Just recently, i think my La Crosse 2310 rain gauge has stopped working. I’ve had this station for about 2 years now and no problems, although i know this station is not the best for recording data… it is still the first station i have bought and would like to keep it until i can upgrade to something better.
Last time rain was reported on WD was the 20th of April. We have seen two rain events since then and WD has reported 0.00" and i’ve just had to manually input from my backup rain gauge. Any idea on what could have happened? All fine for two years until just April 20th. Would it be a good idea opening the bucket and checking it out? Also, if it just happens to be a problem that can’t be fixed… anyone selling a replacement?
Hello !
Try to change the reed relay inside the rain bucket.
I had the same problems with my 2 years old WS-2310.
After that everything worked as normal again.
Yes it is the magnetic reed switch that stops working. I just ordered a local imported one from an electrical supply group, about 14 to 18mm body length and 2.5mm diam and had good sensitivity specs. I just tried to find the spec sheet but couldn’t.
Take care with the wires that attach to the tiny pc board, mine lifted the track off and led to a mini major repair. I also covered up the square hole in the base as spiders were getting up through there and doing extra tips on sunny days :shock: #-o
I may post pics later on.
Graeme
The reed switch I used was a 2722, a Comus product. It has a maximum sensitivity of 20 and a minimum of (in a stronger field) of 50. The low number relates to the lowest strength magnetic field that will still allow it to switch and hold in. Over a field strength of 50 (micro Henry’s ?) it will just stay in closed position all the time.
hey, thank you to all for all the replies, i appreciate it.
I took the rain cover from the base and decided to look at it to see if maybe something simple was wrong… there were tons of spider webs all over that prevented the Seesaw from going back and forth. I cleaned it up real well and it now works again. Judging from the replies of people having issues that are different from this after 2 years shows im lucky for now.
One question. While the rain sensor stopped working… i was using a manual garden type rain collector. Looks just like this
We had a shower pass through this morning and in the gauge it recorded .45" that had fallen. I dumped the amount of water from the garden rain gauge to my 2310 one after it was working. It only recorded .04" from that. Any ideas on why the huge difference? Which of the two is accurate? Yesterday i had 1" reported on the garden rain gauge and found it hard to belive that much had fallen in a little amount of time.
ja5219, it is probably simply the difference between the collection area of the two rain gauges. You can’t simply tip the contents of one gauge into the other and expect the same reading if the collection areas are not identical. From the sound of it your 2310’s collection area is (very roughly) ten times that of your garden gauge.
Ahh, spider webs - I did mention them - they also tied up my La Crosse anemometer and wind vane so neither would work when we had a warm calm spell with just gentle breezes. I have trees twice the height of my house on one side… If you can, try and block off with masking tape under the centre pivot - the rectangular hole - as much as possible to stop them climbing up in there. I had to too.
I also have had problems with spiders and their webs, both with the rain gauge and the anemometer. My anemometer is up on the roof too so it’s not very accessible. I used to love warm still days, now I not quite so keen on them :roll:
The spider problem seems common. I have had both the rain gauge and wind speed fan “locked” by spider webs! The wind unit is on top of an 8 metre pipe and a small green spider still made it its home. I carefully cut a piece of fly screen wire to fit the base of the rain gauge and glued it in with hot glue. Worked well. Haven’t come up with a solution for wind unit but it has not happened again.
I experienced a similar problem (rain gauge not working) but in my case it was more installation related. When I mounted the plastic rain gauge base with two small bolts to a post I may have over tightened the bolts causing the plastic base to warp just enough to prevent the seesaw from seesawing. Either that or the wood I mounted the base to swelled a bit when it got wet and cause the base to warp. Either way, I loosened the bolts and everything works now. Chalk this one up to beginners luck! :oops:
There is a warning in the instructions not to over tighten the base or have it twisted, but only on a perfectly level surface. It has been reported here elsewhere too… Glad its all working properly again!
This was a very helpful thread. My rain gauge sensor on my LaCrosse weather station stopped working after it fell off its mounting and hit the concrete. The fall cracked the glass housing of the magnetic reed switch. The switch works by closing each time enough rain fills the sensor reservoir and causes the reservoir to to tip (there is a magnet in the tipping mechanism). The rest of the station still worked fine (rugged little thing), so replacing the switch fixed the problem. Here are pics of where the switch is located and also the replacement US DigiKey part (you want a normally-open reed switch with a sensitivity of 20-25 AT). AT stands for Ampere-Turns.
- they also tied up my La Crosse anemometer and wind vane so neither would work when we had a warm calm spell with just gentle breezes. I have trees twice the height of my house on one side… If you can, try and block off with masking tape under the centre pivot - the rectangular hole - as much as possible to stop them climbing up in there. I had to too.
