Davis Classic Stations - Overview
The
generation of weather stations with which Davis first made its
name is now referred to as Davis 'classic stations' and these
were mostly made during the period from the mid 1990's to around
2004. There were three main categories of classic station, the
most recent models of each being:
- Weather Wizard III (WWIII) - still available - see the Wizard III page for details;
- Weather Monitor II (WMII), which was probably the most well-known and best-selling classic station;
- Davis Advanced Stations based around the WMII design but
with certain additional application-specific sensors and
appropriate model names, specifically:
- GroWeather (agricultural applications);
- Health Enviromonitor (health-related - sunburn etc)
- Energy Enviromonitor (applications related to energy consumption and generation);
With the single exception of the Wizard III station, which remains available, production of all other classic stations was discontinued several years ago and all remaining examples of the discontinued stations have long since been sold.
Because it is still made, at least for the time being, we are continuing to carry information here on the Wizard III station. The Wizard remains the most affordable of all the Davis stations (because of its older design and relatively limited capabilities), even with the introduction of the newer Vue station. In a sense, the Wizard and Vue do complement one another as more affordable models, since the Wizard is a cabled-only station while the Vue is wireless only.
Classic Station Spares
Because the WMII (and also the Advanced Stations) have now been obsolete for some years, some replacement parts are becoming very difficult to source. For example, it is now impossible for us to get any new consoles or 7859 Combined Temperature/Humidity sensors for the WMII stations. However some classic accessories such as new anemometers, radiation shields and rain gauges are still readily available and we continue to keep these items in stock. If you're looking for some classic spares then please get in touch with us - we'll be able to let you know what is and what is not still available.
Upgrading Classic Stations
Regrettably there is no practicable upgrade path from the Davis classic stations to more recent models such as the Vue and Vantage Pro 2 - the general design of the modern stations has moved on considerably and, for example, the physical and electronic design of the Vue/VP2 data logger is completely different from the 7862 classic model. However, a couple of the main WMII sensor components, namely the anemometer and the rain gauge are still available and are plug compatible with the Davis VP2 stations. So, for example, if you had a working WMII anemometer that was installed in a well-exposed but perhaps rather inaccessible position then it would be possible to connect that cable to a VP2 ISS and to continue to use the data from that anemometer. (You would of course also receive a brand new anemometer as a standard part of the VP2 station pack, but that could be put aside as a spare for use at some later date.)