Davis console barometer u/s

[jace]

Davis Vantage Pro 2 console.

It looks like the console barometer reading "froze" at 1004.77 mb at 00:12 on the 3rd Oct ! Just goes to show how much attention I was paying to the pressure readings ! I tend to concentrate on air temperature and rainfall readings for my sins.

Contacted my supplier, he's never heard of this problem before, so.

I tried powering down the console a total of 3 times, the last time for a period of 30 minutes. Each time after I restored the power, reset the clock etc, I got readings on all data variables except for pressure, It read 4 bars with a dot under them where I think the decimal point in my reading would have been.

I tried calibrating the barometer to see if I could force a display, but although I followed the manuals' instructions it didn't work, could not even get the pressure variable to blink, or the ticker to run. After a few seconds of holding the SET button ALL !! the data displays cleared and displayed only dashes ! Pressing DONE reset the displays for the other data variables, but still only dashes for pressure.

Tried the pressure calibration a couple more times, same result each time. I then decided to try calibrating the wind variable, same thing happened, wind variable did not blink, ticker did not run, all data variables defaulted to displaying only dashes, but this time when I pressed DONE all the variables were displaying readings including pressure.

So far after about 8 hours it's still working, but...............


JC

[elagache]

Hi JC and WeatherCat Davis users,

Wow, you sure haven't had much luck with Davis equipment.   

I've never heard of problems with the barometer either.  The closest I know about is that the Weather Envoy doesn't seem to ship properly calibrated and has to be tweaked, but that's it.

Hope things work out and if not, Davis has always been very good about exchanging parts under warranty.

Cheers, Edouard 

[jace]

well it's been 7 days since I've had a trustworthy pressure reading from the Pro2 console. I've tried disconnecting all power supplies to "reboot" the console, sometimes I get a pressure reading, some times there is no signal at all from the sensor, just bars on the display which indicates a duff sensor.

When I do get pressure readings they are worthless, if the console is left I can get the same reading for days. The other day I rebooted the console and had a pressure reading of 569 mb ! 

Davis UK agents in desperation are clutching at straws and have suggested an extremely faint possibility of RFI interference, so I'm presently running the console on battery power and away from the area where I've run a console happily for 8 months.

Guess what ? No difference, been reading 967.9 mb for over a hour since last console reboot, local pressure from the Met office for this area is 1015 mb.

They have agreed to swop the console though,   but when that will happen   

JC

[elagache]

Hi JC and WeatherCat Davis users,

Sure can't believe how much trouble you are having with this Davis VP-2.  Okay, it is rare that the barometer would fail, but I'm sure it must happen.

They have agreed to swop the console though,   but when that will happen   

Sorry these guys are playing games.  Herb got his anemometer replaced under warranty and he didn't have go through loops troubleshooting it.  You've given these guys a reasonable opportunity to rule-out anything besides the unit.  At this point it is time for them to hustle. 

Hope you'll have that new console real-soon!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[WCDev]

This does seem like particularly bad service JC - who are we talking about here?

[SeaflyP]

Hi, I thought I'd post in this oldish thread because it's the only report of barometer problems I could find.  A few months ago the barometer in my Weather Envoy started sticking at a constant value for periods of hours or more. It would then start working by jumping to the correct pressure reading and tracking the pressure for a variable length of time before eventually failing again. All other readings (including indoor temperature and humidity) were OK. I thought I had somehow cured it after reseating the weatherlink logger within the unit - it worked for a couple of months but stopped again a few days ago and couldn't be coaxed into restarting. I have now swapped to using the Vantage Pro Console to supply data to WeatherCat and presently my Weather Envoy is sitting opened up and unused. It's not really needed since WeatherCatClient has taken over in its place (what a good package WeatherCat is!).  However I thought I'd just register on the forum another instance of a Davis barometer sensor apparently failing.
Peter

[elagache]

Thanks Peter for sharing your experiences with the Weather Envoy.

The only problem I've had with mine is that it was off when I first received it.  That appears to be relatively common and easy to correct with the WeatherLink software.  However, one needs to be vigilant.

Cheers, Edouard 

[jace]

Somebody in WX Forum had the same Barometer problem that I did with a Pro 2 console about 2 or 3 months back, pretty sure he ended up with a console replacement too. Fortunately for me I was still in warranty.

JC

[Jonathan]

I've encountered a similar issue with the barometer in a VP2 with rev 1.90, purchased 18 months ago.  After resetting the console (done -) and correcting the elevation from 380 to 406 feet, the pressure shows as --.--.  Looking at the last 30 days in weathercat, the pressure was 29.59 for 20 days.

Jonathan