2006-04-11

Crashing problem not solved — Another crash

It seems my recent optimism was misplaced. At around 09:22 this morning the base station of the WS3600 crashed again. The usual thing happened, there was a beep, the backlight came on and every single part of the LCD display turned on. It didn't reset itself and I had to remove the power to cause a reset.

So, it seems that the solution isn't turning off DCF77 support and the recent long run of working without a problem has simply been good luck.

File Under: WS3600, DCF77.

41 comments:

Dave Pearson said...

Thanks Fabrizio, I think I've actually seen your site before while doing some searching in regard to the 3600.

Have you ever had any of the crashing problems I've documented here? I know I'm not alone — quite a few other people have written to me about them too.

Anonymous said...

Crash problems no, but I have a strange problem with wind direction sensor, it sticks to WSW on the afternoon of sunny days..

Dave Pearson said...

Thanks for the information Ian — I'll be interested to hear what happens.

Anonymous said...

Well its been 3 weeks and no crash, I think (fingers crossed) the problem has been resolved.
The station now receives time signal, relocated to better position.

Dave Pearson said...

Not wanting to jinx it or anything Ian but I have managed to go more than 3 weeks without a crash before.

Anonymous said...

Still going :-) The previous ws3600 would crash a few times a month and drive me mad.
I just hope you're wrong and don't manage to jinx my weather station.

Dave Pearson said...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Anonymous said...

Dave, I have also the same problem with crashes or some minutes lost. Did you find any solution yet?
Ian exchanged his version from 44 to 45. I have the version 44. Is there a way to upgrade its bios?

Regards
Pbalino

Dave Pearson said...

I've not personally seen a working solution yet. That said, I've not had a crash for almost 4 months now.

I don't know if it's possible to upgrade.

Anonymous said...

Same old problem,:-( station randomly resets, sometimes without upsetting the rain data.
It ran for months without a reset until the batterys were replaced,after which I,ve had 3 resets in two weeks. Could be a coincidence.

Ian

Dave Pearson said...

Ian as in Ian who commented earlier and thought he had a fix?

Sorry to hear that it didn't work. I was hoping you'd finally found the fix.

I've actually not had a crash 2006-08-21, which is my longest run ever (and saying this probably means it'll crash real soon now).

The one thing I have changed in that time (not that I think it's a solution, it's just something that has changed) is I've turned off the alarm facility on the base station. That's the only change I can think of this time.

Anonymous said...

Yes Dave its Ian, can't remember password :-(

Unfortunately the station has gone into crash overload. Every couple of days it "locks up" all digits showing and no recovery, not until I remove batteries.
I have just fitted a 433mhZ
remote to the outside gate 30 meters away.Hmmmmm ?
http://www.ruimeigift.com/switch/s12-4.htm
Any electronic boffins out there ?
Are these things passsive when not in use ?
Am I clutching straws instead of reality ? Remember the posting of mine saying its all down to the version number.(not true,they're all crap).
The ws3600 has all the features for a very resonable price, pity about the resets and crashes.
Then again a famous software company were world renowned for crashes. Although more polite,eg The system has made a fatal error and is shutting down.
I'm sure someone will come up with the solution.
Ian
(still can't remember password)

Kyle said...

Hi All, my 3600 also randomly crashes. Are you all running via the radio link? Does anyone have the crash issue when they unit is connected via the cabled back to the display unit?
Funny that Ian makes comments about the garage door opener, I have another little temp sender that operates in the same band so I'm wondering if that may be causing problems. I will turn it off and see if my issue goes away. By the way Ian, the garage door opener should only be a reciever, but I am wondering if perhaps your remote may be causing you issues.
Cheers
Kyle

Dave Pearson said...

Yes, I'm running wireless.

I've also got a couple of other 433 devices about the place, one is a little temperature/humidity sensor that I had before the WS3600 (which I could turn off as a test, although I doubt this is the cause) and the other is a level sensor for a heating oil tank (which isn't so easy to turn off).

Anonymous said...

Hi
I have just brought a WS3600 (23 Jan 2007 the still crash, I have had so many resets its not true the rain is currently running at 2036 mm and it hasnt rained here since I installed the system!!!! The company are going to send me a new base station! to say I am not happy is an understatement,
Ps its just crashed again !

Kyle said...

Hi All, I gave up with the wireless, I kept loosing connectivity. So I made up a cable (as the one it comes with is not long enough) and up in the roof I went. I found that the weight of the batteries had appeared to have compressed the spring in the outdoor unit - possibly a cause of some of my issues. Anyway, now let's see how long it runs without a crash...

Anonymous said...

I've been speaking tom Skyview systems regarding the crashes in a V45 WS3600 unit. They said their techs were aware of the issue and it had been traced to a problem with the LCDs. It appears this causes a number of features to appear, most noticably the crash.

I've been promised a replacement display unit, presumably with the bug fixed, when they have the next batch in from China.

Dave Pearson said...

The LCD? That's the last thing I expected.

Kyle said...

Gees... That's funny... Since I went from using the wireless connection to using the cable, nearly all my issues have disappeared. I have only had one problem since, the wind speed went blank for about 2 hours. So, I am not convinced that the issue is with the LCD.

Anonymous said...

Hasn't crashed for a few weeks :-)
But I've just lost the barometer, trend etc.on my ws3600.
Another return postage to pay to get a replacement,I had the original kit replaced in July 2006.

Some advice for anyone is thinking of buying one of these units.
Take into account the cost of returning them for the inevitable replacement.
Don't expect the replacement to last any longer.
Try to protect the outside transmiter from rain/snow, they fail when wet.
Think of the purchase as a novelty, hopefuly it will bore you after a few months and avoid disapointing you when it fails in the first 3 or 4 months.
Think about saving for a better quality lower spec system from a manufacturer that understands how to deliver a rugged quality system.
Finally consider moving to a hot still and arrid climate, rain fall gauge, barometer, anemometer,could all be ditched.
Regards
Ian

Anonymous said...

Hello my name is Panagiotis and I am from Greece.

I have had a WS3600 installed in my house since Augoust and everything has been fine. I run the station using the cable option as the wireless option did not work too well due to close by electricity pylons interferring with the reception.So I choose the cable connection.

Yesterday and today,I have not been able to get a wind speed reading - it constantly shows - - - on my base station.

The rain,indoor and outdoor temp, and pressure readings all work fine.
Does the bases station has gone wrong??

Any ideas on what has gone wrong ans how to fix it.

I have done all the usual things - resetting the station, new batteries etc but still no wind speed reading

Thanks you
This is my website with station data(in Greek :( )

Anonymous said...

Panagiotis, again...i forgot the link :)

http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/papsomad/

Dave Pearson said...

I'm not that sure what to suggest Panagiotis.

I suppose the obvious thing to do, if you've not done so already, is check that there isn't a break in the cable that runs from the wind vane and to also double check that the cable from the wind vane is correctly plugged into the transmitter.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your answer.Of course I made all these checks but nothing!!I also dry the junction between cable and sensor.
Suddenly today morning I saw the station working again. I do not know who?!
I hope do not spoil again.

Anonymous said...

I've had my 3600 for the grand total of 24 hours and the LCD display is randomly crashing every few hours with similar problems (i.e light comes on for a few seconds, bleeps and the whole thing locks up until the batteries are re-inserted).

I've got no chance of maintaining any long-term records on this basis and frankly I'm less than happy with it. La Crosse website is not helpful either.

andyc said...

Hey all - I too am a new user of the WS3600 and have been having crashes at least 3 times a day for the last 72 hours - right now the base station screen has frozen and I will have to unplug the power and start again. Has anyone found a solution to this problem yet? I have sent a message to the company where I bought and am waiting for a response. The La Crosse website gives no help at all

Anonymous said...

guess what I got for christmas! everything going fine until a couple of days ago it crashed and has steadily got worse,today just keeps crashing,I tried changing batteries etc, then after googling found you here, seems its normal to crash, shouldn't they recall this until its sorted? any updates? here's mine.
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IENGLAND79

Anonymous said...

Am sending mine back to where I bought - they have made no comment about system crashes but seem happy to take back - suggests that this is not the first time! Won't be buying a La Crosse system again!

Dave Pearson said...

I feel your frustration andyc. I'd never buy another one of their systems.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone had any feedback from La Crosse themselves? This is clearly a poor product and they should be doing something about it!

Dave Pearson said...

I haven't, but than again I've never contacted them given that (thankfully) my crashes are generally few and far between.

The only form of feedback that I'm aware of can be seen in this comment thread.

Anonymous said...

Fair enough - I will see if there is some way of feeding back to them on their website. In the meantime, I am packing up the station now for return! Will investigate further a replacement - Oregon Scientific seem to be a reputable alternative but not sure whether they provide an equivalent product - definately require an anemometer

scillywebcam said...

My Station came from TFA Dostmann
this is what they told me:
Dear Richard,
thank you for your nice e-mail.
We are sorry to hear that you have some problems with one of our products.
Unfortunately we must admit that we stated a generall problem.
This "auto-rest" of tha base unit is arbitrary and can not be removed by the customer
himself or even by us. We are in contact with our supplier but we don`t know if or
when we can await faultless items.
So we would like to advise to exchange the item for your customer to another station
like the "Nexus" (Kat.Nr. 35.1075) or "Matrix II" (Kat.Nr. 35.1049).

So I wrote to the shop we got it from and showed them this email, they said to sent the touch screen back them, which I did and they sent me another one, same make but it seems to workso far!! now the sensor's playing up everytime it get wet.

with best regards

Dave Pearson said...

Thanks for the info.

It's not the first time I've seen mention of this: get a replacement and then other problems happen.

Anonymous said...

We have also got crashing problms with this unit. It's v45, we run it on mains power and cabled. It crashes 3 to 10 times a day,we had to bring the main sensor/transmitter into an outside shed,since every time it rained it stopped working.

I've just found this blog and it seems the solution is to get rid of the thing and buy another make.


This is our second weather station the first one was simpler and did not dowload data to a computer but it still works! and its outside!

Data is uploaded to www.barraweather.com

Dave Pearson said...

Sadly this does seem to be the case. Some people seem to have WS3600s that don't have a problem (see initial comment here), some seem to have rare problems (like myself for example) and then some people seem to have problems pretty much on a daily basis. And I've yet to see an actual solution. :-(

Anonymous said...

Hello, I am too looking for a solution on the several crashes (once in two months approx). I even exchanged my station twice with the supplier, due to this error. When looking for a new wind-sensor (TC118-20, with cups !) I got a reply from a site in the Neterhlands, who also supplies weather stations e.g La Crosse.. He mentioned that it is known that there has been a LaCrosse WS3600 serie with bugs. However my weatherstation has been sold by Conrad Electronics (based in Germany) without any branding other than software coming from Heavy-weather (.com) it is one and the same station. I am anxious to know how to get the new firmware (somewhere on this post I have seen an item about it)

Huub

Dave Pearson said...

Sorry, other than the information there is here, I don't know anything else.

Anonymous said...

Dave, Huub here again.
It is confirmed that there is a serie of WS3600 weather stations, sold under 'La Crosse', 'Conrad' and even Oregon Scientific (diff. type number) that has bugs.
The main reason can be radio-interference with -for example- DECT phones. In my case, replacing the base station of my DECT has reduced the # of crashes, however, they still occur.
And.. the wind sensor stucked (propellor) due to spiders or whatever in summer, days without wind, the propellor gets stuck. in my case it is up a pole of about 7 meters. So I decided to replace it by the TX118-20 with cups. More reliable and more accurate.

Dave Pearson said...

Interesting observation about DECT phones. I've got an old DECT phone here. I wonder....

Thankfully crashes are few and far between so it's been more of an annoyance for me than anything else.

As for the anemometer, yeah, I've had it stick, mostly on very hot days. I might well treat myself to a cup-based anemometer at some point in the future.

Thanks for the information, much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I have LaCrosse WS3600 now from year 2006 and periodically (about once a week) it crashes. sometimes after reset it continues showing weather data, but sometimes after reset LCD all segments lights and needs manually re-resetting. Great station but with this bug... and no solutions.

I dont never had DECT phones!