setting up Davis VP2 with Cumulus first time getting error

[KD5JZC]

I have downloaded Cumulus and set up the station page. When I say ok I get an error Message "Error -32701 When trying to initialize the station. Please check your connections and settings."
I am using a Davis Vantage Pro2 station with SERIAL TO USB ADAPER CABLE . I have the console Baud rate set at 19200.

This console ran on weatherlink on a Xp lap top for 4 years without any issues. lap top hard drive went bad and I want to use this newer PC and Cumulus.

I have tried selecting the USB and then the Serial selection in the station setup but I get the error Message with both.

Can some one Help me ? or tell me where I can find the error message explanation.

Thanks Hoppy

[steve]

The error comes from the Davis DLL which Cumulus uses to communicate with the station. It means that it can't get a response. You'll need to use the serial VP setting, and specify the virtual COM port which your serial/USB adapter software creates. If you think you've done that correctly, could you zip up the diags folder and attach it. The Davis DLL doesn't give much information when things don't work, but there might be a clue.

Does your serial/USB software create an unusual COM port - a very high number, perhaps?

[KD5JZC]

VP Type is selected as Serial I had also tried setting it to USB but got the same error message.
The com Port Comes back as COM Port 3.

I have connected the console to a PC running Vista and Davis WeatherLink 5.9 . All the data from the Console showes up on the sceen of the Vista PC. I also tried Cumulus on the Vista PC but got the same error msg. as I get with the XP PC.


I am not real PC literate but will see if I can figure out how to zipup the Diags folder and send it. I will get one of my Grandkids to tell me how to Zipup. They teach me something new every day!

Thanks for the reply!

Hoppy KD5JZC

[steve]

I am not real PC literate but will see if I can figure out how to zipup the Diags folder and send it.

If you right-click on the folder in Windows Explorer, and select "Send To -> Compressed (zipped) folder" it will create a file called diags.zip which you can then attach to a post here.

It's strange that you can't get it to work if you're specifying the same COM port as in Weatherlink, it normally "just works" for serial VP2s.

[KD5JZC]

Thanks Steve
Now I just have to figure out how to attach the zipped file to this post reply.

I think I have done it.

[steve]

Thanks, but after all that it wasn't really any help (not your fault). If COM 3 is definitely correct, I can't explain the problem. You don't have Weatherlink running at the same time, do you?

There's a more recent version of Cumulus now than the one you're using - you might want to try that, although it probably won't make any difference, to be honest. It does have slightly more logging in the diags files, so it might tell me a little bit more. But I think that it must be something about your serial/USB adapter that the Davis DLL doesn't like.

[KD5JZC]

Thanks Steve !

I have been told by a couple of Hams who are way up the curve on Digital/PC etc and they tell me many programs have issues with the Chip seet used in somee Serial to USB cables.

I am going to put a real serial card in the XP PC, Uninstall Cummulus and install the new version.

Thanks for the help and support.

Hoppy KD5JZC

I will post what I find out when I get this working. It may take me months but I learn something new every day and it is FUN !

[steve]

I have a serial/USB adapter on the PC where I run Cumulus, but I don't have my VP2 connected to it. When I get chance, I'll swap it over and see how it goes. Requires a bit of cable untangling!

[KD5JZC]

The problem is solved.

I went back over every setting again for the 99th time and discovered that I had the IP address messed up by having one of the decimal points as a coma rather than a decimal point. When I fixed this issue and tried to run MY WEATHER I noticed in the lower leeft corner of the page it said "Initializing". No error message but no data either. I then decided to check the USB port #. It was set at three so I tried 1 then 2 etc untill I hit 6. When I hit port 6 and tried to operate I immeditley received DATA and away it went . A MIGHTY PRETTY SITE !!!!

I then went to Findu and checked the Data is there and I also went to APRS and the data is there.

I have a question. I am using a 12" by 14" LCD monitor and the My Weather page is 7.5 by 10". My question is can I change the size of the page to fit the monitor?

Thanks for allowing me to use This software and I plan on making a contribution.

Hoppy KD5JZC

[steve]

I have a question. I am using a 12" by 14" LCD monitor and the My Weather page is 7.5 by 10". My question is can I change the size of the page to fit the monitor?

It attempts to resize itself downwards the best it can for those with small screens, but the standard size is 990 pixels (horizontal) by 720 pixels (vertical) where it fits without resizing. I'm hoping to make Cumulus 2 more resizable.

I suppose I could look at making the current version also optionally resize upwards, but it would start to look quite ugly I suspect.

Edit: I tried it on my display as an experiment, and it actually looks surprisingly good. My display is 1680 x 1050 (w x h), or 18.5" wide by 11.5" high. The Cumulus main window resizes to 15" x 11" (it's normally 11" x 8" on this monitor). It doesn't fill the screen as it has to keep the same aspect ratio. So I may well offer this as an option. Note that none of the other screens resize.