Page 1 of 1

Upgraded to a Davis VP2

Posted: Sun 21 Oct 2018 12:10 am
by Matt.j5b
After many years using a La Crosse WS 2306 station I have replaced this with a Davis Vantage Pro 2 on 4 October. I have meaning to do this for a while though I have putting this off due to the high cost here in Oz we have pay for Davis kit and also other priorities such as an extensive analysis of all my manually recorded daily rainfall data.

I used the La Crosse WS 2306 station since October 2011 and this lasted a lot longer than I expected. However about 18 months ago I realised that the station would become unreliable when an older La Crosse WS 1600IT started failing in late 2016 and into 2017. With that station (being 18 months older) the reed switch failed on the rain gauge and the wireless signal failed every time the humidity would get high.

The La Crosse WS 2306 station wind direction failed on December 24 last year and that I knew I definitely needed to replace this station. Since August the wireless signal was lost a few times for several hours for no reason. Also having a horrible computer connection (serial connection though a usb adapter), in recent months there has been major troubles getting the station to talk to my Windows 10 computer.

I did consider getting a cheap station but definitely not another La Crosse but I decided against that. I have spent enough time keeping the data clean and battling the troubles in its older age that I would go all out and do it properly, increase the accuracy of the collected data and invest in a less troubling station.

I switched stations on October 4, though I still have the La Crosse WS 2306 running. I have done this so that I can make a comparison over the next few months so that I can understand and record the difference in the data measurement of the Davis. This comparison will be available on my website later this year. This is presuming the station can last a few more months.

As for the Davis VP2 I have the ISS for temperature, humidity and rainfall mounted to a steel pole in a middle of lawn in a suburban backyard. The temperature sensor is at 1.4 m, slightly above the official standard but this gives slightly better airflow. Being in a sub-tropical climate I may need the Daytime fan assisted radiation shield, which I didn't purchase. This is so that I may assess whether I actually need this, though there hasn't been a warm day with little wind yet to test this.

The ISS is reasonably exposed from NW to NNE and ESE to WSW, a little sheltered to W to NW and sheltered by a large tree between NE to E. For the wind sensor I mounted this separately using the Anemometer transmitter kit to a steel pole and is about 3.8 m above ground. This is not as high as it should, taking to it up to roof level, but this is about the highest I can go without using guying wires. But even if I mount it above roof level, it would still be sheltered by surrounding trees.

I am very pleased with my new station which was quite easy to set up, and the Davis Instruments distributor was easy to deal with. The data the station measures is a lot more responsive to changes in the weather, seems a lot more accurate and I especially like the frequent updates for the wind.The rain gauge is quite good and better than I expected knowing the limitation of tipping bucket rain gauges in high intensity rainfall and the wireless signal is rock solid. A current project is also improving the data analysis outside of Cumulus, which is quite a job and I eventually plan for this to be included on my website. :D

Re: Upgraded to a Davis VP2

Posted: Sun 21 Oct 2018 3:12 am
by PaulMy
Congratulations :clap:

Enjoy,
Paul

Re: Upgraded to a Davis VP2

Posted: Mon 05 Nov 2018 9:43 am
by Matt.j5b
Thanks Paul,the Davis VP2 been really working well and reliably.

After some hot days with little wind it has became apparent that I need the daytime FARS as the daytime temperatures are reading several degrees too high. I have installed this, with the temperature more accurate and responsive as a result.

I am quite pleased with the readings in the hot and still conditions in heatwave conditions currently being experienced. The VP2 daytime temperatures in these conditions now reads at or below the old La Crosse station which is sited in the shade.

Re: Upgraded to a Davis VP2

Posted: Mon 05 Nov 2018 2:40 pm
by PaulMy
Hi Matt,
I will have to come and see it next time we are visiting our son and family in Bray Park QLD ;)

Enjoy,
Paul