[Mldxcc] La Crosse 5-in-1 Professional Wireless Weather Station Review

Sat Jan 20 13:57:47 EST 2018

FWIW:

I had a La Cross WX station for a while but it died. It had been attacked
by ants who thought the rain gauge cup was a great place to build a nest ..
but I think the real problem was corrosion on the battery leads. It lasted
a few months, then I replaced it with a Davis (Vantage VUE?) which has been
working flawlessly for about a year now. I did like the La Crosse PC
interface but never did get the web based function to work. That said, I
haven't been able to get the Davis system to work with anything but their
own display. But I haven't really tried very hard either (shouldn't have
to).

73, Alan  AD6E / KH6TU

On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 8:19 AM, Dave Sanders <eprd2016 at pacbell.net> wrote:

> Sounds like it’s working for you and at about the 1/4 of the price for a
> Davis Vantage Vue for example. I have the Vantage Vue with 2 wireless
> consoles and a data logger connected to the Internet to share my station
> data with Wundergroud.com (KCAFOLO16). I have a Smartphone app too...to see
> my station data.
>
>
>
> My setup is probably overkill at my QTH. Being in a typical residential
> neighborhood at 283 feet elevation with common Sacramento Valley weather
> there isn’t much to monitor, except how hot it is outside or how much rain
> we got.
>
>
>
> It’s important where you mount your receiver (station) so that it’s able
> to collect data without any wind obstructions, etc.  Many weather station
> owners may not have the ideal spot for their receiver so it’s a compromise;
> the accuracy of the data.
>
>
>
> My Davis Vantage Vue is 7 years old and has failed twice. Under warranty,
> Davis replaced the ISS PCBA with a newer version and updated internal
> modules. The second time, they exchanged my unit with a refurbished unit;
> the newer 6357 model. I was charged, I think $112.00.  So far, so good.
>
>
>
> I am somewhat surprised by these failures because my receiver hasn’t been
> subjected to extreme harsh weather and has never been damaged by birds or
> other means.
>
>
>
> Dave Sanders K6KNS
>
> Folsom, CA
>
>
> *----- Original Message -----*
> *From:* Dennis Moore <dennis at mail4life.net>
> *To:* MLDXCC Lode <mldxcc at contesting.com>
> *Sent:* 1/19/2018 3:32:13 PM
> *Subject:* [Mldxcc] La Crosse 5-in-1 Professional Wireless Weather
> Station Review
> ------------------------------
>
> Here's my review of a weather station I received at Christmas.
>
> I had seen this in Costco before Christmas but didn’t pay much attention
> to it. All of the weather stations I’ve used in the past were a hassle,
> requiring you to stand on your head and tapping buttons in a certain
> sequence while whistling Danny Boy until the inside display and outside
> sensor connected. When the batteries in one or the other died you had to
> repeat the whole process. Needless to say, when I did receive this as a
> gift at Christmas I had my doubts.
>
> After it sat on the table for a week I finally got around to setting it
> up. There are three outdoor sensors and one main indoor display. The three
> outdoor sensors are wind speed, rain gauge, and temp/humidity. The indoor
> display shows the data from the three outdoor sensors plus internal temp
> and humidity, real feel temperature, daily forecast, and a user
> customizable scroll message that I currently have set to NWS wind
> information that alternates with date/time. Date and time are set from the
> internet. There is also a smaller indoor display that shows the outdoor
> temp/humidity.
>
> Surprisingly, there were no magical steps to go through to connect all the
> devices together. Put in the sensor batteries in any sequence at all and
> the indoor units automatically connected to the outdoor sensors. The main
> display uses a wall wart.
> Before you run out to install the sensors there is an important step to
> take care of, and it isn’t covered in ANY of the documentation. The
> Lacrosse View app for iOS/Android allows you to monitor your weather info
> from anywhere you have a data signal, whether it’s at home or on the road.
> The main unit connects to your home wifi, and once you have an account set
> up that information is available online through the app. Each of the
> outdoor sensors and the main display have a barcode, and each of those
> barcodes has to be scanned by the app in order for the information from
> that sensor to be available on the app. Many poor reviews of the app have
> been posted online because most people (myself included) thought that only
> the main unit needed to be added as a device, and in doing so the only
> information available was indoor temp/humidity. Understandably, many people
> were upset that all it reported was the inside temp. Correctly adding the
> devices allows everything to be seen on the app. I found this out after I
> had mounted all of the outdoor sensors, so I had to take them all down to
> access their barcodes.
>
> A nice feature with the phone app is that you can set an alert, so say if
> the wind gets above a certain speed you’ll receive an alert on your phone.
> Nice to have if you’re in the habit of lowering a tower in high winds or
> have other things you need to secure. The phone app could use some
> improvement, for example it only shows data from one sensor at a time. You
> need to tap a menu then select which sensor you want to read.  The main
> display in the house shows everything at once, and there is a lot of wasted
> screen space in the phone app, so I don’t know why they don’t make it all
> available at once.
>
> Installing is easy. Just find suitable locations outdoors and use the
> included hardware (screws/wall anchors). I have the wind sensor mounted
> high on an old barn about 120’ from the house and have no connection
> problems. The self-draining rain gauge works, accuracy unknown. It reported
> 1.75” of rain during our last big storm and that seems about right to me.
>
> For about $75.00 at Costco, this is a good package. Easy to set up and
> configure, plus lets me know if the wind is getting too high. Recommended.
>
> 73, Dennis NJ6G
>
>
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