Calibrating rain at the Vue Console or MB Nano

[weerwantijdijk]

Hello Matt,

Can you tell me if there’s a possibility to calibrate the rain measuring on the Vantage Vue console (mm). I’m following the last few weeks the measuring on the Vue (and MB Nano SD) and that’s 10% less then the official rain measured in my German Prof. Hellmann That doesn’t seems much, but with a thunderstorm and 30 mm rain it is 3 mm, on yearly amounts more or less 66 mm.

If there is a possibility to calibrate can you please explain how to do that (on the console or only at my MB) because I tried but don’t get it

Thanks in advance and have a nice evening

[galfert]

Tips:

- Find out if you have the mm type collector or the inches type collector. I'm not talking about what units you want to use. I'm referring to the fact that the Vue can come installed with the US inches version or the Metric version.

Rain gauge 7345.280 US inches version
Rain gauge 7345.319 Metric mm version

After you determine which tipper you have then you configure the console to match that type. See page 12 of the manual on how to configure.
https://www.davisinstruments.com/produc ... _06351.pdf

If you made any of these changes then test and see how it goes. I recommend a manual rain gauge for side by side comparison. Do not use a neighbor station. Get a decent rain gauge with a good size funnel like this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ClimeMET-CM101 ... 004Z5G20I/
There are several on the market that look like that..sometimes they are in black instead of green.
With your own manual funnel you'll have a better idea of what is real and what isn't for your micro-climate.
I'm just using that one for reference. Don't get the garbage dinky manual rain gauges out there that are toys.

Lastly if you do need to make a calibration adjustment the only way is to turn screws on the tipper itself. That is something that perhaps a Vue user might be able to guide you better. But as I understand it, you turn the screw one way or the other to make minor adjustments...little bit at a time. The tipper should technically be calibrated by factory which is why there is no official documentation on this. Do keep in mind that if you calibrate for a light rain you may get different results during a hard rain, and likewise if you calibrate for the other. Therefore it is important to calibrate to what should be an average rain fall event in terms of intensity.

One last thing is that you should ensure that your unit is level. I know this should be common knowledge...but you never know. Also be sure that you've cleaned out your funnel for debris.

[galfert]

Oh I forgot to answer your question about whether to calibrate at the console or in the Meteobridge. I think it is best to do every calibration possible at the ISS and the console. This will always provide better results....which if you still can't dial in can be then fine tuned with the Meteobridge. Some big reasons to do it at the ISS and the console is because if you ever decide on getting a second display or an Envoy or a WLL or other logger then you'll have different data if you had decided to only calibrate at the Meteobridge. I think therefore calibration at the Meteobridge should be reserved as a last effort and only if absolutely every other option has been exhausted. Even if today you don't have a 2nd display ...maybe you decide to run Meteobridge one day along side Weather-Display software or some other software...you'd be in the same pickle then. So...yeah...don't calibrate at the Meteobridge if you can avoid it.

[weerwantijdijk]

Thanks Galfert for your extensive answer at my question, appreciate that very much.

I forgot to mention that my console is a Vue but my station outside is Davis VP2 pro. I’ve earlier tried to find a possibility to make adjustments at the Vue console with the manual at hand, but the only thing a can choose is rain measured in inch or mm and as far as I tried nothing else. By the way, the console is a EU version, but as I said, I can choose for inches or mm (Netherlands all measuring is in mm).

The measurements “by hand” are with the rain gauche from Netatmo and a second one, semi pro, I find at Amazon, so no playing around with the toy stuff . That’s when I noticed the Davis had a 10% disturbance with each comparison.

The tip you gave to make adjustments at the station itself for me it’s a tricky one. On regular basis I cleaned the unit from debris and the local spider population, but it happens very quick that the rain instrument inside get touched and the rain rate measured at that moment would be the end of the Netherlands
Maybe you have expertise with the VP2 and some tricks to clean and make adjustments without a reset on the Vue console? I’m not sure what type VP2 I’ve got, bought it in the Netherlands so I think a EU one.

Also I’ve find a easy way on the MB since Boris extended the way to make adjustments on various measurements at the MB and I heard what you mentioned about the differences between console and my website, so I’ll wait with that.
Again, many thanks for your tips and I hope, if you have one for the VP2, you keep me in mind.

[weerwantijdijk]

By checking the manual again, it’s written loud and clear on page 28; OMG I have to see the optometrist and let him check my eyes again
Sorry for all my questions Galfert, but your link to the manual helped because it forced me to check again.

Problem solved without changing the MB Nano SD.
Have a nice day!

[galfert]

Okay good to hear you solved the problem.