La Crosse 2350 - Cumulus problems communicating with console

[steve]

I wish Cumulus would carry over the last temperature (20.5, which does show in the "now" weather) instead of putting those values in as max and min though.(bug in Cumulus?)

It's because of the 'automatic' way that Cumulus works out the max and min. At start of day, it sets the min to a very high value, and the max to a very low value, so that when the first 'real' reading is obtained, the max and min are automatically set to that without doing any special checking for start of day. If I didn't do it that way, I would have a set a flag and check it each time. Unfortunately, it means that until you do get a real reading, the 'silly' values appear as the max and min.

Cumulus 2 shouldn't have the same problem (eventually).

[steve]

Well, well, it seems I'm not the only one with this problem.

The problem Gordon is describing is a completely different problem, as he points out. His problem is where the remote sensors stop communicating with the console, so whether he uses a USB adapter or not is irrelevent.

[Eugen-Oradea]

Steve, thanks for all the explanations, I'm glad it works just the way it does, at least for the moment. Is there a way to detect somehow with a warning of somekind when the Cumulus freezes to a certain value retrieved at some point or the only way is to check it constantly?!
Thanks, Eugen

[steve]

Is there a way to detect somehow with a warning of somekind when the Cumulus freezes to a certain value retrieved at some point

I would have to change the way Cumulus works, and it's a big change (or I would have done it a long time ago). I'm not doing any major changes to version 1 now, but I will try to make sure that Cumulus 2 doesn't have the same problem (of repeatedly logging the same data when contact is lost). The underlying problem, whatever it is, will probably still exist, though.

[Eugen-Oradea]

I saved the bug report that sometimes appear.
The cause of this failure was a temporary interruption between the serial port and USB adapter.
Eugen

[kv4an]

I experienced the same problem and resolved it by going into the Windows COM port setup and setting it to 4800 baud. Now it seems to work all the time whereas before it would work sometimes and sometimes not.

The sole reason I use cumulus is for it to populate the WXNOW.TXT file so that AGWTracker APRS program can get my weather data from my La Crosse WS-2308. I can then transmit my weather data using APRS on 30 meter HF.

Best Regards
Steve
KV4AN

[Eugen-Oradea]

I use now a Prolific USB to serial comm port adapter, PL2303, and it seems to be quite stable, no more bogus data or interruption of any kind. Do you suggest to change the parameters from 9600 bits per second to 4800 bits per second in the port settings ? Is it going to work better this way ?!
Anyway, thanks for your concern and your advice.
All the best and happy weather watching !
Eugen-Oradea-Romania.

[steve]

Cumulus thinks it's using 2400, but maybe something overrides that?

[GraemeT]

I had no end of trouble with corrupt data when using the USB-serial converter supplied with my WS-2355. Problems disappeared when I threw the USB converter in the drawer and connected using COM1 and a proper serial cable. Another consideration might be the wireless to the remote unit. I had an occasional loss of signal when the console sat on the desktop next to my pc and cordless phone. That stopped when I banged a nail in the wall and hung the console from it, about 60cm above the pc. It seems the pc may have been either causing interference or in some way shielding the wireless signal. Whatever the reason, no more errors at all for nearly 3 weeks now.
I've just had a look at your log file, Eugen, and the sections where data is unchanged for a period of time look just the same as i experienced with the USB adapter.

Cheers, from Graeme.

[Eugen-Oradea]

Since I've changed the original USB adapter and replaced it with a new one, that Prolific PL 2303, it seems that the problems have gone for good, at least so it seems, no more interruptions, freezes or corrupted data of any kind. I hope it will be this way for as long as it can be.
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... IBIHOROR10
Greetings and happy weather watching !
Eugen-Oradea