Trixology

Weather => Weather Hardware/Measurement => Topic started by: retired on June 16, 2013, 01:18:20 AM

Title: rain gauge not working
Post by: retired on June 16, 2013, 01:18:20 AM
I have a La Crosse ws 2316, works great except last two rain storms I had no reading from the rain gauge. After reading some posts of insects in the instruments I found a tiny spider web in the 4 small holes from the water collector of the rain gauge. No more spider or web and gauge is reading now.
Title: Gotta check your instruments. (Re: rain gauge not working)
Post by: elagache on June 16, 2013, 09:35:24 PM
Dear Retired and WeatherCat fans,

Glad you were able to quickly find the problem and get your rain gauge working again. 

It is a good idea pick reasonable times of the year to do a station instruments checkup and try to catch this sort of problem before it effects your readings.  Here is a seasonal maintenance checklist on the WeatherCat Wiki:

http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php/Station_Maintenance (http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php/Station_Maintenance)

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: rain gauge not working
Post by: retired on July 27, 2013, 02:49:53 PM
After the cleaning to get rid of the spiders it worked for a couple of weeks and stopped again.

Found out why rain gauge is not working. A small pin that is a magnet is rusted out that swings back and forth with the rain cups over the circuit board. I ran a small magnet over circuit board and rain was registered.
Title: Re: rain gauge not working
Post by: WCDev on July 28, 2013, 11:35:53 AM
Repairable do you think or new rain bucket time?
Title: Re: rain gauge not working
Post by: LesCimes on July 26, 2014, 12:23:26 AM
Thought I'd mention that I recently replaced the rain sensor on my VP2. Davis sent one out for free. Required soldering the wires to the circuit board. Had a friend who has soldered electronics before come out and do it for me. Rain gauge working like a charm again. Sure appreciated Davis cooperation on this - good troubleshooting and free part.
Alas, must confess I dragged my feet on making the repair - estimate I lost about 10" of rain data collection. Guess 2014 rainfall is going to come up real short. [rainyluck]
Title: Came up about 10" too short also. (Re: rain gauge not working)
Post by: elagache on July 26, 2014, 09:41:54 PM
Dear LesCimes and WeatherCat rain watchers,

Quote from: LesCimes on July 26, 2014, 12:23:26 AM
Alas, must confess I dragged my feet on making the repair - estimate I lost about 10" of rain data collection. Guess 2014 rainfall is going to come up real short. [rainyluck]

Bummer dude!

I know your feelings . . . . sort of.  I came up about 10" too short this winter also . . . . the trouble is the rain gauge was working fine!! (http://www.canebas.org/Weather/LWC_forum/Custom_emoticons/D%27oh.gif)

Sure hope this drought does end after this summer!! (http://www.canebas.org/Weather/LWC_forum/Custom_emoticons/desert-smiley.gif)

Cheers, Edouard