I have just been setting up a Davis VP2 station with a Bluewae solar sensor. I would appreciate some advice on the setup for the sensor. I notice in the latest versions of Weather Displaythat there is an adjust factor for the Bluewave sensor 0 to 100%. Can any users of the Bluewave sensor advise as to how I ought to be setting this adjust factor?
Thanks
Alan
I have had my bluewave sensor adjust set to 50% as my sensor overreads considerably. Yesterday mine hit 1513 w/m2 which means I should be in ordbit not firmly placed on the ground. Eveyone I have heard from says the Bluewave overreads significantly, and I could not recommend it at present, it is better to spend the extra pounds and get the Davis one if you can. I have spoken with Bluewave about this but have not had a response from them I am happy with yet.
I would start with 50% and then check the Update solar value from max reading. Set yourself up a custom log file to record the expected and actual solar readings and then compare your values with the expected and see how it goes. You will obviously have to check yourself to compare the values against what you can see out of the window. You may also need to tweak the percentages if you use sunshine hours or want fairly reasonable conditions reported.
I’d be interested to know how you get on with your sensor to see if it is any better than the one I have.
Thanks for the helpful advice. The sensor is apparently a “Mk IV” version, I dont know if that is the same as yours? I have set the adjust at the moment to 55%. Am I right in assuming that the lower the adjustment reading is, then the greater the overread? Or is it the other way around as the default in WD seems to be 100%.
Thanks,
Alan
If you are using a percentage then whenever the sensor reads over the expected you will get 100% out of WD. What WD does is take the raw value which you can see on your VP console and apply the percentage reduction, it then compares it to the expected value for the lat/long and time of day to work out the %. You will always see some fluctuation as measuring solar is not an exact science. The solar constant is 1366 or thereabouts which means that this is the max possible value with the sun directly overhead at solar noon (which by the way is not always 12:00hrs) and you should never see a reading at our latitudes above this.
I think I am going to have to contact Bluewave again and see if I can get mine replaced as it is so far out, and its only 6 months old.
if you set offset at 40%, then you will get a 40% value of the raw too high reading
so, has blueewave fixed this?
which they have been made aware of for more than 6 months now
Brian I have been discussing this with Kevin Ellis today via email as my MKII sensor read in excess of 1600 raw yesterday! I am not in orbit! He said that I can adjust the sensitivity myself as there is a trim pot in the base of the sensor housing! I assume I will not break my guarantee as he himself has told me to do this. I may have a go later when the weather improves a bit!. I am also hoping Alan can shed some light on this with his sensor readings. I have also emailed another UK user who is waiting from Bluewave to send him a replacement sensor under guarantee and see how that one behaves. At present I have tweaked my settings in WD to compensate.
So much for calibration :roll:
oh an re you say sometimes on start up wd does not start the data extraction…
now, is that with 1 minute logging?
is it like it times out…
if so, then that might be an issue with the bluewave data logger…in that its not getting back to wd before wd times out and carry’s on ,maybe i need to increase that time out
(as i have not seen that happen anywhere near the freq you report (i have a normal davis one)
i will have a go with the tweak of the trim pot here…it will be great to not have a flat topped graph again
Brian I’ll email you the details of how to tweak the trim pot.
Hi,
Could you post the trim details here please, I have the same problem & I’m getting a reading of 1850 at solar noon…
Thanks,
Michael
I’ll post the details here later on today - I am off to the dentist right now 
Just to make it absolutely clear I can accept no responsibility whatsoever for this if you use these instructions. If you blow your sensor or Bluewave refuse to accept it under guarantee then IT IS NOT MY FAULT.
I’ll post later
i didnt get a chance to try the trim pot adjusment today…instead i remounted my web cam differently
tomorrow though I plan on doing this 
one thing i notice, compared to the davis solar sensor, with the cover on the solar sensor, it is taller than the rain gauge…which blocks a bit of rain for rain from that direction
Here is what I was told by Bluewave about the sensor. Can I please ask that if you are having problems with your sensor that you email Bluewave and complain about it otherwise they will not do anything about it.
They did suggest to me that my abnormally high readings would be aused by radio interference or maybe water in the cable. They simply do not believe that my sensor is performing like this out of the box. It has only been in use for just over two months so I dont believe the water in the cable bit, and there are not radio transmitters nearby.
So I say again please report your sensor to Bluewave if you are getting readings which indicate you are in orbit! anything much over about 700 for the UK at this time of year cant be right and the further soucth you go it will get higher but anything over about 1350 w/m2 means you must be in orbit or on top of Everest or have a bad sensor!
Again you use these instructions at your own risk…
Although we do recommend Weather Display software our sensors are calibrated using Davis Weather Link version 4.5 and are aligned using a computer light spectrum analyzer.However there is no need to adjust the software in any way. We have fitted a
trim pot in the base of the solar sensor which can be used to trim the
sensor to super accuracy.This trip pot can be used to setup the solar sensor for any installation
requirement including shade and extreme cold installations.Simply remove the cap at the bottom of the sensor and you will find the
adjustment pot. Adjustment should be made at quarter turns only until the
desired reading is established. High and Low thresholds are set by the
processor automatically.Clockwise will increase and anticlockwise will decrease. The movement of
the adjuster should be around 1.2 ohm per turn; this is very small
increments indeed.If you get stuck and turn it too much one way or another its simple to put
back, simply put a multi meter on the two tabs below the adjustment pot and
turn the pot until the meter reads 38.17 ohm with the meter set to 100K ohm
range.
Although we do recommend Weather Display software our sensors are calibrated using Davis Weather Link version 4.5 and are aligned using a computer light spectrum analyzer.More junk science, and now it's WD's fault 8O
yes, not sure how weather link would help with calibration…at least he sould uses WD’s calculation for max solar radiation at the time of day for lat /long and get the correct reading by setting the trim pot before selling the unit
everyone I know of with a blue wave solar has the overreading problem.
Maybe Broadstairs could compare the weatherllink value with the (uncorrected) WD value? I just don’t see how they can be different :?
just in the process of adjusting mine
i see the solar adjust to 100% (it was 75%), in wd, first
then the reading went from 1275 to 1775 or so wm/2
you have to lift the top off, and loosen the cable so you can pull it up
i have gone back and forth a few times now, turning it counter clockwise as i look at (the trim pot)
now, i am not seeing much reduction in the reading…could be because its only 10:30am , and i am not at max solar yet, so I am fighting the increasing solar readings
but , still, its looking like its going to be alot more than a quarter turn
i guess its a multi turn trim pot, by the looks of it…
so i will keep turning it …
another thing i notice, the plastic cover is going yellow…
turned it about 5 times anticlockwise
then some cloud drifted over
typical
just had a sunny spot
things are looking much better now
Well I just did and as I expected the Weatherlink value is twice the WD value (I have 50% as the adj factor in WD). In any case the values I was quoting to Bluewave were read by me from the VP console at the time and not form any software. It was precisely because I saw the actual values on the console that I decided to complain, looking at WD all the time you tend to forget what the raw value must have been!
Well that should reduce the readings a bit :lol:
Wow that must have been waaaay out, I wonder how many times I’ll have to turn mine considering my orbital like readings :lol: