Topic: Vantage Pro 2 Wireless Transmit Issue

[parshal]

The short of it, on the ISS, when I flip DIP switch 4 to on the LED flashes rapidly.  The manual says to contact Davis tech support.  I can't seem to find anything on the forum or a Google search to give me an idea what the issue is.  I'm going to guess a fried board on the ISS.

The long story.  I have the ISS on ID 3 and a soil/moisture station on ID 7.  Yesterday morning my girlfriend unplugged the power to the console.  I have the ethernet cable on the console which eats up the battery in short order.  I noticed today it was not updating WeatherLink.  I put new as batteries in the console and plugged in the power as well as moving the console to a window that faces the stations (ISS is about 200 yards away and soil/moisture about 100).  Still no joy.  I went outside in the rain and flipped DIP 4 to ON on the soil/moisture and I got a good blink every 2 seconds or so.  The same on the ISS and it flashes rapidly.  Pulled the battery and still the same.  I considered leaving the battery out and DIP 4 on to discharge the unit so that it could "reboot" but I didn't want to stand there in the rain or walk back up the hill in the rain to check it later.

We had a storm roll through last night and there were two loud claps of thunder so maybe the board got fried?  Obviously, the unplugged console was a red herring.

I'll call tech support tomorrow but figured someone here has had this happen before and might know the cause.

The entire unit was replaced late last summer.

[dalecoy]

What do the console diagnostic screens indicate?

[ValentineWeather]

Can't remember anyone mentioning rapid flash in test mode. Not sure what it means other than call Davis. I take it you mean ISS is 200 feet not yards. 200' through walls is on the edge of good signal but the rapid flash means something else is going on.

[parshal]

What do the console diagnostic screens indicate?

Lots and lots of bad packets with no good packets.  The soil station show 99% good received.  ISS shows all 0's in the console reception diagnostic screen.

I did intend to say 200 yards.  The station is up on a hill with direct line of sight to the console through one wall.

[ValentineWeather]

Even line of sight that's some distance going through a wall. But if it works great. Davis says through wall, maximum 400'.

[parshal]

I hear ya.  I know it's close to max range but it's been working for 18 months as far as overall reception goes.  It's mostly at 100% with some drops to 98.

[dalecoy]

Page 11 of the ISS Manual: (after putting dip switch 4 in the test position):

"If the LED is flashing rapidly, call Technical Support."

[George Richardson]

"I'll call tech support tomorrow" That's the answer.

"The entire unit was replaced late last summer." Just curious, why?

"I know it's close to max range but it's been working for 18 months" That means it should work from now on. Could be a HBL as you surmised.

Best of luck.

George

[parshal]

It was replaced when the console would display 121 degrees (I forget the actual temp) periodically for no apparent reason.  Tech support never figured it out so they replaced the entire ISS.

I'll report back with whatever tech support says.

[parshal]

Tech support said the transmitter needs to be replaced.  I asked what would cause this and he said maybe a lightning strike.  I asked if it had to hit the ISS or just near and he said near is enough.  So, we had two huge claps of thunder overnight Saturday night although one had about five seconds from the lightning to the thunder so I thought it was pretty far away.  Not enough I suppose.

[George Richardson]

Where you getting your replacement ISS? How much? Call Ryan at Scaled Instruments.

[parshal]

Where you getting your replacement ISS?

Davis is replacing the transmitter since it's still under warranty.

[George Richardson]

"Davis is replacing the transmitter since it's still under warranty."

Great!

[parshal]

So, a little more information.  I don't need a replacement transmitter now.  I called them back again today because it seemed I was no longer receiving info from my soil station.  Long story short, we reset both the soil and ISS transmitters and everything is working.  Resetting the transmitters was interesting.  I'll post it here for future use.

1) Remove and disconnect the solar cover.
2) Remove the battery.
3) Just above the battery there is a little black "post" facing to the right.  Insert the AC adapter from the console into this post.  There is no need to plug in the AC adapter.
4) Wait two minutes.
5) The capacitor is now discharged.
6) Reconnect everything and you've "rebooted".

After step 2, I flipped DIP switch 4 on and watched the light blink.  As soon as I plugged in the AC adapter the light stopped so it actually discharges almost immediately.  I still waited two minutes since it was a hike to the transmitters and I didn't want to do it again.

I asked a lot of questions of the tech.  This reset can fix problems where you're receiving only some data or no data.  The cause can be lightning in the area not just a lightning strike.  From now on, if I ever get a similar problem I'll just reset it since it's so easy.

[George Richardson]

"1) Remove and disconnect the solar cover.
2) Remove the battery."

"After step 2, I flipped DIP switch 4 on and watched the light blink." Is this part of the "procedure" or just your quest for knowledge?

Anyway, glad you got it working.

George

[SLOweather]

I had a similar issue when I was running a cabled VP2. Local strikes would lock up the ISS. It was fixed in essentially the same way, disconnect the cable to the console, count to 10 and reconnect it.

[parshal]

"After step 2, I flipped DIP switch 4 on and watched the light blink." Is this part of the "procedure" or just your quest for knowledge?

It's not part of the procedure they gave me but my quest for knowledge.  I knew it would discharge quicker.  When I replaced the ISS last year I left the old one near the console and it kept picking that up even though the battery was out of the ISS.  I read somewhere that flipping switch 4 on would discharge it quickly, which it did.