Vantage Pro 2 No Rainfall Info

Just looked at my Vantage Pro 2 weather station console to see the rainfall today and noted it was 0.00. It has been raining on and off most of the day. So I move the “Checkmark” down to “Daily Rain” to see if the last 24 hours showed rainfall and there was no display just a blank line and the graph is blank. Moving the cursor to “Rain Year” the graph does show rain for the past six years (I did not know it did that :slight_smile: )

The console appears to be receiving data from the station because the “X” blinks on about every 4 seconds or so and the other information appears to be correct.

Since its night time here I will go out tomorrow and check the system for clogs. What sort of worries me is that even if the system is clogged and no water getting to the tippers I would have thought the line would show 0.00 for the last 24 hours not just a blank line.

I am new to the forum but found it during a search for my problem.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Welcome!

What exactly do you mean by “So I move the “Checkmark” down to “Daily Rain” ? If it helps I had no rain today and my VP2 console does show 0.00”

There is a little check mark icon that you move with the cursor buttons to allow the data to show on the graph on the bottom left of the display. Move it to the daily rainfall, and you get rainfall for the last 24 hours. and the graph shows the same data. Today, no info on the graph and no data on the line at the bottom of the screen.

And yes that helps. I would have thought mine would say 0.00 as well if the system did not register rain today. But since it rained on and off all day, I was surprised there was just a blank line and not a 0.00

I see what you mean :slight_smile: I assume you have regular VP2 setup of ISS + console? I suspect it thinks there is no rain gauge attached, so maybe a connector problem at the ISS. Otherwise it should be showing zero even if there have been no rain tips.

That was sort of what I was thinking but since I have not played with it in several months I could not think of a reasonable way that the connection would be lost but that was just a possible guess. Your response sort of supports that thought.

The lost connection idea does bother me since the rest of the data is fine, that would make one assume that the system does not think that a rain sensor system is attached. But you would think the design would not monitor that just report no rain. A missing sensor you would think would default to a “nil” or zero value.

It’s my opinion that if the ISS displayed zero for sensors that aren’t connected that would be misleading. Much better to have an indication on the console that no real data is available.

That does make sense since, as I remember, there are other sensors you can add that I don’t have. So, tomorrow I will go and and check the connections. Maybe a bug ate the wires

Good luck, let us know :slight_smile:

I shall do that. Best way to pass on information. If you have a problem and its solved, post the solution so its knowledge gained.

Ok. Went out this morning to check the rainfall measuring system. Found the collector about half full of water. Removed the collector and looked inside. There is suppose to be a little “barrier” disk inside that collects big trash. It was not there. Emptied the collector, then moved the tilter mechanism back and forth serval times, looked at the wires all seemed normal/ok.

Replaced the collector and searched for the barrier disk, could not find it so I assume I took it out some time to clean the collector and left it in my pocket or on the post. So, I will need a new one.

Came back inside and say the display was working showing “rainfall”. So, it appears that if the sensor does not see a change in state (that is some water falls through to fill the tilter so it tilts and sends a signal, after some predetermined time, it just does not report.

So problem has been solved. Got rainfall information and last 24 hours rainfall shows on the display when selected.

Here we have no rain for months during the summer, so if the 0’s disappeared due to no activity I think I would have noticed that. Interesting, anyway glad it’s solved :smiley:

Those little plastic grids can blow out or birds steal them. Sink strainer works well though:

I saw the sink strainer on another post will look for one. And keep and eye on it. Maybe it just needed some “attention”.

I love the sink-strainer idea !! I have a VP2 in the back yard; we also have a very tall palm tree which sheds tons of seeds every year, so when first rains happen I have to remember to go clear it out. Even with the Davis grill thing, those seeds can still easily block it. Maybe that will work better !!

Before the strainer I used to have pine needles that speared straight through the Davis grid and jammed the tipper.