false rain readings help needed

[NHP]

hello
i have an oregon wmr200 and i have had the station running for a while and all has been fine. 3 days ago i installed the rain gauge and i am getting a reading of approximately one mm of rain each day even though there has been no rain. any ideas how to sort this problem
thanks

[steve]

Are you getting this on the console or just in Cumulus?

[NHP]

on the consule as well
ist day 1mm
2nd day 1mm
3rd day (today) 1.3mm

[steve]

Perhaps your rain gauge is being disturbed by something - wind?

[NHP]

i have mounted on a 8 inch wide piling which has been driven very deep so i dont think it can move. i made that mistake a couple of years ago with an older system and couldnt wotk out why i was getting a meter of rain all the time. i will double check the bracket but i dont think it can move
thanks for the suggestion
any other ideas

[AllyCat]

Hi,

Another possibility is electrical interference. There was a long thread concerning problems with Fine Offset cables picking up interference from electric fences, but I don't know about the WMR 200. Have you any electric fences, Radio Hams, old motorcycle enthusiasts or other weather stations, etc., nearby?

Cheers, Alan.

[NHP]

as far as i know there is no electrical interference. all the other sensors seem fine. no electric fences.
i have double checked the mountings and it is very solid. thanks for the thought. any other ideas

[AllyCat]

Hi,

i am getting a reading of approximately one mm of rain each day even though there has been no rain.

Another possible clue: did the (non-existent) rain all appear in one spike each day (and at any specific time) or in separate events during the day? You can find this in the data logs, or perhaps more easily with the "Select a Graph" facility.

Otherwise, you may need to look out for birds, pets, squirrels or spiders, etc..

Cheers, Alan.

[NHP]

The first two days i had exactly 1mm each day in one spike then 1.3mm on the third in one spike. I cant believe a spider could be in it already espeically as the post is in a marina( i live on a boat) so is surrounded in water. They have all been at different times of the day as well

[Super-T]

Don't boats move, hence extra bucket tips in the rain gauge?

[NHP]

i live on a boat but the rain gauge is about 50 yards away om a steel piling. thats the mistake i made last time and put the gauge on the boat so kept getting the false readings. i installed the new system on the piling. it does seem to of stopped at the moment so will keep an eye on it.
thanks for all the suggestions

[Gerry]

Regarding false rain readings. Is it possible because of this to reset the rain data to zero but leave all other data intact?

[steve]

Regarding false rain readings. Is it possible because of this to reset the rain data to zero but leave all other data intact?

I don't think there's any way to reset the rain data in the console without resetting all of the data in the console.

[mcrossley]

If you 'press through' the rain options on my 1080 the last option is 'Clear'. I guess this clears all the rain totals, but afaik it leaves the logger data intact.

[steve]

If you 'press through' the rain options on my 1080 the last option is 'Clear'. I guess this clears all the rain totals, but afaik it leaves the logger data intact.

Ah, yes - the manual says this clears the 1h, 24h, week, month and total rain. Shouldn't cause any problems with Cumulus, I don't think, as presumably the rain counter (from the sensor) won't be affected.