Topic: Unimpressed with VP2

[duke666]

Well, I did a lot of home work before purchasing my VP2 back in February 2011. My home work drew me to the conclusions that for the money this was a very reliable piece of hardware. May be I have just been unlucky, but, I am certainly not impressed or even pleased with the reliability of mine at three and a half years old. In spares to keep it going, I have very nearly spent the cost of the original VP2 complete package!

History.
Purchased in February 2011
March 2013 Replacement FARS motor
March 2013 Replacement wireless ISS board (draining batteries over night even after replacement Super-cap)
March 2014 Replacement anemometer (started recording gusts between 100mph and 150mph when wind cups stationary)
July 2014 The replacement anemometer now records a steady wind speed of approx 113mph

Rant over!

[Dr Obbins]

I have had to replace my solar sensor on the VP2 and an ISS board on the pool sensor each in less than 2 years. Compared to my old station from a different brand the Davis is the way to go, but as I mentioned in other threads, for the price I expect better.

[dalecoy]

March 2014 Replacement anemometer (started recording gusts between 100mph and 150mph when wind cups stationary)
July 2014 The replacement anemometer now records a steady wind speed of approx 113mph

What does your seller intend to do about that?

[duke666]

I have returned it today for them to inspect, I assume they will find the same fault and replace under warranty. I have in the mean time installed a second hand anemometer which is just fine.

The first one that failed was the older design and the second one is the new 'revised' model.

Davis is the way to go, but as I mentioned in other threads, for the price I expect better.

Agreed.

For the record, I am more than satisfied with the accuracy of the VP2 but, the real issue for me is long term reliability. You would expect, for the money, a far longer life expectancy than just beyond the warranty period!

Just to clarify, my dealer has always been helpful and willing to advise. Obviously the reliability aspect is nothing to do with them.

[ValentineWeather]

Curious if the station is the cabled version. I remember ground loops could cause havoc with the anemometer if the Davis console wasn't properly grounded or had a loop in home wiring.

[PaulMy]

I have now had my VP2 for 6 years and, knock on wood, not a single issue or failure.  Replaced the ISS battery once.  Now mine is the basic 6152 wireless with no extra sensors, etc. but with both a console and Envoy.  Well I should correct the above; I have lost the rain gauge plastic screen and replaced it with a little metal strainer like so many others have...  I can't complain and am impressed.

Paul

[duke666]

Curious if the station is the cabled version.

Wireless. I therefore assume unaffected by earth loops. Besides my second hand anemometer works fine, I have also swapped both back and forth and each time with the same expected results (113mph, 0mph, 113, 0, 113, 0)

[SLOweather]

I own or maintain at least 18 Davis stations. Most are wireless VP2s and 2 pluses, a couple of Vues, and a couple of cabled VP2s. Also 7 repeaters and 7 other wireless Davis stations.

They range in age from 6-7 years to a year or 2. I suppose they average about 3 years. That's 54 station-years of use.

Over the years, I think I've had to replace one anemometer/wind unit, 3 or 4 temp/hum boards (none since the new encapsulant design), one rain gauge (the switch arced somehow), a couple of supercaps, and one UV sensor.

I also replaced one SIM board that got wet when the cover came off and it got rained on (user error), one wired console (again, user error let the magic smoke out), and a Vue wind vane that I broke. The extra stations and repeaters have never had any problems.

Some of the replacements were under warranty. Now I have so much Davis stuff, I save up anything non-warranty and send it all in at once as one station for the $140 refurb.

[duke666]

As I said, I may have just been unlucky....

The station refurb is great for you guys on the other side of the pond.....

Out of interest, my extremely high wind recordings, are they typical with an anemometer failure? Anything else that could cause these (although probably ruled out by my functioning spare anemometer)?

[ValentineWeather]

To answer question yes. I've never had an failure with the wireless anemometer yet, (knock on wood). The wired units I had multiple issues including erroneous high wind readings like you're experiencing. Moisture would always cause the erroneous readings. Finally replaced unit with a wireless. I always attributed it with weathering cables, because I was adding extensions and running cables across the ground. I guess it could still happen but last 3 years no issues.

[ValentineWeather]

I should add temperature change caused wind rose issues but found problem in connection at splice.
That brings up something I feel needs improved with cabled units where splices are needed. The standard 40' feet anemometer cable is basically a joke for most applications.  They should come with optional 100'-200' cables where splices are never needed. Anytime a splice is made no matter how well its done, problems can occur.

[duke666]

Could you clarify 'wireless anemometer'? The anemometers are the same whether plugged into the ISS or into it's own transmitter and therefore could/should suffer similarly.

To tell you a bit about my own installation, the anemometer is on a 7m mast and the cable is held with self amalgamating tape (not nylon ties) down to the roof level of my garage and then in a conduit 3m to the ISS. No extensions/breaks/joins.

Of course, if this is moisture in the anemometer then by the time it gets to my dealer the fault may have cleared.

[ValentineWeather]

Could you clarify 'wireless anemometer'? The anemometers are the same whether plugged into the ISS or into it's own transmitter and therefore could/should suffer similarly.

Guess I wasn't that clear. Adding extensions, splices, laying wire across ground, rooftop etc. to reach ISS is what I meant by wired.  My anemometer and ISS separation is 120' or so.
With the wireless unit its hard but not impossible to damage the anemometer wire when its all rolled up and plugged into the wireless ISS.
I only found one issue I could pinpoint with the wire itself and it was in the splice and affected the windrose stuck on north.
The high wind readings always happened with rain and I never could determine exactly where it was happening. I blamed the wire even though I went over it many times looking for a sign of damage.  I thought about moisture inside the anemometer itself causing the erroneous readings and it seemed to always clear up within 10-15 minutes after the rain stopped.

I should also add the anemometer issue I was having started after 6 years of use with the wire exposed to UV sun damage potential.       

[petec2]

i had to replace the humidity /temp sensor after only 2 years
otherwise the VP2 seems OK but the cost of replacement parts when the instrument was so new was not pleasing…. also i had to go through a UK supplier.

[ValentineWeather]

belfryboy was selling custom humidity /temp sensor setups across the pond. If you ever need a replacement again he might have better prices. Just give him a PM.

[Aardvark]

Sometimes you get a lemon.  Reminds me of breakfast today. I normally have hot coffee and a bowl of Kellogg Frosted Mini Wheats, better than a bran muffin.  When I poured out my daily bowl  one mini-wheat fell out along with a bunch of crush to a powder almost stuff. In fact the rest of the box was ground up mini-wheats.  I hoofed down to Hyvee and bought a new box.  I guess sometimes we get a flawed unit.

In 2007 I purchased my VP2 from Ambient, they had the best price at the time.   I had a vp1 before that from about 1993 and before that the WMII.   Anyway, two years ago I replaced the ISS board because of a defective supercap.  My arm was in a cast so there was no way I was going to be able to solder that thing.   I did eventually replace the supercap and now that board is giving me my soil temperature station reading.

I am guessing it is possible to get a unit that is a lemon and has a lot of failure.   I do have two Anemometers.  One is left over from my VP1 unit, so it is very old and still works right now.   the other is from the VP2 and is working as well, that one is on the wireless transmitter.   I guess it is the luck of the draw.

[reef]

I got mine in May 2010 and have had the following failures since then:

Mar 2011: anemometer transmitter failure
May 2011: anemometer failure
Sep 2011: another anemometer failure
Dec 2012: ISS board failure (managed to fix myself)
Nov 2013: FARS fan failure (ran 6 weeks)
Jan 2014: Another FARS fan failure (8 weeks this time)
Mar 2014: Another (!) FARS fan failure (3 weeks use!)

Its been a bit of a shambles to be honest and judging by the FARS fans the quality isn't getting any better, though I've sorted that by putting my own PC fan in. The station is great when its all working though.

[duke666]

May 2011: anemometer failure
Sep 2011: another anemometer failure

Perhaps Davis ship us UK users 'sub-standard' anemometers

In what way did your anemometers fail?

[reef]

May 2011: anemometer failure
Sep 2011: another anemometer failure

Perhaps Davis ship us UK users 'sub-standard' anemometers

In what way did your anemometers fail?

Both had reed switch failures and read 0mph all of the time. The first was an old style anemometer which went 3 days after the warranty expired! The second a new style with brass tip. The third has been going three years without issue now. The ISS and anemometer transmitter circuit boards were supercap related and were draining batteries in a couple of weeks and losing signal even when placed right next to the console.

Makes you wonder if we're getting sub-standard stuff judging by the number of UK based failures on here!

[duke666]

@reef, ironically, the complete opposite recordings of my failures.

@petec2

the cost of replacement parts when the instrument was so new was not pleasing…. also i had to go through a UK supplier.

Which is another thing I do not understand, the price difference, $ / £.

[kyle3309]

Duke,

This is off topic, but I like your weather website a  lot.  Good job!

[johnd]

Which is another thing I do not understand, the price difference, $ / £.

We've been round this topic many times before but if you want a quick reprise and in rough order of priority the factors are:

1. The Davis business model for overseas sales (ie individual dealers cannot buy direct from Davis but must buy from the monopoly trade importer that Davis has appointed for each major territory).
2. Sales tax: In the UK it's customary (and a legal obligation for B2C sales) to quote prices inclusive of (20%) sales tax. The US seems to do quite the reverse, ie sales taxes are not quoted upfront - partly I guess because they'll vary state to state, though I certainly don't know all the details. There's a small extra element of 'tax' in the way of import duty and customs clearance charges.
3. Airfreight costs for 3-4cuft of box from California to the import warehouse in the UK are really quite significant and there's not much discount for volume - each extra box is another 3-4cuft of space taken in the hold.
4. Davis support is financed centrally in the US (ie from Davis direct). In effect it has to be supported by the local distributor overseas from a cut of the retail price in overseas territories.
5. There are small but nontrivial costs associated with currency conversion and hedging the currency (so that the local retail price can be kept stable for a year or more at a time).
6. etc - there are other small factors.

[Weather Spares]

As I understand it most people in the US are able to purchase direct from Davis, or a reseller.

For us in the UK, products are sold to a single UK distributor by Davis and then local resellers purchase from them adding an extra layer into the equation.

Also using a website that calculates import duty an example anemometer costing $120 in the USA with a $30 shipping cost ends up as a criminal £212.90 after the UK has imposed its' own VAT and an import duty charge onto the original price (Duty price from www.dutycalculator.com)

Pricing is pretty much what is dictated by the local distributor and duty charges that near enough the original price. It was exactly the same for US/UK computer equipment speaking from a past life.

[Weather Spares]

Well said Johnd - we must of been typing at the same time

One thing that should be noted is that when something goes wrong within warranty, there is also a local reseller support network in place rather than UK customers having to arrange a return to Davis in the USA. This means your station can be up and running in a few days in some cases rather than a few weeks as would be the case with a US return.

I'm sure that there are many people in the UK that have bought a grey unit from the USA and suffered the additional expense of a warranty return or waiting for a US wireless spec replacement part.

[Jim18655]

I put my cabled VP2 into service in August of 2008 and no problems since. I even had a brain f---- when I connected the remote ISS, console, and anemometer, and it survived. ( I know, just screwed myself.)