[aprssig] WM-918 Troubleshooting

[Arte Booten]

Hi all,

I wrote:

>>the rain gauge doesn't seem to be registering any rain either on the control
>>panel display or within FreeWX.

to which Keith replied:

 >I would assume that there is a "tipping bucket" in the rain gauge sensor.

and Danny wrote:

 >If your unit uses the RJ45 to the rain unit, try cleaning the connectors.

      In addition,  Oregon Scientific  suggested I replace the batteries in the
sensor and reset it - which might be reasonable if  this was a WM-968 wireless
unit.

      I poked a small hole in the cap of a plastic bottle,  and a larger one in
its bottom so there would be a very small stream of water coming out of it.  I
put this bottle, top down, inside the cone of the rain gauge.   The water flow
made the "tipping buckets"  fill and empty - I could hear the clicks and see a
bit of water coming out of the bottom with every click.

      I then went inside and saw  FreeWX registering  "Rainfall recorded in the
last hour", "Rainfall recorded today since 9:00 am", and a "Rainfall rate"  of
over thirty inches per hour - probably fairly close to what I had leaking into
the rain gauge from the bottle.

      I now knew that the thing wasn't just a paperweight.   So I waited for it
to rain.  Not something that takes too long in Tampa in the summertime.

      A few rains have come.  They've gone.   I've seen nice yellow radar above
my QTH.  Drizzles.  Showers.  Buckets.  Rain gauge?  Nada.
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| Mr. Arthur "Arte" Booten      Tampa, FL     <n2zrc!rEm0vEn0sPaM!@arrl.net> |
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| Mr. Arthur "Arte" Booten      Tampa, FL     <n2zrc!rEm0vEn0sPaM!@arrl.net> |
|   Cruise Missile Coordinates: 2756.75 N / 08228.79 W            [EL87sw]   |
|  GnuPG Key Fingerprint: 91CE 2631 0362 CB18 294D 7EE5 94EE 5D25 9E1C 2CDC  |
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