Acctim Weather Station

Deep Easterly

Decided to buy and test out the cheap weather station that is currently available in Argos at the moment:

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=30001&partNumber=0270823

Having tried it out for the last month, I think it is worth giving at a wee review for anyone who is looking for a cheapo station.

Firstly. The rainfall gauge. I found the set up of this particular part of it quite hard to be honest. It took a lot of work to actually pick up the signal once the batteries were inserted. And when signal was picked up, tended to drop as soon as moved the station to a different part of the room or house. Signal is working fine at the moment, but I dare not touch the station for fear of losing it again!!. With regards to collection of actual rainfall, seems to be okish. Up to now, I have been collecting rainfall in a old mug which I have etched in measuments. One thing I have noticed about the gauge is that is dosen't seem sensitive enough to record light rainfall or drizzle. While my mug recorded 12mm in todays rain, tha Acctim gauge only recorded 7.7mm, so it really only registered rain that fell in the more moderate bursts rather than the drizzley prolonged stuff inbetween. Other than that, it still gives a good idea, and is good for monitoring significant rainfall in any case. One other thing, despite the claim in the manual that it's measuring resolution is in increments of 0.1mm, this is false, it measues in increments of 0.5mm in reality!!

The wind meter is something I do not find fault with so far. It measures wind every 72sec (average minute wind speed, and gusts if over 15mph. One thing to note though, it only holds records of gusts for the last hour, so not great if you are looking to have a datalog of windspeeds over a period of time or for a certain historical period.

Temp sensor is also ok. I have found it to be on par with my two inscreen thermos at night. However, during the day, it will show higher readings than the actual air temp, this I put down to its dark colour (which will naturally absorbed and store excess heat) and the strangly black little shield it came with. I find it strange that whoever designed this that they would insist on haveing a temp sensor in a dark colour, along with a dark screen. (perhaps to keep the current global warming conspriscy going..?:D) No problems with the signal from both the windometer and temp sensor at all, as both are connected with a 10 meter cable. but certainly does work at the 200meter range as promised on the box.

All in all, an ok station for those who are interested in monitoring their local weather at a basic level and find themselves a little strapped at the moment. :rolleyes: However, it is not great for those wishing to keep a climate record of their area as there is no data logging facility provided.

It'll have to do me anyway til I get my paws on my dream station (davispro) in autumn please God.:)

Edit: I forgot to mention the barometer on the main console. Air pressure readings cannot be adjusted to ones particular altitude. I am between 50 and 60 meters above sea level, so baro is not giving correct pressure reading at all!! I emailed Acctim about this and they replyed that this is indeed the case, but they claim that this is to preserve the sensitivity of the actual weather forcasts given via symbols on the main unit. In fairness, I have found the symbols quite accurate and very sensitive to the slightest change in air pressure, even within 0.1mb, whereas the resolution of the air pressure readings is 1.0mb.

rednaxela

Hi,

Thanks for the review.
I recently purchased one of these units.

In the evenings when the temperature is going down, the trend icons display the arrows going up.
In the mornings when the temperature is going up, the trend icon display the arrows going down.
I have reset the unit several times.

I am wondering if I am missing the point regarding the meaning of the icons, or if the unit is faulty.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Regards,
Alex

Deep Easterly

I have noticed the exact same problem! trends point up when temp is falling and vice versa. I would say that there must be some sort of lag in the trend indicators that is the problem. My only advice with the trend indicators is to believe the opposite of what they show!

Supercell

Yep, sounds like a trend thing alright.
Paddy, I think most electronic raingauges have the same problems with light precipitation.
My Davis never registers light drizzle or rain if its short lived either.
And after a heavy frost it will register rain after dawn as the frost inside the collector melts.
I think nothing beats the old fashioned brass bucket tbh (probably are more fancy commercial guages but nothing thats available to us enthusiasts).