Davis bucket to OS

I thought I might find some info online about the 928/968 electronics but haven’t been successful :frowning: Just don’t have enough data to be able to help with this, sorry :dontknow:

No worries, thanks anyway…

Hi

Simon
just put together a quick webpage showing how to convert the Davis rain gauge using the electronic from the Oregon station please notice very simple to do

You don’t need to disconnect any other wires from the Oregon rain gauge module, all you need to do is connect to wires in place of your existing reed switch
then this connects to the Davis reed switch as you need module from your existing rain gauge to be mounted inside the Davis rain gauge

You need this to work so it could transmit signals back to your base station

mick

Fantastic Mick, great instructions, thank you ever so much, will let you know how it goes…

Niko, for the time being I will test it keeping the Davis bucket standard without modification, problem there is its in inches, do I have to buy the adapter or is there something else I can do to change to mm?

See my Reply #9 above, you just factor it into the funnel size calculation.

All done Mick, up and running, i tested the tipping on a spare console and it worked great, thank you ever so much,
didnt realise it would be so simple, even sorted out the heating side of it, i think i will need to get either a PC PSU
or a PSU normally used for CB radio, I am using the same power as the temp shield seen as its right near the rain gauge
Problem is, even with just one fan running in the temp shield i cannot have any more than a 5w bulb in the bucket,
well, i can use a 16w if i go direct, but if i go higher using the thermostat board,the relay just clicks, so i presume it cannot
draw enough power, cross that bridge later on, at least for now, the bucket is working, tip adjusted in WD so ready for
a live test now, you can bet ya last quid it wont rain for ages now :roll:

Niko, can you confirm please the info in the image sounds about right?


rain tip.png

It would be if you were sticking a 165 mm funnel on a 100 mm gauge and wanted to know the new tip size, but I fear 100 mm is the OS funnel diameter and 165 mm is the Davis funnel diameter so I’m confused :dontknow:

Are you trying to figure out the Davis tip size? It will be 0.01 inch, 0.254 mm, unless you change the funnel size.

Hi

That’s really good news I told you it was simple sometimes we can overcomplicate things

You’ll notice in the posts of the people suggested exactly the same things I’ve illustrated
sometimes an image can speak a thousand words

Do you need help with your rain gauge heater?
mick

Hi Niko, see, my brain hates math, I confuse myself over nothing :confused: I was thinking cause the original bucket was 100mm I needed to account for that #-o so for now I just add 0.254 to WD tip offset? It’s prob only for tonight, I may add the bigger funnel tomorrow, will have to see how it goes.

Hi Mick, you should know me by now and over thinking things, see my reply to Niko for starters lol

The only issue I have with the heater is that the relay clicks
And does not light the 16w bulb, it was OK earlier with a 5w but I just checked it again and it just clicks, I think that because I am using the feed from the temp shield fans that there is too much drain for the small 12v psu for the relay to use. Does that make sense? If I by pass the relay the bulbs light up, both 5w and 16w, gonna have another look tomorrow and use a separate psu and see how that goes.

WD is set for a WMR928/968 - right? What tip size does WD default to for that, 1mm ?

yes, that’s right, 1mm for the OS bucket

This is what I ended up with

















OK put 0.254 in the “Modified rain gauge new tip (mm)” box on the Rain Offset page, and the Rainfall offset % should be 0.

Is that circuit board coated? If not you may want to put a baggie on it to protect it from any splashing.

Thanks Niko, i get it now, i was thinking that the OS board was part of the calc but i take it the OS board
basically is just for very short term storing and transmitting.

The board is out of the OS bucket so i would say its sealed but i still need to add a drop of hot glue to the
old reed switch connectors, that i can do tomorrow or when i do the new funnel, i need the glue for that so
2 birds an all that… thanks again for you brains :slight_smile:

Good see it working
I’ve updated the webpage to link to my home-made rain gauge into, and updated the page with a link to the conversion
for anybody else you may want to use the info
http://www.weather-above.com/STATION%20INFO%202.html

Thanks for your expert help Mick :slight_smile:

Thanks again Mick, really appreciate it, you too Niko :slight_smile:

Well, chuffed with this, now added the funnel and its operating at 0.1mm
I have also checked calibration using syringe and its spot on at 4.9ml :slight_smile:

I have also added a separate pouch for the heater now and that works fine for the 12v 5w bulb
but it looks like I need at least a 12v 1 to 2amp psu to run the 16w bulb thanks guys…

Finnished product


Nice job Bashy!