Building Strong Support for the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2
The Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 personal weather station is a beautifully designed weather station. If you are keenly psyched by the weather this is your equipment. After thoroughly looking this over in detail, it is definitely a must-have.
So in looking in depth at this weather station, it is built with fine-tuned Davis weather instruments as well as it offers a flexibility that few other personal climate stations do not offer.
You can have your choice of how and what you hook up to the console. Add-ons are you may choose from the wireless as we are discussing, or you may purchase it with the ISS being wired.
A list of the choices that are given to the vantage pro2 weather station console owner is the following.
Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus Wireless
Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Wireless with Fan
Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus Cabled w/ Standard Radiation Shield
Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus Wireless with Fan
This is definitely ranked in the upper range of personal weather stations for people to buy for themselves for home-usage. With the ability to add or change some of the parts out you have more of a chance to make it what you want it to be.
Here is what I found and the areas I think are important to know about.
Description
Professional wireless weather station with a versatile sensor suite. You can customize your Vantage Pro2 by adding consoles or special-purpose options.
They have improved the design for even more accurate data, in especially high winds!
In fact last year during Hurricane Irma, a Davis weather station recorded the wind speed of 199 MPH on the island of St. Barts in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.
Many different weather sensors: temperature, humidity, rain, wind with passive radiation shield in a rugged sensor suite — add optional UV and solar radiation sensor
It comes with a highly efficient & quality built anemometer-a 40-foot (12-meter) anemometer cable allows the anemometer to be mounted separately from the rain collector
It also includes a wireless versatile integrated sensor suite, console with backlit LCD screen
Please note the mounting pole/tripod is not included in your purchase.
Instrument Sensors
The ISS Sensor (Integrated Sensor Suite) contains the following instruments. This is a solid selection to gather your local weather readings from.
So the standard version of the ISS contains a rain collector, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, and anemometer.
If you are looking at purchasing the Vantage Pro 2 Plus you will also have access to the following: a pre-installed solar radiation sensor and an ultra-violet (UV) radiation sensor.
Temperature and humidity sensors are mounted in a passive radiation shield to minimize the impact of solar radiation on sensor readings.
Davis Instruments – Davis 4 Conductor Extension Cable 40‘
The provided anemometer measures wind speed and direction and can be installed adjacent to the ISS
Also included in your purchase of the Vantage Pro2 stations include a 40′ (12 m) cable to go between the ISS and the anemometer.
If you have more cable length as a need then it can be extended up to 540′ (165 m) using optional extension cables purchased from Davis Instruments.
The extension cables from Davis weather instruments can be used on the following parts of the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 Integrated Sensor Suite, or the Vantage Pro 2 sensor suite.
Adding cables can add versatility to your wired weather station from Davis Instruments.
The ISS sensor unit is set up separately from the anemometer unit. The anemometer as was stated above needs to be hooked up to my connection to the future.
Types of Transmission
Updates are provided to the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro 2 console at the following intervals. These are being monitored constantly and are being sent to the console from the ISS Sensor remote units.
- Wind speed: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 to 3 seconds
- Wind direction: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 to 3 seconds
- Accumulated rainfall: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 to 24 seconds
- Rain rate: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 to 24 seconds
- Outside temperature: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 to 12 seconds
- Outside humidity: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 seconds to 1 minute
- Ultraviolet radiation: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 seconds to 1 minute
- Solar radiation: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 seconds to 1 minute
Display
The console display is full of weather information. With that in mind, I thought it best to give you a picture of exactly what you are getting when you purchase this weather console from Davis.
Software
This unit has the ability to have different types of software be hooked up to it.
These are a couple of programs that can be used to transmit your data.
Vantage Connect® for Wireless Stations.
For more information on this connecter, you may go to vantage-connect-for-wireless-stations-cdma As this is a very expensive tool, I am mentioning it for those who have the means to look at something this high end on your investment list.
Davis Instruments 6510SER Software w/ Data Logging for Vantage Pro 2, Serial
- A few features this connector provides are the following
- Automatic data uploads to WeatherLink.com
- Access your data on your computer or smartphone
- No subscription fee
- Get e-mail alerts
Davis Instruments WeatherLinkIP Data Logger
Manufacturer Support for the Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2
The Console directions may be found here. The Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Manual PDF by clicking here
- Phone Support:
(510) 732-7814– Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Pacific Time. - (510) 670-0589– Fax to Technical Support
- E-mail Support: support@davisnet.com– E-mail to Technical Support.
info@davisnet.com– E-mail to Davis Instruments. - Web Support:www.davisnet.com– Copies of user manuals are available on this site
Things to Know
These are some of the things to know about this model which is also known as “the Davis Instruments 6152 Wireless Vantage Pro2”. As you can see it has many on-screen features which can be enjoyed as well as raw weather data is being produced 24 hours a day, which may be transmitted to collection sites like Weather Underground, and WeatherBug.
Some Other Interesting Things
This station has a console that is powered by 3 “C-cell” batteries as a backup. The main power is supplied by being plugged into your electrical source.
It comes with an AC/DC adapter for normal powering up. This display console does not recharge the batteries, so please be aware of this. Please use alkaline batteries in the console for longer working results.
It’s dimensions are the following:
- Console (with antenna) . . . . . . . . . . . 10.625″ x 6.125″ x 1.625″ (270 mmx 156 mm x 41 mm)
- Console (no antenna) . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.625″ x 6.125″ x 1.625″ (244 mm x156 mm x 41 mm)
- Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.94″ x 3.375″ (151 mm x 86 mm)
Pros
The console can be set up at 5 different angles as a stand-up console. The kickstand can be set up in three different ways to allow 5 angles for viewing may be set up as a wall display-you may hang up the console
It has a backlit console screen for easier nighttime viewing
It is versatile-you can add additional stations
It’s accurate & customizable
Davis concentrates on making the best reliable day in, day out performance weather instruments.
Advanced rain collector
1 year limited warranty policy-to be free of defects in material and workmanship for one year from the date of original purchase. During the warranty period, we will either repair or replace the product free of charge. You can read the warranty here.
It has a high-quality anemometer
Cons
The computer connection is outdated. It doesn’t have a built-in USB connection
All of the software I have found to use with it is outmoded
The console set up and display look outdated. The interface looks older
Changing any settings is difficult without getting out the manual
It doesn’t have an atomic clock
Consumer Ratings
Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Weather Station (Wireless)
The purchasers of the Davis Instruments weather stations are more involved weather persons. They know much more about the weather than the average person. They, in turn, expect a lot more from weather equipment.
As a higher expectation, they also expect to be buying high-quality, highly reliable weather equipment.
The Model 6152 is a steady and sure weather station. It may look outdated, it may require extra outside purchases to accomplish some things you wish to do as well.
But looking at the overall picture, for the services it provides, and the built-in quality, the investment while at first appearances may seem a bit pricey, if you dig deeper, you will find this is getting close to being that professional type of weather equipment you have always wanted.
