Author Topic: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold  (Read 419 times)

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Offline arrowspace90

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Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« on: January 24, 2024, 11:56:40 AM »
My wonderful, reliable Vantage Pro II was completely refurbished less than 2 years ago.  It had been performing perfectly.

But here in NC Texas, like everybody else, the temps went way down, especially for us.  We went down to about 11 degrees and were below freezing for several days.  At one point we got some snow and some ice, not a huge amount.
When the temps went back up above freezing, I expected to see sudden precip gains as the ice in the rain collector melted.  Didn't happen.  Then a day later, with temps now a balmy 40 degrees, we got heavy rain.
No rain reported at all...zero. 
What has happened up there?  Did the cold break my rain gauge?  It survived colder many times.  It has spikes to keep out the birds.   Unfortunately this station is up on a high roof tripod where I can't get to it.  Only place on my property to put it.
I have to call a brave soul to get up there. 
What could have gone wrong?  The outdoor temp with its fan is fine.  The anemometer is fine.  But the essential rain gauge is missing in action.  This is the wireless station with the asperated fan.

Offline Aardvark

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2024, 02:03:46 PM »
I live in Iowa, my VP2 is 15 years old.  We get a lot of snow here, 2 feet total so far.  My rain unit and ISS is about 6 feet off level ground.   So far it has melted a bit and recorded or 0.51 inches of rain.  Now I go out when I can get to the unit and clean out the junk that collects in the rain cone.   I would venture to say you probably have something in the cone blocking the rain, a nest, leaves, who knows.   I am also wagering you are now thinking putting up the ISS so high you can't maintain it was a bad idea. When your "brave soul" goes up there, have her bring it down to where normally it is put.   You can leave the anemometer up there, the the ISS needs to be properly sat.

Online johnd

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2024, 02:06:02 PM »
I guess the obvious first question is how long ago was the last below-freezing or snow event? Is it possible that water in the gauge is still frozen?
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Offline arrowspace90

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2024, 02:17:41 PM »
I live in Iowa, my VP2 is 15 years old.  We get a lot of snow here, 2 feet total so far.  My rain unit and ISS is about 6 feet off level ground.   So far it has melted a bit and recorded or 0.51 inches of rain.  Now I go out when I can get to the unit and clean out the junk that collects in the rain cone.   I would venture to say you probably have something in the cone blocking the rain, a nest, leaves, who knows.   I am also wagering you are now thinking putting up the ISS so high you can't maintain it was a bad idea. When your "brave soul" goes up there, have her bring it down to where normally it is put.   You can leave the anemometer up there, the the ISS needs to be properly sat.

Thank you for reply, but I guess you didn't read my post.  The ONLY reason that the station is up there is because it is in the ONLY open spot on my property.  The rest is filled with trees.  I also said, the rain gauge is surrounded with spikes provided by Davis specifically to keep out birds.  The station is above all the leaf fall and it is up on a tripod above the roof line.  Nothing should be able to get in there, outside of bugs and ants, which are not active in the winter.
I think somehow the tipping bucket mechanism may have stuck. Even with some debris, "some" water should have made it into the buckets. 

Offline swyman18

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2024, 08:25:03 PM »
As has been noted, the rain gauge needs to be in a location where it can easily be reached for maintenance and troubleshooting in situations like this. Since that isn’t possible in your case as you’ve said, I guess you’ll need to manage your expectations accordingly.
Unfortunately, there is probably no good way to know what happened without physical inspection.


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Offline chief-david

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2024, 11:07:25 PM »
If I lived closer, I would climb up there for you.



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Offline Aardvark

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2024, 11:17:05 PM »
Perhaps you could use a telescoping mast if and when it ever works.   Funny, as I said, it was very cold the last 3 weeks here, almost 2.5 feet of snow, cold wind chills,  yeah we don't make the news out here , but mine has worked even through all of this.   Now is the rain collector the single pan or double pan?   IF it was mounted below the cone properly, no water should have stuck it. But then again,   nothing for sure until a physical look.

Offline WheatonRon

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Re: Vantage Pro II rain gauge failure after cold
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2024, 05:40:12 PM »
As a previous poster stated, the rain part of the VP2 requires periodic maintenance—no way around it. It’s a pain—kind of like taxes—you can’t get around them!
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