WH1081/W-8681 help?

I got a W8681 which seems to be the same as a WH1081 the other day. I’ve been experimenting with instrument locations since I got it. I’ve had it working fine with WD & WD Live. Now I have just moved the instruments again, and placed them on top of an old wind genny tower on a hill about 250ft from the house. With the base unit in the house I get a signal, and updates from the instruments.

The problem is, when I moved the instruments, I removed the batteries from the base unit to avoid erroneous transit readings. Since then, I can’t get the time to update on the base system which uses the DCF time signal from Germany. I have tried removing the batteries from the base unit several times to do a reset, and try to get the time update, and I have stood right under the instruments with the base unit too, in case there was a problem with distance. Although the instruments are updating on the base unit, there is no signal icon. I think that only seems to display after the time has been set.

Can anyone please answer these questions…

  1. Is the DCF signal picked up by the instrument transmitter, then transmitted to the base station? As I understand it, that’s how it works.
  2. How often is the DCF signal received?
  3. How often is the DCF signal sent to the base unit to update the time?
  4. Is there any way of getting a report on the signal strength between instrument transmitter and base unit?

Oh. amd also… 5. How likely are my instruments/transmitter to get damaged by lightning on top of a pole on a hill? :slight_smile:

Thanks for any help!

How about adding your general location to your forum profile, then folks would know where you are, which will have an impact on how well the station might, or might not, receive DCF.

I don’t know that station but my guess would be that the time receiver is in the console, it would be a lot of extra work to receive it in a sensor and retransmit to the consle.

Thanks Niko, I have added my location just for you, but that still doesn’t answer my question! :lol:

If the signal is anything like over here in the states…much depends on atmospherics and there are days when you may not get a strong enough signal to set the clock. Hopefully someone from your neck of the woods can post their experience with the time signal.

Now we know where his neck of the woods is :wink:

I am also in the Uk (actually farther away from Germany than you, in Bonnie Scotland) and had similar trouble with the Watson WS8681 and the time signal (amongst other tings!). The dealer insisted that it could take “a couple of weeks” to sync!!.. after 2 months it was still not in sync… Reciever changed by dealer after it failed completely and still with this second unit after 2 months no time sync. Got a refund due to many other problems with both 8681s and bought a WH1081 from a different dealer, (which to all intents and purposes is the same unit as the WS 8681)… this was in sync within a couple of hours. I suspect there is a poor batch of WS 8681.
1 point which I have found will also stop the time sync is that these units do not compensate for Daylight Saving Time, so at present you have to set our time zone to MINUS ONE!

This will help all those with Fine-Offset station DCF time reception related problems :

It would be good to hear any feedback and/or success stories.

I’ll be doing another short tutorial, on how to increase the poor LCD contrast in the very near future :wink:

http://discourse.weather-watch.com/t/35788

Many, many thanks for this - it is most helpful!!!
(from another hogwatcher :))

I found this thread while trying to solve the display contract on my Maplin USB Wireless Weather Station (aka Fine Offset Electronics WH1080 / WH1081 - http://www.foshk.com, aka Watson W8681, aka Elecsa AstroTouch 6975 ).

The problem I had was that I could hardly read the display - the display contract was really bad. After phoning Maplin and googling I was about to give up and found a web page which had some information which I had missed in the manual (my fault)

If you press the touchscreen on the time once you get a 1cd0, qcd1 to 1cd8 - this is the liquid crystal display contrast setting - press + until it’s 8 and that’s the highest contrast setting. For me I need mine on 8.

Hope that helps those who miss it in the manual like me.

Thanks for that tip.
I bought a Zephyr PWS1000TD which is the same as the WH1081. I just got it set up.
I have 2 questions.

  1. Where is the RCC signal Icon, will it even work in the US?
  2. My Bar Pressure history keeps blinking from right to left, does it ever stop?

thank you

I have a WH1081. I do not kno what you mean by RCC signal - if you mean radio signal, there is no symbol on mine. My pressure history moves right to left and hasnt stopped yet - although I only bought it today.

I am happy with everything except the internal temperature readings - they are a joke - so wayout it says it is hotter inside the house than outside which is absurd as I am sure it is at least 5 degrees cooler in the house. Has anyone else had this problem. This was the main reason for buying a weather station to see how my passive solar house performs. I am very irritated and hope someone out there had the problem and fixed it.

not bad, 6 months for someone to know the answer.

Yes RCC was the radio Icon for time, I never did see it anywhere on the display but the time seems to always be spot on.
I also found out the bar graph never stops, its not supposed to.
I bought mine as a blemished unit for about $100
Are you positive both indoor and outdoor temps are set the same? FH or C ?
Where is the location of the unit inside? maybe near a hot air source? Maybe the outdoor unit is in a cool place. in the shade?
Have you compaird bothe indoor and outdoor with a digital themomoter?
If you indoor temp is off I would get in touch with them for a replacement.

I have NOT had any problems with the indoor temp. It is always within 1/2 degree with any other digital thermometer.
I did have problems with my wind cups, they jammed up. I had to dissemble them and grease the pin but that was not the problem, something was jamming it, I never did find out what but its ok now. I am very impressed with the accuracy, we’ve had winds over 50mph.

The earlier 8681 has a time code receiver in the outside transmitter unit. The 1081 does not as far as I can see (I have opened up both in an attempt to fix my Tx - anyone got one to sell me? See my other post today).

If you read the 1081 manual carefully it makes no mention of auto time updates but only manual time setting. So I assume they have deleted the auto time function. Mine certainly does not update automatically.

I have just bought the WH-1081PC from Maplins in UK and there is no radio time code Rx in it. Just set the time manually. There is no mention of radio time codes in the manual.

Looks like they have removed the facility.

HI
The WH1081 is not fitted with the DCF receiver only the WH1080 manufactured by fine-offset

You will lots of info on the fine-offset stations HERE
http://sandaysoft.com/forum/index.php