AcuRite Wireless Digital Rain Gauge with Self-Emptying Collector with Rainfall History, Alerts, and Current Date and Time (00899), Multicolor

We planted a lot of new palm trees and they require a lot of watering. But on rainy days we can skip. If we get enough rain. So ironically ChatGPT suggested this as a solution. And it works perfectly. Took minimal time to set up. Just don’t put the batteries in the base until you’re where you plan to set it up. I didn’t and the little counter thing counter 0.44 inches of water from me shromping around the yard to find the place to set it up. Works great. There is a short lag between when it counts and when the interior unit updates but it’s no big deal. It’s really helped us make sure the palms get enough water on rainy days. If anything changes I’ll update. The base takes 2 AA batteries and the receiver 3 AAA ones. Just FYI in the event you don’t have any on hand.

This is a very nice, easy to use and very informative rain gauge. The way it works is so cool and you don’t have to mess with it once it’s set up. Take your time and read the instructions so you get the best benefit from it. This is so much better than a plastic or glass tube that you have to squint or hold your head ‘just so’ to read the lines. I highly recommend this!!!

The unit appears to be well designed and functional, but the first unit I received would only register 000. I contacted AcuRite who instructed me to ship the unit back to them. They would then evaluate the unit and after evaluation, ship a repaired unit or replace it. This didn't sound to me like I was going to have a working rain gauge any time soon, so I checked with Amazon. Amazon shipped a replacement unit that day which I received today (2 days later.) The new unit works as advertised, but needed calibration. To calibrate the unit USE THE INSTRUCTIONS ON ACURITE'S WEBSITE, NOT THE ONES IN THE INSTRUCTION BOOKLET! The booklet shipped with the unit gives the wrong calibration number. The correct number is 1.68. I went through the calibration process three times before I got it close enough. Mine is now less than 2% in error according to my measurement. I doubt that the measuring cup that I used to measure the calibration water with is that accurate anyway so that is the point that I stopped. The calibration instructions tell you to poke a hole in a plastic cup and let 8 oz of water drip through to calibrate the unit. What I found was that the surface tension of the water, as the cup nears empty, doesn't allow the last little bit of water to drain through a hole that small. I enlarged the hole with a small finishing nail, which solved the problem, but I think you could get the same result using the pinhole by just adding a drop of dishwashing detergent to the water to break the surface tension. Overall, I really like the looks of this device. If it lasts as long as it looks like it should, I'll be well pleased. 6/3/22 I originally posted this several years ago. The rain gauge worked flawlessly up until early this year. It finally gave up the ghost. I ordered another rain gauge of the same model from Amazon and received it a few days ago. It worked as it should from day 1. I have not checked the calibration yet, but it seems to register about what I think it should. The new unit does seem to have a lttle better range than my old one did. The display can still read what the remote sends inside the house and clear across the room. The old one had to be near the window that overlooked the area the remote was installed in.

I was a little skeptical at first when buying this rain gauge. My dad and I have been tracking rainfall for years with glass gauges (we farm) and I was drawn in by the "self-emptying" part, but also a little leery of how it emptied itself, whether it would freeze in the winter, and whether the design would hold up to years of abuse the way that our plain old tubes did. So, the first thing I did when I got it was take it apart. I have to say, I was really impressed by the design of this thing. Its simple and brilliant, and I think that understanding how it works really helps put you at ease with it. Setup: Two tabs on the side of the white plastic cover allow you to unsnap the white part from the gray part. Inside, you find the measuring unit, which snaps into the gray base. When you unsnap the measuring unit from the bottom of the base, you see the place for the batteries in the bottom of the measuring unit. Once you put the batteries in and snap it back into the base, it covers the batteries to keep them out of the elements. It has two screw holes in the base that will allow you to screw it down so it won't blow away, then you just snap the white part back into the base, and its ready to go. Batteries go into the indoor unit through a flap on the back, very standard. The unit connected right away when the batteries were installed in that order, and didn't lose connection even though there is about 100 yards of space between where the rain gauge is located and where the display is located, indoors. How it Works: Now onto the fun part. The white part of the gauge funnels the water down to a drip point where it drips into the inside of the gauge. The measuring unit is underneath the drip point, and it consists of a see-saw made with two spoons and a magnet on the bottom. The dripper funnels water into the highest spoon until it gets heavy. When it has enough water, it falls, swinging the magnet past the sensor, raising the other spoon to catch water, and dumping its own water out the side of the rain gauge, all in one motion. Then it repeats with the other side. The sensor just measures how many times the magnet swings past. So, there is really only one moving part - the double spoon with a magnetic bottom, on an axis. Nothing complex or easily breakable. It basically measures the rain one tiny measuring cup at a time. And, since the spoon has an open top, holds only a few drops of water, and empties out the side of the base, there is nothing to freeze and crack, so I can leave this gauge outside - no more bringing the gauges in like I have to with the glass tubes. Also, the accuracy of the rain gauge is completely adjustable. It has two set screws underneath the ends of the spoons that you adjust up and down to control how much rain it gathers in each spoon before tipping. So, you can run it next to your favorite rain gauge, and adjust the screws until the reading is dead-on accurate. The inside unit is very similar to other accu-rite weather products. It has a clear display that includes the time and date, and a few buttons. The mode button cycles between running totals. It keeps a total for the latest rain event, the last 24 hours, the last week, and two separate running totals (A and B) that you can use to track whatever you want. ( I use A for the monthly total, and B for the yearly total.) To reset a total, you hold the clear button while you're viewing it. History takes you back to previous readings. It has two alarm thresholds. You can set an alarm for rainfall if you want to be alerted when it starts to rain. You can set another alarm for a flood watch if you want to be alerted when high amounts of rain fall. The set and + butttons are just used to set up the unit. The Bottom Line: This rain gauge uses a simple, accurate, and adjustable method to measure rain. It won't freeze and crack like tube rain gauges, so you don't have to bring it in. It keeps 5 running totals so you can see how much rain you got without having to track it manually. Better yet, you don't have to go outside to empty it after each rainfall. All in all, if you're looking for a rain gauge, this one is a good one.

I can't even comment on durability or accuracy in the real world, I let this sit on my desk for over a month because I knew from other reviews that the calibration process would be difficult and I assumed it was mandatory. They should just include a cup with a hole in it, even though it sounds like a common thing to have laying around. Here's why- My first few attempts involved a generic red party cup with a thumb tack hole punched in the lowest point. It'd drip consistently for a while, then slow down and eventually stop dripping with 10% of the water left. Not enough water weight to force more water through the small hole, surface tension, who knows. Attempts to ever so slightly enlarge the hole didn't solve this, or resulted in the cup draining too quickly. This was all precarious anyway - 1) my pyrex measuring cup is hard to nail 1 cup exactly. I resorted to using a graduated cylinder to fill it with exactly 1 cup / 237ml. It was below the line on my measuring cup. Then I'd transfer to my hole cup 2) I had to balance my hole-punched cup across the top of the unit using pencils. I disliked everything about this after the third attempt, with cups stalling out or draining too fast. Finally saw a video of someone doing it a different way and I put another spin on it. I set a grease-spatter screen across my sink and put a sandwich-type plastic storage container beneath it. I set the rain gauge on the screen and set my faucet at the slowest drip possible. I decided for more accuracy that I would let it drip until the gauge read 3.36", or double what the instruction manual states (1.68"). The water drained through the gauge, through the screen, and collected in the storage container. This took almost an hour. When the screen showed 3.36" (very lucky, I wouldn't expect to nail that perfectly in any calibration setup with 1-minute updates) I WEIGHED the contents of the bin on an accurate food scale. 448 grams. I then asked an AI chat bot thing the following question: "if 1.68 inches (1 cup) = 226.796 grams, and 3.36 inches (2 cups) = 453.592 grams, how many inches is 448 grams?" and the result was 3.32", or 98.8% accurate. I'm not going to even bother twisting the dials and running the test again, that's close enough for me. On my analog rain gauge I wouldn't even be able to make a 1.2% distinction. I'm terrible at math so I guess this is right. Whatever. Update: Yeah whatever, this thing is awful and ranks as my worst purchase of all time. I spent so much effort calibrating it and it never once worked outside, even 10 feet from the indoor unit which always shows solid signal (full bars). If I walk the outdoor unit a few feet and it "clicks" (tipping cups inside) it will register a small change on the indoor unit. But outside during actual rain, even downpours, it never reflects any accumulation. Inches of rain fall and are measured just a foot away by my analog gauge. The cups are not stuck. There is no pairing issue (I've re-paired it anyway, and again I show full signal). I've tried different channels. Nothing makes a difference. It's not blocked above or from the side or anything, the unit gets drenched and water comes out of the bottom when I bring it inside and debate smashing it to pieces. What an impossibly frustrating, waste-of-money situation. I've had a few AcuRite devices over the years, mainly thermometers. I'll never buy anything from them again.

Working great so far with our monsoon storms in Arizona over the past few weeks. I didn't even need to calibrate, and it is pretty accurate.

I just ordered my second one. The first one lasted over 5 years. That said, I live in Southern California and take it down for 9 months. The only problem I find with it is the calibration. It takes a lot of patience. I wish there were a better way but I think this is well worth its money and like I said I just ordered my second one.

I like that it's simple but after a couple of years it will stop connecting to Wifi and outside unit and, no matter what I do, I can't get it to connect again. New batteries, new channel, changing WiFi to 2.4 to connect. I've found it's easier to just get a new one. The outside unit will also get brittle after being in the Florida sun. It's not bad as long as you aren't looking for long term.

Like all Acurite products it was simple to install and worked perfectly out of the box. As it connects to Acurite Access we configured our Rachio watering system to read direct from it (via wunderground). Meaning that we are getting accurate water readings right at our location. It also shows up on the Accurite App as a seperate sensor. Plus the LCD display can be placed in a convenient location for quick information without having to open the App. The main benefit is we've found it to be far more accurate than our Acurite 5 in 1 rain gauge. Awesome product at a super cheap price.

Excellent product...

Gostei do medidor de chuva AcuRitte. é simples e funciona bem. Único ponto que para mim seria interessante e que disponibilizasse o histórico das medições mais detalhado (dia a dia e mes). Mas é perfeito!

Delivered on time . Easy to use . Hopefully will last many years

Does a great job works very well