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Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
lnwer109
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed 15 Aug 2018 6:38 pm
Weather Station: Maplin
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by lnwer109 »

For those still looking fora replacement rain gauge for a Maplin weather station, I have bought a suitable replacement from Greenfrog Scientific - it is a "Rain Gauge for WS3083, WS2083, WS1093 and WS2073" and it costs £19. I removed the old one which had ceased working and replaced it with this one and it works just fine. However, having taken the old one down I took it apart and found it full of spider's webs which had stopped the moveable part from working. So before you buy a replacement, try taking the cover off (it is secured by two lugs on the bottom) and check that the seesaw-type thing moves freely.
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logjam
Posts: 172
Joined: Fri 30 Nov 2012 8:01 pm
Weather Station: Homemade station on Raspberry Pi
Operating System: Raspbian on Raspberry Pi
Location: North Lincolnshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by logjam »

Spiders are no1 problem with rain guages. Those web strands will hold up the tipper filled with ball bearings let alone water. :D Stop up all the holes, and put a fine grill over the drainage. A small piece of gauze will do.

£19!! :o It can't cost much more than £2.50 to make, even with a magnet & reed switch. :x Most of it would be easy to DIY in plastic or even wood.
gjchester
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu 27 Aug 2015 2:11 pm
Weather Station: Fine Ofset
Operating System: Win 7 Virtual Machine
Location: Harlow

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by gjchester »

mcrossley wrote: EDIT: Oh and I changed the anemometer bearing.
Mine stopped rotating this weekend, (its also the generic N96GY ) and I didn t think to buy spares before Maplin folded, do you know off hand what the bearing was, was it the same 5 x 10 x 4MM as in the wind direction meter?

My sensor is in bits at the moemnt with the bearing soaking in 3-in-1 oil, but i susepct it s too solid for the oil to have any effect, and I'm not 100% sure what I'm measuring on the beraring :)
AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

Yes, I'm fairly sure that the bearings are the same in Vane and Anemometer. There are several threads (including one quite recently ) that discuss sources for the bearings.

Note that the bearings linked in that thread, although from a Chinese seller use some form of expedited shipping, so could/should actually arrive by the end of this month. ;)

Cheers, Alan.
bingo99
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon 28 Dec 2009 3:14 pm
Weather Station: WH1081
Operating System: Win7
Location: Brierley, S Yorks

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by bingo99 »

I recently replaced my wind direction unit through Amazon, it came directly from China!! It is branded as MISOL on the website
gjchester
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu 27 Aug 2015 2:11 pm
Weather Station: Fine Ofset
Operating System: Win 7 Virtual Machine
Location: Harlow

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by gjchester »

Thanks for the reply, slightly delayed as I changed my email address on the forum and the new email activation email seems to have got lost and it needed an administrator to help me get back in.


Anyway the bearings been sat in 3-in-1 oil for about 24 hours, its slightly freed but it's "crunchy", it sorta rotates 180 to 270 degress then gets stuck and needs a wiggle to get it going, so I suspect there are a few rust spots on the bearings or liners. Even if i can get to rotate it enought to free the cruchy bits it will only get worse so I ordered new ones via the ebay link.

I'm assuming its just a case of filing down the slight lip on the plastic spindle that retains the current bearing, ease the old one off and fit the new one on the top, I cant imaging the vane will travel up much to work its way off the spindle to jusify remeltingthe spindle top much.

Thanks also for the pointer to MISOL. I'm thinking that if I have to star replacing parts I may repalce the system, as other bearings and sensors may start to failing too, or as I'll hae 9 spare bearings I cna jsut rebearing the directinos sensor too :)

Spiders are also my enemy with the water gauge too...
dc1500
Posts: 243
Joined: Thu 04 Sep 2008 8:35 am
Weather Station: Watson W-8681 (Fine Offset type)
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Laindon, S. Essex
Contact:

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by dc1500 »

My Fine Offset is now over 12 years old. It is a complete hybrid of new sensors, console and other parts although I have never had any problems with the console. Having always had about three spares for each I am on my last temperature sensor which is getting very flakey. The beauty of this machine is the temperature probe is in a Stevensons Screen a standard 1.25m high. I can't find any machines other than expensive Davis version that can separate temperature. I could forego the wind measurement I guess as that is never going to be that accurate on a garage roof. Any ideas anyone?
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Big Daddy
Posts: 265
Joined: Tue 10 Sep 2013 8:40 pm
Weather Station: Ecowitt GW1003 (GW1000)
Operating System: Raspbian 10 (Buster) / Mono 6.12
Location: Freiston, Lincolnshire, UK
Contact:

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by Big Daddy »

Have a look at Ecowitt https://www.ecowitt.com

They do complete sets with all in one sensors or you can buy seperate elements to make up what you want. If you but an all in one, they also do a seperate outdoor temperature / humidity sensor (WH32) which is seperate and can be located away from you anenometer. The WH32 overides the sensors in the all in one. You need the GW1000 gateway to talk to CumulusMX but this is wi-fi now and no need for any USB connectivity like on the old Maplin devices.

I have an Ecowitt now and for the price find that it meets my amateur needs.

If you do decide to go with Ecowitt then make sure you request the correct frequency for your country so you dont suddenly start causing interference to other wavelenghths. If you are in the UK then this would be 868 Mhz

Andy
kuro68k
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon 10 Jan 2022 3:54 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset WH1080
Operating System: Windows 8.1

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by kuro68k »

Does anyone happen to know if this would be a suitable replacement for my Maplin Fine Offset WH1080?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123132220508

I think the transmitter part is dead, it works for a few days or weeks after I change the batteries but then stops.
AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

I believe the transmitter part probably is compatible with a "Maplin" station produced after about 2012, but that link seems an expensive solution. The transmitter should send the Temp/Hum/Wind/Rain data in the same packet format as the WH108x uses, and the "solar pod" generates a separate packet for Solar data (which the 108x won't recognise). Therefore the Solar Pod and (attached) "Stevenson Screen" will be "useless" and probably won't even effectively charge the batteries in the transmitter.

Maybe more details in the (very long) sticky "..insides of..." threads at the head of this (Fine Offset) section.

Cheers, Alan.
kuro68k
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon 10 Jan 2022 3:54 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset WH1080
Operating System: Windows 8.1

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by kuro68k »

Thanks Alan. Maybe I should get the transmitter in from outdoors and see if I can fix it.

I have an SDR here, I need to get a 433MHz antenna anyway so I could see if it is transmitting.
AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,

The (post 2012 ish) transmitter is basically a very simple OOK (AM) type and could be replaced, but the problem is probably the microcontroller which is "Chip On Board" (under a blob of epoxy) or the (largely unidentified) Humidity/temperature sensor which (if it has failed) I believe may "hang" the controller. Using a SDR may be tedious or impossible because the transmitter operates for only around 50 ms in each 48 seconds packet cycle. But it's certainly worth trying to "clean up" and "dry out" the transmitter PCB, as the box is usually quite easy to open up.

Cheers, Alan.
kuro68k
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon 10 Jan 2022 3:54 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset WH1080
Operating System: Windows 8.1

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by kuro68k »

Hmm, sounds like it may be time to just replace the whole thing. Summer project perhaps.
harrym1byt
Posts: 280
Joined: Fri 15 Aug 2008 5:22 pm
Weather Station: WH 1081 (EasyWeather type)
Operating System: Win10
Location: Garforth, W. Yorks, UK
Contact:

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by harrym1byt »

kuro68k wrote: Mon 10 Jan 2022 4:04 pm Does anyone happen to know if this would be a suitable replacement for my Maplin Fine Offset WH1080?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123132220508

I think the transmitter part is dead, it works for a few days or weeks after I change the batteries but then stops.
Are you sure it's not cheap, old batteries you are fitting? My sensor are pole mounted at the top / far end of my garage. I ran a two core from the battery pins in the unit, down into the garage so they were easier to relplace when necessary and running from larger batteries for longer life.
watsonm
Posts: 208
Joined: Sun 03 Jan 2016 3:39 pm
Weather Station: N96GY -but like Triggers Broom!!
Operating System: Raspberry Pi4 Vers:11 Bullseye
Location: Poundbury, Dorset

Re: Maplin in administration - where to buy spare parts now?

Post by watsonm »

Misol still seem to be advertising parts and kits for weather stations in 2022

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?i=merchant-i ... X4RYWQVPNM
Regards Mike
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Raspberry Pi 4 Bullseye
Directly connected : BMP388 pressure sensor. DHT22 For internal Humidity/temp Sensor. PMS5003 Particle Sensor
Wireless connected: 3 (WS2083)Temp TXr's, WH57 Lightning Sensor, FO Solar sensor
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