Maplin Weather Station Repairs

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

Hi all – The remote sensor unit of my Type N96GY Maplin Weather station has developed a fault but before calling in some professional help I just wondered if anyone on the forum has had any experience of carrying out their own repairs and maybe can offer some useful advice. Although some 6/7 years old now all the sockets and battery connections appear to be in excellent condition and I would like to be able to get it back working again.

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Had a quick trawl on the internet and came up with this which if it works could well prove cheaper than trying to get the existing unit repaired.

Martin

edit: Spelling error

Edited By Martin W on 28/09/2021 11:24:51

[John Doe 2Participant @johndoe2]

Can you explain the fault with your unit?

Have you tried electrical contact or switch cleaner spray on all the connections?

Where was the unit sited – if in the loft, the circuit components might have been cooked. Lofts can get very very hot.

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

Hi John – The unit is fitted outside the house and it is currently acting in an erratic fashion. Recently I have been able to get it working for a short periods after which the display station then fails to record external temperature/water gauge/wind speed data I have not (yet) tried spraying with a switch cleaner but in the process I have learnt the technique of removing and then replacing the batteries in each unit followed by offering up the remote unit to the base station in order to carry out a reset. On replacing the batteries in the remote the red LED indicator is seen to come on and then to go off, followed by a flashing mode and final linking to the display station all of which I understand indicates a fully working unit. As an aside I have made contact with a company in Leatherhead Surrey claiming to offer a repair service. Replacement remote units as advertised on the Amazon website are not currently available and they have a question mark hanging over the possibility of any future supplies.

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

As John asks what is the fault with the weather station. Is it a single channel failure e.g. wind speed/direction, humidity, temperature or a complete failure of all of these inputs.

If the display module appears to be working but not receiving any data then the fault could be either this unit or the transmitter module mounted in the cylindrical screen however if the base station is displaying sensible readings for one or more channels then the communication between the transmitter module and base station looks OK.

A quick check list below might help identify the problem.

a) Windspeed and Direction: Check: sensor – cabling- connectors of failing channel.

b) Temperature and Humidity: Fault on the transmitter module, unit as per you picture.

Without further information it is impossible to proceed any further or offer any sensible help.

Martin

Edit:  Posts crossed so ignore above if not relevant.

Edited By Martin W on 30/09/2021 12:48:08

EDIT The Amazon seller I referred to still claims to be stocking replacement modules, however although they look identical there may be a compatibility issue.

Edited By Martin W on 30/09/2021 12:53:53

[GreensandsParticipant @greensands]

As explained in my previous post, failure is in the recording of all three of the external functions i.e. temperature, rain gauge and wind speed data. Humidity data is a function of the internal unit and as with all the other inputs controlled by the display unit is working perfectly.

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Greensands

You say that if you move the base station close to the transmitter unit you can establish communication between the units but when running at a distance readings become erratic and eventually fail. Is there any possibility of moving the base station closer to the transmitter to see if this helps to relieve the problem in the longer term. If it does then this indicates that there is a communication problem between the units. This could be caused by the transmitter losing power or more probably from some sort of signal interference from another source. Have you changed/added anything electrical/electronic in the vicinity of the base station, changing lighting from a tungsten bulb to a LED/ energy saving bulb, different TV controller as some now work on RF rather than IR. There are quite a few items that run in the same 433MHz band that could affect the communication between the units. Another avenue that may be worth looking at is has there been any changes to the physical environment in the vicinity of the units.

Just a few thoughts that might help shed some light on the problem.

Martin

Edited By Martin W on 30/09/2021 13:26:45

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Apologies for stating the obvious, but are the batteries good?

Rob

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

Most problems with external battery operated equipment is the Battery terminals becoming corroded. Worth a good look.

Steve.

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