Problems with station communication: USB locks up completely

[41south]

And failed again - console memory empty, might be too soon to see if the baro is out of whack again, everything else appears ok. It actually seems worse on this usb cable - will try a 3rd.

[GTB]

you might be on the right track with the usb gentlemen

i lose contact when it is wet or dewy as a general rule
but to-day - after many days of no connection, i replaced the batteries in the sender - NO JOY

for some reason i decided to put batteries back in the console - VOILA!

connection again

but the darn thing has dropped out again to-nite - i guess because it has got dewy again

geoff

[41south]

Back on the original usb lead and it seems more stable than the spare lead I tried.

[apenwith]

Hi All

One of our Sunrecorder users had problems with USB dropouts and signal corruption and the answer appears to be to wind the USB cable three or four times around a ferrite ring (through the hole and round again). Most USB cables now have ferrites but not extensions (maybe there is a clue there.) The suspicion (only that) is that laptops and netbooks in particular are less shielded than desktops and RF or EMI interference escapes from them. Or it could be interference from some outside source. Anyway from getting coruptions every few seconds our user has been running for a week with no problems. Worth a try ?? It would also be interesting to know if anyone still using CRT monitors has greater problems.

Regards
Alan

[hungerdunger]

My old N96FY worked well with rare connection problems for three years, but after I broke the anemometer and the external humidity sensor packed in I was given an N96GY last Christmas.

I've had regular "lost contact with sensor" problems from the start. Contact was usually OK when there was no USB lead attached, but within 10 minutes or so of connecting it to my PC, Cumulus would give me the error message. Disconnecting the USB lead would usually re-establish contact within a few minutes, but not always. I also suspect that it was worse in damp weather.

Anyway, I wrote to Maplin about it, and they asked me to return it for their techies to inspect it. I'm not hopeful that they'll find a fault, but I'll let you know.

In the meantime I've got my old N96FY up and running with no connection problems after four days.

[pete_c]

I just moved the Fine Offset from Illinois to Florida. I connected it to a dedicated IBM T-40 running XP SP3.

In Illinois Cumulus was running on W2003 standard. The weather station was about mounted outside on a 6X6 8ft post attached to a deck adjacent to the house and the server / Fine Offset tablet was in the basement.

So starting a bit from scratch with setup. The weather station is mounted on a mast on top of a two level home and the laptop / Fine Offset tablet is around 200 feet from the weather station. The weather station is about 200 feet from the water that you see in the picture.

[41south]

Hi All

One of our Sunrecorder users had problems with USB dropouts and signal corruption and the answer appears to be to wind the USB cable three or four times around a ferrite ring (through the hole and round again). Most USB cables now have ferrites but not extensions (maybe there is a clue there.) The suspicion (only that) is that laptops and netbooks in particular are less shielded than desktops and RF or EMI interference escapes from them. Or it could be interference from some outside source. Anyway from getting coruptions every few seconds our user has been running for a week with no problems. Worth a try ?? It would also be interesting to know if anyone still using CRT monitors has greater problems.

Regards
Alan

Nice tip Alan, thanks. I'm using a Netbook (eeepad) so I've grabbed a couple of ferrites I had laying about after a ham radio project and wrapped the usb lead 3 times through those. I'll let you know how it goes. I may make a quick trip to a local parts store and grab one of the clip-on ferrites.

Cheers
Colin

[41south]

Very positive results here so far with the usb lead and ferrite combination, we've had shocking weather here over the past few days, the sort of stuff that would normally lead to poor reception or signals from the outside sensors - but so far it's rock solid. Could be coincidence of course .......

[Nykita]

This has nothing to do with Cumulus it is working great,, Cumulus 1.9.2 build 1030 windows XP SP 3........

My problem has been with my Ambient Weather (FO) WS-2080.. I've had it up and running since January 26,2012.. I would run for about 10 days with no problem, then Cumulus would start showing occasional data loss in the error log, it would do this for about 3 maybe 4 days, then it Cumulus would show a complete data loss and suggest checking the weather station and the USB connections.. The WS-2080 usually showed memory about 25%.............. I could unplug the USB, pull the batteries out of the WS-2080, pop the batteries back in reconnect the USB, restart Cumulus and all would be fine for 9-10 days then it would start all over again..

SO, yesterday the weather station locked up again, once again I disconnected it from the computer pulled the batteries out of the WS-2080 console when I reinstalled the batteries the console is showing 140° F Inside and Outside.. I actually removed and replaced the batteries SEVERAL times, did not clear anything at all...... The inside humidity went to 94% and has not changed at all (actual inside humidity is about 45% according to another desktop unit)

I got in touch with Ambient Weather and they seem to think there might be a software problem trying to write to a bad memory sector... They were great, 3 e-mails explaining what was going on and answering a few quick questions, they already have a new console in the mail and an RMA to send in the old one.. They wanted me to leave the batteries in it so it could stay powered up, so they could test it..

I'll try to remember to report back after I get the new console and let everyone know if it is working out....

I sure hope they use express mail, I feel almost naked without my weather station!!!!

[aurion45]

Since I had my WH3081 replaced, my memory has lock up once using Easyweather, so I clear the memory now running fine, even now with a full 31 days of recording on it, still running strong.

[jim-easterbrook]

Since I had my WH3081 replaced, my memory has lock up once using Easyweather

Ah ha! This is the first report I've seen of a lock up with EasyWeather. Do you run it continuously, 24/7?

[41south]

Edit: Easyweather also locks up so I don't think it's anything to do with Cumulus

Once one of them is locked up the other won't work either

Still going great with the usb cable wrapped through the ferrite rings - not a single error from either a lost signal to the external sensors or a console error. The external errors seem to precede the console errors. Makes me wonder if there is some sort of rf interference getting at both the console and the signal to the outside sensors possibly being radiated from the usb cable and/or netbook I'm using

[jim-easterbrook]

Edit: Easyweather also locks up so I don't think it's anything to do with Cumulus

I stand corrected. Sorry for not paying attention.

[philcdav]

Hi guys.

I have been running a FOSH unit and Cumulus for over 3 years now and regularly get 'lost connection' reports so decided to have a review of operations.

The set-up is an old, dedicated Toshiba laptop running 24/7, ethernet connected to a cable router, also running 24/7.

I get lock ups when i run the main desktop PC also connected to the router. The PC triggers a USB connection to a ham radio station whether its on or not. This usually stops the Laptop USB and consequently stops Cumulus reading the FOSH console. This is repeatable and i live with it.

I also get 'lost contact' at random, usually once a week. This is a pain but often corrects itself and no data is lost BUT sometimes it flatlines and must be corrected by a laptop reboot. This can be done remotely over the network . I usually run Easyweather and dump the last months data for 'touching up' Cumulus.

I never seem to get issues when running the radio station, even with up to 100 W to a dipole mounted within 5 m of the sender on HF and verticals on VHF/UHF

Weather doesnt seem to be an issue, likewise non home RF interference. Down times appear random over 24 hours often happening in the small hours.

I use good quality alkaline batteries which seem to last 18 + months. I am currently awaiting the second set to drain after ops since May 2008 !

So, Gremlins, bad hardware, whu. Who knows. Any input appreciated.

[Spider-Vice]

One thing I get almost everyday is one or two messages about the sensor contact lost on Cumulus but the station doesn't actually lose signal