Author Topic: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.  (Read 1468 times)

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Greg_M

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Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« on: July 16, 2021, 08:26:01 AM »
I have figured out the wind direction being 180° out.
It is lightning.
The only solution I have found is to reboot the console, which involves pulling the batteries and the power supply and waiting while it reloads.


If someone has a quicker way to do this I would be grateful to hear it.


Offline miraculon

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2021, 09:06:17 AM »
I would suspect that the lightning might be causing a surge which is being passed into the console.

A good EMI/Surge suppressor like those from Tripp-Lite might be a good idea to put on the console power supply and the computer power that the data-logger is connected to. Have you tried a clamp-on ferrite on the data logger cable and an extra one on the power?

The ferrite doesn't do much for a surge per-se, but there is a lot of RF EMI associated with lightning strikes. This could be another cause of the problems associated with the lightning.

73 de KE8DAF, Greg


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Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2021, 09:34:23 AM »
I have everything electronic behind UPS protectors as our area suffers from frequent blips in the mains power which is just enough to cause the clocks to blink. Over time it will destroy electronics so I have bought a fleet of UPSs. The best I have found are the Tripp-Lite units.

My VP2 is a wireless system. I'm wondering if there is any way to protect it from what I think might be magnet pulse surges.

Odd that it only seems to affect wind direction. Maybe because the wind vane is up a radio tower about 30' ?

I wonder if I were to put a ferrite on the cable that runs from the wind vane/anemometer down to the transmitter if that would help?

Offline miraculon

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2021, 09:54:26 AM »
I have everything electronic behind UPS protectors as our area suffers from frequent blips in the mains power which is just enough to cause the clocks to blink. Over time it will destroy electronics so I have bought a fleet of UPSs. The best I have found are the Tripp-Lite units.

My VP2 is a wireless system. I'm wondering if there is any way to protect it from what I think might be magnet pulse surges.

Odd that it only seems to affect wind direction. Maybe because the wind vane is up a radio tower about 30' ?

I wonder if I were to put a ferrite on the cable that runs from the wind vane/anemometer down to the transmitter if that would help?

That is a good thought. Just for reference, when I transmit on 2M, if I have the power at 50W, I will see the wind drop out, with dashes (--) for speed. The cable from the anemometer runs down the same mast as the UHF/VHF antenna. The antenna is mounted on a side support and is parallel to the cable. I can hit the local repeater just fine at 5W so I leave it there. I have no problem at the lower RF power.

It is not the same symptom that you are having, but it does indicate some susceptibility. I put a ferrite clamp on the cable from the anemometer to the transmitter, which helped some. I put it at the 6332 end of the cable.

73, de KE8DAF - Greg
« Last Edit: July 16, 2021, 09:58:51 AM by miraculon »


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2021, 09:58:17 AM »
Any recommendation on the ferrite?

Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2021, 01:56:20 PM »
Looks like the thunder clouds are starting to build again to the west.
I found a snap on ferrite in the junk box and was able to make one loop through it with the telephone cable that runs from the anemometer/wind vane down to the transmission box on the tower.
We'll see if that helps.
I also had a coil of extra telephone cable zip tied to the tower and took that coil loose.

We just heard our first thunder of the day so I guess we'll know soon.



I wonder if using multi conductor coax instead of telephone wire and grounding the shield would help?



Offline miraculon

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2021, 03:09:20 PM »
Any recommendation on the ferrite?

I believe that I used this for the TX issue that I had: https://www.fair-rite.com/product/round-cable-snap-its-446164281/ This may or may not be effective for your situation.

If you could determine where most of the RF is frequency wise, it might help to pick the best mix. Fair-Rite has a table showing some lower frequency parts: https://www.fair-rite.com/product-category/suppression-components/round-cable-snap-its/

There is another company which has a call-sign for the name, but I can't seem to recall or find it right now.

Also, https://palomar-engineers.com/ and DX Engineering have kits with various configurations and filtering characteristics.

Greg H.



Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline miraculon

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2021, 09:05:57 AM »
Any recommendation on the ferrite?

I found the other ferrite source that I misplaced. (pre HDD crash)

Try this one: www.kf7p.com

Greg H.


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2021, 09:22:42 AM »
Thanks for that.

It did survive yesterday's lightning although it was not near as ferocious as the previous two days.

I wound up going out on the porch with my binoculars and looking at the wind vane and then going back in and seeing what the reading is on the display, repeatedly during the day.

I did do two things to try to remedy the problem.
One was to add the snap on ferrite with a loop of the telephone line through it.
The other was to undo the coil of extra length of telephone wire I had zip tied to the tower.

If I still have problem, in an extreme solution, I could run a couple lengths of copper water pipe up the tower (and put the telephone cable inside of it) and ground the pipe to the tower/earth and see if that works.

I suppose it could be induction from the telephone cable being zip tied to the steel tower.
We'll see.

Hopefully these fixes will be the end of the problem.

Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2021, 04:12:41 PM »
The wind vane has remained accurate through several doozies of lightning storms.

Our country has been declared a disaster zone because of the 5" of rain we've had in the last week or so.

My modem, my Yamaha AV amp and my Stardot Webcam were not so lucky.

Offline Aardvark

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2021, 06:58:33 PM »
I am not sure if all the surge protectors, ups can do much in a direct lightning strike.   the EMF  produced would definitely fry anything electronic nearby.  I have a whole house unit and it acts like a sponge picking up this and that, and as the electrician who installed it said , eventually it will need to be replace, but a nearby strike will do damage, grounded or not.   

Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2021, 07:32:05 PM »
I'm pretty sure the surge came in on the phone lines and spread out from the modem.
The phone company tech who brought me the new modem said 5 others had lost their modems in my area.
Makes me want to move in the direction of wireless.


Offline Aardvark

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2021, 11:25:40 AM »
I'm pretty sure the surge came in on the phone lines and spread out from the modem.
The phone company tech who brought me the new modem said 5 others had lost their modems in my area.
Makes me want to move in the direction of wireless.

We are going with fiber tomorrow, should be interesting.  I will ask the installer about line protection.  So far we have had dsl and no problems yet.  But need the faster speeds.

Greg_M

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Re: Davis VP2 does not like lightning.
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2021, 08:00:15 AM »
Update.

So far so good. It has survived several good lightning storms and a couple of floods.
Not sure if it was de-coiling the excess telephone wire or adding the ferrite, but it's working now without problem.

Thanks for the suggestions and help.