Slightly OT: My Vantage Vue is dying

[Chris Schram]

I have an 11-year-old Davis Vantage Vue with a USB data-logger plugged
into a Raspberry Pi3B. Everything works well except...

The sensor suite, which has been out in years of all kinds of weather,
besides being pretty filthy, is crapping out in its temperature/humidity
readings when it starts getting hot during the day. It recovers when the
temperature drops sufficiently.

In a perfect world I could swap in a brand new sensor suite, and be up
and running pretty quick. What I'm not so sure of is whether I could run
into compatibility problems with my 11-year-old console and data-logger.

I have observed that the console/data-logger have received firmware
updates over the years, none of which I am capable of applying. These
updates require Windows, and all I have on hand are Macs and Raspberry
Pis.

As an alternative, since Davis weather stations are at the pricey end of
the scale, and I might not care to replace the entire hardware, what
choices in new hardware would be in the more affordable zone. I'd prefer
an out-of-box solution rather than having to roll my own weather
station.

Thanks.

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[Tom Keffer]

I would ask Davis about your upgrade options. Their support is very good. 

As far as WeeWX is concerned, it's compatible with firmware much older than yours. 

-tk

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[vince]

On Sunday, October 4, 2020 at 10:32:46 AM UTC-7, Chris Schram wrote:

I have an 11-year-old Davis Vantage Vue with a USB data-logger plugged
into a Raspberry Pi3B. Everything works well except...

The sensor suite, which has been out in years of all kinds of weather,
besides being pretty filthy, is crapping out in its temperature/humidity
readings when it starts getting hot during the day. It recovers when the
temperature drops sufficiently.

I have a 11+ year old VP2 and can validate that it's pretty trivial to swap in a new sensor.   I had to take my unit completely apart when I added a daytime FARS to it earlier this year. Totally a piece of cake to do.   Just soak the plastic pieces in hot water and all the junk scrubs right off of it.  The plastic will be a little discolored after all those years, but it'll be in fine shape.  The temp/humidity sensor is super easy to access and replace.

Only blood pressure item was lining up the various plates and screwing the shield back to the base of the rain collector platform.   I have to admit making up some new words trying to align things while reassembling the pieces :-)

For a vendor I'd highly recommend Scientific Sales or Scaled Instruments.  I've bought parts from each, and both were 'excellent' to do business with.

https://www.scientificsales.com/7346-070-Replacement-Temp-Hum-board-for-Davis-VP2-p/7346.070.htm - under 50 bucks for the sensor

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/davis-instruments/parts/vantage-pro2-parts/temperature-and-humidity-sensor-parts/davis-7346-070-pro2-digital-temperature-humidity-sensor-sensiron-sht31/ for the other vendor

Note the disclaimer on the second link about the newer sensors from Davis being a little different from the old ones, so you need to put in an offset on the console after you replace it.  The Davis docs are typically really good, so that should be straightforward.

I have never updated any firmware since I got my station in Jan-2009 and nothing bad has happened.  If it ain't broke don't fix it :-)

[Daniel Rich]

Davis has a rebuild program where they will completely repair and rebuild your station for a reasonable fee (I believe it was $95 when I had mine done a few years ago). You are responsible for shipping it to them, or in my case dropping it off since they aren’t too far from where I live. The station will come back “like new”, they will replace any parts that need replacing and recalibrate everything else.

Drop them a support request at their website and they can give you the full details.

Dan Rich <dr...@employees.org>	http://www.employees.org/~drich/
	"Step up to red alert!" "Are you sure, sir?
	It means changing the bulb in the sign..."
	- Red Dwarf (BBC)

[weather list]

Davis will also ship an already done rebuild to you so you won’t have to wait for yours to be rebuilt. I’ve used this a couple of times with two ISS units and it keeps you up and running.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/5f765fb6-b4e0-44ac-8d00-3ea10f7ef337%40Spark.

[Chris Schram]

On 2020-10-04, Tom Keffer <tke...@gmail.com> wrote:
> --000000000000e9d72205b0dbe93f
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

>
> I would ask Davis about your upgrade options. Their support is very good.

I have posted this same question to Davis support, but, maybe due to
COVID, they are being quite slow to respond. I'll give them more time
before I do anything stupid or expensive.

>
> As far as WeeWX is concerned, it's compatible with firmware much older than
> yours.

That's good to know. Thanks.

Also, many thanks to the others who responded to my question. There's
some very good information in there, and I will be pursuing these paths
as time permits.

>
> -tk
>
> On Sun, Oct 4, 2020 at 10:32 AM 'Chris Schram' via weewx-user <
> weewx...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
>> I have an 11-year-old Davis Vantage Vue with a USB data-logger plugged
>> into a Raspberry Pi3B. Everything works well except...
>>

>> [the rest of my original post deleted]