Topic: Vantage Pro2 rain gauge problems

[KB9HGI]

I have a problem with the rain gauge on my Vantage Pro 2 Fan Aspiration. The rain quit showing on my console. I went up on the tower and its not blocked and the buckets does move and clunk when you pour water but not showing anything on the console. Could it be that reed switch and how hard are they to swap out? I have swapped out my Super cap because it was leaking and would no longer hold a charge and was draining the battery. Now i need to get the rain gauge going again. I guess you would expect this after 15 years..lol

[Mattk]

I was reading well I until the 15 year bit .... yes it's getting on. At that age and without isolating and ISS issues then it could be 1 or several of, reed switch, cable, soldered connections or modular plug? 

[lightmaster]

Davis recently released a single spoon tipping bucket that works with all VP2s and would replace everything from the bucket up to (but not including) the transmitter PCB. If the issue is with any of that, and those are the most exposed parts and the moving parts, you'd be good. If not, then you know the problem is on the transmitter PCB which I would think is much less likely assuming all other data is getting to your console correctly.

[CW2274]

Davis recently released a single spoon tipping bucket that works with all VP2s and would replace everything from the bucket up to the transmitter PCB.

For the sake of the OP, your statement and link you provided are contradictory. All that is replaced is the tipping mechanism as pictured, not "everything from the bucket to the PCB".

[lightmaster]

Davis recently released a single spoon tipping bucket that works with all VP2s and would replace everything from the bucket up to the transmitter PCB.

For the sake of the OP, your statement and link you provided are contradictory. All that is replaced is the tipping mechanism as pictured, not "everything from the bucket to the PCB".

Is that more explicitly stated now? I said up to the PCB, but I didn't mean the PCB itself. Tipping spoon, Reed switch, wire, RJ11 connector are all replaced.

Also, my impression from forum posts is that it is as accurate as the previous 2 spoon bucket, if not more accurate, and more forgiving of imbalance than the 2 spoons version.

[CW2274]

Holy crap, chill out. I just wanted to make sure the OP wasn't confused. Damn...

[lightmaster]

Holy crap, chill out. I just wanted to make sure the OP wasn't confused. Damn...

Apologies. Painting outside in 95 degree sunlight and heat's got my temper up...

I read your message as that you were implying I was attempting to deceive the OP when I was just trying to be helpful.

[CW2274]

Holy crap, chill out. I just wanted to make sure the OP wasn't confused. Damn...

I read your message as that you were implying I was attempting to deceive the OP

No, of course not... It just seemed a little confusing, at least to me (frankly, not surprising anymore).

BTW, I know all about the heat and what comes with it...

[WheatonRon]

I have a problem with the rain gauge on my Vantage Pro 2 Fan Aspiration. The rain quit showing on my console. I went up on the tower and its not blocked and the buckets does move and clunk when you pour water but not showing anything on the console. Could it be that reed switch and how hard are they to swap out? I have swapped out my Super cap because it was leaking and would no longer hold a charge and was draining the battery. Now i need to get the rain gauge going again. I guess you would expect this after 15 years..lol

After 15 years—swap out the rain tipper and don’t mess soldering in a new reed switch—you got your money’s worth. As I stated elsewhere in this Forum, the new spoon tipper is a small improvement over the two bucket version you have but it is better solution than trying to put a bandage on a 15 year old system.  Ryan at Scaled Instruments has the new tipper for about $49 plus shipping. If you have the money, I would also consider buying a whole new ISS that has the new spoon tipper in it thereby updating the other components in the system too. OR, if you are an optimist (some would say crazy) you could wait for a VP3 to arrive!

If you don’t like my suggestions above, you can call Davis support and they may mail you a new reed switch for free (they did for me on my then 10 year old VP2 system) and yes a soldering iron and patience is all you need. Will that fix the problem? Who knows. In my situation, it didn’t fix my issue. I had to replace the rainbase including a new tipper system.

[KB9HGI]

Im looking  at this new single tipping spoon from the link someone posted above. Do you just unbolt the other and bolt this one in its place and then just plug it into the transmitter?

[Mattk]

The assembly clips in, just need to make sure when "unclipping" the bucket assembly the fittings are not stressed too far. Apart from that just plugs straight in.

[lightmaster]

By "unclipping", he means prying with a flathead screwdriver, just make sure you don't break the clips. I took mine off to clean before and its a pain in the rear to remove IMHO.

[CW2274]

I took mine off to clean before and its a pain in the rear to remove IMHO.

Yeah, you ain't kiddin' there. Now that I use the RW bucket with the ISS, I've removed the old bucket and tipping mechanism from the ISS and it was all I could do to seemingly not break it, and I didn't really even care if I did, but still preferred not to and eventually got it out without snapping off a clip.

[lightmaster]

I took mine off to clean before and its a pain in the rear to remove IMHO.

Yeah, you ain't kiddin' there. Now that I use the RW bucket with the ISS, I've removed the old bucket and tipping mechanism from the ISS and it was all I could do to seemingly not break it, and I didn't really even care if I did, but still preferred not to and eventually got it out without snapping off a clip.

A little silicone spray lube helped me, just a tiny bit to make the plastic slide easier.

[txweather.org]

Just curious... Why is this new? The Vantage Vue has been using a single tipping spoon. SO the Vue is more accurate than the superior VP2?

[lightmaster]

Just curious... Why is this new? The Vantage Vue has been using a single tipping spoon. SO the Vue is more accurate than the superior VP2?

The Vue's rain collector is 18 in˛, compared to the VP2's 33 in˛, so the VP2 will inherently be more accurate.

[txweather.org]

Just curious... Why is this new? The Vantage Vue has been using a single tipping spoon. SO the Vue is more accurate than the superior VP2?

The Vue's rain collector is 18 in˛, compared to the VP2's 33 in˛, so the VP2 will inherently be more accurate.

Ah! So just adopted the single tipping spoon.

[johnd]

Just curious... Why is this new? The Vantage Vue has been using a single tipping spoon. SO the Vue is more accurate than the superior VP2?

Well, maybe, but only if the tipping mechanism were the sole important factor. The biggest issue with the Vue tends to be its typically high mounting location where wind effects on rain catch are inevitably worse.

[ValentineWeather]

At 20 seconds in the video, it talks about the single tipper and how easily it can become overwhelmed by water. If anyone is getting accurate rain measurements using a single spoon tipper it's just pure luck IMO, maybe between wind vibration and overcounting it somehow gets in the ballpark.
 
I'll say it again, the only reliable automatic rain gauge is solidly mounted on a ground base or post. Not dangling in the air on a pole vibrating and swaying in the wind. This is by far my biggest beef with Davis designed stations.

Most any magnetic switch rain gauges can be converted to the Davis stations for reliability. Just cut off the Davis plug and splice in. Yellow/green and red separate... I use the cheap $78 rainwise 111 8" diameter gauge and it's pretty accurate out of the box. I also have my own calibrator to make sure and tweak to 5" per hour rate, this follows my 8" NWS style gauge very closely. \
[youtube]https://youtu.be/17wgpbgO8DQ[/youtube]

[CW2274]

Just cut off the Davis plug and splice in.

I didn't even bother to splice mine, too much trouble and then had to worry about making it water tight. So, I went to Ace, picked up 50' of phone cable with the jacks attached, cut off one end and used the same supplied wire nuts to attach where the stock counter was wired to.

[WheatonRon]

From another thread I just posted:

Today’s rain event that lasted 1hour and 15 minutes. Shortly after noon.

Gauges about six inches off the ground—no fence or trees nearby on solid support (gauges within 10 inches of each other):

CoCo gauge 1.50 inches
VP2 with new tipper 1.53 inches
VP2 with old tipper 1.55 inches

VP2 with old tipper on a fence post about 6 feet off the ground, some trees nearby—1.20 inches—about 30 feet away from above gauges.

Conclusions? I am confused, but pleasantly surprised with the VP2s by the CoCo gauge.

[KB9HGI]

UpDate: I called Davis they saidit was the Reed switch and they sent me several and some magnets. Was not a hard task so I got the new reed switch it and Yeah it works again.

[WheatonRon]

UpDate: I called Davis they saidit was the Reed switch and they sent me several and some magnets. Was not a hard task so I got the new reed switch it and Yeah it works again.

Did they charge you for the new stuff?

[Intheswamp]

After 15 years—swap out the rain tipper and don’t mess soldering in a new reed switch—you got your money’s worth. As I stated elsewhere in this Forum, the new spoon tipper is a small improvement over the two bucket version you have but it is better solution than trying to put a bandage on a 15 year old system.  Ryan at Scaled Instruments has the new tipper for about $49 plus shipping.  <snip>

Dang!!!  Talk about inflation!!!  I was skimming the forum trying to figure out what to do about my VP2's rain gauge not working and was considering a new tipper as it seems like a quick and easy fix.  I'm pretty sure the problem is the reed switch, though after monkeying with a little I got a signal from the rain sensor...maybe it's a bad solder joint, I think I'll re-solder the joints and see how things work then.

But, the price of the tipper now!!!  I just checked, and if I'm not on the discount price at Scaledinstruments, then in four years that sucker is up to $76.81, about a 64% increase!!!!    I can't remember how we used to get the discounted price, but...is this it?!!!! 

Anyhow, howdy everybody!  Just trying to keep my old station up and running. 

[Mattk]

The VP2 tipping bucket replacement is the single tipping spoon so yeah Davis 7345.425 (imperial 0.01 inches) would be it, on sale $76.81 down from $90.

One thing with the tipping spoon is a much better switch arrangement over the old tipping bucket open soldered reed switch