In looking to replace my aging almost dead Accurite 5 in 1 weather station. I've been slowly building up my Ecowitt system. I'm to the point I need to replace the ACTUAL weather station component. I've already got a WH40 rain sensor. and while I would like to just go with the Wittboy and be done, seems a bit wasteful. I even tried to convince myself the WH40 would serve as a check for the haptic sensor (I have hear mixed reviews on that). So I find myself looking at the WS80 and it seems to me this is BASICALLY the Wittboy without the rain sensor (or need for the GW2000 hub). Has anyone else looked at this or have one? Am I more or less correct in that assessment? Thanks!
I don’t have one, but I agree with your assessment.
1 Like
I just got my WS69 set up. See the awesome, lol, picture below. I still have a tree branch to trim, but I'm going to have to break out the electric trimmer.
I went with the WS69 over the Wittboy because, despite looking really cool, the Wittboy apparently needs power fed from a USB connection to melt frost in winter so the wind sensing still works properly. I don't have power out where I mounted it, although maybe I could've rigged something up, it'd add more complexity, and work.
I don't really know if I made the right decision or not. As I said, the Wittboy looks cool.
2 Likes
Don't worry, even if you made the right decision now, the nature of this industry is that there will be something better come along soon enough 
Enjoy what you have. Get to know what you like about it and want you don't, then you will be better informed for your next purchase 
3 Likes
And if I get tired of it, a well-aimed blast of snow from the snowblower would wipe it out toot sweet.
1 Like
Just installed one a ws90. It does have a rain sensor and yiu can use the gw2000 but you can also use the gw1100 or gw1102 but to get it to work with that you will need to go directly into it via its ssid during boot and the default ip addess . You will still need one.of those gateways it.does not work standalone.
Ie
This looks clean and small... everything in one package. I might get one. 
Ya The batteries are only for backup if it doesn't get enough sun during the day. If in usa you
Can get the standalone unit on amazon with 30 off for 139 now. The one drawback is the needed wired heater if in a cold climate which is the reason i don't use them in mi or nh and use older conventional ecowitt units.
1 Like
I had a Davis Vantage Pro 2 for ten years. It was still going strong when I took it down about 6 years ago. After reading some things on this forum, I just purchased and installed an Ecowitt Wittboy. The Wittboy was easy to setup and install, and connect to my Hubitat Hub. Here are some of my thoughts after a couple of weeks of ownership...
- The build quality is good, but it aint gonna last 10 years outdoors. I am hoping to get 3 years.
- I had some questions about the unit, and sent some emails to Ecowitt Support. They responded in less than 24 hours, and provided excellent and easy to understand information.
- I forward my weather data to the National Weather Service (NWS) as part of the Citizens Weather Observer Program (CWOP). As part of this process, they statistically compare my data to other weather stations to determine if each parameter is accurate enough to include my data in their forecasts, and to help me correct any issues. The one data stream from the Wittboy that has been found problematic is the Relative Pressure. It is consistently 6 millibars too high, and therefore considered invalid by the NWS. However, that is easily corrected via the Calibration screen in the Ecowitt software. The wind readings appear to be OK, but I need more time to evaluate. I have had no rain, so I can't even begin to check its accuracy.
- The data reception by the base unit, and the data reporting process have had no issues.
- There are firmware updates for the Wittboy that you should install before you mount it because you have to connect the Wittboy and your PC via USB cable. The firmware update process is a little janky, but it worked OK.
- I have my Wittboy mounted on a pole about 9 feet above the highest part of my 2nd story roof, which makes it about 31 feet above the ground.
I believe your assessment is correct. However, I believe you can also add your existing WH40 rain sensor to your Wittboy hub. Then you can decide later if you want to get rid of the WH40 if the Wittboy rain sensor is meeting your needs.
Absolute pressure can also be calibrated. My question is to what? I have two consoles. They are .1 inHg different in absolute pressure.
0.1 inHg equals 3.4 millibars, which is a bit. To calibrate your Pressure, you can set your gauge, or take your gauge, to the near Reporting Station (Airport, Weather Service office, etc.). Then set your gauge to what the Reporting Station says.
There is only one pressure sensor in your weather station and it is calibrated/corrected with two different corrections to provide Absolute Pressure and Relative Pressure. These two corrections are independent of each other. As best I can tell, there is no reason to ever use Absolute Pressure. Relative Pressure is what all Weather Stations report and use. So when you set/calibrate your pressure you want to do so with Relative Pressure.
I was under the impression that relative pressure is a function of elevation and temperature. Absolute is absolute. The Ecowitt driver has a box for you to put your elevation in and it will calculate relative pressure.
Having a 2 weeks old WS90 w/HP2564, updated with October 2023 firmware, some of the screens do not match the documentation. I have not found anywhere to enter altitude/elevation but know the altitude/elevation of the WS90 within a metre. I used that information to 'calibrate' the barometric pressure, eg when rel is 1010.0 abs was 1003.5 or probably close enough. The 6.5hpa offset seems consistent since regardless of temp. The Rel has been tracking a weather service AWOS about 5km away +/- 'noise' so for the purpose of a PWS it seems fine.
Now for calibrating rainfall without a WH40 or another close by reference point, black magic made worse by the BOM starting the day at 0900 and the vast numbers of PWS start at 0000. The 5km distant AWOS works for pressure, not for rainfall.
For calibration of the rain sensor, I used a USGS creek gauge with precipitation records about 3 miles from my house. Is there a similar source in your area you could use? I initially had a wh40 by itself and added the ws90 later. I believe the wh40 to be more accurate. In a typical rain event it seems to record between a tenth and a quarter inch more than the ws90. I probably should dig into that deeper, but it’s not super high on my priority list at the moment.
3 Likes
Thanks for that very helpful suggestion! I found a river station about 2km away that reports it.
FWIW comparing my WS90 against that official site for a singe day was surprisingly close although accepting how variable rainfall can be over short distances.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
