Topic: Rainwise 111 rain gauge connection to VP2

[fkapp]

Thanks again!   
Will use the trial and error method until works as mentioned.

Any heater approaches out there?

Thanks everyone.

[CW2274]

Will use the trial and error method until works as mentioned.

I feel guilty for not giving you a definitive answer so I just went out and looked. It is indeed as you said, yellow/green one side, red the other. Black not used.

[fkapp]

Appreciate it.

[ocala]

New Rainwise mounted on The Davis base.
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[CW2274]

You're the only person I know that did it like this. Looks like stock. Very nice! Good and sturdy too. You'll like it.

[Dj1225]

New Rainwise mounted on The Davis base.
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How did you get yours mounted on the Davis base? I tried and didn't seem to have the room to fit it on the base.

[ocala]

Had to do some mods on on the Davis base. After removing the Davis tipper assembly what's left is the two cones that the tippers spilled into. Instead of trying to grind those down I decided to use them. Had to make a few cuts in the Davis mount but eventually the new base sat right on top of those. I wanted to use the screws that attached the base to the radiation shield but I needed longer ones because it didn't sit flush. Problem is I couldn't find 8/32 x7 SS screws so I decided to use just regular deck screws to attach the the new base to the old one. Worked out good. Surprisingly it wasn't too far off from being level. A few more tweaks and it was good to go.
If you go this route mount the base  so that the light blue cap is in front. See pic above.  Reason is the back side has to be clear to attach the bolts to a 4x4. I didn't realize that and had to change things around. Also doing it this way I had to cut off one of the tabs that holds the rain bucket to the base. Reason being it sat on top of the back end of the ISS mount. So in the end the bucket is only held down by 3 screws but that will not be an issue.   

[davidmc36]

This looks like what may be my choice once I run out of spares.

Looking at the inside it appears to me the reason it handles heavy rain better is that the buckets are simply larger. The Davis is so small that when drops are still dropping through as the bucket starts to tip, they are not registered since they belong in the next bucket but fell into the full bucket as it tipped.

The small size of the Davis tipper means those drops are a more significant part of the total and so skews the data more than the RW would.

Something else that should be checked on your Davis units is the tipper axle. Having found every used one I acquired to be bent, I suspect it happens during winter during ice build up and depending on the severity could bring tipper closer to screws and increase readings or make tipper harder to tip, lowering readings.

What does the axle look like on that RW?

[Dj1225]

Had to do some mods on on the Davis base. After removing the Davis tipper assembly what's left is the two cones that the tippers spilled into. Instead of trying to grind those down I decided to use them. Had to make a few cuts in the Davis mount but eventually the new base sat right on top of those. I wanted to use the screws that attached the base to the radiation shield but I needed longer ones because it didn't sit flush. Problem is I couldn't find 8/32 x7 SS screws so I decided to use just regular deck screws to attach the the new base to the old one. Worked out good. Surprisingly it wasn't too far off from being level. A few more tweaks and it was good to go.
If you go this route mount the base  so that the light blue cap is in front. See pic above.  Reason is the back side has to be clear to attach the bolts to a 4x4. I didn't realize that and had to change things around. Also doing it this way I had to cut off one of the tabs that holds the rain bucket to the base. Reason being it sat on top of the back end of the ISS mount. So in the end the bucket is only held down by 3 screws but that will not be an issue.

Since the drain holes for both bases don't line up, did you drill drain holes in the Davis base?

[CW2274]

That won't be necessary, the water will always be able to drain. Remember, you can put the RW anywhere you want, it doesn't have to be on the ISS.

[ocala]

Had to do some mods on on the Davis base. After removing the Davis tipper assembly what's left is the two cones that the tippers spilled into. Instead of trying to grind those down I decided to use them. Had to make a few cuts in the Davis mount but eventually the new base sat right on top of those. I wanted to use the screws that attached the base to the radiation shield but I needed longer ones because it didn't sit flush. Problem is I couldn't find 8/32 x7 SS screws so I decided to use just regular deck screws to attach the the new base to the old one. Worked out good. Surprisingly it wasn't too far off from being level. A few more tweaks and it was good to go.
If you go this route mount the base  so that the light blue cap is in front. See pic above.  Reason is the back side has to be clear to attach the bolts to a 4x4. I didn't realize that and had to change things around. Also doing it this way I had to cut off one of the tabs that holds the rain bucket to the base. Reason being it sat on top of the back end of the ISS mount. So in the end the bucket is only held down by 3 screws but that will not be an issue.

Since the drain holes for both bases don't line up, did you drill drain holes in the Davis base?

No. The RW drains onto the old Davis base and the water runs over the edge. Before, the Davis drained on to the top of the radiation shield and ran over their sides.

[rlaprise]

Just created an account to add some clarity to this.  Yes I know no one has posted to this in 120 days however I just got a RainWise gauge and had been trying to find some information on wiring it to my VP2 and this is the "primary" hit people will get who are trying to do this.

I have a VP2 and I've always felt the rain gauge was the weak link.  Maybe you like the Davis tipper (or spoon) and are happy with it, I don't and am not.  I had the tipper with the original cone, upgraded to the spoon with the new cone and liked that even less.  Saw a lot of recommendations for the RainWise so I got one.

I dug out the original tipper from my VP2 for reference. 

Looking at the plug with the contacts facing you and the wire coming out of the plug going towards you, the colors are (left to right) yellow, green, red, black.

At the tipper the yellow and green are soldered together to one side of the reed switch and the red is connected to the other side.  Black is not used.

Doesn't matter what the colors of the wires are in your plug if you are hacking off the end of an old phone cord.  If using a 4 conductor plug with the contacts up and facing you and the wire coming out of the plug coming towards you the two left most wires go to one wire from the RainWise, the wire immediately to their right to the other wire from the RainWise, the right most wire us unused.

I would expect that if you have a 6 conductor cable then the leftmost wire is unused, the two wires to it's right go to one of the RainWise wires, the wire immediately to their right goes to the other RainWise wire, and the two right most wires will be unused.

I hope that is clear enough that anyone who comes across this can modify the cable coming off their RainWise so it will plug into their Vantage ISS.

Back to lurking.

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