Station Maintenance
From WeatherCat Wiki (Mahler)
All Weather Stations require periodic maintenance to remain accurate and dependable.
Seasonal Maintenance Checklist
The following is a seasonal maintenance checklist of potential issues with your weather station that should be checked every 6 months or so. It may be necessary to perform such maintenance more frequently depending on the severity of your locale
Before doing any maintenance on your instruments, it is a good idea to put your console into diagnostic mode (Davis Vantage Pro-2) or any other possible standby mode (if such a things exists on your console) to avoid collecting erroneous data that might be caused by your mucking around with the instruments.
- Clear any debris or vegetation that might have encroached on weather instruments.
- Replace all batteries in the console, Weather Envoy, ISS and secondary transmitter.
- Clean all exterior surfaces including the solar sensor.
- Air dust the interior of all electronics.
- Apply fresh grease on all rubber seals. Make sure to use a grease that won't damage the rubber.
- Inspect all cables and especially any my cable splices needed for your station.
- Air dust the radiation shields for the temperature probes.
- Visually inspect the anemometer and mast.
- Check supports for all other weather instruments for wear or components that have become loose.
- Clean collection buckets.
- Clean and apply Rain-X to the collector cone. Applied grease to the bottom of the collector cone to make it easier to remove later.
- Apply some automobile wax to exterior of collector cone and any other station components that would benefit from additional protection.
- If available and practical, check instruments against known references.
- If needed (given climate, transmitter setup, and years in the field), clean contacts between sensor cables and transmitter plugs.
- If appropriate, remove or put on cap over the collector cone if such a cap is used to protect rain gauge from either dry season debris or heavy snows.
- If desired, add a Journal entry to keep track of when maintenance was performed.