Hey guys… So it started snowing here in the lovely city of Brno. This is the first winter with my Ecowitt WS80 station and I use its illumination sensor for a number of home automations. So of course when it got a nice snowy cap, things went a bit haywire… Granted, we don’t get that much snow in recent years, so not sure if to even bother with this, but…
The actual question: Do you think there would be any problem if I mounted the station on its side? I live on the first floor of a tall building and there are buildings around, and it’s on the southern facade, so the sun irradiation is not too imprecise, but the wind direction info is pretty much useless. Generally I have the sensor for temperature, irradiation level and wind strength (to automatically retract aluminum blinds in high wind)
I thought that if I mounted the whole thing on its side, with the solar panel facing south, the solar info would be slightly wonky, but would give proportionally correct info and snow wouldn’t be an issue, the ultrasonic wind sensors should work as normal, only the direction will be even more useless. I just wonder if the temperature and humidity sensor shrowd would be a problem when mounted on its side. It would admit water inside. I guess I could add a little 3D printed roof over that part.
The only other option is to just make peace with a dozen days a year when it snows, or devise some sort of automatic snow wiper over the solar panel.
Anyway, thanks if anyone takes the time to read this whole thing. 
Happy holidays to you all.
Roman
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As a side note: I am toying with the idea of replacing the balcony railing with one vertically mounted solar panel, because the size would match pretty much exactly (1.3 by 2.4 metres)… I guess if I mouted the irradiation sensor in the same direction as the would-be solar panel, I could judge quite precisely over the next season whether the panel would even make sense and what the economics would be…
I just looked at an image of the ws80. Your looking for wind measurements with the unit on its side. I would be skeptical of mounting the ws80 in that fashion. I have to believe that the engineering of the unit takes into affect the wind passing through the unit has most likely been designed to be mounted vertically in an upright fashion for that measurement to be reliable. The other issue that would concern be more would be related to water entering the unit from the side and not knowing exactly how its designed, would question if water would get into elctrical components being mounted on its’ side. Maybe others with more experience on ecowitt products can suggest other alternatives!
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Yeah, I’m also concerned about the water mainly. I mean the battery comparment has a rubber seal and I’m pretty sure the unit has to be pretty watertight, right? It can’t just rely on a “roof dripoff” principle. Rain can come from any direction. And the electronics must be moisture-proof too. I don’t think water should be a problem on the top parts - but the shield on the bottom, that’s what I’m most unsure about.
As for the wind measurement - I’m fairly certain it should work in any orientation. It’s completely solid-state, just ultrasonic emitters and receivers. Paradoxically, their accuracy is also known to be affected by snow and ice forming in that space, which mounting it on its side could aleviate. Again, I’m not interested in perfect accuracy and direction, all I need is a roughly functioning intensity measurement. It’s not like accurate wind measurements are of any real use between tall apartment buildings anyway. Though not sure what the sensors would think about raindrops falling through the side measurement cavity sideways.
Thanks for your thoughts. 