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Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Discussion specific to Davis weather stations
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david3
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Joined: Sat 28 Jan 2012 4:03 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Debian 12 64bit for rpi

Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by david3 »

On the bottom of the rain gauge assembly there's an adjustment knob covered with some sort of flexible plastic. When I was first installing it, I thought it had to be tightened, so I twisted it around.

Now I think that may have been to calibrate the tipping spoon. So it would no longer be calibrated to whatever they had it set to at the factory.

Do you know if there is any way to either find the correct position of the knob to return it to the factory calibration state, or to recalibrate it myself?

Thanks.
gemini06720
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by gemini06720 »

Your best (and only reliable) solution is to contact Davis Instruments Technical Support directly: support@davisnet.com
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Gordon-Loomberah
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Weather Station: Davis VP2 + Solar and UV
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by Gordon-Loomberah »

Surely it is just a matter of measuring the area of the top of the collector (pi * r^2) and multiplying that by say 10mm to obtain a volume, then slowly pour that volume of water in and see if you come up with 10mm. That should be 50 (* 0.2mm) tips... assuming the tips/mm is the same in the Vantage Vue as the VP2 that I have.
Screwing the adjustment screws down means the buckets have to fill a bit more before tippping, ie a given rate will appear to be slower if you screw them in. Unscrew them a little (top comes up) to reduce the bucket swing and increase the measurement rate.
Just count the tips and adjust as necessary- take the battery out/remove solar panel so no signal is being sent (wireless) or unplug for cable, or alternatively save a snapshot of Cumulus before doing the test, then when done delete the version with the testing results and start from your saved snapshot. Probably just saving the whole Cumulus directory on your desktop and using that would be simplest, to keep your quantities, times etc correct.
Loomberah Weather: http://gunagulla.com
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steve
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by steve »

Gordon-Loomberah wrote:alternatively save a snapshot of Cumulus before doing the test, then when done delete the version with the testing results and start from your saved snapshot. Probably just saving the whole Cumulus directory on your desktop and using that would be simplest, to keep your quantities, times etc correct.
Note that anything that artificially changes the (annual) rain total in the console will also eventually affect Cumulus, whether you take a snapshot or not.
Steve
david3
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Joined: Sat 28 Jan 2012 4:03 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Debian 12 64bit for rpi

Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by david3 »

Thanks -- I ended up contacting Davis support, and they're sending me a replacement tipping spoon.

As far as the data while you're doing maintenance on the station goes; would it work to stop Cumulus before you start, and then when you're finished clear the data from the console before starting Cumulus again? There would be a small data gap.

On the VantageVue you press WIND, 2nd, and hold CLEAR to clear the console data. Or does that cause other problems with monthly and season totals?
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steve
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by steve »

david3 wrote:As far as the data while you're doing maintenance on the station goes; would it work to stop Cumulus before you start, and then when you're finished clear the data from the console before starting Cumulus again? There would be a small data gap.
As long as the annual rain total wasn't affected, it would probably be OK. It would probably also be OK if the annual rain total reset to zero; it should cope with that.

I think the VP2 has a maintenance mode where any readings are ignored by the console; does the Vue have that?
Steve
gemini06720
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by gemini06720 »

steve wrote:I think the VP2 has a maintenance mode where any readings are ignored by the console; does the Vue have that?
The mode is called 'Setup Mode' and is available on both consoles:
- Vantage Vue: Press and release 2ND and then press SETUP.
- Vantage Pro: Press DONE and the - key (down arrow) at the same time.
david3
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat 28 Jan 2012 4:03 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Debian 12 64bit for rpi

Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by david3 »

gemini06720 wrote:The mode is called 'Setup Mode' and is available on both consoles:
- Vantage Vue: Press and release 2ND and then press SETUP.
- Vantage Pro: Press DONE and the - key (down arrow) at the same time.
Thanks. I didn't realize that the setup mode stopped the data collection.
gemini06720
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by gemini06720 »

gemini06720 wrote:The mode is called 'Setup Mode' and is available on both consoles:
- Vantage Vue: Press and release 2ND and then press SETUP.
- Vantage Pro: Press DONE and the - key (down arrow) at the same time.
david3 wrote:Thanks. I didn't realize that the setup mode stopped the data collection.
From the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 manual:
...enter Setup Mode by pressing DONE and then the - key (down arrow). Entering Setup Mode makes sure the station is not writing any data to memory when power is removed and avoids data loss.
From the Davis Instruments Vantage Vue manual:
...enter Setup Mode by pressing and releasing 2ND and pressing SETUP. Entering Setup Mode makes sure the station is not writing any data to memory when power is removed.
david3
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat 28 Jan 2012 4:03 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Debian 12 64bit for rpi

Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by david3 »

I took the weather station down today and took another look at it.

I feel really stupid now. I removed the rubber cap from the "adjustment knob" I thought I'd turned, and it's not connected to anything that turns or does any adjusting. It's just a cover. The screw inside isn't something that would be easy to accidentally turn.

I also tried to put the console in "setup mode" while I did the maintenance. I left Cumulus running, too, and the realtime.txt file continued to be updated. I think despite that, the data wasn't changing, but I'm not sure, because after 5-10 minutes the console timed out of the setup mode and went back to normal (before I was finished).

I didn't have much data saved, yet, so I just cleared everything out, but I'll have to figure out something better for next time.
jmds
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Re: Davis VantageVue Rain Tipping Spoon Calibration

Post by jmds »

I keep getting exactly 20.8 mls with 295 grams of water in my Vantage Vue every time after ten trials.
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