Topic: Wiring RM Young - HD model 05108 to Davis universal anemometer interface

[jconley2]

I can't believe I never noticed the props were different, but looking at the website, they clearly are. Do you have any thoughts on what the advantages of the different props are?

Standard prop is 18 cm DIA x 30 cm PITCH. HD prop is 18 cm DIA x 50 cm PITCH.

Good question; I had wondered the same and awaiting word from RMY.

[DaleReid]

jconly:
Look on eBay, they often have props also on sale there, and I don't recall any of them being that much, even with shipping.

Young is a good company and makes quality products, and I've bought some replacement parts from them, generally well priced.  Some Met One stuff has been eye blinkingly high, as well as some stuff from Campbell, but then other things Campbell has are reasonable.  I guess you can't second guess what it costs to make stuff.

Let us know.  Dale

[twcmaster]

I just got my setup working! I hooked up only the wind speed for now, but everything is looking good so far at low speeds. I am really looking to test higher speeds, but of course winds are forecast to be fairly light over the next couple days. The good news is the Young wind monitor and the Davis console attached wirelessly to the universal anemometer interface are very much in sync. I am now curious to see how the Davis console does with wind gusts now that they are coming from the same instrument.

It is really nice to see the young monitor, and the two Davis consoles (one hooked up to a 6410 on the same pole as the 05106 and the other hooked up to the universal anemometer interface) dance in unison. I will share further results here when we get some higher speeds.

[jconley2]

Dale -- Good idea, but no props are currently available (that I could find.) No worries though, I've one coming directly from RMY.

Twcmaster -- Great to hear! Saw that on your live video stream just now. Ordered a new prop yesterday, so my 05108 + Davis setup should report accurately very soon.
Btw, re: benefits of 05108 (HD) prop -- per RMY, "The HD’s are built for extreme, constant, high wind conditions.  Since the different pitch allows the prop to spin at a slower RPM for a given speed it is less stressful to the prop and bearings." That makes total sense and is good engineering on their part. Where I am in Vermont I won't have constant wind, so even with the standard propeller the ceramic bearings should not wear out any time soon.

[jconley2]

Good news! I swapped out the propeller earlier this week and immediately noticed improved wind speed measurements. Feels good to finally have accurate wind reports. BIG thank you to everyone who helped bring this to resolution! Couldn't have done it without you!

[twcmaster]

Great to hear!!

[Hemmits]

I just got my setup working! I hooked up only the wind speed for now, but everything is looking good so far at low speeds. I am really looking to test higher speeds, but of course winds are forecast to be fairly light over the next couple days. The good news is the Young wind monitor and the Davis console attached wirelessly to the universal anemometer interface are very much in sync. I am now curious to see how the Davis console does with wind gusts now that they are coming from the same instrument.

It is really nice to see the young monitor, and the two Davis consoles (one hooked up to a 6410 on the same pole as the 05106 and the other hooked up to the universal anemometer interface) dance in unison. I will share further results here when we get some higher speeds.

I'm Curious how the Davis and Young peak wind speeds are comparing after you made the change. Does one always seem to be higher still?

[twcmaster]

Whoops, I really dropped the ball on following up on this thread. The overall storm peak gust speeds at high (50-70 mph) speeds are very close with the Young and the Davis. If one unit broke, I would feel very confident in the other even if that other is the Davis.

Things weren't always that way (the Davis used to always be ~4 mph greater when I tested this setup under different conditions a while back). I am not sure exactly what I could have been dong wrong, but that was also with an older 6410, so maybe that was the issue. Regardless, whatever I did, both are very well in sync right now, although not always exact.

I am also comparing the gusts from the RM Young Wind Monitor displayed on the RM Young display updated once per second and the Davis console through the anemometer interface. The Young will definitely catch gusts that the Davis won't, but overall it doesn't seem to be too bad.

[Hemmits]

Thanks for the update! I had tried a refurbished Young 05103 a few years back with a universal anemometer kit device from Davis. I ran a comparison with the Young and a Davis 6410. They were mounted close to each other on the same pole. I had a similar issue where the peak gusts were almost always 1-4 mph higher on the 6410, sometimes more. I was tired of the bearings wearing out on the 6410 and wanted to try something different. I even tried a NRG 40C and that worked well, but would ice up really easy with any sort of freezing drizzle. How well does the Young 05103 perform in freezing rain/drizzle?

[twcmaster]

Thanks for the update! I had tried a refurbished Young 05103 a few years back with a universal anemometer kit device from Davis. I ran a comparison with the Young and a Davis 6410. They were mounted close to each other on the same pole. I had a similar issue where the peak gusts were almost always 1-4 mph higher on the 6410, sometimes more. I was tired of the bearings wearing out on the 6410 and wanted to try something different. I even tried a NRG 40C and that worked well, but would ice up really easy with any sort of freezing drizzle. How well does the Young 05103 perform in freezing rain/drizzle?

A bunch of years back,  I purchased a 05106 off ebay and did the same with not great results. I am not sure if it was the unit or I just didn't know what the heck I was doing (have learned quite a bit since then).

I go through a new 6410 every 2 years like clockwork. The bearings sieze up and the cups won't spin at all. I was lucky enough to get the new RMY 05106 http://www.youngusa.com/news/marinewindmonitorupgrade.html which has ceramic bearings like the HD's have so hopefully that will maximize my time between service since I have to pay a roofer to go up there every time I need something done.

I have not had an issue with any type of frozen precip yet, but I have really not had a good ice storm to test it yet. The wind in the winter never slows down enough so the propeller would need some really thick rime to make an impact which I just haven't seen yet. We ironically had more frozen precip in May this year than February in this part of NY. If we get a good ice storm in the future, I will try and update this thread.  Of course, they also sell an Alpine version with black paint that can absorb heat a little better, but not sure how much better that would actually be in real life.

[DaleReid]

I have some 5103s around here that have aged to a decade or more.  Of course we don't have constant gales and thank goodness no salt spray to deal with.

Never had one give me trouble (yet), but since they are way up on a tower at just above tree tops, they are hard to get to.  The guys I used to have climb (ham radio guys) have all aged along with me.  A young dude who does tree work climbed it like a scared squirrel, but he moved and I haven't been able to get ahold of him lately.  The need to work on these things is always on my mind.  I look at the antennas and wind and weather stuff on Navy ships and wonder what poor guy gets to go up there to retrieve and fix stuff, especially in heavier weather.

I have had a 5103 get weathered up twice.  both times were with heavy wet snow with no wind.  And of course the cold afterwards made it freeze solid for a day or two until the sun thawed it enough to drop off.

I can't find it right now but a few years ago I took some close ups of my 'test' 5103 on the back porch with ice hanging off the prop and body.  Was sort of neat.  The fortunate thing was it was when there was a slight breeze and the prop kept rotating, and the centrifugal force kept spinning the water off, so there were 2 to 3" ice icicles off radially all the way around.   I'm sure the imbalance caused errors in wind speed, but my hobby doesn't demand incredibly accurate results, just the fun of doing it.  If I find the pix, I'll send them on.  By the way, the same thing happened to a Rainwise wind sensor too, with the icicles hanging off it.  When the heavy wet snow came down the RainWise was froze up for awhile too.  The record looked like it went dead calm.  The worse one for freezing up with snow is the Vaisala WXT520, which even with the heater, has a bit of a time getting the frozen precip off the stainless steel dome.  I hear the RM Young version of the ultrasonic is much better.

 

[jconley2]

The 05108-45 Alpine in all black also has a special ice resistant coating which may help. However, it uses the 05108 Heavy Duty propeller which has a different pitch and is not compatible with the Davis universal anemometer kit, so will under report wind speed. However, swap it with the standard prop (used on 05103) and that will resolve the issue.

[Hemmits]

The 05108-45 Alpine in all black also has a special ice resistant coating which may help. However, it uses the 05108 Heavy Duty propeller which has a different pitch and is not compatible with the Davis universal anemometer kit, so will under report wind speed. However, swap it with the standard prop (used on 05103) and that will resolve the issue.

The 05108-45 is the one I am leaning toward. It actually is compatible with the Davis universal anemometer kit. Instead of shunting the pin for the 05103, leave the pin in the other position then enter the correct calibration number in the Vue console, 1666 for the 05108-45.

[twcmaster]

 then enter the correct calibration number in the Vue console, 1666 for the 05108-45.

Where did you find this info or did you calculate it yourself?

[jconley2]

Glad that's a configurable option for Vantage Vue owners. Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, for Vantage Pro 2 and WeatherLink Live customers, that is not an option in the configurable settings, so using the standard prop is the only way to go if using the 05108 Heavy Duty or 05108-45 Alpine with those Davis stations. That said, the 05106 Marine uses the standard prop by default, so no swap needed.

[Hemmits]

 then enter the correct calibration number in the Vue console, 1666 for the 05108-45.

Where did you find this info or did you calculate it yourself?

This information is on page 2 of the 05108-45 manual, under calibration formulas. The number you want is the WIND SPEED vs OUTPUT FREQUENCY in m/s, 0.1666. You then take this number and multiply it by 1000 per the Davis universal anemometer manual, and enter it in the Vue console.

[twcmaster]

 then enter the correct calibration number in the Vue console, 1666 for the 05108-45.

Where did you find this info or did you calculate it yourself?

This information is on page 2 of the 05108-45 manual, under calibration formulas. The number you want is the WIND SPEED vs OUTPUT FREQUENCY in m/s, 0.1666. You then take this number and multiply it by 1000 per the Davis universal anemometer manual, and enter it in the Vue console.

Perfect, thanks!

[Hemmits]

I spoke with a person at RM Young asking about how well the 05108-45 has been performing in the field, especially in harsh icing conditions. He said that there are two at the top of Mt. Everest and they have been performing well in those harsh conditions. I figured if they can work up there, they should work anywhere! Here is an article on that weather station. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/12/13/worlds-highest-weather-stations-reveal-intense-sunshine-may-be-melting-ice-mount-everest/

[Hemmits]

Just an update, I have successfully interfaced the 05108-45 Alpine with the Davis universal anemometer kit. I noticed a small typo from a previous post of mine, the calibration number entered in the Davis Vue console should be 166.6 not 1666. Since the Vue does not allow one to enter tenths, I rounded up to 167 for the calibration number.

[twcmaster]

Just an update, I have successfully interfaced the 05108-45 Alpine with the Davis universal anemometer kit. I noticed a small typo from a previous post of mine, the calibration number entered in the Davis Vue console should be 166.6 not 1666. Since the Vue does not allow one to enter tenths, I rounded up to 167 for the calibration number.

Thank you for the update!!