IP Datalogger Download Time

[Zephirus]

I am not sure I have Cumlulus station file setup correctly for the Weatherlink IP datalogger, but when I launch the software, it takes a really long time for the program to interrogate the logger. So the program starts by downloading, but this can take up to more than 5 minutes even if the last download was only 1 hour previous. The software does operate correctly, it just takes a long time to get the data. Its not fast using WL either, this is much longer however. Any help appreciated. I am using version 1.8.8

Scott

[steve]

I've used IP myself, but to VirtualVP, not straight to a station as I don't have an IP logger. If you look in the diags folder and find the file for that download, it may explain what's going on.

It could well be that the station has given Cumulus a lot more data than necessary and Cumulus has to dig out the stuff it really needs. This is a 'feature' of these stations if you ask for the data after time X, and time X doesn't correspond exactly to one of the entries in the logger. Instead of just giving the entries after time X as near as it can, it dumps its entire contents. Do you have your Cumulus logging interval set to the same as your VP2 logging interval?

[Zephirus]

Hi Steve,

Yes both intervals are set to 5 minutes. I have attached the diag files maybe the tell you something. I am afraid they don't help me much,

Scott

[steve]

In the cumulus.008 file:

2009-11-27 14:27:34 : VP2: Downloading history from 11/27/2009 2:08:00 PM
2009-11-27 14:31:57 : VP2: GetNumberOfArchiveRecords_V = 2559
2009-11-27 14:31:57 : VP2: Number of history records = 2559
2009-11-27 14:31:57 : Logger entry zero: Y = 2009, M = 11, D = 9, H = 19, M = 50
2009-11-27 14:31:57 : VP2: Earliest timestamp 11/9/2009 7:50:00 PM
2009-11-27 14:31:57 : VP2: Earliest timestamp is earlier than requested
2009-11-27 14:31:57 : VP2: Find first entry after 11/27/2009 2:08:00 PM

So Cumulus asked for all the data after 11/27/2009 2:08:00 PM; the station doesn't have an entry for that time, so dumped the entire contents of the logger, and Cumulus had to sift through it all to find the few it wanted. Normally the today.ini file (which is where the last update date/time is stored) is written to when Cumulus writes a log entry, but it's also written to when one of today's highs or lows is exceeded - it does this so that if you stop and start Cumulus, it can reload today's highs and lows so far. But of course this may result in a time that isn't on a 5-minute boundary. That must be what happened in this case; you'd just had a daily high or low before closing down.

I'm not sure that there's anything I can do about this. It's an annoying bug in the station firmware, in my opinion, but Davis don't seem to think so. I suppose that when asking for the data, Cumulus could round the time to the previous logger interval.

[Zephirus]

Thank you Steve,

Scott

[steve]

The build I've just uploaded has this change.

http://www.nybbles.co.uk/downloads/beta ... sSetup.exe

[gemini06720]

Steve, I am also using the WeatherLinkIP datalogger on the 'phone management' computer where I have been testing Cumulus by itself. I have just upgraded to build 880. When restarting Cumulus, it took no less than 3-4 minutes for Cumulus to download the data from the Vantage Pro2 console where the WeatherLinkIP is connected ... this is quite slow. And Cumulus was only shut down for about 2 minutes.

[Zephirus]

One thing that does make a difference is make sure your archive interval (set using WL) and the interval in set in Cumulus are set the same (e.g. 5 minutes and 5 minutes).

[steve]

Yes, it sounds like the same situation, Ray, where it's dumping the entire logger, and yes, you do need to have the Cumulus log interval set to the same as the VP2 interval. Added to this, I know that sometimes the VP2 also dumps the entire logger if you ask it for data from a very recent time, which would happen if you close Cumulus down and start it up again soon afterwards. The diags file will show what data Cumulus asked for and what it actually got.