WXforum.net
Weather Station Hardware => Davis Instruments Weather Stations => Topic started by: flainn on November 27, 2017, 12:57:55 PM
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(note: I've emailed this same message to Davis' customer support at sales@davisnet.com, but have not yet heard back).
Hello fellow weather enthusiasts,
I recently purchased a new 6163 kit from Scientific Sales Inc. (scientificsales.com).
I assembled things according to the manual and did an in-the-house sensors test prior to attempting installation. All sensors worked fine, except my son commented that the anemometer seemed to be registering more slowly than he would expect (he was blowing on the anemometer to make it go very fast). I didn't think much of it at the time.
But today I installed the station on a pole. Everything works great, except I'm getting no reading from the wind vane or the anemometer. All other sensors are working just fine.
I took the station back down and checked the anemometer cable thoroughly; no nicks or indication of physical problems. I then did some basic testing. I plugged the anemometer into the rain sensor port and spun the anemometer; data registered as rain. But when I plugged the anemometer back into the wind port, I get nothing.
I also plugged other sensors into the wind port (such as the rain sensor, which is a simple momentary switch -- should work to masquerade as an anemometer). But I get nothing even when plugging any other sensor into the wind port.
My hypothesis, based on my limited testing, is that the wind sensor port appears to be either dead or having some sort of issue. The anemometer itself does not seem to be the problem, as I get output from it when plugging it into a different sensor port.
Can you give me suggestions for what I might try to fix this? I'm really looking forward to having my station working at full capacity.
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Lo9ok in the modular Wind jack and make sure the contacts are not bent, and there is no crud in there, stuck to the dielectric grease.
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It's actually extremely rare to get a SIM board on the ISS that's somehow faulty, but that's obviously not to say that there might be a 1 in 1000 issue.
Probably best to wait for some feedback from Davis - guess they may have a significant mail backlog after the holiday.
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From my experience, call Davis, you will likely get a person and maybe an answer as well.
Enjoy,
Paul
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From my experience, call Davis, you will likely get a person and maybe an answer as well.
Enjoy,
Paul
Concur. Here's a supervisor, Brett Lane 510-940-1850.
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Ok. Well, I wish I had time during the work day to call Davis and spend time on the phone, but unfortunately I do not.
I did hear back from Kim Humburg, who forwarded my email to Dealer Support. If I don't hear anything more in a few days, I guess I'll have to find the time to call.
No bent pins -- I checked -- and there is no crud, seeing as how this is literally a brand-new station that has not yet spent a night outside.
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Ok. Well, I wish I had time during the work day to call Davis and spend time on the phone, but unfortunately I do not.
This is not helpful to you, but being in a time zone 3 hours ahead of Pacific is good for me ;)
Hopefully they will get back fairly quick.
You will enjoy,
Paul
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Why not contact Scientific Sales?
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Why not contact Scientific Sales?
I figured they would simply refer me to Davis. After all, if I buy a ThinkPad from Tiger Direct, I don't expect Tiger Direct to give me technical support.
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Why not contact Scientific Sales?
I figured they would simply refer me to Davis. After all, if I buy a ThinkPad from Tiger Direct, I don't expect Tiger Direct to give me technical support.
I suggest that you try it (and let us know how it goes). This appears to likely be a hardware problem.
Or, ask Davis for an anemometer (wind) test cable. Davis will send one free, and it is an excellent way to diagnose what's defective. [Or you could make one yourself. There's a schematic somewhere on this forum]
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=26648.msg259270#msg259270
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One thing you should/could do yourself, clean any gel out of the socket as well as wiping any residual gel from the plug and test again
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One thing you should/could do yourself, clean any gel out of the socket as well as wiping any residual gel from the plug and test again
I second this. Use some Isopropyl alcohol.
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You can do all of this and if it works, fine. I would contact Scientific Sales where you bought it and let them know they sent you a defective unit . Have them replace it for you. I think you will get faster results that way.
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Okay folks. Thank you for all the great suggestions.
I'll give some alcohol on the wind sensor port a try this evening. I didn't notice any gel anywhere, but it can't hurt.
I also forwarded my concerns to Scientific Sales. I will let you know what they say.
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Well, just to be clear, don't pour alcohol on the thing, just use it on a q-tip or cotton ball to clean out the gel. ;-)
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Well, just to be clear, don't pour alcohol on the thing, just use it on a q-tip or cotton ball to clean out the gel. ;-)
Of course, being very careful to not leave any lint or strings behind......
But why would there be gel there to begin with? And if there is supposed to be protective gel there, why clean it out?
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Well, just to be clear, don't pour alcohol on the thing, just use it on a q-tip or cotton ball to clean out the gel. ;-)
Of course, being very careful to not leave any lint or strings behind......
But why would there be gel there to begin with? And if there is supposed to be protective gel there, why clean it out?
It's dielectric grease. Supposed to stop water and stuff, but they aren't exactly, ahem, careful with it sometimes, so it can stop signals passing thru if it gets on a prong.
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It seems a bit odd to me that the anemometer connected to the rain port "works" and indicates a signal, yet there is no wind indication. Also strange is that neither direction or speed indication is present. It is possible that both signals are missing, but your rain test tells me that the speed is actually OK.
I would raise the possibility that the "Wind" was configured as a "Wind Station" instead of the ISS. There should be only a single "ISS" and no "WIND" (anemometer transmitter) should be configured. If your console was set up for an anemometer transmitter, it would give no wind indication since it would be expecting wind data from this source and not the ISS.
Something to check. Sometimes, even "new" units could have been a customer return and it was configured assuming an anemometer transmitter is present.
See: "Screen 2: Configuring Transmitter IDs - Wireless Only" in the console manual. There should be no "WIND" station configured. If so it should be turned "off".
Greg H.
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I would raise the possibility that the "Wind" was configured as a "Wind Station" instead of the ISS. There should be only a single "ISS" and no "WIND" (anemometer transmitter) should be configured. If your console was set up for an anemometer transmitter, it would give no wind indication since it would be expecting wind data from this source and not the ISS.
It's always worth checking these things, but you end up asking a new user for information and troubleshooting checks that they might not understand, hence my thought that it would be best done on the phone to Davis.
But yes, assuming that it's just a basic station with default settings, Station 1 should be ON ISS and _all_ other 7 channels need checking to ensure that they're OFF. Not a bad idea to get acquainted with channel setting on the console though - it's really quite straightforward.
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It seems a bit odd to me that the anemometer connected to the rain port "works" and indicates a signal, yet there is no wind indication. Also strange is that neither direction or speed indication is present. It is possible that both signals are missing, but your rain test tells me that the speed is actually OK.
I would raise the possibility that the "Wind" was configured as a "Wind Station" instead of the ISS. There should be only a single "ISS" and no "WIND" (anemometer transmitter) should be configured. If your console was set up for an anemometer transmitter, it would give no wind indication since it would be expecting wind data from this source and not the ISS.
Something to check. Sometimes, even "new" units could have been a customer return and it was configured assuming an anemometer transmitter is present.
See: "Screen 2: Configuring Transmitter IDs - Wireless Only" in the console manual. There should be no "WIND" station configured. If so it should be turned "off".
Greg H.
I think that it gets a "signal" is that everytime the reed switch in the rain collector opens and closes, it gets a "tip," so when the magnet in the Anemometer opens and closes its reed switch, it is intrepreted as being the rain switch. Shows the problem is with the ISS.
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Shows the problem is with the ISS.
Or the console settings as miraculon suggests!
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It's dielectric grease. Supposed to stop water and stuff, but they aren't exactly, ahem, careful with it sometimes, so it can stop signals passing thru if it gets on a prong.
I understand dielectric grease (non-conductive, anti-corrosion, etc. etc.). This particular port has had several connectors inserted and removed, and the "wind" plug has been inserted, tested OK, and removed from other ports on the ISS. And the owner does not see any grease. Given that, I consider it highly unlikely that there's a problem with excessive dielectric grease.
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It's always worth checking these things, but you end up asking a new user for information and troubleshooting checks that they might not understand, hence my thought that it would be best done on the phone to Davis.
It's ok. I've got 20 years working in IT, a ham radio license, and am a trained Skywarn and CoCoRaHS observer, plus it's not my first weather station (just my first professional-grade one). Feel free to talk high-level troubleshooting.
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You could probably quickly construct that "wind test cable". It would conclusively diagnose the problem. If it's a bad ISS (board), then Scientific Sales will quickly send a replacement.
de W5VBQ
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Were you able to verify that there is no "Wind Station" set in the console? Not saying that you did this, maybe it came that way...
It is worth eliminating as a possibility, since it would give the same symptoms due to a non-existent Anemometer Transmitter.
Greg H.
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Were you able to verify that there is no "Wind Station" set in the console? Not saying that you did this, maybe it came that way...
It is worth eliminating as a possibility, since it would give the same symptoms due to a non-existent Anemometer Transmitter.
Greg H.
I have not yet -- I didn't get a chance to look at it last night due to family activities. But I did get ahold of Davis' tech support on the phone, and they asked me to call when I'm sitting in front of the console. I'll try to do that this evening. Will report back.
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Okay.
I finally got the chance to speak with Davis' technical support while I was in front of the ISS and console. We couldn't get any output from the anemometer, but based upon our testing it is not entirely clear whether the issue is with the anemometer itself or with the transmitter. Davis is sending me a test cable and wants me to report back the results of testing with it as soon as I can do so.
I did check for dielectric grease (didn't see any) and cleaned both the female and male ends of the wind connector with alcohol and a Q-tip; no difference observed.
I also checked for any other stations configured; none were.
So at this point it looks like I've got a hardware failure; all that remains is to determine where.
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...... I then did some basic testing. I plugged the anemometer into the rain sensor port and spun the anemometer; data registered as rain. But when I plugged the anemometer back into the wind port, I get nothing.
I also plugged other sensors into the wind port (such as the rain sensor, which is a simple momentary switch -- should work to masquerade as an anemometer). But I get nothing even when plugging any other sensor into the wind port.
This is really close to the diagnosis that you will do with the test cable. But it's good that Davis is sending one, and you can confirm the diagnosis.
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This is really close to the diagnosis that you will do with the test cable. But it's good that Davis is sending one, and you can confirm the diagnosis.
What convinced the guy at Davis to send me a cable, I think, was that he asked me to perform the same test (plugging the anemometer into the rain port, and spinning it). But this time we couldn't get any output. He also had me use a paperclip to short all four pins in the wind port, on/off/on/off, for about five seconds -- no output doing that either. But when I did the same thing with a paperclip in the rain port, we immediately got 80 inches/hour and "raining cats and dogs."
So, it definitely looks like the port is malfunctioning, but the anemometer might be too.
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Interesting. Definitely be following the outcome.
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The test cable arrived. With it connected, I can get wind speed of ~18 mph and a bearing of 180. So the problem is with the anemometer.
The guy at Davis said that's really unusual, but is sending me a replacement anemometer.
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The test cable arrived. With it connected, I can get wind speed of ~18 mph and a bearing of 180. So the problem is with the anemometer.
The guy at Davis said that's really unusual, but is sending me a replacement anemometer.
Yes, very unusual. But shows the value of getting and using the test cable.
Thanks for the report - please come back and report the good results with the new anemometer.
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Yes, thanks for keeping us updated.
I hope for the best, but after all your other testing I'm not fully convinced the anemometer is the [whole] problem.
Electronics can do strange things, especially if there is coincidentally more than one problem, and one or more of those problems are intermittent.
Frustrating and unusual on a new station, but at least you're not likely to get more bad parts. Unless you're really unlucky. :eek:
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If it doesn't work, would you consider what I said way back, ask for a new ISS transmitter unit.
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Maybe we should stop speculating until the new anemometer hopefully fixes the problem. But I'm wondering,
I took the station back down and checked the anemometer cable thoroughly; no nicks or indication of physical problems. I then did some basic testing. I plugged the anemometer into the rain sensor port and spun the anemometer; data registered as rain. But when I plugged the anemometer back into the wind port, I get nothing.
I also plugged other sensors into the wind port (such as the rain sensor, which is a simple momentary switch -- should work to masquerade as an anemometer). But I get nothing even when plugging any other sensor into the wind port.
is this diagram correct:? It appears similar to my original VP.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
if so, it appears to me that plugging the wind sensor into the rain port and spinning the cups should do nothing, it shouldn't register as rain. So maybe the anemometer is miswired and does in fact need replacement.
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Maybe we should stop speculating until the new anemometer hopefully fixes the problem. But I'm wondering,
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is this diagram correct:? It appears similar to my original VP.
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if so, it appears to me that plugging the wind sensor into the rain port and spinning the cups should do nothing, it shouldn't register as rain. So maybe the anemometer is miswired and does in fact need replacement.
Interesting question. I obviously didn't consider that possibility. Is there an "official" ISS connection diagram somewhere?
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I suspect that there probably is some where the wiring diagram.
Unless the wire was kinked and a broken wire, it should work. If the test switch shows that the plug is active, then ask Davis to replace it free and send them back the broken one.
Fortunately when I got my VP1 way back, they included the test switch with it. They don't do that any more, but should. Another blessing is that the wind sensor at the top of my mast has been there since 1993 and still works. Nothing works that long,but right now things work.
I guess the luck of the draw.
Now should the new wind sensor not work, the ask for a new ISS (the transmitter and antenna) it is under warranty. Ask Davis to send you the new one and on getting it you will send the broken.
OR fiddle with it for another year and when the warranty runs out, you can buy it.
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If it doesn't work, would you consider what I said way back, ask for a new ISS transmitter unit.
Sure, will do. I will probably have to call Scientific Sales, since I never heard a word back regarding my email. But maybe Davis would be willing to send me one; they gave me no hassle about a replacement anemometer.
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Interesting question. I obviously didn't consider that possibility. Is there an "official" ISS connection diagram somewhere?
I don't know. I found that diagram here: [Site removed, until/if legitimacy can be verified. Update: Diagram can be found here: http://www.sloweather.com/blog/2011/110912WMIIjbox.png] It does say "Davis Instruments Corp" on the image, so maybe it's official?
I cropped it to show the difference between the sensor cables.
It might be handy if there was a place on the forum, like a sticky or something, with a list of known diagrams. I think I've seen some scattered here and there throughout the forum.
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I found that diagram here: http://money-cpm.com/wiring-diagram-for-davis-vantage-pro2-console-to-station-cable.html
Website showing as blocked as malicious by MWB. :eek:
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Website showing as blocked as malicious by MWB. :eek:
Thanks, I removed it from my post to be safe. My browser and AV didn't throw any warnings, but I have a bunch of script blocking and stuff.
Here is what scamadviser says:Although this website appears to be based in United States there are other countries involved and you should review this information carefully and decide if it is as you expect.This webite is very new , and as such doesn't have an online reputation yet. As with all new businesses , we suggest that you take care and if necessary get in contact with the owners before placing an order of value.
This site is using an anonymous service - which prevents us from identifying the site owner. This can sometimes be just so that the owner does not receive spam, but be aware that many scam sites use this as a method to hide their identify. If this is an ecommerce site - we would suggest you confirm the business address with the website owners.
BTW, it says below the diagram on that page: Sloweather posted a copy of the junction box that davis used with the older style stations here is the link
I wonder if Sloweather has an idea of what the deal is with this website?
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I wonder if Sloweather has an idea of what the deal is with this website?
Not saying that it is definitely malicious but one is always a bit wary when a warning does pop up. That said, a domain name of money-cpm (presumably clicks per something) doesn't really invite confidence.
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BTW, it says below the diagram on that page: Sloweather posted a copy of the junction box that davis used with the older style stations here is the link
I wonder if Sloweather has an idea of what the deal is with this website?
Not me. I posted that scan here somewhere, I think. It seems to me like that is a subscription site that harvests wiring diagrams from other sites and then charges a monthly fee for access.
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Not me. I posted that scan here somewhere, I think. It seems to me like that is a subscription site that harvests wiring diagrams from other sites and then charges a monthly fee for access.
Thanks. Sounds reasonable. That helps explain why the link it attributed with your name was dead.
I suspect they don't pay any attention to whether what they post is in the public domain, proprietary info, accurate, complete, or to giving proper credit, which probably adds to their shadiness.
I wasn't asked for a fee or any information, but all I did was copy the image and didn't look at or download anything else.
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Here we go, this is the diagram from a safe site. (Well, assuming sloweather.com is safe anyway. :-) )
http://www.sloweather.com/blog/2011/110912WMIIjbox.png
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Got my replacement anemometer from Davis, tested it and it works fine, and everything is now up on the tower.
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Got my replacement anemometer from Davis, tested it and it works fine, and everything is now up on the tower.
Thanks for the report.