R & D Electronics, Instromet

[toadstone]

Just when you think all may be lost things happen that rekindle hope and an interest in your hobby.  My second WH1080 having died and the standby WMR88 not wanting to play via the USB (it's perfect otherwise), I was idly scanning eBay for weather stations. Sadly my computering and weather interests have to be done on a very strict budget these days but it adds a new dimension of inventiveness nonetheless. 

Among all the plethora of electronic listings I saw a wooden surrounded instrument display, on further examination it turned out to be  an R & D Electronics, Electronic Weather Monitor.  The listing had it down for spares or repair and although the input connections featured in one of the photos there was very little else to go on, no sensors were included. However 3 things attracted me. the auction had not long to go, the current price of ?4.99 and no bids.   

There was enough time left to research the unit, which revealed that although R & D were no longer, the company had moved and had gone through several transitions to become  Instromet.  Looking on their website revealed that the current models bore a likeness to the one on eBay and they also sell sensors and part upgrades to the various station models.  While the complete stations are well and truly out of my pocket, individual bits aren't over time. The decision was made to go for it.   Time was slowly counting down, with seconds to go and no bids I launched a max bid of ?10. Someone of course might have the same idea but to my surprise and delight I got it   

PayPal done, I was informed delivery would be by Friday, well that turned out to be Wednesday! even better. I was at first a little surprised at the size of the package but on getting inside it revealed a well used display but nevertheless fine instrument. The first thing I checked was the barometer, spot on reading. The 2 LCD displays looked OK, no moir? effect. The anemometer was free and again looked OK.  The back came off next. The LCD backup battery was dead and replacing that made the LCDs active. The temperature display showing the error code for loss of comms with the sensor which was OK as there was none attached. The selector for F or C worked.  My next move is to contact the company to see what sensors may be available for it and if there are any tests to see if the anemometer is OK.  All the marks you can see have clean up well.  I'll keep you posted how I get on with it. Eventually it may be possible to connect it up with WC, you never know.

Cheers, Pete.

[WCDev]

Nice 

You'll need the MetPlus logger then WeatherCat 2.0.2 or later. See http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1522.msg12757#msg12757 for more info.

[toadstone]

Hi Stu,

Yes it is and I think I'll just save the pennies to get the basic MetPlus and add sensors as and when I can afford them too.  I've hummed and ha'd over wired systems but at the end of the day I would prefer a more robust system that delivers the data rather than some of the comms errors I seem to be having.
I will also hopefully end up with a more professional set up.

Cheers, Peter.