Author Topic: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!  (Read 35160 times)

xairbusdriver

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #15 on: March 17, 2015, 09:32:23 PM »
Since you guys have been so helpful, I just wanted to pass along <a link> to those who might be needing lots of those batteries. I think $ 11,520 for 9,600 Panasonic batteries is a pretty good deal! And the shipping is FREE!! [cheer] They may offer a cash & carry discount, also... 8)
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


elagache

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Dear xairbusdriver and subscribers to my darned "mellar-drama"

Since you guys have been so helpful, I just wanted to pass along <a link> to those who might be needing lots of those batteries. I think $ 11,520 for 9,600 Panasonic batteries is a pretty good deal! And the shipping is FREE!! [cheer] They may offer a cash & carry discount, also... 8)

 ;) . . . . In the voice of that lesser known Warner Bros. cartoon character: Blacque Jacque Shellacque

THIS!?!?!?!??!??  Is being saved!?!??!??!??!?

If you aren't a connoisseur of classic cartoon animation, here is the relevant snippet on You-Tube:

https://youtu.be/8RDXPbi4gfo?t=2m23s

Enjoy!!  [biggrin]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]


Blicj11

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #17 on: March 18, 2015, 12:16:43 AM »
Whilst Edouard goes through about that many batteries every year, I would hate to see him cut Herb out of his 2? worth on Duracells. I like the cartoon.
Blick


Bull Winkus

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #18 on: March 18, 2015, 04:23:17 AM »
I like the cartoon, too. Used to watch them all the time, back when I was more mature.  [roll]
Herb

elagache

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More sensor errors this morning (Re: "mellar-drama" continues!!)
« Reply #19 on: March 18, 2015, 10:15:35 PM »
Dear WeatherCat subscribers to this darn "mellar-drama,"

Well the gremlins did a number of my station again this morning:



Once more the outage started a bit after midnight and lasted almost to 3 am.  Here is the Live Data:



The pattern of errors is consistent with what I saw when I allowed the ISS transmitter to run completely out of power and shut down.  So it is possible once more that the station transmitter shut down during the period, but that isn't the only possible explanation.

Since I now have the console in place of the Weather Envoy this would make me more suspicious of some sort of radio frequency interference.  But there remains one fly in the ointment.  The battery continues to discharge.  It is now down to 3.20 Volts and has lost another hundredth in 6 days.

I still haven't called Davis tech support.  I'll try to call tomorrow and get them to take the other ISS transmitter board in to take a look at it.  One of the reasons I had waited is that I thought I should double-check to make absolutely sure that the AC adapter wasn't screwed up somehow.  As I noted on my posting of March 13th, the station will operate for extended periods without any battery or super-capacitor power left - just plugged into the AC adapter.  So I can rule out a power supply problem with the adapter.

So I've got to find the time to call Davis.  At least now it seems reasonably certain the Weather Envoy has nothing to do with it either.  When I get a chance I'll put the station back into the mode where the console retransmits the signal to the Weather Envoy.  That should improve the signal strength.  Alas, I have had sensor errors when I had the console retransmitting, so that isn't sufficient to solve the problem.

So unfortunately, da' "mellar-drama" just keeps on going, going, and going . . . . .  [rolleyes2]

Oh well, Edouard

Blicj11

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #20 on: March 19, 2015, 04:06:13 AM »
Sorry to hear this mate. It's gotta be driving you crazy. Hopefully Davis will have an idea.
Blick


Bull Winkus

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #21 on: March 19, 2015, 07:10:21 AM »
Sorry to hear it, old friend. All I can offer is sympathy, so I hope you're able find them gremlins soon!
Herb

elagache

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ISS board going to Davis. (Re: "mellar-drama" continues!!)
« Reply #22 on: March 19, 2015, 11:36:31 PM »
Dear Blick, Herb, and WeatherCat subscribers to this darn "mellar-drama,"

Thanks for your sympathy.

I put my configuration back to how I had it.  The console is now back in the nook about 1/2 the distance between the station transmitter and the Weather Envoy.  The console is now retransmitting so that should insure as strong a signal as I can get to the Envoy.

I called Davis this afternoon and got the same story.  If the ISS transmitter is plugged into an AC adapter, it bypasses both the super-capacitor and battery.  Nonetheless, they agreed to take the new board I bought back and take a look at it.  Alas, they won't cover the work under the warranty because moving the board from the ISS enclosure to the 6382 enclosure violates the warranty.  Oh well, at this point I'll swallow that cost.  Anything to get this station working properly once more!!!

Oh well, . . . . Edouard

elagache

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Interesting discovery via blackout (Re: darn "mellar-drama" continues!!)
« Reply #23 on: March 20, 2015, 11:33:13 PM »
Dear WeatherCat subscribers to this darn "meller-drama,"

We had a 15 minute power outage last night that was just enough misery to remember the power outage drill and meet a neighbor by the light of flashlights.  However, this did settle a question that the Davis tech support fellow I spoke yesterday afternoon didn't know.  He was under the impression that plugging your station transmitter board into an AC adapter would prevent the transmitter from ever using the battery.  Well if that was true during the time the power was out, there should have been no signal and WeatherCat should have reported sensor errors.  There were no sensor errors or gaps in the real data graphs.  I had to do it da' hard way, but it seems I've learned something that even Davis technical support didn't know.  If you use AC to power your station transmitter, you should still put a 123 battery in the transmitter to avoid losing data during a power outage.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

xairbusdriver

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #24 on: March 21, 2015, 01:19:51 AM »
Perhaps he meant that the battery or super cap would never be used as long as AC power was available. :) As most of us learned, "assuming" things is a great way to create confusion! :P

"Cheer up!"

"Oops! :o I thought you said, 'Gear up'!" :-[
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


elagache

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Design exceeds tech support knowledge (Re: "mellar-drama" continues!!)
« Reply #25 on: March 21, 2015, 08:58:56 PM »
Dear xairbusdriver, and subscribers to this darn "mellar-drama,"

Perhaps he meant that the battery or super cap would never be used as long as AC power was available. :) As most of us learned, "assuming" things is a great way to create confusion! :P

Actually the Davis tech guy was extremely explicit that he thought having anything plugged into the jack for the AC adapter would cause the battery to be bypassed.  His thinking was there was some sort of mechanical or electrical switch to completely cut of the part of the circuitry that involved either the battery or the super-capacitor.

Now honestly that would be an extremely stupid design.  The Davis engineers had to have considered how to power the ISS transmitter in case of a power outage.  These are research grade instruments so they need to run 24/7 and power outages happen.  So it is clear that the engineers did the right thing.  It is a bit surprising that the Davis technical support guys didn't know how this works.  It is very unusual to use the AC adapter to power an ISS transmitter, but I assume there is an odd case or two.



"Cheer up!"

"Oops! :o I thought you said, 'Gear up'!" :-[

Oh, do you mean "gear up" like this?  [biggrin]



Keep that train of thought!!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

xairbusdriver

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #26 on: March 21, 2015, 09:27:29 PM »
Quote
It is wireless. If it was cabled I couldn't have the problems I'm struggling with. It is the station transmitter that is having the power supply switching "abnormalities."
I'm a bit (OK, a LOT) confused. What does the AC Adaptor have to do with the wireless board on the ISS? I thought the only adaptor for the wireless model was for the Console (or the data logger, if used). I think there is a jack for the power/communications cable on all the Vantage models, however. Of course, I don't even have physical access to the thing, so consider the source! :-[
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


elagache

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Details on station makeover (Re: darn "mellar-drama" continues!!)
« Reply #27 on: March 22, 2015, 10:11:34 PM »
Dear xairbusdriver and subscribers to my darn "mellar-drama" . . . .

First things first, guess what happened again this morning:



The time is slightly different, but the overall effect is every similar.  Here is the overall status:



Here is the Live Data view:



The whole experience leads me to wonder about an EFI interference of some sort.  However, it would most likely be an automated source to be so uniform.  A HAM radio operator would operate at other times besides early morning and isn't like to be disciplined enough to keep all transmissions between an hour and 90 minutes.

Oh well, . . . .

Quote
It is wireless. If it was cabled I couldn't have the problems I'm struggling with. It is the station transmitter that is having the power supply switching "abnormalities."
I'm a bit (OK, a LOT) confused. What does the AC Adaptor have to do with the wireless board on the ISS? I thought the only adaptor for the wireless model was for the Console (or the data logger, if used). I think there is a jack for the power/communications cable on all the Vantage models, however. Of course, I don't even have physical access to the thing, so consider the source! :-[

It turns out that you can power a station transmitter with the standard Davis AC adapter.  I found that out on the WXForum and thought this would surely solve all my problems.  Here is some pictures of my current station setup.  Instead of just having the temperature/humidity probe under the deck, it now looks like this:



The box on the left is a Davis 6382 enclosure that now houses the station transmitter board that came from my original Davis station.  Here is what that box looks like on the inside:



As you can see, all the data cables for all the instruments are coming to this box.  If you look carefully, you can see the labels I attached to the wires so I could keep track of which cable went with which instrument.  As indicated at the top, there is a Davis AC adapter plugged into a jack at the top of the transmitter board just above the battery holder.  You can see the ferrite clamp along the right side of the box.

This should have ended any power issues once and for all.  No matter how much current any sensor could need, so long as it was a standard Davis instrument, the station transmitter should have all the power it could ever use.  Since I had bought AC to this location, it was easy to power a fan to improve the accuracy of the temperature/humidity sensor.

This should have solved my problems - right?  *Heavy sigh* . . . . .

Oh well, . . . . . Edouard

Blicj11

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Re: *Sniff* . . da' darn "mellar-drama" continues!!
« Reply #28 on: March 22, 2015, 10:18:27 PM »
Hey, I recognize one of Herb's batteries in your photo.

This has got to be driving you bonkers. I guess you still have hope that Davis will catch something when they look at that board you sent them. Hang in there.
Blick


elagache

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Afraid so . . . . (Re: Darn "mellar-drama" continues!!)
« Reply #29 on: March 22, 2015, 10:43:12 PM »
Dear Blick and subscribers to my darn "mellar-drama" . . . .

Hey, I recognize one of Herb's batteries in your photo.

Afraid so, and the darn "bugger" is still discharging.  Yesterday it was down to 3.19 Volts.  Sure it is a very small rate of change, but it shouldn't be happening so long as the transmitter board is plugged into AC.  According to the Davis tech, having the 4.8 Volts of the AC adapter is supposed to change the way the board works so that the battery isn't touched.  That's why I'm not entirely certain that the errors are not related to the way these boards switch between power sources.


This has got to be driving you bonkers. I guess you still have hope that Davis will catch something when they look at that board you sent them. Hang in there.

Roger that, . . . .   I'm wondering if connecting a temperature/humidity probe on a long data cable could possibly damage these transmitter boards somehow.  The board I sent to Davis and the board that is in the station how both "experienced" the long cable run from the temperature/humidity probe.  So if that does some harm to a transmitter board, it would make sense both boards behave in the same way even after I eliminated the "out of tolerance" instrument.

The other transmitter board will arrive at Davis tomorrow and the Davis tech said it usually takes about a week to 10 days to get a board back into my hands.  So hopefully I'll get the repaired board back in 2 weeks or less.

We'll see, . . . . . . .

Stay tuned to this channel for the latest "breaking" news!  [banghead]

Oh well, . . . . Edouard