I am about to pull the plug and get a Wittboy Weather station (ws90) to replace my Acurite 7 in 1. Looking through the manual I see a reference to a 12V/1A power extension cord which plugs into a USB port to power the heating element in cold wet weather. It specifically mentions below 26 degrees. My question is has anyone actually had to use one of these? I'm in Texas and while it doesn't get horribly cold or icy/snow for long periods, a few weeks to a month isn't unheard of. Would it be an option to plug it into a rechargeable battery pack? where I have mine mounted, there isn't an electrical outlet readily available, but if it is only a few times a year, I'm not opposed to just running out and plugging it into a battery pack for a couple of days.
Ecowitt has a Facebook page which has some helpful people on it.
This aux power thing is one reason I didn't get the Wittboy.
I'm also not sure how accurate the thing is either.
Probably less maintenance, if it was mounted on a hard to get to pole, or something.
Even if it's cold, if it's not frosty it might not affect the wind speed measuring, and who cares even if it does happen for a couple days here and there.
Of course, I'm sure the conventional cup design wind gauge on mine will require some visits during the winter to brush the snow off. Also the solar panel, which is horizontal. I wonder how the charging will work with the snow and all. We'll see, I guess.
So you haven't used the USB cable? 
Neither have I.... I also can't comment on how well the Wittboy weather station will perform in various weather conditions.
I have seen it includes both a Solar battery power option, a AA battery backup and this USB cable. Not sure how well the AA batteries would perform in more extreme weather conditions than I am unlikely to experience. Would be worth following up on the EcoWitt forum @velvetfoot talked about, along with responses from those here currently using the device.
I would also be interested in the data received by the drivers I look after when the USB cable us used... hopefully it's not another alternative battery reading....
Like I said, Texas doesn’t really get extreme winter like @velvetfoot has up in the NE. Typically 40’s and 50’s and if it wet it’s rain. We might get a week or two of below 32 degrees and ice. The manual says it’s only recommended below 26 degrees, so the frequency of needing it will not be too often. I’ll be in an interesting position to compare at least the rain fall as I also have a traditional rain cup sensor to compare against. The actual weather station itself is the last piece I need to finish converting over. Then it’s just going deeper down the rabbit holes.
I’m not on facebook, nukes my account over a year ago. I have found the actual Ecowitt community on their website is not very active, and highly moderated. No ongoing discussion. Just question and answer, and usually several weeks or months apart. I dunno, maybe I’ll go back and look at this again.
Some good answers though.
Yeah, if you mind waiting. A couple questions I asked weren,t approved and posted for several weeks..
As I’m looking , the WS 80 appears to be almost identical, but with out the rain gauge, that might be an option too. What was the smaller display you got that you said you liked?
I actually have two of the smaller lcd displays because I liked them so much. I bought one and a temp/hum sensor to play with off Amazon while I waited on the slow boat from China. (Not really, but it took a little while.)
One is in the upstairs bathroom, where it acts as a nightlight as well, and one is in the kitchen.
I have the large tft display that came with the set in the living room, but I don't use it as much, although it has greater capabilities and simultaneous display of sensors. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad at all, and it has moon phases, sd card, controlled hours for display shutoff, more displayed info, and other stuff. It's probably nice to have both.
What's kind of appealing to me is that the little one has battery backup, although, that's not a big deal either.
The LCD displays are WN1980.
Where is the barometric reading coming from? The display itself?
Yes. Each display, aka console, does pressure. So, each can be calibrated for relative pressure.
The big one has a lot more stuff on it. I find the lightning useful, where I live and where it's installed, anyway. I like the moon phases too. Plus, you can see an additional sensor as well, 'soil' in my case.
There’s always the option of the Weatherflow Tempest paired with a RPI running Tempest-Pi for an indoor console. Doesn’t require any USB connection from the station itself. Run mine in Central Pennsylvania and no issues with mine down into almost 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Running strong for 3 years now. I have a wh40 rain gauge setup as a secondary rain gauge on my GW1000B secondary setup for monitoring freezers and soil moisture and the two rain gauges are almost spot on with one another’s measurements.
The USB connection is not for data. It is for a battery pack to keep the ultrasonic wind sensor clear of snow/ice with a little heater.
It really would not be necessary in Texas where @lcw731 lives.
And FWIW, the Tempest also has an optional power booster accessory, although I don't know if it is used for the same purpose.
That power boost accessory is for helping the unit remain powered when the solar panels can’t keep up. I’m thinking in places like Alaska where daylight is limited during certain times of the year.
From what I'm reading online, that looks to be a similar purpose as the battery backup for the Wittboy. Under normal circumstances, the built-in internal battery is sufficient to keep the ultrasonic wind sensor clear or ice/snow. The backup is for when the internal battery cannot keep up.
The design of these two units is so similar ..... 
Ok. So that explains where I’m getting it from, my gateway. I was notice the sensor arrays themselves don’t list pressure as an attribute and thought that was odd.
I’m already way too far down the Ecowitt rabbit hole to look at tempest, not to mention not too interested in setting up another raspberry pie. Truth be told I don’t NEED a display, as it is all in my dashboards anyway. I’ve just gotten used to having a display with the Accurite it’s going to replace, so a console is really more of a nice to have than a necessity.
I was kind of thinking the extended battery back up wouldn’t be all that necessary where I’m at, winter aren’t that bad here except every ten years or so. It’ll probably be replaced by the time the next BAD winter comes along. Was just interested to see if people in general really found it necessary. Yeah I’m sure in Alaska it would be quite necessary. Then again I wonder if it can survive their low temps in the winter.
I know this thread is a bit old, but I'm also now thinking about the Wittboy and was wondering if I need both the gateway and the display unit or just the display. I want to be able to send the info into the hubitat and create rules and alerts off the info, but I also would like to have a display.
What display are you looking at?
HP2564 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BM3BQ425/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A13RMNHJJ617OY&th=1
Or, if I have to have the gateway then the GW2001 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TZZTYPK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A13RMNHJJ617OY&psc=1 and the WN1980B https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CC9JQ2SN/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=A13RMNHJJ617OY&psc=1 unless I can find the 7" display somewhere... or, maybe use something like an old tablet?
You dont need the more expensive gw2001 in any case i use the gw1100b with the wittboy.
You also dont need any with the system. It has its own gw from what i read in the.panel.
If you get this, you don't need an additional gateway.
