Cumulus disconnecting with Davis VP2 via VirtualVP setup

[swainstm]

I am having some issues with Cumulus staying connected with Davis VP2 Pro via WeatherlinkIP data logger via VirtualVP which I am hoping someone can help with.

My setup is as follows :-
Cumulus 1.9.4 build 1087
WeatherDisplay (WD) 10.37R Build 79
Virtual VP 1.2.5
Win 8.1 64bit
Davis Vantage VP2 Pro firmware 3.15.
WeatherLinkIP Data Logger - firmware 1.0.9

I am doing everything with TCP/IP to avoid any issue with serial ports and signed drivers with Win8.1 64 bit. ie I have setup 4 "Virtual Console TCP/IP" connection in VirtualVP. I have configured both WD and Cumulus to connect to the Virtual Console sessions (127.0.0.1:5511 and 127.0.0.1:5512 respectively). With this configuration all seem to connect, download historical data and seem initially to be collecting data and working correctly. However, after some period of time (typically about 5 to 30 minutes), Cumulus seems to disconnect with the following symptoms :-
1. Cumulus shows an error and does not download any data.
2. VirtualVP shows that session has not heard any data for some time.
3. If I restart Cumulus, I get error on connection.
4. To fix I have to restart VirtualVP or Disconnect and Reconnect in VirtualVP.

Errors I get in Cumulus look like the following :-
26/01/2014 8:52:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:53:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:54:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:55:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:56:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:57:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:58:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 8:59:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections
26/01/2014 9:00:00 PM : Data input appears to have stopped - check your station and connections

In the Diag log I have the following :-
26/01/2014 20:52:38.033 : VP2: LoadCurrentVantageData_V, error = -32701
26/01/2014 20:52:38.033 : VP2: Closing connection, result = 1
26/01/2014 20:52:39.034 : VP2: OpenTCPIPPort_V, res = 0
26/01/2014 20:52:46.416 : VP2: LoadCurrentVantageData_V, error = -32701
26/01/2014 20:52:46.416 : VP2: Closing connection, result = 1
26/01/2014 20:52:47.417 : VP2: OpenTCPIPPort_V, res = 0
26/01/2014 20:52:54.806 : VP2: LoadCurrentVantageData_V, error = -32701
26/01/2014 20:52:54.806 : VP2: Closing connection, result = 1
26/01/2014 20:52:55.807 : VP2: OpenTCPIPPort_V, res = 0
26/01/2014 20:53:00.721 : *** Data input appears to have stopped

I have also attached the diags log to this post for full details.

But it should be pointed out that the WeatherDisplay always seems to work. I swapped the ports used by WD and Cumulus, in case it is a problem with the particular port in VirtualVP, but the fault follows the port the Cumulus connects (ie both 127.0.0.1:5511 and 127.0.0.1:5512 fail with Cumulus, and work with WD). I have also tried moving the VirtualVP port to 192.168.10.80 (my real interface IP), but again same symptoms (ie it initially works, then it all goes to sleep).

So problem appears to be issue with VirtualVP, but triggered by Cumulus.

I am not using WeatherLink for Windows software, but the WeatherLinkIP is uploading direct to Weathlink.com. I have also added "VP2SleepInterval=1100" to cumulus.ini.

I have been close a number of different ways to get WeatherlinkIP/WD/Cumulus all working together, all without success (eg if I connect these programs directly to the WeatherlinkIP dongle...they actually seem to work pretty well, with the exception that the 2nd program does not seem to reliably be able to reload the historic data). But the VirtualVP looks the most promising option, if I can get Cumulus working reliably. So if anyone has any suggestions to address this problem, it would be greatly appreciated.

[steve]

Some people do seem to be able to use VirtualVP successfully with Cumulus, but there are issues with VirtualVP when used with the Davis DLL which Cumulus uses; these problems were acknowledged by the author but he was unable to do anything about them. I stopped using VirtualVP myself because of the problems, so I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions.

[duke]

Is it just Cumulus and WD you have connected to VVP or are you using WL too?

[swainstm]

At this stage no WL. I thought I would walk before I run, given all the issues with WL I have heard about.

[duke]

It appears that you have the same set up as me. I have tried WL in the past to communicate with VVP but I always got the symptoms you describe. Cumulus would always crash after about 30 minutes. Since I stopped using WL all has been great, several years now.

I actually have WD running although I do not use it for anything (and absolutely hate the GUI), I must say it co-habits with Cumulus using the set up you describe and has done for about 18 months.

Out of curiosity, have you 'un-ticked' - 'faster looping' and ticked to protect the console in VVP?

[duke]

I did notice one difference upon re-reading your initial thread. You state that you have 'firmware 3.15', I assume you mean 3.12 as I cannot find 3.15. Any way, with all the problems that initially surrounded the V3 firmwares I never upgraded - but, I have now. I'll let you know how it goes.

[swainstm]

No 3.15 is NOT a typo. I have double and tripple checked this, as I too thought it a little strange this version FW was it is not on the Davis sight. But the explanation might be I have only just brought this console and the Mfg code is AM131230.. so does that mean it was actually manufactured 30 Dec??

On your suggestion, I have now tried 'fast looping' checked and un-checked and seem to have the same issue.

I have multiple version of WD running on both the same machine as VVP and on different PC over the network, and these seem to work fine and don't stop.

I would be interested to see what else is different between you and me besides what appears to be minor FW version change. So I have attached my VVP and Cumulus configs. Would appreciate if you can see anything else that stands out.

[duke]

The only other differences I can see and I do not believe they make a difference, my 'discon period' in Cumulus is '0' and I have 'protect console' ticked. I also upgraded to 3.12 yesterday and have not had any problems.
I have also run (but not anymore) multiple WD, Cumulus and VVP across the network and it was also trouble free.

As for:

No 3.15 is NOT a typo. I have double and tripple checked this, as I too thought it a little strange this version FW was it is not on the Davis sight. But the explanation might be I have only just brought this console and the Mfg code is AM131230.. so does that mean it was actually manufactured 30 Dec??

Hopefully John (Prodata) may be along and shed more light on this?

[duke]

@swainstm

Are you still experiencing this problem?

[swainstm]

Yes. Still have the problem and can't find a way around it.

The only way I could get around this was to have have everything connect to WeatherlinkIP directly. Which although this has devices fighting with each other, and WeatherlinkIP continually disconnecting applications, it does seem to mostly work with the exception of when things restart, sometime, they just cant connect, and thus wanting to get VirtualVP going.

[duke]

I have two further questions for elimination:

1/ what happens if you shut WD down and just have Cumulus communicate to the console through VVP?

2/ before you upgraded to Windows 8.1, did you ever have this working in the Windows 8 environment?

[steve]

Have you tried turning on the logging in VVP? When I first discovered the issues between Cumulus and VVP, I turned on the logging so that I could see what was going on at the VVP end. It might help you work out a solution, but it may just be the same problems that I was seeing.