Help with Davis VP2 Sensor Locations

Hi. I intend to buy the Davis Vantage Pro 2 system. However, it looks like the sensor installation configuration that I think I need is not covered in their documentation. I want to ensure that sensors can be installed properly before buying the system.

My house is surrounded by trees and vegetation which block the sun and wind, and has four decks that reflect a lot of heat. I think that properly installing the sensors for my site would require the Anemometer, Temp/Humidity, Rain Collection, and Solar Radiation sensors, and the solar panel to be located in different places.

The problem is that I can

I don’t own a Davis so I’ll let others answer most of the questions.
In general under the eve or anywhere on the house is always a bad spot for a temp humidity sensor.
House effects readings too much.
The temp humidty sensor is made with the intention for it to be mounted in the full sun.
See this for more info: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dshelms/CWOP_Guide.pdf

looney2ns,

Thanks for the feedback.

This is a bit of a challenge primarily because the best place to put the entire sensor array would probably be high off the top of the house. The big issue with that would be climbing up the sloping roof to clean out the rain sensor. The roof is Cedar shake and it gets slippery when wet. I don’t like the idea of using my roof as a ski jump! 8) (I’m getting wimpy in my old age.)

Regards,

Dan.

You can separate the sensors…I don’t know how long the supplied cables are but you can lengthen any that require it. Also, you may need to fabricate a mount for the solar/uv sensors. You might check as I think Davis now sells a mount for the solar/uv that doesn’t use the iss station.

FWIW, there is a anemometer transmitter that can be used to locate the anemometer in a different location (wireless vp2 version), but it doesn’t transmit solar/uv data AFAIK.

There are a lot of folks here who use the vp2+ and we understand your frustration. I think if Davis would modify the wireless anemometer transmitter to include solar/uv it would make our jobs a lot easier…

Here is a long discussion we had awhile back on this subject:

http://discourse.weather-watch.com/t/27350

Basically, you can extend the anemometer with an anemometer transmitter module or by extending the wires.
Rain, Solar, and Temp/Hum have to be plugged in to the ISS module.
Rain and Solar can be separated and extended, but there is no official kit to do so, you have to make your own modifications, which might void the warranty.
Temp/Hum cannot be extended without affecting the readings.

Steve

Here is how I remotely mounted my solar/uv sensors and anemometer.
http://discourse.weather-watch.com/t/30366

Many thanks for the help. It looks like I’ll need to install the whole ISS module on long pole in a roof tripod to get good sun and clear wind flow. Even at the risk of placing the heat/humidity sensor fairly high, that’s better than other alternatives.

Regards,

Dan.

A quick followup…

After thinking it through, I realized that climbing to the top of a wet cedar roof regularly (for cleanout, repair, etc) is not a good idea for anyone wishing to keep all body parts in working order. 8) However…

I realized that there might be a good place to install the mast about 1/2 way up the roof (see pic below). A big benefit is that access is convenient under an overhang in the roof (see pic below). The Cedar shakes are dry in all but the absolute worst weather. Footing is relatively good, I could mount some form of simple work stand to the nearby vertical wall, and there are multiple places to mount anchors for safety lines. That’s the good news…

The not-so-good news is that bottom of the mast would be something like 4-5 ft below the roof ridge line. To get say 7 feet above the roof ridgeline would mean a mast of something like 11-12 feet long.

Also, for maintenance, the mast would need to have the ability to be lowered easily and safely. Perhaps using something like a pivoting base.

I made a drawing (below) of how it might be designed and mounted. Has anyone used this kind of mount? Any ideas where I can buy one? Or get the parts to make one?

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

p.s., the roof was replaced about five years ago. At the time it seemed like a good idea to stay with Cedar shakes to maintain house value. Now, I wish that we had gone with some other material. Oh, well. #-o

be sure where you mount your sensors, ISS and Rainbucket, it is in a place you can without a lot of risk to life and limb, be able to clean out the bird poo that might get in the rain bucket or other maintenence as well.

Aardvark,

Absolutely! Aside from getting the sensors high enough to work well, maintaining the sensors safely is my key concern.

Thanks,

Dan.

plus bouncing off the roof, gives the neighbors some humor in their day and we can’t have them feeling giddy… can we…

Since I don’t want to be fodder for my neighbor’s evening humor, I’m not takin’ any chances. To that end, I’ve come up with a new solution which may work better.

  1. Anemometer - Get Anemometer Transmitter Kit and mount Anemometer on tall pole. This is similar to my previous solution except that it’s Anemometer-only. This make positioning the mast much easier. Since the Anemometer seems to require less maintenance, it looks like I could have a simpler mounting too. Again the big issue here is coming up with an 11-12ft pole to mount the beastie. That and spending an extra $170.00 to install the Anemometer wirelessly. Oh, well. :roll:

  2. Solar panel, temp/humidity gauge, rain collector, and Solar Radiation Sensor - Mount the ISS and Solar Radiation Sensor to a deck post over the mostly shaded front deck. Add new rain collector to lower part of mast. (See drawing below.)

The Solar panel, Solar Radiation Sensor, and temp/humidity sensors would be mounted so that they would be in the sun and open air - about 4 feet higher than the deck rail, 8 feet off the deck floor and about 18 feet off our sidewalk. This would help battery life and give better readings I believe.

A new rain collector would added to the same pole as the ISS, but about 5-6 feet below the ISS (2-3 feet off the deck floor) and just below the deck railing (out of the wind) for better readings.

From feedback from Davis and from what I read here, I would need purchase a 7852 Rain Collector IN ADDITION to the one built in to the ISS. $75 won’t break me, but it does irritate me that someone decided to design the ISS so that the rain collector was built in and non removable. This makes no sense to me because the Solar Panel needs to be in the sun (duh!) which may not be the best place to collect rain data. Making the rain collector non removable was a very POOR decision, IMO.

The good news about this new location is that the temp/humidity sensor and rain collector would be in the right locations and VERY easy to clean, and the solar panel would get very good sun! :smiley: (At least I think so now.)

Inch by inch I’m gettin’ closer. 8)

Thanks and regards,

Dan.

I really like your Diagrams, them are Pretty cool. It looks like your rain bucket is below your roof line. Is there any chance during a hard rain that the water could go from the roof into your rain bucket? Just a thought i had when i seen your picture.

ALITTLEweird1,

Hi. Fortunately, my deck is not a reflection of my drawing skills! :smiley: The roof has a gutter on it’s edge. The rail on which the rain collector would be hanging is 5 feet horizontally from the edge of the roof gutter. Also, the prevailing winds are almost always coming right across that rail toward the roof. I think (hope) that water coming off the roof will not be a factor.

One obvious option would be to use the built-in rain collector, which would then be about 4 feet above the rail. My concern is that the rain collector would have the wind moving across the top and distort the readings. From what I’ve read, it’s better to keep the rain collector in a more secluded location. That said…

I’ve noticed a lot of weather stations with the rain collector up in the air. So I’m not sure if it’s critical.

Regards,

Dan.

p.s., the drawing is nothing more than a 2D export of a 3d Google Sketchup model. It’s extremely good for this sort of thing. To give you an idea of what it can do, below are two snapshots of a model of my master bathroom tub (I’m remodeling). The first is an overview. The second is an explosion of the wainscoting panels. Accuracy is less than 1/16" inch and includes adjustments for the room which is neither plumb nor square.

none the less…your Pics are really good. It just looked like your bucket was below the roof line and was wondering if during a hard rain the rain could get into your bucket. Looks good, I wish ya luck on your new system.

Thanks! I’ll need it! :smiley:

Dan.

I used a chimney mount mast with the ISS about 1/3 of the way up the mast, and the anemometer at the top. It was enough to get the solar above the shadow line, the anemometer above the tree line, and the 24hr fars kept the temps in reason. I also mounted a webcam at the top with the anemometer :slight_smile:

I used to have some pictures of the install…if I can find one I will email it to you…but you can use the webcam to view the ISS station (during daylight of course) at: www.rrwebbwx.com:8080

Dan,

That’s a cool webcam. I’ll check it out again tomorrow morning.

Regarding the getting the anemometer above the tree line… With my house, it would take a 100 foot tower to get above all of our trees. We live on a steep slope with trees surrounding the house. One tree in the back (some sort of evergreen) is over 100 feet tall and the base is level with the highest point in our roof. Of couse, then there’s the 80’ maple in the front yard on the left. And there are several 30-40 footers.

I’ll be happy if I can the anemometer above most of the smaller evergreens! It’s a nice yard, but not exactly “optimal” for a weather station. 8)

Regards,

Dan.

i got mountains and evergreens all around my property. I did the best i could and put everything on my roof. I did that just so i had easy access to everything just incase I had to fix somthing. I dont have a cedar roof either…lol

As noted in earlier in this thread you can easily extend the cable for the anemometer and rain gauge almost any length. Don’t buy another rain gauge just unbolt and move the one that comes with the unit. The rain gauge signal is just a switch closure from the tipping bucket so no high frequency signals are involved. I would mount the anemometer as high as possible, the iss and solar panel where they get the most sun and a decent breeze for maximum accuracy of the temperature and humidity sensor and finally put the rain gauge where it is easy to access for cleaning. The rain gauge is the only item that needs any attention (cleaning) on a regular basis. This is all low voltage wiring so you can run it about anywhere that is convenient. Don’t over engineer the problem, if you need filters for interference later you can add them but initially try the easy approach.