EEPROM Cycle life

[emsiwx]

Hello,

does anyone know what is the cycle life of the built in eeprom?

I wonder how long will the eeprom stay error free if I set the station to log data every 5 min.

What does the cycle mean? every single write operation or the full memory round (4080 data sets)?

If I set it to 5 min, then it makes 12 records/hour = 288 records/day - meaning it makes a full memory round in approx. 14 days.

Thank you.

[Repairman77]

Hi; are you asking how many read/writes the eeprom can cope with before it fails?
If so it's virtually unmeasurable; although early eeproms in the 1980's did use to fail after several years of continual use and used to get 'sticky bits'; you could read but not rewrite. Modern ones seem pretty reliable.
However why would you need to save data every 5 minutes? Do you really need all that data. Cumulus saves it every 30 minutes as default which should suffice for most applications.
Mike.

P.S. Found this page...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEPROM
with the info...
The manufacturers usually specify the maximum number of rewrites being 10,000,000 or more.
Saving data every 5 minutes would only account for a rewrite every 14 days or so; so I doubt if you would outlive the eeprom, LOL.

[steve]

However why would you need to save data every 5 minutes? Do you really need all that data.

The problem with longer logger intervals is that while Cumulus isn't running, there's more chance of missing recent highs and lows. The station just logs a snapshot of the data at the chosen interval, so if the wind speed (for example) peaks in between that time, you will miss it. While Cumulus is running, it's not so bad, because Cumulus checks for today's highs etc from the live data, so even though Cumulus (v1) also only logs snaphots, it does at least remember today's (and the all-time) highs.

Cumulus saves it every 30 minutes as default which should suffice for most applications.

The default logging interval in Cumulus is 10 minutes, but this only applies while it's running. It logs data from the logger at whatever interval the logger is set to, which I think is the 30 minute default you're referring to.

[Repairman77]

Yes of course you right on the data log period; I have mine set to 30 minutes (forgot that I changed it after installation).
Mike.

[emsiwx]

Thanx a lot for the info. For me it is enough to stay error free for couple of years, the I will buy a VP or another WS.

Quote:
The problem with longer logger intervals is that while Cumulus isn't running, there's more chance of missing recent highs and lows.

That is exactly why I want to log every 5 mins. (I am not running my PC 24/7 at the moment)

EmsiWx

[split_city]

Thanx a lot for the info. For me it is enough to stay error free for couple of years, the I will buy a VP or another WS.

Quote:
The problem with longer logger intervals is that while Cumulus isn't running, there's more chance of missing recent highs and lows.

That is exactly why I want to log every 5 mins. (I am not running my PC 24/7 at the moment)

EmsiWx

Hi there,

This is my first post. I'm in the process of deciding on a weather station and I'm thinking of the WS1081. It looks like a fairly reliable station and compares well with more expensive counterparts. The only issue I have is the limited onboard storage of data, but more so the time interval that data can be stored. I understand that the base station can store up to 4080 points of data and the minimum time interval is 5 minutes. As pointed out in the thread, there is a chance of missing highs and lows even with this interval. My question is, why is 5 minute intervals the minimum allowed? From another thread:

I went for 5 mins because 60 (mins) * 24 (hours) * 14 (days) = 20160 divide that by 5 (mins) and you get 4032, so 2 weeks (and 4 hours) worth of data would fit at 5 mins.

So that's nearly two weeks of data when the time interval is 5 mins. I am undecided about leaving my PC on 24/7 so was hoping to upload data from the base unit everyday. 4080 points of data would be more than enough if the time interval was 1 min and I only wanted the base station to record data for a day. Is the 5 min interval simply a software issue or due to the way data is stored in memory i.e. could there be future updates in which the recording interval can be quicker than 5 mins? This issue is the main sticking point in my decision to get this weather station.

[steve]

could there be future updates in which the recording interval can be quicker than 5 mins? This issue is the main sticking point in my decision to get this weather station.

There's nothing in the way that the data is stored that would prevent 1-minute intervals, but I think it's highly unlikely that there will ever be firmware updates from Fine Offset. Davis do regular firmware updates, but they're not in the same price bracket. I think if Fine Offset ever allowed a 1-minute logger interval, it would be in a new product. Just my opinion, I have nothing to base this on other than 'gut feeling'.

[Gina]

I have that same "gut feeling" Steve. At this price level you're unlikely to get firmware updates/upgrades.