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Lost Sensor Contact!!

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Added 5 metre USB extension lead, put it behind all sorts of metal objects and still it was receiving!!! Concluded the USB cable must be acting as an aerial. Disconnected USB and watched the console dislpay... Continued to show "good data". Right, I thought, and put it in the microwave. NO I didn't switch it on! If microwaves can't get out then no electromagnetic waves can get in!

I'll leave it in there for a while to make sure I get several data logging periods.
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
User avatar
nking
Posts: 808
Joined: Thu 17 Dec 2009 2:03 pm
Weather Station: W-8681
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, UK
Contact:

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by nking »

Gina - I can't help but applaud :clap: your tenacity and your logic re the microwave is brilliant… it also made me smile. As the Americans would say “Way to Go!” - looking forward to the update.
Charlie
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu 04 Feb 2010 12:22 pm
Weather Station: 1wire-Cumulus & Fine Offset
Operating System: Windows 7
Location: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Charlie »

I hate to rain on the parade, but the microwave oven only blocks certain frequencies (on the order of 1.5 GHz). If they blocked everything, you could not see through the door :) Lower frequencies might find it pretty transparent too!

The baking foil without the USB connected should have worked - did you try grounding the foil?
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Well, it didn't receive anything in the microwave! :) Nice lot of dashes for the outside sensors. Took it back into the lounge where I have the computer I'm using and reconnected it to USB. Receiving fine again. Ran Cumulus and it duly downloaded data from the console. :) I'll attach the files in the data folder. Tiny little ones as Cumulus only downloads data from when it was first started rather than everything in the WS memory.

First look and it looks as if it was receiving data when it clearly wasn't. Must be copies of previous logged data, I think.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Yes, it holds the values from the last data received when the signal is lost. Plotting the data shows a short flat-line section where there was no received signal.
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
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beteljuice
Posts: 3292
Joined: Tue 09 Dec 2008 1:37 pm
Weather Station: None !
Operating System: W10 - Threadripper 16core, etc
Location: Dudley, West Midlands, UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by beteljuice »

"... it with a gert long ..."

Been awhile since I've heard that :D
Image
......................Imagine, what you will KNOW tomorrow !
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steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by steve »

Thanks for doing that, Gina. So there's actually no need for me to add the extra code to ignore the logger data if the 'sensor lost' flag is set, since the station is doing it for me.
Steve
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Glad to help :) I much appreciate your work in running and replying in these forums as well as for writing Cumulus :) I agree, a flat line from the last contact data is the best guess that could be made.
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
geoffw
Posts: 556
Joined: Fri 08 May 2009 3:12 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Pembrokeshire West Wales UK
Contact:

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by geoffw »

Weather Station still be havhaving itself ........ So the question remains, if I did trigger my problems last weekend, what could done?
Geoff
Image
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

I think things might be better with warmer and dryer weather. Cold and damp is decidedly not good for electronics and connections. And it you've got your transmitter/temp/humidity unit up a mast even more exposed to the elements, it's even worse.
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
christer
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun 20 Sep 2009 12:15 pm
Weather Station: Jenkinsbird Weather Pro = FineOf
Operating System: Windows XP
Location: Luleå, Sweden

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by christer »

Hi Steve and thank´s for a very nice Cumulus.
I have upgraded to latest realease (dec-09) and noticed a lot of "Lost Sensor Contact" in the Error Log window.
Is there anything I can do to copy the text in this window for further analyze? Or save the content as a text file?

Thank you!

Regards
Christer, Sweden
geoffw
Posts: 556
Joined: Fri 08 May 2009 3:12 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Pembrokeshire West Wales UK
Contact:

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by geoffw »

christer wrote:Hi Steve and thank´s for a very nice Cumulus.
I have upgraded to latest realease (dec-09) and noticed a lot of "Lost Sensor Contact" in the Error Log window.
Is there anything I can do to copy the text in this window for further analyze? Or save the content as a text file?
Yes, I'm also keeping a a log of lost contacts.

1: Open the Error window
2: Hightlight the content
3: Press "Ctrl+C"
4: Open Notepad or some other prog you want to retain the info in and Paste the data in (Ctrl+V)

Mine has improved recently after an awful weekend (when I started this thread) when it was off longer than on.

e.g.
11/03/2010 10:13:29 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:13:39 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:13:49 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:13:59 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:14:09 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:14:19 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:14:29 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:14:39 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:14:49 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:14:59 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:15:09 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:15:19 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:15:29 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:15:39 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:15:49 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:15:59 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:16:09 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:16:19 : Lost sensor contact!!!
11/03/2010 10:16:29 : Lost sensor contact!!!

15/03/2010 22:32:33 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:32:43 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:32:53 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:33:03 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:33:13 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:33:23 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:33:33 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:33:43 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:33:53 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:34:03 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:34:13 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:34:23 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:34:33 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:34:43 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:34:53 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:35:03 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:35:13 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:35:23 : Lost sensor contact!!!
15/03/2010 22:35:33 : Lost sensor contact!!!

17/03/2010 17:01:44 : FTP Connect Timeout
17/03/2010 17:01:44 : FTP Connect Error, Error code = 426
17/03/2010 17:02:47 : FTP Connect Error, Error code = 421
Geoff
Image
christer
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun 20 Sep 2009 12:15 pm
Weather Station: Jenkinsbird Weather Pro = FineOf
Operating System: Windows XP
Location: Luleå, Sweden

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by christer »

@Geoffw
Thank´s! I didn´t think of that. Too easy.
Charlie
Posts: 363
Joined: Thu 04 Feb 2010 12:22 pm
Weather Station: 1wire-Cumulus & Fine Offset
Operating System: Windows 7
Location: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Charlie »

Just speculation, but I wonder if these lost sensor contacts might be related to the time sync. There was a note in my instruction manual that the station sensor unit does not send any data when it is looking for the time signal. This can take up to 5 minutes when it is first switched on, and it will periodically retry if it does not find the signal. Perhaps it tries to valitate it's internal clock every 12 hours or some regular period.

If this were true, and you lived in a fringe area for the time signal, you would regularly get lost sensor contact messages for whatever the retry time period is. In your case, your contact loss is pretty consistent at 3 minutes. I'm in a fringe area for the signal and I'm noticing this happens from about 40 seconds, up to 4 minutes. The radio icon is on. Lost sensor contact, and the radio icon being on, are both recent changes for me, which may be why I'm tying them together in my brain. 8-)
Gina
Posts: 1885
Joined: Sat 21 Feb 2009 12:41 pm
Weather Station: Nothing working ATM - making one
Operating System: OS X, Linux Mint, Win7 & XP
Location: Devon UK

Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Sounds a very feasible reason to me. Mine doesn't have the time receiving function and providing the transmission path is not obscured by metal etc. I have very rarely lost the signal. If the down-time is consistent then it isn't some random interference or suchlike. I presume the time sync can't be disabled on those stations that have it?
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
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