La Crosse WS-2811 Weather Station Review:
Truely professional weather station. This product can measure all weather conditions and store all data to your home or work PC using a wireless connection.
PC Software via a USB
Wind Chill Factor, its Direction and Wind Speeds
Solar Powered Wind Sensor
Rain Information
Forecast including Tendency
Inside and Outside Temp
Inside and Outside Humidity
Weather Warning Alarm including Storm Warning
Product Features:
Time display in 12/24 hour time format
Automatic time and date (PC time) update from USB transceiver if connected
Calendar display (date, month, year)
Weather forecast with 3 weather icons (sunny, cloudy, and rainy) with weather tendency indicator
Temp display in °F/°C: from-39.8°F to 139.8°F
Humidity display in RH%: from 1% to 99%
Dew point display in °F/°C: from-39.8°F to 139.8°F
Wind chill display in °F / °C: down to -39.8°F
Minimum and Maximum values of indoor/outdoor temp, indoor/outdoor humidity, dew point display with time and date of recording
Relative air pressure reading in inHg/hPa: preset range 27.10 to 31.90 inHg
24h/72h history graph selectable
Wind speed displayed in mph, km/h, m/s, knots, and Beaufort scale: 0 to 111.8 mph
Wind speed & direction with LCD compass display (16 steps/ 22.5 degree)
Maximum records for wind gust with time & date of recording
Rainfall display in inch/mm: from 0” to 393.6”
Rainfall data for total rain, last hour, last 24h, last week, last month
Weather alarm modes: temp, humidity, wind gust, wind direction, air pressure, 24h rain and storm warning
Buzzer on/off select
LCD contrast setting
Storage of 1750 sets of weather records with user selectable recording interval from 1 minute to 24 hours
PC software:
- Stores collected weather data, creates graphs, synchronizes time/date, updates user settings and sets weather alarms
- Works with Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7
Wireless USB transceiver:
- USB transceiver plugs into your PC to transfer and share the collected weather data from your weather display with your PC
Wireless rain sensor:
- Self-emptying bucket
- Transmission range: 164 feet (Open field, free of obstructions)
Wireless solar-powered wind sensor
- 100% solar-powered with built-in rechargeable alkaline power cell
- High-efficient solar panels maintain operation throughout all seasons
- Transmission range: 164 feet (Open field, free of obstructions)
Wireless thermo-hygro sensor:
- Transmission of temperature and humidity data
- Transmission range: 330 feet (Open field, free of obstructions)
Specifications:
- Indoor temperature range : -40°F to +139.8°F
- Outdoor temperature range : -40°F to +139.8°F
- Indoor humidity range: 1% to 99%
- Outdoor humidity range: 1% to 99%
- Wind speed / gust: 0 to 111.8 mph
- Wind chill: -40°F to +139.8°F
- Rainfall: 0″ to 393.7″
- Transmittion range:
- Wireless: 330 feet
Power requirements:
- Receiver: 3 “C” Alkaline Batteries
- Thermo-hygro sensor: 2 “C” Alkaline Batteries
- Rain sensor: 1 “AA” Alkaline Batteries
- Wind sensor: Solar powered
A recent review sent to me: This is my first weatherstation with wind and rain gauges. I was really impressed with the ease of setup. The box does confuse the battery issue, it sounds like all the batteries are included, but the statement refers to the solar-rechargeable battery in the wind gauge. The electronics in this package is really impressive for the price.
I have no idea of the accuracy of the wind gauge. I did notice the rain gauge was off by a lot. I assume the statments above that it is off by about half are correct.
I did some calibration on mine. Found a plastic jug that fits on it exactly, cut the bottom off, and cut the neck of the jug to half tha area of the opening on the gauge. I hope it works. Hate to have to band aide a new system, but, it should work till they send out new parts.
A recent review sent to me: I purchased and installed the 2811 in late May and after a month I have the following comments.
Installation and setup… could not be easier. I had everything up and running within 30 minutes of opening the package.
I too have run into the doubling issue with the rain measurements. (to be exact, the reading needs to be multiplied by 0.481 to match my old LaCrosse WS2010 and my collector) As with Gary’s experience I have been told a replacement will be available some time in the 3rd quarter.
I suspect that the problem is not with the sensor itself however. I believe that the unit was misprogrammed from the start. As a test, LaCrosse support had me do the following…
1. Erase the Total rainfall or make note of this amount.
2. Pour water into the gauge very slowly until it clicks exactly ten times
3. Allow a minimum of five minutes for this ‘rainfall’ to accumulate, and check the amount listed on the Total Rainfall counter. It is necessary to wait five minutes, to be sure the complete count is registered.
4. Repeat 3 times.
5. Please provide the starting and ending totals. 10 tips should equal .20.
Doing that I obtained the expected results. 10 tips registered a reading of 0.20in. My old school collector rain gauge has almost exactly the same diameter as the WS2811 tipper. So I measured the amount of water that constituted 10 tips on the 2811 and poured it into my collector… bingo 0.10in. Given that the I obtained the expected result (see step 5), I suspect the unit was misprogrammed from the start and is not “faulty”.
My conversion multiplier of 0.481 is calculated by comparing the 2811 vs the collector over several significant rain events with the two units mounted next to each other.
The anemometer seems to have the opposite issue. I have it located at the same place and the same height as my old WS2010 anemometer. Collective readings for the month of June indicated that it was the least windy since I installed the WS2010 7 years ago, by a factor of almost 2 (955 total miles of wind, previous low was 1765 miles).
Hardly conclusive, but I am suspect given the other problem and physical observations of the winds effect versus the readings. Regrettably the anemometer of my WS2010 died so I cannot make side by side comparisons. I will probably make a “driving test” (drive down the road at a set speed and compare to the reading) of the unit a some point in time. Or maybe others have information on this.
Recent review from Gary French: Well another update. I received a call from Lacrosse and it seems there is a problem with the thermo-hygro sensor. It was discovered after shipping this model out that it doubles the rain measurement. They are having replacements made and will ship them to those who let them know. I was told that I must wait till August or September for this part. I do like the unit and did agree to wait till that time. In the mean time I will just divide the number in half.
Gary French update: Update… With the Wind direction I find that it is only accurate with winds 5 mph or better and am currently seeing that the unit I have the rain gauge is doubling the actual amounts. I have found a fix to this, but only with the online figures in the tweak section in the computer software that sends the information to Underground Weather. I am waiting for a response from both Weatherbuffs and Lacrosse on this issue. The unit seems to be good other than that.
Gary French update: Update.. To date the station is running fine had one occurrence that it lost communication and the controller had to be reset (pretty easy and found the sensors easy less than 30 seconds). The wind direction is not that accurate on low winds, looking at the graphing looks like it likes to spin around. I wrote to both Lacrosse and Weather Buffs and both got back to me with-in a day with suggestions (Great!!!).
Joe Amadeo: This station is currently available in OAK WOOD TRIM only, the L-WS-2811U-IT. The pictured unit above is the L-WS-2811U-IT-SAL and it is not available presently. We are just informed by La Crosse that the BRUSHED ALUMINUM (SAL) and the BROWN (BRN) units have not made their initial ETA (this month) and there is NO FUTURE ETA AT PRESENT.
Joe Amadeo
WeatherBuffs.com
1+ 925 685 2873 PDT
Californina, USA
GMT -8:00
Joe Amadeo: We have continued our testing and still have no sensor dropout over the past 2+ weeks. Very encouraging. We are so impressed that we are now allowing International Shipping of this station with confidence.
Joe Amadeo
WeatherBuffs.com
1+ 925 685 2873 PDT
Californina, USA
GMT -8:00
Joe Amadeo: Because of the problems with the 2810, we tested this unit in advance of offering it for sale. We were surprised to find that the previous connectivity issues of the 2810 had been completely resolved. We never experienced a drop out in the 3 weeks of testing and no drops to date.
As is the norm for La Crosse product, the unit looks great and the display is of more than adequate size with big alpha-numeric characters. Easy to read. The Oak grain finish is very attractive.
All of what we claim here is via anecdotal observations of the indoor consoles and the outdoor sensors place in close proximity to each other for comparison. Since each is not and cannot be in the precise location in a controlled environment, these are our real life observations and the conclusions we make are, therefore, our informed opinion only.
The barometer and indoor/outdoor temps are spot on with Davis at +/- .01hg and +/- 1/2F-1F. Humidity wanes, but is closer than all other Chinese manufactured stations at +/- 1-3pts. For other brands, we commonly see 3pt-6pt variations from the reality of Davis, a NIST traceable station.
La Crosse 24hr forecasts have always been better than any other weather station, including Davis. But it’s best remembered that ANY computer can be fooled by dropping pressure or rising pressure and predictions based solely on that can be quite inaccurate. That said, in our opinion, the Davis’ multi-variable forecast is the least usable of all and the La Crosse is accurate about 65% of the time.
We did not test the wireless to PC connection, but have no complaints of failure to this date. It is too early to pass judgment on the solar powered anemometer, but it appears from the size of the panel compared to the old 2210 built-ins, that it could be adequate.
We only tested the anemometer for connectivity and never mounted it in the wind. We are certain that the accuracy will be no better or worse than any previous La Crosse model, which is to say that we don’t expect this part of the station to be strong. Low wind speed indication has been the hallmark of all Chinese stations. If you want reliable and accurate wind, you must go with Davis at the very least!
Joe Amadeo
WeatherBuffs.com
1+ 925 685 2873 PDT
California, USA
GMT -8:00