I've got a (broken) WS3080 weather station (mine branded as an Aercus WS3803). I've got the pinouts of the rain sensor and anemometer, but can't find anything about the Lux sensor(s). This is a replacement of the sensor: WH3080 / WH3081 UV and LUX Sensor | eBay, and at £25 it's a pretty good price for a UV sensor, luminance and a (reasonably good) heat shield for a temperature sensor.
I'm struggling to find any information about its pinout. I can see the RJ11 has 8 wires in it, and I've had a look inside the sensor - it has a microcontroller (and a reset button). You'd normally attach the rain sensor to it (although I don't need to). I guess it then has some sort of digital link to the battery pack transmitter unit.
A bit of a long shot, but does anyone have any info about any of this? Any help much appreciated.
For anyone looking for the pinouts of the rain sensor, it's essentially a reed switch between pins 3 & 4 on the RJ11 which "triggers" each time the tipper moves from one side to the other.
The anenometer is similar, there's a reed switch between pins 3 & 4 which 'triggers' twice per rotation of the windspeed cups. Pins 2 and 5 are to the resistor array of the direction sensor. I haven't yet got this down in usable form, but there appear to be 8 different directions the sensor can return, each of which has a different resistance (so a resistor ladder and an analogue read of the junction would give a voltage which indicates direction).
That seems decent quality. What is broken ?
Without detailed photos and without schematic and without documentation about the signals in the wires, it is hard to say anything about it.
There seems to be many different brands for a WS3080. Can you find more information ? Is it wireless ?
Reed switches with magnets are reliable. They last for decades in hot and freezing temperatures. They are common in anemometers and rain meters.
I see a solar panel and a dome. Below the dome is probably a light and/or UV sensor, and the solar panel is a light sensor as well.
Some UV sensors "measure" the UV light by guessing. I wonder if the UV light can go through the transparent housing.
Thanks for the fast reply. My station has a few issues - I have a stuck reed switch in the rain sensor, which I figure I can replace easily enough (I've had it apart, and ordered a new reed to replace the old).
Elsewhere, I think the "main" electronics are broken (or possibly the "console" display unit is?). I can't get a signal from the station to the console. Add to that the battery compartment is corroded like crazy, and some of the RJ11s look a bit corroded too. I can of course clean up all of that, but the wireless has always been a bit flaky, and the "console" has USB problems.
As such, I figure it's time to just connect the good bits (the sensors) to an arduino, and collect the data that way. I can replace the main temperature sensor with a 1-wire calibrated sensor easily enough, and have what I need for the rain and anenometer.
I figure I could connect it all to a raspberry pi so I can get the weather data onto my home network. There's been some effort to decode the wireless protocol, so maybe I could even transmit to the console (from much closer range, with better transmit power so it works!) so the kids have something to look at
For now though, I'm just wondering if I can get the lux/solar data from the sensor unit. It seems to have lux and UV, and helpfully comes in a pretty decent looking case which (so far) doesn't seem to be affected by the weather. I've had a look inside - there's what looks to be a microprocessor in there (which has a reset button on the case), so I guess there's a digital link between that and the transmitter box. I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything about that link...?
The solar powered weather station I built sends data, using MQTT, to a RaspberyPi running MQTT Broker. Node-Red can be used as a control panel. Otherwise, I'm of no further help with your issue.
Thanks all for the ideas - I'm trying to reuse this module if I can, as it's (supposedly) all ready to go, packaged up etc. If I can't get it to work, I will certainly consider alternative sensors, perhaps mounted in the same plastic box.
Meanwhile, I've been at it with the multimeter, and have these pins worked out:
1 - ???
2 - +3V (from the battery pack in the main transmitter unit)
3 - 0V (from the battery pack in the main transmitter unit)
4 - Rain sensor (one end of the reed switch, the other is connected to ground)
5 - Internal battery positive (not connected, as there are no battery terminals physically installed in the lux/solar module)
6 -???
I presume pins 1 and 6 are some sort of network between main box and lux box, maybe I2C or SPI or something - although goodness knows what data gets transferred between them.
If anyone has any insights, I'd be very glad of them
