Installation Tips

[andrew_sinclair]

Hello,

After some years of faithful service from my Weather Eye it finally gave up (as can be seen from my signature) and having saved some funds I have finally placed an order for a Davis VP2.

Installation tips, advice and 'gotcha' avoidance most welcome.

Regards

Andrew

[PaulMy]

and 'gotcha' avoidance most welcome

I presume you've also ordered the Weatherlink data logger so the avoidance is "don't run the station in USB mode even if it is a USB connection". Make sure you select serial in the settings.

Nice unit you've got coming!

Paul

[RayProudfoot]

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the Cumulus forum. That's the wireless version I assume and includes the datalogger? Check the firmware version when it arrives and take heed of Steve's message on the Cumulus Forum home page. Vantage Pro2 users with firmware 3.00 should upgrade to fw 3.12 and Cumulus 1.9.4

Install WeatherLink and use the Setup procedure to get your station up and running. Choose the Serial option even if you have the USB version. You will probably need to install the N8VBvCom driver first which you can get here. http://www.softwx.com/downloads.html

After that you can dispense with WeatherLink but leave it installed in case you need it again.

The beta versions of Cumulus are very stable and safe to install. It was over 4 years ago I installed my VP2 so I hope I haven't missed anything important. Do you have a website planned? If so the web pages that come with Cumulus will get you up and running very quickly after which you can tweak to your heart's content.

[andrew_sinclair]

Hello Ray and Paul,

Yes it is the wireless version and I have ordered a data logger after reading the advice on the website and the forum. I elected the USB version which I believe is stable now and I had read the serial versus USB debate. The area where I am not particularly familiar is the installation of the USB to Serial software, many thanks for the link.

As for the website, I'll take it one step at a time and hopefully will have Cheddar Weather up a running again soon. It has shamefully not been updated for nearly a year

If I get stuck I'll post a note and ask advice

Regards

Andrew

[steve]

The N8VBvCOm driver is only required if you are planning on using Virtual VP (with virtual COM ports rather than TCP/IP).

There's some information here about USB loggers: http://wiki.sandaysoft.com/a/FAQ#How_do ... Cumulus.3F

[RayProudfoot]

The N8VBvCOm driver is only required if you are planning on using Virtual VP (with virtual COM ports rather than TCP/IP).

Thanks for the clarification Steve. I also run WeatherLink and VPLive using VVP. If anyone wants to run more than one weather software package it's invaluable.

[Touchtone]

Just a note of caution.
I have heard that there are problems trying to use VVP with Davis VP2 consoles that have v3.12 software installed, which probably applies to all the latest ones. I certainly could not get it to work on mine.

[RayProudfoot]

Just a note of caution.
I have heard that there are problems trying to use VVP with Davis VP2 consoles that have v3.12 software installed, which probably applies to all the latest ones. I certainly could not get it to work on mine.

No such problems here for the last couple of months with a VP2 purchased in April 2009 and updated to 3.12 under XP. Are you running XP or Win7?

[Touchtone]

No such problems here for the last couple of months with a VP2 purchased in April 2009 and updated to 3.12 under XP. Are you running XP or Win7?

I am running Win 7 Home Premium. However I have seen quite a few posts on various sites mentioning problems with v3.12 & VVP, so I thought I would mention it in case there was a problem later & they would now be aware of it.

[andrew_sinclair]

Hello,

A short update and a question...

The Davis VP2 arrived. Minor blip when ordering, the 6163 wasn't available so I opted for a 6162 + 7747 Daytime-only fan kit. The only difference as I understand it is the lack of rechargeable batteries in the fan kit which means it only runs during the day when powered by the sun. Given that my concern was direct sunlight affecting temperature readings the 7747 seemed a good and £111.00 cheaper option.

The station was erected and commissioned last night and my website is up and running again, all the wrinkles with USB versus com port were fine. The only issue I have is that Cumulus seems to upload that the weather station is a Weathereye WEA22. This information is being picked up by the index.html file file from the Cumulus.ini file (I think). I have deleted the file and started Cumulus up again and the re-created config file picks up Weathereye WEA22 again.

Any ideas?

Andrew

[sfws]

The webtag <#stationtype> that is used on index page takes its information from what you input on (from version 1.9) 'Display' settings screen within Configuration menu - the field is at the bottom left of the screen.

[steve]

Cumulus has no knowledge of Weathereye stations, it calls them all Fine Offset, so you must have overridden the description. The normal way is via the 'station model' in the display settings, but that is stored in cumulus.ini, so if you deleted that then you must have 'hard wired' the description in your web page template.

[andrew_sinclair]

Hello sfws/Steve

Thanks for the tips, that has solved it. I thought that the cumulus.ini file picked up the station name from configuration\station settings and I had forgotten about configuration\display. I have entered Davis Vantage Pro 2 in the Station Model field and all is well now.

Thank you

Andrew

[sfws]

Thanks Andrew - the relevant field used to be on the station settings screen, and is still in the station part of cumulus.ini as a consequence.

[steve]

I am left puzzled how did Andrew's newly created cumulus.ini pick up what he previously had on the setting screen because he says he restarted Cumulus after deleting the file, and cumulus should populate the screen from the file when it restarts so where was his old entry kept?

Either he didn't delete cumulus.ini, or he didn't delete the one Cumulus is actually using, or he deleted it while Cumulus was running, so it just saved it again with the current settings when it closed, as usual.

Steve, your screen shots that date from V1.8.8 build 845 show 'station model' on 'station settings' screen and I noticed wiki for cumulus.ini model parameter said input text there.
I have edited wiki so correct for latest version saying 'display settings' screen, and edited my posting below to mention version, in case anybody is still using v1.8!

Thanks. Lots of the screen shots on the site are out of date, unfortunately.