Vantage Vue Lost Connection to Station

[ngerber999]

I just wanted to give an update on my situation. All seems to be working good now with no disconnects in about two days.

I went into my motherboard's BIOS where I found that it had some sort of USB boost feature that was set to automatic mode so I set it to just be permanently on rather than automatically detected. My fingers are crossed that this was the culprit.

[BCJKiwi]

There is a power save option that is on by default in windows for USB and network and goodness knows what else!

You need to turn this off;
Control panel/system properties/device manager/right click USB root Hub/Power management;
UN-tick the option 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'

I do this for all USB Hubs on all PCs I set up.
Do the same for network cards.

The problem is that sometimes these get turned of to save power and will not turn on again fast enough and sometimes not at all!

[CloudyPeak]

My first post here so here goes!
I'm doing battle with the random disconnect problems between my computer and the Vantage Vue console.
I have just built a new rig and the disconnection problems have only started with the new computer. It has USB3 ports and the old computer did not. The USB seems to be backward compatible to USB2 and 1.1. I have done the following to resolve the issue and time will tell if its a certain fix.
1/ I'm using the USB datalogger so I converted the USB port from USB to Serial using the Davis supplied converter. This installed Silicon Lab CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP Driver into a Com 3 port. The version was 5.4.x.x. This is a very old driver so I visited http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/page ... ivers.aspx and downloaded the Windows 8 version which is Windows XP/Server 2003/Vista/7/8 (v6.6.1) version.
2/ I moved my console and AC power cable further away from the computer case.
3/ I removed the Davis USB extension cable and replaced it with a heavy duty cable with a double loop ferrite band on it. (the cable passes thru the ferrite core twice). The Davis one has none at all. All my USB cable I own for several different device all have a ferrite core built over them ....except Davis!.
4/ I removed the datalogger from the console. It is very poorly located due to the right angle of the plug which lets any movement of the cord twist onto the connector levering it out. I applied double sided tape about 1mm thick and refitted the connector into the console. This holds it beautifully.
5/ Im now using Cumulus 1.9.3 and I absolutely love it. Its streets ahead of weatherlink which I now use to set the console up when needed then switch back to Cumulus.
6/ Note I also turned off all power functions in all USB hubs and also the new Silicon Lab Serial Port driver. It has power features too. The 5.4.x.x version did not.

I have scoured the net for answers and one thing I noticed is that most say they will report back to the forum if it works NEVER do so we never get the reassurance of knowing if their suggestions worked or not. I assumed when a forum ended that it had worked so these fixes I list here were collected by these dead ended postings

Good Luck and thanks Steve for a great product

[ngerber999]

CloudyPeak, In my case there were multiple issues that I had to resolve.

• Motherboard had a USB boost feature that would automatically turn on and off disrupting the serial connection.
• My Windows Power Options allowed the USB to selectively suspect. I disabled this.
• In the USB to UART driver settings (through Device Manager) I disabled the option to allow Windows to turn off the device.
• My COM 3 was already in use, so I had to tweak it to COM6 and then match the baud to what the console is set to, in my case 19200.

Early on in my struggles I switched to the beta of Cumulus 1.9.4 hoping it was a magic fix, it wasn't but it could have been part of my solution. That said, my Cumulus Settings are below:

Cumulus Station Settings:
Station Type: Vantage Pro2/Vue
Settings (only the enabled ones): Synchronise sation clock, Use data logger
VP Type: Serial
Serial Port: 6 (match your settings obviously)

CP210x USB to UART Port Settings:
Bits per second: 19200 (match to your console)
Data bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Flow control: None
Advanced: COM Port Number: COM6 (adjust as appropriate)
Power Management: Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

It may be worth looking at the Events tab in the UART driver to see if anything stands out.

I hope this helps you out with your woes!

EDIT: I Forgot to mention that I also updated my Vue Console firmware to 3.00

[CloudyPeak]

Thanks for all the suggestions. This is an update on my situation.

I have upgraded to Windows 8.1 and after a couple of days upgrading Chipset drivers my Vantage Vue communications have not missed a beat and are very stable.
I have full USB power settings back on for all USB hubs. USB/Serial driver has its power suspend switched off.
My thoughts are the replacement of the Davis serial cord with a high quality double loop ferrite band USB cord has contributed the most to stable communications.
Cumulus is completely set up and I'm now enjoying it as intended. For me I'm happy to say this issue is solved.

ngerber999 .... thanks for the info. I checked firmware as u said and found mine was version 3.0

Check my listing above for exactly worked for me and I hope it may help someone else.