Sharper Image Weather Station EC-WS115 not updating

Anonymous
2020-12-07T00:50:36+00:00

Thanks to this community, I have found the software for the Sharper Image EC-WS115, and I've learned how to deal with its USB issues under Windows 10. 

But, it stopped updating the forecast on November 30th, 2020.

The 5-day forecast software gives me an error saying "Cannot connect to server. Please try again later" whenever I try to update the forecast.

Is anyone else having this issue, or just me? Has Foreca shut down the server used to feed information to these devices?

I don't want to send this device to a landfill.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2020-12-20T19:05:29+00:00

I finally had some success this morning utilizing a workaround that was developed with a lot input from a number of people.  I've created a step-by-step guide as to what I did to get my Sharper Image EC-WS115 5-Day weather forecast station up and running again after the server quit working back on November 30th.  If you use Windows, then this solution should work.  I just got it working this morning, so I haven't fully tested it yet to see if it automatically updates like it used to or if there are any bugs in the code.  If you're interested in taking a peak at the process (5 steps), then download the zip file containing all the files you will need to make it work.  The step-by-step guide is a filed titled 'Read Me.pdf'.  Thanks to all those who did the hard work by decompiling and writing new code in order to make it work.  The zip file can be downloaded here (just click on 'download' in the upper-left-hand corner):  

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yin1t3oqjnyxwe1/5-Day%20Weather%20Forecast%20Workaround.zip?dl=0

Best of luck and Merry Christmas!

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Anonymous
2021-01-01T14:40:14+00:00

Can anyone put a detailed process on how to get the weather station up and running.  I have downloaded the zip files, gone to Weatherbit and got my personal number.  But , I cannot find the file folders that I have to copy other files to.. please help me.  I want  to get my weather station back on line.  Thanks!

Good morning Michael, as Eric mentioned in another post, check the ReadMe.pdf file that has step-by-step instructions on where everything goes.  Here's also a link to a 27-minute video tutorial that steps through each step in detail.  Hope this helps.  Happy New Year!

https://vimeo.com/495872313/ca3d3d378e

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-30T22:11:18+00:00

    Hi Casper,

    Great explanations and pointers. It amazes me how much you try to help people. Kudos!

    Indeed, there are many pitfalls and you named them all.

    At some point I double checked the host file and somehow I found that the new servers entries weren't in the host file anymore. And I could swear I had them there before. Anyway, I re-added and I was good to go.

    Some troubleshooting tips:

    If all is well you should not get any kind of warning/error messages: "Cannot connect to server" or similar means that the 5-day forecast program cannot get the updates.

    "USB disconnected" means the program cannot send the data to the station.

    If you have problems you have to go step by step:

    • is the software updating? If, after clicking "update forecast" you get the message about the servers not being found your Wamp doesn't work correctly.

    A successful weather update should have no message, you only see the "Last update Today hours:minutes" time being changed to the current hour.

    Next, when clicking "send to receiver" you should not get any message. Only a temporary "spinning circle", no "USB disconnected"

    Next level:

    So far I could not tell how long it takes for the program to send to the station. It may depend on the proximity to the station. YMMV

    I had a lot of problems with my Windows 10 PC. As many have reported, unplugging and replugging of the USB transmitter helped. But I got fed up so I went a step further: I had a windows 7 PC laying around so I made that one into the weather station. It runs headless. It gets powered on once a day, stays on for an hour or so and then shuts down. Powering on is by a smart plug, by a schedule. In BIOS there is a setting for "On power loss: power on". So every time the smart plug powers on the weather PC boots. For shutdown there is a batch (i named it turnoff.bat) file in startup and it shuts down the PC after an hour. If interested I can provide the content.

    As I said, I am still fine tuning it since I can't tell how long it takes for the station to receive the data from the USB transmitter.

    Good luck!

    Thank you Dragos, I appreciate the nice compliment!  I'm just glad I can help.  I too resorted back to an old Win7 machine I had just because it is super stable and no problems.  Everything seems to be going great so far (now a couple of weeks).  Also, great tip on using the smart plug - I never thought of that before!  I think I'm going to try it out.  Anyway, thanks again for your feedback as well as the post on pinging - it is very much appreciated.  Have a Happy New Year!  Scott

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-30T22:06:03+00:00

    Good catch!  I also appreciate the feedback.  It's definitely something to keep an eye on (as far as the hosts file goes).  Hopefully Windows doesn't try to override during an update or something.  It shouldn't, but I've seen some pretty strange stuff with Windows.  Anyway, thanks for the tip.  Happy New Year.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-30T22:02:24+00:00

    For the life of me, I can't get the program to work.  I wish someone would put together a VIDEO showing a step by step process of installing the fix. 

    To all of you who have completed the fix, I envy you!  Someone please do this!

    Hello Michael,  here is a link to a 30 minute step-by-step video tutorial walking through each of the 5 steps.  Hope this helps.  It can be found here:  https://vimeo.com/495872313/ca3d3d378e  Best of luck!

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