Davis Vantage Pro 2 model 6152 USA version or EU version? WHAT SIDE EFFECTS?

[Vic]

Hi
Can you please help me to solve the following problem?
I live in Greece in Europe and I want to buy a weather station. I want to measure the pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and uv. I would like to have a histogram or graph or bar-chart for pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction and uv.
I saw that only DAVIS Vantage Pro 2 model 6152 have all these that I want. It is very expensive in Greece. In USA the price is very low.
a) do you know any other brand chearer the DAVIS that will have all the above features?
b) If I buy the USA version of "DAVIS Vantage Pro 2 model 6152" and instll it to Europe , what kind of problem will I have ? A seller told me that the frequency does not affect cell phones but may interfere with something else, but he didnot tell me what does he means. If you have tried to use USA vesrion in Europe what kind of problems did you find?
I would appreciate it if you help me with your knowlegde and your experience.
Vic

[Kojack]

Have you looked at Oregon Systems WMR200. Seems to cover the measurements you want and WD author, Brian Hamilton has written program for Weather Display software.

[niko]

Can you use the 6152C wired version? That one is legal to use anywhere. You would just need to get a 220 volt power supply to replace the US one. Remember though that you will not be able to get warranty support in Europe, you would have to ship it back to the US if anything goes wrong.

[Vic]

Can you use the 6152C wired version? That one is legal to use anywhere. You would just need to get a 220 volt power supply to replace the US one. Remember though that you will not be able to get warranty support in Europe, you would have to ship it back to the US if anything goes wrong.

Thank you for your answer. I prefer a wireless station. I donot care about the warranty support in Europe, because a general rule says that the distributors in Europe have not technicials with experience. It is better to send it back in USA or to buy a new product, than the europe distributor try to repair it.
I would like to learn from a user if the DAVIS USA version is working without promblem (in transmition frequency) in Europe. If there are problems which are they?
Can you inform me with these information?

[Vic]

Have you looked at Oregon Systems WMR200. Seems to cover the measurements you want and WD author, Brian Hamilton has written program for Weather Display software.

Thank you for your answer. I prefer to Davis than Oregon WMR200.

I saw that "Honeywell TE923 Wireless Weather Station" have all what I want except the graph for wind speed. I tried to find out if there is another software compatible with Honeywell station but I cannot find one , Do you know any software?

Think think that DAVIS is better. I would like to learn from a user if the DAVIS USA version is working without promblem (in transmition frequency) in Europe. If there are problems which are they?
Can you inform me with these information?http://

[Kojack]

You could have a problem with the frequency range.
I don't know about Greece, but many European countries allocate the frequency used by Davis in the US to mobile 'phone networks and some other devices.
Using those frequencies in the Uk for example could lead to a large fine and confiscation of equipment.

[munrobaggins]

Here in the UK it is illegal to use the USA version of the Vantage pro 2 Wireless.  That is because the frequency used is allocated to other systems (presumably EU wide).  To use it would result in possible confiscation of the equipment and a hefty fine.  I would presume that the EU would apply this rule to all member states including Greece.  Sad but true.  However, for those Weather Stations that operate on the 433 Mhz frequency, this is not the case, as there would appear to be a virtual world-wide clearance to operate.  Oregon Scientific Wx Stns use this frequency as do a large number other Wx Stn manufacturers.  The new WMR200 (8.6 Mb pdf doc spec) can be obtained from the USA at approximately half the cost that it is sold here in the UK, but then you still have to add shipping cost, customs duty, etc and will (as you have noted) have potential warranty issues.  The most obvious solution, as Niko has said, is to use the wired version of the Davis or consider a 433Mhz wireless wx stn like the WMR200 or OS968..Weatherbuffs in the USA appears on google searches for most wwx stns, but I haven't used them myself.

[aviva]

Thank you for your answer. I prefer a wireless station. I donot care about the warranty support in Europe, because a general rule says that the distributors in Europe have not technicials with experience. It is better to send it back in USA or to buy a new product, than the europe distributor try to repair it.
I would like to learn from a user if the DAVIS USA version is working without promblem (in transmition frequency) in Europe. If there are problems which are they?
Can you inform me with these information?

I don't know if it is of any help but I've been using the US versions of VP and VP2 in France for many years without any problems.
There is no interference from or to my GSM phones nor the landline (wireless in-house).
Presumably it's illegal, as the US version uses frequencies inside the European GSM band.
However, as I live in a small village I don't think anybody will ever notice...
In any case, if I take the VP console out to the street (distance about 100 meters) I cannot capture the ISS signal properly.
I've got my equipment from Scientific Sales, very good prices and a friendly person to deal with.

[munrobaggins]

Thank you for your answer. I prefer to Davis than Oregon WMR200.

I saw that "Honeywell TE923 Wireless Weather Station" have all what I want except the graph for wind speed. I tried to find out if there is another software compatible with Honeywell station but I cannot find one , Do you know any software?

The windspeed data conundrum is quite easy to overcome as Weatherdisplay allows/supports the use of a separate anemometer such as the AAG and the Inspeed Vortex (1sec update rates)..so that may be worth investigating....both are quite reasonably priced.  There are numerous threads on the forum about both these kits...use the SEARCH facility on the main forum page. 

[Vic]

Here in the UK it is illegal to use the USA version of the Vantage pro 2 Wireless.  That is because the frequency used is allocated to other systems (presumably EU wide).  To use it would result in possible confiscation of the equipment and a hefty fine.  I would presume that the EU would apply this rule to all member states including Greece.  Sad but true.  However, for those Weather Stations that operate on the 433 Mhz frequency, this is not the case, as there would appear to be a virtual world-wide clearance to operate.  Oregon Scientific Wx Stns use this frequency as do a large number other Wx Stn manufacturers.  The new WMR200 (8.6 Mb pdf doc spec) can be obtained from the USA at approximately half the cost that it is sold here in the UK, but then you still have to add shipping cost, customs duty, etc and will (as you have noted) have potential warranty issues.  The most obvious solution, as Niko has said, is to use the wired version of the Davis or consider a 433Mhz wireless wx stn like the WMR200 or OS968..{url=http://www.weatherbuffs.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=WMR200&Search.x=0&Search.y=0z&Click=2&gclid=CPD48uX9sZACFQ6hQwodJl3XLQ]Weatherbuffs in the USA[/url] appears on google searches for most wwx stns, but I haven't used them myself.

Thank you for your answer. Unfortunately the WMR200 does not show the accurate speed of wind (e.g. 2.2km/h) and does not have a bar chart or graph for wind speed or temperature.
I think that is not possible confiscation of the equipment of Davis, unlees the davis frequency makes a lot of trouble to mobiles. I would appreciate to hear the problems that EU citizens have of the US version of Davis.

Do you know any software for Honeywell Weathertime professional weather station TE923W that will show in a pc a graph for wind speed?

[munrobaggins]

Unfortunately the WMR200 does not show the accurate speed of wind (e.g. 2.2km/h) and does not have a bar chart or graph for wind speed or temperature.
I think that is not possible confiscation of the equipment of Davis, unless the davis frequency makes a lot of trouble to mobiles. I would appreciate to hear the problems that EU citizens have of the US version of Davis.
Do you know any software for Honeywell Weathertime professional weather station TE923W that will show in a pc a graph for wind speed

Unless you have a very specific reason to know very accurate snapshot wind values, I'm at a loss as to understand the reasoning behind your insistence on your perception of the Davis being the only suitable weather station/anemometer etc...Wind hardly ever has any sort of steady state condition and invariably is varying from second to second over any sort of landmass...thus any windspeed that is measured/recorded can only be at that snapshot time and will have almost certainly have changed at the next reading...Some of the cheaper wx stns do indeed have very slow updates of wind values (8 -15 seconds) and the Davis is well known for it's 2.5 second data rate....but even this is not necessarily a perfect data rate.

Additionally, as many of us have bought legal Davis systems for use in our specific location, I doubt whether any of us would condone the use of Davis setups that are illegal to use because of frequency allocation legislation.  Yes, we appreciate the enormous difference in price too and feel that such price differentials are unjust.

Technically, it is not just a case of mobile phones effecting the Davis but the Davis affecting the use of legitimate services elsewhere.  Whilst the chances of this happening may seem quite remote to you, believe me, it does happen and such out of allocated frequency sources have been the bane of my life in the past. 

[niko]

I completely agree with munrobaggins post.

[Rotare]

Hi All,

I've been researching the VP2's and came across this post which was particularly useful.  My biggest question is this: If the VP2 uses spread spectrum frequency hopping between 902-928mhz then can't it use a frequency outside/between the GSM range?  From the Davis catalog I dont think the EU version even has the frequency hopping feature since it covers a range of only 868.0 to 868.6.  From what I understand by looking at the GSM Frequency Bands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands) there is no conflict between 916-925Mhz.  If the Davis was operating within that range would it be in compliance?  On that same subject of cell frequency how does it conflict but the quad-band phones dont when they work on all the US and EU cell frequencies?  I really want a VP2 but there is no way I can bite off 2x cost for EU unit for what appears to be the same unit as USA but with less features (no frequency hopping and a weaker RF signal).  Any help would be greatly appreciated from all!

[niko]

The power is the same as the US, it does frequency hop, but over a limited frequency range.

[Rotare]

Thanks for the reply!  I'm aware of the power adapter, but thats not a big deal at all - the travel power converters americans use for hairdryers over here are like 7-10, the DC converters are even less and batteries are cheap too.  Its the frequency issue that I was curious about.  Any thoughts on that Niko?  Much appreciated!