VP2 didn't register rain, but started reporting solar radiation

[tomn...@frontier.com]

So... we had a thunder storm last evening, and no rain registered, and magically, the solar radiation graph showed up.  I did register rain a few days ago, weewx had been up for quite some time.  Here's the station: https://www.csrhome.online/vp2weather/index.html

I'm assuming this isn't a weewx problem, but some guesses on what needs to be done with the weather station would be appreciated.  I checked the weewx logs and nothing stood out as interesting.

Thx, Chris

[vince]

What does 'magically the solar radiation graph showed up' mean ?    Which skin ?  Do you 'not' have the solar sensors in your gear ?

When in doubt, check the rain cone for blockages. You could do a controlled test by removing the rain cone and tipping the tipper manually 'gently' a few times.

[gjr80]

At a guess I would say radiation being reported as a fairly constant 900 (including though the night) means something is not quite right. Guessing from the lack of previous radiation data there is no solar sensor. Do you have a console? If so what shows on the console (for both rain and radiation)? If it’s the same as reported by WeeWX then that points to a station hardware issue. If the console shows different data then it’s likely a WeeWX issue.

I do have vague recollection of seeing a spontaneous radiation issue before, no idea where or indeed if anything to do with WeeWX. Maybe some googling is in order.

Gary

[tomn...@frontier.com]

  Correct, I don't have a solar radiation sensor.  I'm using the Seasons skin with weewx 3.9.1, so the graph appearing depends on radiation data showing

up, which just happened as of the thunder storm.  It certainly doesn't look like the ISS was hit, but who knows what sort of stuff was induced into

the thing.  The rain cone was cleaned not long ago, and as I said, recorded rain in the last week, so it worked recently.  I do have a console, and it's

reporting the 900 W/m, so it isn't weewx.  I'll try re-powering the console and see if that helps, and will update.  I'll also try mucking with the tipper

and cone tomorrow and see if there's anything there.  The whole setup has been rock solid for quite some time (~3 yrs).

Thx, Chris

[tomn...@frontier.com]

OK, so I checked the rain cone and tipper; all clear.  Powering off the console didn't help.  I also changed the ISS's ID

in case someone else's station in the neighborhood was what I was receiving (it's wireless).  No change.  Tipping

the rain gauge still isn't reporting and I've still got the radiation around 900 W/m, so I guess I'll have to call Davis

on Monday.

Chris

[Greg Troxel]

"tomn...@frontier.com" <tomn...@frontier.com> writes:

> OK, so I checked the rain cone and tipper; all clear. Powering off the
> console didn't help. I also changed the ISS's ID
> in case someone else's station in the neighborhood was what I was receiving
> (it's wireless). No change. Tipping
> the rain gauge still isn't reporting and I've still got the radiation
> around 900 W/m, so I guess I'll have to call Davis
> on Monday.

If physically moving the bucket back and forth isn't showing up on the
console, and the console is displaying varying solar radiation and temp,
then my guess is that the reed switch that picks up the magnet for the
bucket is broken, or wiring to it, or perhaps the circuit it's hooked up
to. About 15 years ago I had a similar failure in a Vantage Pro (not
2) and Davis sent me a new reed switch and I swapped it in (which did
require a soldering iron, but for someone who is used to soldering was
not hard, although I forget the details).

[vince]

On Saturday, July 17, 2021 at 11:50:39 AM UTC-7 Greg Troxel wrote: 

If physically moving the bucket back and forth isn't showing up on the
console, and the console is displaying varying solar radiation and temp,
then my guess is that the reed switch that picks up the magnet for the
bucket is broken, or wiring to it, or perhaps the circuit it's hooked up
to. About 15 years ago I had a similar failure in a Vantage Pro (not
2) and Davis sent me a new reed switch and I swapped it in (which did
require a soldering iron, but for someone who is used to soldering was
not hard, although I forget the details).

Same here.  I was a little rough one time cleaning mine and broke the reed switch and Davis was nice enough to send me a few after I contacted customer support.   Not a bit deal to use a soldering iron to remove the old one and solder a new one in, although I was sweating a bit at the time :-)

If you're still seeing reports of radiation when you do not have a radiation sensor at all, you definitely want to contact Davis customer support unless you did something silly like plug your rain gauge sensor into a radiation jack or the like.

[tomn...@frontier.com]

Thanks again, guys.  No, I didn't do anything silly with the sensor connectors.  I'm still suspicious that the lightening around

caused some sort of failure.  I didn't try unplugging the solar panel and removing the backup battery in the ISS to "reboot"

it, assuming that's even a thing.  I'll talk to Davis and see what they have to say.  I'm not afraid of a soldering iron, so no

issues there.

Chris

[tomn...@frontier.com]

So... after talking to Davis a couple of times, they wanted to replace the transmitter unit, which is on the way,

to the tune of $40.  Will update once it is installed and things are back working.

Chris

[tomn...@frontier.com]

I got the new transmitter installed yesterday, and the reported issues are resolved.  We've got thunder storms this afternoon,

so there's some "weather" to watch.

Chris