Davis Prices

[Mapantz]

I did a clean up of my solar sensor today, and I noticed the mounting bracket had cracked through all of the screw holes. It looks like UV has caused the plastic to go brittle. I bought a new one (at a silly price) but I also found that 3 threaded screws have got stripped threads, so I cannot level it up.

I inquired about replacements, a 45mm threaded screw, a 25mm compression spring and a small nylon washer - £10 .. and I need 3 of them.

Lost for words.

[ConligWX]

so the new one had stripped threads? can you not get a replacement from the vendor since they sent you a broken part?

[Mapantz]

so the new one had stripped threads? can you not get a replacement from the vendor since they sent you a broken part?

That was 7 years ago

The mount doesn't come with any screws, only the sensor.

[Cortmalaw]

Measure the size properly and buy them on EBay

[HansR]

Measure the size properly and buy them on EBay

And convert to imperial before you buy (which is one cause for augmented price).

[Mapantz]

Measure the size properly and buy them on EBay

Don't have anything to measure that accurately. I was told they were M3.5.. so I bought a pack of 10. They screw in very slightly, but don't go all the way.

[Turvey]

I was shocked by the price of spares for my Vue. I needed to change the vane but couldn't find a small enough Allen key, Weatherspares wanted £2.40 + shipping at £3.50 !

Got one of eBay for 99p postage included!

[GlynH]

I feel your pain. Davis prices have always been scandalous over here.

Many years ago when I was travelling to the US and looking to buy a VP2+ and IP logger the UK price was £1389 and the US price was $928 or £606.53

Even accounting for the usual Sales Tax/VAT/Duty/Shipping/Import/Handling etc. argument its still well under half the price!

No different to some other companies though. When I was looking to purchase a Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS back in the day the US dollar price was equivalent to £1600 where the UK price was £3200 for the same lens!

I'm not surprised with Davis charging extortionate prices even for small ticket items but I am disappointed.

Might it be worth contacting your dealer if you haven't already to see if they might be able to help out? At the least they might be able to give you the US equivalent thread size to 3.5mm (6-32 UNC / 6-40 UNF maybe?) or might be able to supply replacements at a more reasonable price?

Good luck!

-=Glyn=-

[GlynH]

Just looking on the Scaled Instruments website run by the always helpful Ryan Wilhour and I can see the following at a more reasonable price;

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/ ... ar-sensor/

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/ ... r-sensors/

Regarding the nylon washers I just looked at an email from Ryan back in 2015, quote;

'The white plastic retaining washers are not critical for operation, they are simply to retain the spring onto the screw shaft to make it easier to install the sensor to the shelf, they don't serve any other function beyond that.'

So not vital for operation of the sensors but if you're like me then you would want them anyway!

He doesn't specifically list the screws you are looking for but does list 3 other stainless steel screws;

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/ ... ars-screw/

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/ ... 32-thread/

https://www.scaledinstruments.com/shop/ ... ase-screw/

All of which are listed as having an 8-32 thread so if possible can you temporarily remove one of those from your own station and see if it fits in the sensor shelf threaded hole. At least you will know what size the thread is so you can pick up some locally...

-=Glyn=-

[Mapantz]

I cannot find any 8-32 thread M3.5 45mm screws any where in the UK.

The threads are no good on the M3.5's that I bought, the spacing is too fine.

[PaulMy]

I have noticed in the past the much higher prices for Davis stations and devices in say UK/Europe, Australia and NZ. Fortunately we can quite easily source from Davis direct in USA at lower than from Canadian dealers. And better yet we can also quite easy source from Davis dealers in USA who generally offer significant discounts off of MLP.

From my background, the cost of doing business in Canada is much higher and that accounts for higher prices from Canadian sources, even Amazon - partly due to federal and provincial taxes, greater overhead cost, smaller market and lower volumes.

It is a hobby for most of us, so we pay what we feel it is worth to us, or we don't!

Enjoy,
Paul

[GlynH]

I cannot find any 8-32 thread M3.5 45mm screws any where in the UK.

The threads are no good on the M3.5's that I bought, the spacing is too fine.

Really? Look at the very first hit here on Amazon UK. They’re even the right length at 1.75” / 45mm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=8-32+screw ... XrXKayefss

Forget about the 3.5mm bit…you already have those and although they start to turn are the wrong thread as they won’t go all the way in.

But did you check they were actually 8-32 by taking one of the other screws out of the ISS to put in the sensor shelf first?

Lots more choice in Google if you type 8-32 screws…

-=Glyn=-

[Mapantz]

Really? Look at the very first hit here on Amazon UK. They’re even the right length at 1.75” / 45mm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=8-32+screw ... XrXKayefss
-=Glyn=-

I bought the hex button head version of those: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C6Q7NJ6X? ... ct_details

And guess what? They are far too wide, almost double the thickness of ones that screw the sensors down.

It's a complete waste of time. Davis like to use unconventional sizes and thread pitch, but give no details as to what those measurements are. They do that to try and get you to purchase their screws. £30 for 3 screws and 3 springs?

Davis make me sick.

[GlynH]

Try this for your screw sizes;

https://www.meteo.no/file/andre/monteri ... ngelsk.pdf

-=Glyn=-

[prodata]

Davis are usually pretty good about putting all the screw sizes in the instruction manual for the relevant part, if anyone simply takes the time to look.

So for eg the solar sensor the fixing screws for the sensor housing are #6-32 x 1.5". Davis is of course a US manufacturer and so still uses the old Imperial sizes and measurements. So I think that #6-32 is the relevant UNC size and thread specifier, with 1.5" as the length. But please check for yourself to be sure we're talking about the right part. These screws should be available online in the UK without resorting to the kludge of trying to force metric screws to fit - that's pretty much guaranteed to cause problems.

In general, virtually every individual part for Davis stations is available in principle. But in practice Davis publish a list of 'Replacement parts' which are all the parts most likely to wear or otherwise need replacement. Good dealers will stock most of these standard spare parts. But this list only represents maybe 20-30% of all parts. Things like the screws in question here are not on the list. They can still be ordered from Davis but effectively only via a separate special order process which takes extra time and trouble for everyone and inevitably involves substantial extra cost that has to be recouped. That's why trivial parts can sometimes seem to cost a high price.

There are one or two dealers who specialise more in Davis spares and may use an alternative form of sourcing by disassembling complete new sensors, for example. But it's a time-consuming business with no guarantee at all that you will sell all the parts from a sensor.