Dear Cabut, Blick, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,
New VP2 worked for a few hours then stopped transmitting.
This is my best guess, but my best is often not very good at all. If you replaced an older Davis unit, and left the ID number the same, it is possible that it transmitted until the capacitor in the old unit used up all of its juice, then stopped.
This might be a problem but since your previous station was a Davis Monitor, it might not use the same radio setup at the Vantage Pro-2. It is a good idea to change the station ID anyway if you are in an area where anyone else might have a Davis station. Most people won't bother to change it, so choosing any other ID means that your station will never be interfered with by neighboring stations. This hobby is becoming more popular, so it is an easy precaution.
Checked the 3 volt battery- it is good.
Checked wiring to solar panel- it looks good.
Inspected capacitor- no sign of leakage.
All dip switches in the down position.
Console message-?low battery? even though the battery tested good.
This is a brand new station so nothing should go wrong. You can check the voltage of the solar panel, but really if the Lithium battery is fine then there is a problem with the station itself. You could give Davis technical support a call and see if they have some other things to try, but probably it is time to try to collect the packaging and return it for another unit.
Sorry to hear that. It is the first Davis station I'm aware of that didn't work out of the box.
Let us know how this matter unfolds.
Cheers, Edouard