Hi all,
Just wondering on people’s thoughts about possibly upgrading from a davis vantage pro2 (parts starting to present issues now approx 8 years old for most parts) to something equal or better in terms of specs etc. Preferably not out of the hobbyist price range either. Vaisala have some nice stuff but it is pricey. Any other suggestions?? At the moment just looking at slowly replacing the failing bits on the davis which I have been super happy with.
Thanks
Guru
Much of my kit is Vaisala or other professional spec . All of it was harvested from ebay where prices are considerably lower. Hooked into a Campbell Scientific CR10X, and ultimately fed into WD. Cost me under £500 for two stations and sensors, but also about two years of planning, assembly and testing. There are other options out there too that are worth considering. Do have a look on ebay at the mo. You might also consider using Labjack, WD already has an interface for some of those sensors, and using, say Lm34 temperature sensors which are around £3.50 each and as accurate as my mercury thermometers, and the Platinum ones I have too. There is also that final option of a manual station, but maybe not your thing.
Another option is to just keep the VP2 ISS as a base and then update the sensors. The VP2 is a great investment because all parts are available. You can now get an ultrasonic anemometer from Davis. But the standard Davis anemometer is not bad. You can also upgrade the rain gauge to the Rainwise RW111. About the only weak point on the VP2 is the SHT31 that Davis is using and unfortunately you can’t replace it for the newer and better sensors that use I2C protocol. If Davis were to ever resolve this issue it would make a lot of people very happy. Imagine being able to use the SHT35 or the new SHT4x that are coming out this year.