A Sourcing Checklist for OEM Weather Stations

Ask who owns the line

The first question is whether the supplier holds the tooling and runs the assembly, or buys finished goods. It changes everything downstream: how a running change is handled, whether a failure analysis is possible, and who answers when a market rejects a batch. UCTECH runs welding, assembly and packaging lines in Shenzhen and Huizhou and employs its own R&D team.

Pin the radio before anything else

Link type, frequency band, stated open-area range and stated indoor range. A specification that omits the indoor figure is hiding the number your installers will meet. Confirm band legality for the destination market — this is where LoRa orders most often need adjusting.

Get the tolerance table, not the feature list

Feature lists are easy. Ask for range and accuracy on every measured parameter, and check that indoor and outdoor humidity are quoted separately. Compare that table between suppliers rather than comparing bullet counts.

Settle compliance before tooling

CE against RED 2014/53/EU for Europe and an FCC grant for the United States are not paperwork you add at the end; they constrain the radio design. UCTECH holds a GTS verification of compliance for the weather station range and an FCC grant under FCC ID 2ALHJ-WS0300.

Agree MOQ, lead time and warranty in writing

Ours are 300 to 1,000 pcs depending on model, 35 to 45 days for normal delivery, and one year of warranty. A supplier who will not state these early will not state them later either.

Ask what the factory tests with

Not "do you test" — everyone tests. Ask which rigs: rainfall and waterproof equipment, constant temperature and humidity chambers, smog aging, vibration. Ask whether every unit is aged before packing, and how many people are in QC. The answers are specific, checkable, and they predict your return rate.