Cumulus Support

Again my station is down!!

There are flaws in the 3081, whether its solar problems (or like mine) voltage/charge problems!

Martin at Signatrol has been brilliant tho, very understanding and going out of his way to help, so the support is there!

HOPEFULLY, when my 3rd station arrives next week, it will be all settled, only problem is, we have promise of high winds here again, so the station/site might be down even longer!

Hi Rob,

Found this morning that my station was down from just after midnight, just messed about with it and it came back to life

If I knew this type of station was going to cause so many problems I would not have purchased it, I certainly would not recommend them to anyone not even my worse enemy .

Mine, as far as Martin can tell is a voltage problem, it ate a fully charged battery in 10 days

Heading into my third winter, my station has just died. I have replaced the outdoor unit twice, the anemometer once, and today the station went completely bonkers. It seems to be reporting random values for most measurements, and temperature readings (as well as most other parameters) are displaying different numbers that it is sending to Cumulus. Resets, etc., nothing helps.

So it's headed for the bin, and I've started working seriously on my own unit. It did occur to me that the wind speed and direction sensors are way up a pole on an icy roof, so I think I'm going to try to reuse them for a starting point.

However, I'm done defending the not-so-fine offset. It's been a major disappointment.

Well, i been for a job interview last week, and if that goes well, i can see myself heading into the land of Davies next year!

robynfali wrote:Well, i been for a job interview last week, and if that goes well, i can see myself heading into the land of Davies next year!

Rob, I know the Davis Instruments weather stations are more expensive than any of the other stations mentioned in the forums, but they are worth every dollars one pays for them.

I have installed my Vantage Pro2 Plus weather station some six years ago - I have had ZERO problem with the station - the only requirements over the years have been the twice-a-year cleanup of the ISS (the integrated sensor suite = all the outside sensors), the rain collector (inside and out), the sensors and the solar panels.

With the Davis Instruments weather station, one really gets what one pays for...

Purely down to finances mate

I would agree with you Ray. I too have been considering the Davis, however, the Pro2 would be the only option as I dislike the design limitations of the Vue.

I then have to consider that the Davis has got to last 10 years (the equivalent of buying a new Fine Offset 1080 series every year) to justify the outlay. I can be convinced but I don't think my wife would be at this time

I can easily sum up Easy Weather stations, it is the first time I have ever paid £99 for a pile of crap, I will be taking my weather site off line shortly as it is impossible to keep a station going with the breakdowns I get with the Easy Weather.

I will not be able to purchase another one out of my pension I am afraid.

geoffp wrote:I can easily sum up Easy Weather stations, it is the first time I have ever paid £99 for a pile of crap, I will be taking my weather site off line shortly as it is impossible to keep a station going with the breakdowns I get with the Easy Weather.

I will not be able to purchase another one out of my pension I am afraid.

I guess your station is out of warranty? The 1080/1 seems a fairly good item and many have had them 2/3 years without problems BUT the real winner is that you can get them for around £65 from Maplin and I have found their support great.

Perhaps you can put a replacement on your Christmas list.

nking wrote:...I then have to consider that the Davis has got to last 10 years (the equivalent of buying a new Fine Offset 1080 series every year) to justify the outlay

Neil, my station has been operating with ZERO problem for the last six years (other than the twice-a-year maintenance). In an other forum where many operators are using the Davis weather stations, some of the older Vantage have been in operation for more than ten years... ...that is what I call reliability...

In the five years that I've had my VP2, I've had to replace the supercap on the ISS circuit board (twice) the entire ISS board (once), the anemometer (once) and the temperature sensor (twice). The VP2 at the school here is also on its third temperature sensor in five years, and Dave Wheeler's VP2 on Fair Isle currently has a broken anemometer and a broken temperature sensor, the latter having been replaced twice already this year.

steve wrote:In the five years that I've had my VP2, I've had to replace the supercap on the ISS circuit board (twice) the entire ISS board (once), the anemometer (once) and the temperature sensor (twice). The VP2 at the school here is also on its third temperature sensor in five years, and Dave Wheeler's VP2 on Fair Isle currently has a broken anemometer and a broken temperature sensor, the latter having been replaced twice already this year.

And to add to this, my ISS is now transmitting intermittently again, despite a new battery. Probably the capacitor again.

steve wrote:And to add to this, my ISS is now transmitting intermittently again, despite a new battery. Probably the capacitor again.

Sounds like the same problem as my friend has at the moment. His V Pro2, 18 months old now and he has had the anemometer, rain gauge and ISS fail, I think he has been unlucky!

nking wrote:Sounds like the same problem as my friend has at the moment. His V Pro2, 18 months old now and he has had the anemometer, rain gauge and ISS fail, I think he has been unlucky!

I've checked the supercap and it seems OK, so I have no idea what the problem is. I can understand that we don't get enough sun at this time of year to charge it up fully, but it should run OK on a new battery and not lose contact in the middle of the day