We have had a couple of questions about the Weatherlink Console (6313) factory reset process. Firmware 1.4 appears to be a big and significant release, and if you are installing from scratch, or a reset, is can look like it is not working properly.

Once you set your language, you get to the WiFi screen and at this point your should connect to your 2.4GHz network. It then starts the firmware upgrade process - note that they advise allowing 10-30 minutes. If you watch the process or try to interact with it, it looks like it sticks/hangs and it may appear to randomly restart, however if you leave it alone, it just continues happily, if mysteriously, configuring itself.

Do Not Interrupt the Process

Even if the screen appears frozen or the console restarts, do not unplug or reset the device. Interrupting the update can cause setup to fail and require restarting from scratch.

It also does a second reset, presumably with the 1.4 upgrade, so you may need to enter your language and WiFi password twice. So don't be surprised if your setup looks like it has strange behaviour, as this appears to be normal at the moment until Davis ship with 1.4.

Once you get the "Welcome to version 1.4" message, it should be stable from there, and you can safely link to your sensors, an set your rain measurement to metric as normal.

If your console has not reached the “Welcome to version 1.4” screen after 30 minutes, try restarting the setup process or contact us for help support.

Absolute pressure is the raw, unadjusted air pressure measured at your location, right where your weather station is sitting. It’s the actual pressure exerted by the atmosphere, plus the weight of the air column above it. This reading doesn’t care if you’re at sea level or halfway up a mountain.

Relative pressure, on the other hand, is what you see on weather reports. It’s adjusted to sea level, so no matter how high up you live, the reading makes sense when you compare it to other places. Why? Because air pressure decreases as you go higher, and if everyone reported unadjusted readings, it’d be chaos! You’d never be able to tell if a low-pressure system was coming through or if someone’s backyard weather station just happened to be perched on a hill.

Why Does Relative Pressure Matter in New Zealand?

New Zealand’s landscape is anything but flat. Whether you’re by the beach in Auckland or tucked away in the mountains of Queenstown, your absolute pressure will vary just because of elevation. To make your readings line up with official weather reports or forecasts (which use relative pressure at sea level), you’ll want to set your station to display relative pressure.

How to Set Relative Pressure in NZ (It’s Easy!)

1. Check the current sea-level pressure for your location.

   • The easiest way? Head to MetService or WeatherWatch and find the current pressure for a nearby town or airport. They report relative (sea-level) pressure.

2. Adjust your weather station’s pressure reading to match.

   • Your station is probably showing absolute pressure straight out of the box.
   • Look in your weather station’s manual for how to calibrate or set relative pressure. Usually, there’s a setting where you can dial it in to match what you saw on MetService.

3. Done! Now your station shows relative pressure, and you’re ready to track those classic NZ weather mood swings like a pro.

Quick Example

Let’s say your weather station shows 1015 hPa absolute pressure. You hop on MetService and see the sea-level pressure nearby is 1021 hPa. You’d adjust your station’s relative pressure setting until it matches that 1012 hPa reading, either by directly entering that number, or by setting a offset (of +6 in this example)

Image by Tom from Pixabay

We can and do make some decisions that in their little way can help - we recycle inbound packaging, wherever we can we use sea freight and we also try to do our best with the packaging we use. Our padded envelopes are 30% recycled, our new boxes are 70% recycled and when we can we reuse old packaging we have both for the outer box and for packing inside. Reusing is usually less environmentally impactful than recycling.

So if you have ever wondered why your new weather station did not come in a sleek, branded box, this is why. The tatty cardboard box, with someone else's brand on it, is just one little thing we can do help our planet.

Amidst the fields and meadows green and vast,
A sentinel stands tall, its purpose clear:
To measure, record, and report at last,
The changing moods of sky and atmosphere.

A weather station, steadfast and secure,
Its sensors keenly tuned to every gust,
To every shift in temperature and moisture,
To every drop of rain or flake of dust.

With diligence it keeps its watchful eye,
Its data points revealing to the world,
The patterns of the earth and sea and sky,
The ebb and flow of weather, swiftly whirled.

Oh, weather station, faithful and true,
We owe our thanks and admiration to you.

Wind direction is most commonly quoted in True North terms, so we recommend using this direction. If you are using a magnetic compass, simply adjust your station orientation, or calibration by the offset at your location. If you are using the iPhone compass, you can configure it to read either magnetic or true North

This map is also quite useful: https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/9217/magnetic-declination-in-new-zealand

Most often, they are small, but once in a while, they can become scarily large. This is when they can damage your car, crops or weather station. Or you if your are caught out in it.

Believe it or not, there is an official size chart for classifying your hail:

Sadly, your weather station cannot measure these.

1) If you are uploading your data to Ecowitt, there is an Export button on the screen below the dials and above the graphs or data tables. This will export the data in the current view - so if you are viewing daily data, you will get a set of readings every five minutes, whereas if you are viewing annual data, you will get a single average set of reading per day.

2) If you would like all the data, you will need to use the backup to Micro-SD card feature;

• Insert a formatted SDHC card (not  SDHX) into the card slot above the power socket
• Press the console button beneath the cog four times
• Use the arrows to select the Backup option.
• Press the button below +
• Use the arrows to select OK and hit + again

The data will download to your SD card in CSV format. See also 4.12.7 in the manual.

There are two approaches you can take with this:

1) Since the solar panel is flat to the top of the device, it doesn't really matter what the orientation of the body of the outdoor sensors is at our latitude. If you rotate body of the sensor so that the arrow marked North points North, this is the quick and easy way of getting wind direction right.

2) Alternatively, you can point the wind sensor to North and tape it in place. The you can apply a calibration in degrees to reflect your choice of orientation on the calibration screen described in 4.11 of the manual. Remove the tape, and you are done.

The Current version of the manual can be downloaded from https://aercusinstruments.com/content/manuals/Instruction-Manual-for-WeatherMaster-Aercus-Instruments-E-V1.2.pdf

The following is a table of reception loss vs. the transmission medium. Each “wall” or obstruction decreases the transmission range by the factor shown below.

Normally, you can adjust positions of sensors an receivers to optimise sour signal strength - something a simple as moving a console near to a window or nearer to line of sight.