Quote:
I took the rain gauge tank apart today to find a spider had made a wonderful web across the axle that the bucket tilts on, so when it rained it stayed open all the time 
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I have the same problem, I'm going to have to spider proof the assembly somehow. I've had to clean mine at least 3 times over the past few weeks. It's amazing how little web it takes to render the tipping bucket immobile. Maybe some contact spray insecticide in and around the unit will help.
Regarding the spikes, I've noticed that the first read after a period shows a spike but once the software is closed and reopened (after first collecting all the current data) the erroneous results seem to disappear. I've also read somewhere that clearing the memory before the buffer is over 20% full also stops the spike readings.