Cumulus Support

Hi,
I am using a Davis Vantage Vue and have recently upgraded to ver 1.9.4 (build 1095) of Cumulus. Since then I have noticed that Cumulus reads one rain tip as 0.3mm and not 0.2mm.
Is there somewhere I can check in the configuration for an error? So in short when we have a day of rain Cumulus records to much rain for the day.

Thanks,
H

The Davis DLL which Cumulus uses converts rain tips into actual amounts, based on the rain collector type that it reads from the console. Cumulus asks the DLL what type of rain collector it has detected, when it starts up, and it logs this to the diags file. If you look near the beginning of the diags files you should be able to see what it said. It sounds like it has detected a 0.01 inch collector, as that is 0.254 mm, so with rounding one tip would show as 0.3 mm, two tips as 0.5 mm and so on.

Do you have a metric rain collector, and does your Vue console have the correct setting for that type of rain collector?

The Vantage Vue is a UK version 6250UK which has the 0.2mm rain collector. Just re-checked the vue settings and I can confirm that it's set to 0.2mm

Having just checked the one of the files in the diags folder this is what I found (see below)


GetAndSetRainCollectorModelOnStation_V, res=-1
*** Unknown rain collector type

I suspect that the DLL defaults to a 0.01 inch collector if it can't read the type from the console. What firmware version does your console have, and are you using Virtual VP?

Firmware is rev 3.00 (EU) and yes I do use Virtual VP.

Thanks,
H

Virtual VP is almost certainly the problem, it has never worked properly with the Davis DLL which Cumulus uses, and I understand that it now also has problems working with recent versions of the Davis firmware (which is why it is now free and unsupported). The symptoms are exactly what you are seeing, where calls from software to Virtual VP to read values from the console don't return the required values.

The Davis DLL has a function to override the rain collector type that it uses; I've just added code to Cumulus to use it via an optional setting in cumulus.ini. I've given it a quick test, and it seems to work OK, so hopefully it will do for you too, and should at least get you around this issue. I'll upload the new version shortly.

I've uploaded build 1096 of v1.9.4, with the new option. See the 1.9.4 announcement thread for details.

Thanks Steve,
I have dowloaded the new version and installed it, also made the change to the Cumulus.ini file. Will now just have to wit for some rain to see if it works (which I'm sure it will)

Awsome support.

Have a look in the current diags file, it should have logged that it was using the override, and has read back the value from the DLL to confirm that the setting has 'taken'.

The total rain counter will likely have changed (assuming it worked) so if it rains today you might have an adjustment to make.

First rain of the day and pleased to report it's working as expected.

Many Thanks,
H