you’ve seen the discussions on WXForum about the solar sensor and its physical positioning? Is your solar sensor flush withe the top or 2-3 mm below the surround?
Stuart
flush i do believe will have to check if i can get up the pole
From July 2024 I have the ECOWITT Wittboy Pro Weather Station HP2564, Includes 7 Inch HP2560 TFT Display Console and WS90 7-in-1 Outdoor Solar Powered Weather Sensor, Supports WU/WeatherCloud/Wow/Ecowitt Servers, 915 MHz.
I did not manage to integrate it in PWS, the configuration is beyond me.
But it can be seen here in weathercloud
or here
The rain sensor is not very accurate.
Marian
Thanks Marian. Since you have only had your WS90 for a couple of months or so I’m guessing you should have the latest hardware revision (v3 I think) which has the ring round the outside of the solar sensor and probably has the solar sensor mounted 2-3mm below this white ring. If I’m right this ring slopes and should be highest towards the N side and lowest towards the S side of the WS90. Is there any easy way you can confirm this but only if it’s easy please don’t go climbing up to check!
Stuart
I wanted to explain why I’m interested in this. There has been some discussion on the WXForum about problems with the WS90 solar sensor not reading correctly specifically in the N hemisphere. If you take a look at the attached photo of a WS90 you can see the white ring which surrounds the centre area where the solar sensor sits (now about 2-3mm below where it is on a WS80) and you can see this white ring (which is part of the rain sensor) actually slopes from right (high) to left (low) and the left side is opposite battery cover and it is this side which should be orientated to point N when the WS90 is mounted outside. It is believed that the high point (which is now on the S side if mounted correctly) which causes a slight shadow over the solar sensor and hence messes up the readings as the sun is predominantly shining from the south in the N hemisphere.
Now my first request if it is easy to do is to see if your WS90 is actually identical to this photo with the high point of that ring in the same place relative to the battery cover. It is believed that this is the case with the latest WS90s but very early ones may not have the same top design and therefore we believe do not have an issue with their solar values.
Thanks Stuart
Hello,
Honestly, I don’t notice. I put 3 photos, maybe you can distinguish something.
Many greetings!
Marian
Marian thanks for the photos. Looking at them your WS90 does not have the sloping ring as far as I can see. I am referring to the white ring surrounding the solar sensor. You said you’ve only had it since July this year. May I ask where did you purchase it from?
Stuart
I think they gave me an older model, I don’t see the red colored circle like in the image on Amazon where I bought it.
https://www.amazon.ca/ECOWITT-Wittboy-Weather-Supports-WeatherCloud/dp/B0BM3BQ425/ref=sr_1_5_pp?crid=1HJBAHUFP5KX5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.24X27wsrC7m2CcVMXcq_-Br5IUBWdOlWTpv743wlrgu65DjO1qfuZZkvAAMFdWgaeyQOL8 cnwCPuFn5OV_ZyPUneYcS8063X-4XIg3P9Sdbfs1x_NVxHam1khowdyKGSjIXrHN66OITf5M1ttuXwNkz6fXnB 2AtOXfcX2bXhEuKoOfO1gyBe3W8ShHKPZHHNylQiUHrj-nUm0sIp26n5Gnjd_8EttrpzfWVWy-FkiaRW-LJpdn G2Eo9hPxOSNSaS-kh3jWqNKxGUuh6E5roL6fqFI0YPGJXNRj2YKuzRFR0.8b6FTOwSOuVpT7In7VzF1VIX11zs_Fd- mB630eJ8JKQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=ecowitt+weather+station&qid=1726865411&sprefix=Ecowitt%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-5
Marian
Yes you do have an older hardware revision, not a problem for solar though. The so called improvement with the new construction is to improve rain detection by trying to remove false rain cased by vibration and the slope is supposed to make sure rain does not remain on that part of the sensor. However it does at least appear at present to cause an issue with solar readings! The jury is out on that at present. I will keep an eye out to see if anything changes.
I am really looking for this latest version of the WS90 to try and determine if there is a definite issue with the solar because of the slope design casting a shadow on the sensor.
Stuart
It looks like the second iteration, with the updated haptic sensor but without the slope of the third gen.
As I understand it anyway.
The main problem seems to be the recessed diffuser, which that 2nd gen has, the slope may add to the problem. Though the sun is higher when in the south.
Yes so far we have only one person with some indication that the slope affects the solar readings and are attempting to see how others are getting on with this.
The recessed solar sensor in my view is a bad design in itself and to me seems to be a compromise too far to get rain correct which seems to need this slope.
Stuart
Getting the rain “correct” is perhaps optimistic. Others have tried these novel haptic and optical sensors in the past, none to my knowledge have suceeded in making them work accurately.
The only alternative to actually measuring the water weight/volume (other than drop counting through a narrow opening) that I have seen work is a raindrop counting technique that detects each drop as it falls through a given area and measures its size either through radar or lidar techniques, and are prohibitively expensive for amateurs.
So true. My Tempest haptic rain sensor is worthless. If a person needs accurate rainfall amounts then get a tipping style sensor, or the collection type gauge. On the other hand, if you want early rain detection then haptic might work for you. The biggest issue with them is they are horrible at differentiating rain drop sizes. Hence they tend to over/under read rain amounts.
A follow up on the solar issue. The person who originally raised the issue has done some more work on this and believes that the shadow on the solar sensor depends on the sun elevation and your latitude of the sensor. The error seems to occur when the sun is below 35° elevation and the further North you are the later the sun reaches 35°. Ecowitt’s location is about 22° N (closer to the equator) which means the sun is higher in the sky much sooner so the error does not show anywhere near the same extent. Obviously there is more to do on this but it looks like there is a chance this can be proven.
Stuart
I had a look at Marian_Peteanu’s weather station solar plot, and whilst in the morning the sensor appears to be shaded, the evening plot shows the same “self shading” of the solar sensor on the WS90 at low sun angles. Typical plot attached.
I think we need to make sure that Marian’s WS90 is not shaded normally in the evening, it’s difficult to know just from looking at the graph. If you look at my WS80 solar graph mine’s shaded late afternoon evening but that’s because there are houses round me and it impossible for me to mount the WS80 high enough to get it unshaded.
Agreed, but I’ll look for other WS90’s, if they also show the same characteristic, it builds a case.