Raspberry Pi, and an Instromet logger - USB/ serial adaptor

[steve]

I can see some oddities in the reading of the live data - it's effectively the same issue as the log count problem, caused by the difference between Windows and Unix newlines (the logger uses Windows newlines, so I need to take special action to handle that on Linux systems). The result is that only alternate reads actually produce new data. It does look like MX is processing those alternate reads correctly, so a longer run should generate log entries, web uploads, etc.

[Hobbyist]

Steve I think you are getting there.

I allowed the system to run for a while and sure enough after a delay ( normal for Logger) the web pages started to upload and at present look OK, apart from the gauges page which seems to have lost the actual images but that may well be something I have messed up so will sort that out.

I attach the latest MXdiags file.

Thank you

Dave

[steve]

I allowed the system to run for a while and sure enough after a delay ( normal for Logger) the web pages started to upload

It only took 7 seconds from start up to reading live data (it's not actually downloading archive at the moment because of the 'checksum' issue), so it should have started uploading web pages after that at whatever interval you've configured, with no other delay.

apart from the gauges page which seems to have lost the actual images but that may well be something I have messed up so will sort that out.

You may not have uploaded the files which the Steelseries gauges used by MX require - i.e. the contents of the webfiles folder, which are not the same as those required by Cumulus 1.

I'm going to change the way it reads the data from the station in the next build, which in theory will fix the existing problems. Unfortunately, as I am unable to test the changes, it may introduce a new set of problems, and we may end up going backwards temporarily. Sorry about this, but many thanks for the great job you're doing...

[Hobbyist]

Thanks Steve but I think it is you who are doing the great job. There are far fewer Instromet Stations around than others and I really appreciate that you spend as much time trying to sort it out as you do.

Glad to help out.

Dave

[Hobbyist]

Steve I have downloaded and run the latest version of MX -3036.

I was unable to get any browser gauges this time and the web page updates were still not appearing.

I have attached the full MXdiags files for your information.

Cheers

Dave

[steve]

It's trying to work it's way through the thousands of old logs in the logger (now that it is interpreting the response to the 'log count' command correctly), but when it issues the command to move on to the next log, even though the logger is acknowledging the command, it apparently isn't moving on to the next log. So it keeps sending MX the same log. The "PRLG,1" command is the one that should move on to the next log, and the lower case "prlg,1,193" is the logger acknowledging that. But the next log read gets the same one again.

I can see a bug in my code, however, relating to the interpretation of the date, it's only using 2 digits for the year instead of 4, and I will have to fix that in the next build. But that doesn't affect the problem with the logger not moving on to the next entry when requested.

2015-12-15 09:14:48.139 Get next log
2015-12-15 09:14:49.139 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:49.140 Response from station:
2015-12-15 09:14:49.140
2015-12-15 09:14:49.141 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:49.141 Response from station: >RDLG,1
2015-12-15 09:14:49.141 3E-52-44-4C-47-2C-31
2015-12-15 09:14:49.141 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:49.144 Response from station: rdlg,11855,1,10,05:55:32,23/11/2015,-0.8,-0.7,-0.8,,,,91.1,91.4,91.3,1021.2,1021.2,1021.2,0.0,0.0,0.0,317,23.89,58.23,174
2015-12-15 09:14:49.144 72-64-6C-67-2C-31-31-38-35-35-2C-31-2C-31-30-2C-30-35-3A-35-35-3A-33-32-2C-32-33-2F-31-31-2F-32-30-31-35-2C-2D-30-2E-38-2C-2D-30-2E-37-2C-2D-30-2E-38-2C-2C-2C-2C-39-31-2E-31-2C-39-31-2E-34-2C-39-31-2E-33-2C-31-30-32-31-2E-32-2C-31-30-32-31-2E-32-2C-31-30-32-31-2E-32-2C-30-2E-30-2C-30-2E-30-2C-30-2E-30-2C-33-31-37-2C-32-33-2E-38-39-2C-35-38-2E-32-33-2C-31-37-34
2015-12-15 09:14:49.145 rdlg,11855,1,10,05:55:32,23/11/2015,-0.8,-0.7,-0.8,,,,91.1,91.4,91.3,1021.2,1021.2,1021.2,0.0,0.0,0.0,317,23.89,58.23,174
2015-12-15 09:14:49.147 Logger entry zero: Y = 20, M = 11, D = 23, H = 5, M = 55, S = 32
2015-12-15 09:14:49.147 New earliest timestamp 23/11/0020 05:55:32
2015-12-15 09:14:50.154 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:50.155 Response from station:
2015-12-15 09:14:50.155
2015-12-15 09:14:50.155 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:50.155 Response from station:
2015-12-15 09:14:50.156
2015-12-15 09:14:50.156 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:50.156 Response from station: >PRLG,1
2015-12-15 09:14:50.157 3E-50-52-4C-47-2C-31
2015-12-15 09:14:50.157 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:50.157 Response from station: prlg,1,193
2015-12-15 09:14:50.157 70-72-6C-67-2C-31-2C-31-39-33
2015-12-15 09:14:50.158 Get next log
2015-12-15 09:14:51.158 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:51.159 Response from station:
2015-12-15 09:14:51.159
2015-12-15 09:14:51.159 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:51.159 Response from station: >RDLG,1
2015-12-15 09:14:51.159 3E-52-44-4C-47-2C-31
2015-12-15 09:14:51.160 Reading response from station
2015-12-15 09:14:51.161 Response from station: rdlg,11855,1,10,05:55:32,23/11/2015,-0.8,-0.7,-0.8,,,,91.1,91.4,91.3,1021.2,1021.2,1021.2,0.0,0.0,0.0,317,23.89,58.23,174
2015-12-15 09:14:51.161 72-64-6C-67-2C-31-31-38-35-35-2C-31-2C-31-30-2C-30-35-3A-35-35-3A-33-32-2C-32-33-2F-31-31-2F-32-30-31-35-2C-2D-30-2E-38-2C-2D-30-2E-37-2C-2D-30-2E-38-2C-2C-2C-2C-39-31-2E-31-2C-39-31-2E-34-2C-39-31-2E-33-2C-31-30-32-31-2E-32-2C-31-30-32-31-2E-32-2C-31-30-32-31-2E-32-2C-30-2E-30-2C-30-2E-30-2C-30-2E-30-2C-33-31-37-2C-32-33-2E-38-39-2C-35-38-2E-32-33-2C-31-37-34
2015-12-15 09:14:51.161 rdlg,11855,1,10,05:55:32,23/11/2015,-0.8,-0.7,-0.8,,,,91.1,91.4,91.3,1021.2,1021.2,1021.2,0.0,0.0,0.0,317,23.89,58.23,174
2015-12-15 09:14:51.162 Logger entry zero: Y = 20, M = 11, D = 23, H = 5, M = 55, S = 32
2015-12-15 09:14:51.163 New earliest timestamp 23/11/0020 05:55:32

[Hobbyist]

Hi Steve from your explanation I can now see what it is doing or not doing as the case maybe.

I can set (or reset) the read and write pointers on the logger to 'force' it to start from a lower number of logs but I presume from what your saying the logger is not moving on at the moment so whether it has 1 or 1,000 records it will still stay 'still'.

I am sure that you will let me know if there is anything I can try this end to expedite a solution.

Thanks again

Dave

[steve]

I've seen this problem before, and Instromet are aware of it, but I don't know what the current status is.

I don't know whether resetting the pointers will help, it may do. It's probably not worth doing until I make the next build available, as it won't handle the logger data correctly at the moment anyway, due to the timestamp bug.

[Hobbyist]

Hi Steve and thanks for the latest MX version 3037.

I have done a test run with my Pi & Instromet logger but unfortunately there still seems to be a problem.

Unfortunately I forgot to enable full error logging so the MXdiag file is the bare bones but it does show the error, I think.

If you look at date/time line 2016-02-25 10:46:45.803 you will see "Processing logger data entry 0 for 23/11/0020 05:55:32"

For some weird reason the year has shifted to 0020.

The DIAGS file shows that the data entries are slowly incrementing but this erroneous date stays put.

I have returned my system to Cumulus 1 to upload my lost website data. If you need the full MXdiags I will have another trial run tomorrow.

Thanks again

Dave

[steve]

Thanks - it's got past the part that I fixed this time, but I have the same bug later in the code! Fixed in the next build...

[Hobbyist]

Thanks Steve for the latest update on MX.

I have tried a couple of times to get the Instromet to run with this latest version but it seems to still hang up.

I am attaching the MXdiags file.

Dave

[steve]

It's not getting any further than trying to set the logger interval on the station, which is a bit odd as it got past this point previously - it's one of the first things that it does. I can't tell what's going on exactly because you haven't turned debug logging and data logging on, but I do know that there is a bug with the setting of the logger interval (see the FAQ/known issues post). MX is setting it to seconds rather than minutes. That shouldn't cause the logger to not respond (it never has before), but it appears that's what it's doing in this case - I have no idea why. I recently learned that apparently setting the logger interval causes the logger to reset, although this isn't mentioned in the spec, if it's indeed true.

[Hobbyist]

Apologies Steve I thought logging had been enabled as I had ticked both boxes in the setting screen.

Anyway have added them by hand to the Cumulus.ini file and the new MXdiags file is attached.

Thanks

Dave

[steve]

It's only getting responses from the logger intermittently. What have you got ImetWaitTime set to in Cumulus.ini?

[Hobbyist]

I have to be honest Steve as I have never modded the ImetWaitTime from its default setting which I think was 200ms.

Since you are suggesting this may help I have put an ImetWaitTime=500 line in the Cumulus.ini file and tried a run which has the attached MXdiags file.

Dave