Author Topic: Anemometer maintenance?  (Read 6350 times)

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Offline anchorageweather

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Anemometer maintenance?
« on: March 07, 2008, 05:17:56 PM »
Does a Davis Vantage Pro2 anemometer need any type of maintenance (oiling, greasing, etc)?
South of the Tracks, Anchorage, KY

Offline Curly

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2008, 06:03:42 PM »
According to Davis :
Quote
Remove the wind cups (loosen the set screw) and clear out any bugs
or debris.
Note: Do not lubricate the shaft or bearings in any way. When replacing the cups, make sure they are not
rubbing against any part of the anemometer head.

I sprayed a little WD40 on a small brush and cleaned everything off of the bottom. It surprised me on the amount of stuff that collected there in a year.


Offline wmiler

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2008, 06:19:13 PM »
Generally speaking, you should check your whole station over semiannually, and clean out all the animal waste and whatnot, and make sure things like the tipping bucket, wind speed/direction move freely. A word of note, when you clean the tipping bucket, make sure you disconnect the line going to the ISS, or you'll report that you've just had 50" of rain in the last hour ;) (Yes, I did that accidently last year...oops)

Offline MesquiteWx

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2008, 07:44:54 PM »
This all brings up a question I have been interested in. Is it possible to get the set screw to tight to where it could restrict or slow down the measurement of the wind speed? When I set mine up I just got it taunt, but not tight. So I was curious if you could get it to tight.

Offline Anthony

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2008, 08:38:52 AM »
Tight is better than loose. To loose and the cups could spin on the shaft and not turn it.



Thanks,
Anthony
WB8YUE

Offline MesquiteWx

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2008, 12:40:19 PM »
That is what I was thinking, so I am good then.

-Thanks

Offline SLOweather

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2008, 06:14:22 PM »
Tight is better than loose. To loose and the cups could spin on the shaft and not turn it.



Or fall off...

There's enough end play in the cup shaft (probably by design on Davis's part) that it should be impossible for the cup assembly to be installed too tight.

Offline chief-david

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2019, 08:42:50 AM »
Tight is better than loose. To loose and the cups could spin on the shaft and not turn it.



Or fall off...

There's enough end play in the cup shaft (probably by design on Davis's part) that it should be impossible for the cup assembly to be installed too tight.

Yup. I am bumping this'

My anny does not have an accurate wind speed- low to none when there should be.  Have to go up tomorrow and fix it. Only 3 years old.

Is the recommendation still NO LUBE?  White lithium, or Radio Shack Tuner Cleaner???
« Last Edit: April 15, 2019, 08:45:55 AM by chief-david »



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Offline DoctorKnow

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2019, 10:06:43 AM »
Maybe start with a dry lube, and manually work it in good, if it still seems to drag, try a wet spray. I would not use WD 40 brand. It didn't work for me on ball bearings.

Offline havtrail

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2019, 10:31:38 AM »
I used to be on a vintage VW bus owners forum, and the more knowledgeable folks there said to never use WD-40 as a lubricant, because it is not actually a lubricant. It's a penetrant, and good for that use, but it does not work well as a long-term lubricant. They also noted that it can actually tend to facilitate future rusting. Curly/s advice to use it sparingly and apply it carefully is good advice. Make sure you can wipe it off, and if you feel you need to do any lubrication after that, I would recommend the dry teflon-based lube that others have mentioned.

Rich K.
Onset HOBO RX2102 Cellular
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Offline CW2274

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2019, 03:51:11 PM »
Tight is better than loose. To loose and the cups could spin on the shaft and not turn it.



Or fall off...

There's enough end play in the cup shaft (probably by design on Davis's part) that it should be impossible for the cup assembly to be installed too tight.

Yup. I am bumping this'

My anny does not have an accurate wind speed- low to none when there should be.  Have to go up tomorrow and fix it. Only 3 years old.

Is the recommendation still NO LUBE?  White lithium, or Radio Shack Tuner Cleaner???
No lube.
I highly recommend going this route, I just did mine a week ago and easily worth the $20 to the door. Only one screw to replace it and the anny will consistently display down to 1 mph.
https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/davis-7345-999-pro2-anemometer-wind-speed-cartridge/

Offline chief-david

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2019, 04:30:32 PM »
Watching it from outside . The wind is blowing and it does not move. It moved for a little bit then quit. Or has to be something inside of it. I will have to take it down tomorrow.



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Offline CW2274

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2019, 05:10:59 PM »
Watching it from outside . The wind is blowing and it does not move. It moved for a little bit then quit. Or has to be something inside of it. I will have to take it down tomorrow.
Obviously your call, but I think you're wasting your time. I took my old cartridge out and thoroughly cleaned it, it helped, but was still hanging up at slow speeds, it would literally come to a sudden, dead stop. BTW, I looked back at my obs to see how long it had been acting up and I noticed I got about three years out of it before it started to lose it's accuracy, which was almost a year ago. I was clueless...

Offline chief-david

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2019, 03:15:22 PM »
Not as bad as I thought.  Has sand in it making it stop. Took off the anny from the post, cleaned it out. Reattached.  All good.



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Offline CW2274

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2019, 04:14:30 PM »
All good.
I thought the same thing....but it wasn't. Just sayin'.

Offline archae86

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2019, 08:26:53 AM »
I highly recommend going this route, I just did mine a week ago and easily worth the $20 to the door. Only one screw to replace it and the anny will consistently display down to 1 mph.
https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/davis-7345-999-pro2-anemometer-wind-speed-cartridge/
But the listing page makes it clear this cartridge is only applicable to rather recent units.  My 2011 purchased unit has the "not compatible" shape.  So is my only option to buy an entire new Wind Set, after which I'll be able to use the cheap and easy cartridge replacement?

I think my low wind sensitivity is not very good, and has probably degraded during my ownership.

Offline CW2274

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Re: Anemometer maintenance?
« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2019, 03:26:59 PM »
I highly recommend going this route, I just did mine a week ago and easily worth the $20 to the door. Only one screw to replace it and the anny will consistently display down to 1 mph.
https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/davis-7345-999-pro2-anemometer-wind-speed-cartridge/
So is my only option to buy an entire new Wind Set, after which I'll be able to use the cheap and easy cartridge replacement?

I think my low wind sensitivity is not very good, and has probably degraded during my ownership.
Yep, you'll need a new "wind set" which is commonly referred to as an anemometer or "anny". I would imagine your vane is probably just as worn as your cup bearings, so a whole new anny for you is probably due anyway. As far as the cart replacement, you'll obviously be able, but shouldn't need one for quite a while.

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/shop-by-product/anemometer/davis-6410-anemometer-for-vantage-pro2-vantage-pro/

 

anything