Vantage Vue Lost Connection to Station

ngerber999 · Post by **ngerber999** » Mon 01 Jul 2013 10:34 pm

Let me start by saying that I love Cumulus and have been using it flawlessly for several years now with an older Fine Offset station. The station was on its last legs (all sorts of erroneous data) so I bought a Vantage Vue as a replacement. Once I got it and figured out that I needed to buy a data logger to connect it to the PC I got it figured out after a long search for the necessary drivers. I am now having an issue in which it seems to randomly get disconnected from the station. This time could be seconds or it could be a bit over a day, but it definitely loses its connection somehow. The worst part is that 50% of the time when I try to exit Cumulus to restart it, the program won't close out and I can't even kill it through CTRL+SHIFT+ESC. The only way that I can kill Cumulus is to reboot my PC.

Cumulus Version: 1.9.4 (1080)
Console Firmware: 3.00
Data Rate reported by the Console: 19200
USB Data Logger - running with the USB to Serial program to put it on COM3.

Any help or suggestions on getting this working reliably would be MUCH appreciated.

Post by **steve** » Tue 02 Jul 2013 6:55 am

It sounds like it may be a problem with the drivers - which ones are you using?

If you zip up the diags folder and attach it, I'll see if there are any clues in there.

ngerber999 · Post by **ngerber999** » Tue 02 Jul 2013 10:01 pm

The USB to serial adapter is Silicon Labs CP201X 6.6.1.0

There is a CP210xManufacturing.dll in the Cumulus directory with version number 3.4.00 dated 2008-07-11

Is there another device that I need to get the version number for?

I've attached the Diags zip as requested.

Post by **steve** » Wed 03 Jul 2013 7:32 am

The Davis DLL is returning the "-32701" error that says it can't communicate with the station. You seem to be using the latest drivers, so I can't think of anything else to suggest. Perhaps someone else who has a Vue and a USB logger will be able to offer advice.

Paragon · Post by **Paragon** » Wed 03 Jul 2013 8:57 pm

Mine has done this from time to time. I assume you are using it wirelessly? Try moving the console so the signal goes through fewer obstacles. Mine works best on one side of the desk rather than the other, where there is a longitudinal wall and cubpoards in the line of sight to the transmitter. You might also find interference from other electronic items, some of which you might not expect to be emitting RF energy (some light bulbs, for example).

Hope this helps.

Touchtone · Post by **Touchtone** » Wed 03 Jul 2013 10:42 pm

I don't have the Vue but I have seen a few reports that mention the logger not staying plugged into the station & the remedy is to put a piece of foam rubber or similar between the cover & the logger plug to keep it in.
Are you using the Davis data logger?. If so you can set the correct COM port from the setup walk through. It will do an auto find for the correct one.

ngerber999 · Post by **ngerber999** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 3:04 am

Thanks for the replies, I'll give a few of these a shot. I don't have any rubber available to ensure that the logger stays well seated, but I'll grab some soon. The console was sitting alongside my entertainment center with a router, cable mode, PC, DVR, etc in it. I've moved it to the wall a few feet away, so hopefully that will help. It is also a bit more direct for the signal as its closer to a window. The console itself seems to reliably get data, but perhaps it isn't frequent enough for the data logger to avoid momentary malfunctions? I know my wifi can struggle at times even a room over due to the brick interior of the house.

I am indeed using the Davis Data Logger, is there an alternative out there that I might want to look at? I have verified that I am using the same Serial Port as the USB to Serial adapter is configured for.

I'm not sure if this is a symptom but the last few times I have heard the sound in Windows typically associated with a disconnected device when the station suddenly fails.

Anyways so far so good, its been ten minutes without it dropping and I've been pretty much instantaneous loss the last day or so. Hopefully it'll still be working when I wake up tomorrow!

Post by **steve** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 6:30 am

ngerber999 wrote:I'm not sure if this is a symptom but the last few times I have heard the sound in Windows typically associated with a disconnected device when the station suddenly fails.

Yes, that's almost certainly related, it's most likely Windows losing contact with the USB logger.

Touchtone · Post by **Touchtone** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 6:37 am

As I said before I don't have the Vue, but in the VP2 console manual there is a section near the back describing signal strength etc. & how to check it, so if the Vue manual has a similar section it would be worth reading, if you are concerned with the console losing contact with the ISS.

Post by **steve** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 6:43 am

Just to clarify my earlier post: The -32701 error is a loss of communication between PC and console. It's not related to the communication between the ISS and the console.

ngerber999 · Post by **ngerber999** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 1:56 pm

So far so good!

Yeah I suspected it had to be the connection between the console and the PC when I heard the USB disconnect sound. The cable they shipped with the Data Logger has an unshielded connection on it, so it may have been possible that the RF from the cluster of electronics was causing problems with the driver itself. To clarify the unshieleded connection, the data logger itself has a very small USB mini cable on it and then has to plug into a longer cable. Where the two connect is nothing but exposed metal.

Jim Brown · Post by **Jim Brown** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 3:18 pm

When you set up the Vue did you pay attention to page 13 and 14 of the weatherlink manual and set the system to serial mode even though you have a USB logger. In order to run third party software the logger must be run in serial mode.

ngerber999 · Post by **ngerber999** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 7:59 pm

Yeah, I was sure to follow that. Right now it looks like too much interference either on the inbound signal making the data logger behave improperly and/or the RF interference getting on the USB line and wreaking havok, or something else that I can't explain. All I know is I'm nearing the 24 hour mark with no loss of connection since moving the console to the wall.

Touchtone · Post by **Touchtone** » Thu 04 Jul 2013 10:08 pm

ngerber999 wrote:So far so good!

Yeah I suspected it had to be the connection between the console and the PC when I heard the USB disconnect sound. The cable they shipped with the Data Logger has an unshielded connection on it, so it may have been possible that the RF from the cluster of electronics was causing problems with the driver itself. To clarify the unshieleded connection, the data logger itself has a very small USB mini cable on it and then has to plug into a longer cable. Where the two connect is nothing but exposed metal.

The exposed metal joiner is actually a shield & is the same as any USB cable connection that would normally be fitted to a camera or similar, so that metal section is connected to the shielded layer within the cable.

ngerber999 · Post by **ngerber999** » Fri 05 Jul 2013 2:38 pm

My bad then, anyways it stopped just shy of 24 hours of continuous operation. I restarted Cumulus and its up and running again. Hopefully as soon as I can get a rubber stopped to keep the logger seated everything will be fine.

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