Summary

SnowVue Troubleshooting

Details

Team:

Jacob, Ethan, Adolfo, Jeri, and Amanda (CW3E Intern)


Details:

Before visiting the site, Adolfo and Jacob updated the modem firmware from 4.15 to 4.16 via AirVantage, scheduled for the next connection. To get from 4.16 to 4.17, Adolfo scheduled the update for the next connection and then logged into AceManager via potter valley and rebooted the modem, forcing it to reconnect to AirVantage. On site, Jacob connected to the modem with an Ethernet cable and confirmed that the updates had been successful.


The SnowVue sensor had started reporting NaN values again at the beginning of the summer. CS tech support suggested that this might be because it was sharing a C port with another sensor. This is consistent with our observation that the SnowVue sensors at our other stations have not had this issue and they are all wired as the only sensor on their C port. For more details, see troubleshooting doc here: 2024-04-09 SKI SnowVUE Troubleshooting . Jacob climbed the tower and moved the charge controller from the C port with the SnowVue to share a C port with the CS320 and HygroVue. Confirmed data was being recorded. Meanwhile, Jeri and Amanda replaced the fuel dowels and collected missing metadata.


We also assessed the infrastructure changes necessary to lower the logger to eye-level from its current position high on the tower. The most significant thing preventing this is the length of certain cables. We estimated the necessary cable lengths as follows:


A good target height for the base of the enclosure would be 4.5’ (top of the enclosure at 6’).


Hygrovue cable length

If the base of the enclosure is at 4.5’, the 10’ Hygrovue cross arm has to run vertically for 7.5’ to reach the cross-arm. Allowing 1’ for drip loops means this will take 8.5’ of cable, leaving only ~1.5’ of cable to run horizontally along the cross-arm.


Pyranometer cable length

If the base of the enclosure is at 4.5, the 17’ pyranometer cable has to run vertically for 13’ to reach the cross-arm. Allowing 1’ for drip loops means this will take 14’ of cable, leaving only ~3’ of cable to run horizontally along the cross-arm.


The only other cables belong to the soil sensors and the fuel sensors. The soil sensors run all the way up the center of the tower and out through a weatherhead. The simplest thing to do would be to run them all the way back down the tower and back into the enclosure. If they are not long enough for this, we would have to figure out how to cut the conduit without damaging them. This could be by gently cutting around the outside, as if removing a cable jacket with wire strippers, or by pulling them back out of the conduit, cutting it, and feeding them back through. In this case there should be plenty of length. The fuel sensors should also have plenty of length.


We estimate that a full day of work should be budgeted for this. Lowering the enclosures will be awkward given their weight and the fact that the fiberglass is starting to degrade. Then multiple sensors will need to be re-wired, potentially with new cables installed or their cross-arm position adjusted. This work could be combined with the rewiring of the station for compatibility with the new CS Master Program.