High Gust Alarm

[krmidas]

I have a question about the webtag <#HighWindGustAlarm>. Say I set it for 40 mph. If I get a gust of 42 mph, the alarm will be triggered and will return a value of "1". What resets the alarm? In other words, if I don't get a gust that high again, how long does it take to reset the alarm to the "0" state?

-Tom

[steve]

Like all the other alarm web tags, it is '1' during the 'active' state of the high gust alarm, i.e. the state where the condition is currently being met and the associated label on the main screen is red (by default). It doesn't include the 'past' state of the alarm (where the label is blue by default). This does mean that for Davis stations in particular the web tag may not be '1' for very long, as the next wind reading may be lower, the alarm state would go to 'past', and the web tag would go to '0'.

[krmidas]

Interesting. So practically speaking, it's not super-useful as a webtag, since the high gust would need to be occurring at the precise moment the web files are being written?

Would it ever be possible to add a feature in the web alarms where the alarm would stay in the positive stage for x minutes (user configurable)? I have an icon that would appear on my website only appear if I experience a sufficiently high gust.

-Tom

[mcrossley]

Tom, it wmay be better to put some code on the page and monitor either the 10 minute gust, or today's maximum gust values (depending on what you want to achieve) and set a flag according to those values? The code could also 'time out' or ignore the flag for 'today's max gust' after a period has elapsed since the value was set (using time of 'today's max gust'). If you use 10 minute max gust value then that will automatically time out of course

[steve]

Interesting. So practically speaking, it's not super-useful as a webtag, since the high gust would need to be occurring at the precise moment the web files are being written?

Indeed.

The alarm system is very old and in need of a revamp. It needs to allow more complex 'rules' and allow emails etc. It wasn't designed to be useful for a web page.

The web tags came much later. I was asked to add a web tag to show whether an alarm was currently active, so I did. I added one for each alarm for completeness.

It would probably make more sense for the gust alarm to use the 10-minute peak gust value rather than the 'latest' figure; the former probably didn't exist at the time I added the alarm code. As a quick minor improvement I could change it to do that.

[krmidas]

I think that would be an excellent revision. Thanks for the reply!

[RayProudfoot]

Because my netbook is in the lounge I have an alarm set in Cumulus to play a sound when a wind gust exceeds 30mph. It's really useful.

[MickinMoulden]

Because my netbook is in the lounge I have an alarm set in Cumulus to play a sound when a wind gust exceeds 30mph. It's really useful.

I'm the same, when the alarms are triggered my computer talks to me to let me know what is happening. I also use the High Gust Alarm to adjust pictures on my website for current conditions. I wouldn't want it to show high gusts if it wasn't, so I'm happy with the way it is. If I want to see the high gusts for today (or longer than 10 seconds ago) I've just made it available on the "now" page, and if you hover over it it tells you what time it was set. I've also made a picture/gauge that displays how windy the DAY is using months of data to work out a formula that also uses the wind run. So then it will tell me if today is CALM, AVERAGE, WINDY etc even if the wind has been dead calm for the web update. So I get pics for GUSTS for NOW, WIND for now which is a 10 min average anyway, and the TODAY'S WIND which is an average for 24 hrs.
Like mcrossly said, put code in. I'm thinking of Javascript just quickly, then you can have it display what ever pic you want (or icon or flashing light), perhaps using the today's highest gust record, and if the Today's High goes over your set target it will initiate the picture. This would stay on all day unless you put code in to turn it off after a set time (10min, 1hr, 6hrs whatever). If you go this path though, it won't turn on again (if set to turn off) unless the record was beaten again that day. I've used similar coding to display the date and time of the latest record and an LED GIF if a record has been broken (although the LED turns off and on by alarm status only in my case). Lot's of options, but if you wait looks like Steve might implement just what you want and you won't have to do anything. Aren't we lucky to have Steve? He's such a good bloke. TTFN.

[steve]

I wouldn't want it to show high gusts if it wasn't, so I'm happy with the way it is.

Just to be clear, the change I am proposing (which in fact I have already done) doesn't change anything to do with the way the alarm is triggered. It will still trigger for a wind reading above the figure you specify, at the same time that it would have triggered previously; it just means that it would be active for at least 10 minutes, rather than potentially becoming automatically deactivated on the next wind reading (2.5 seconds later for Davis stations).

[RayProudfoot]

Steve,

Does that change affect the internal alarms in Cumulus? I wouldn't want the wav file playing for a minimum of 10 minutes unless you provided some way for it to be turned off.

[sfws]

I wouldn't want the wav file playing for a minimum of 10 minutes

Surely the alarm will only sound once as the condition changes?
I know I have heard Cumulus produce an alarm when certain conditions are met and the alarm indicator on the main screen changes colour, but it is always a short once only note for me, even if it a while until the alarm is cancelled.

[steve]

Surely the alarm will only sound once as the condition changes?

Yes, it plays the .wav file once, just the same as for any of the alarms.

[krmidas]

Just to be clear, the change I am proposing (which in fact I have already done) doesn't change anything to do with the way the alarm is triggered. It will still trigger for a wind reading above the figure you specify, at the same time that it would have triggered previously; it just means that it would be active for at least 10 minutes, rather than potentially becoming automatically deactivated on the next wind reading (2.5 seconds later for Davis stations).

[RayProudfoot]

Surely the alarm will only sound once as the condition changes?

Yes, it plays the .wav file once, just the same as for any of the alarms.

Thanks chaps. That's a relief!