Cumulus Support

My EasyWeather software will not work properly, on either Windows 7 or XP. I have just imported about 1 months worth of readings, but the software insists that there is nothing after Jan 17th. So, I want to try Cumulus. I installed it and specified that it should read the EasyWeather data file, but nothing shows on the display. Have I missed something please.

There are two ways of running Cumulus with a Fine Offset station: the "old", not recommended method is to run Easyweather at the same time as Cumulus and get Cumulus to 'piggy-back' off the easyweather.dat file. Cumulus can only read new data from the easyweather.dat file - it won't import old data, and this method gives quite poor results compared to the recommended "direct" method where you don't run Easyweather and Cumulus at the same time, and Cumulus reads the data directly from the station (the "Fine Offset" setting in the station config).

I suspect you were using the first method but not running EW at the same time, and expecting Cumulus to import the contents of your easyweather.dat file. It is possible to import the easyweather.dat file, but it's not a service I offer. Assuming that's what you want, someone who can do this may post here shortly...

No, I did not try to run them both at the same time. I started Cumulus and specified that it should use the EasyWeather.dat file, but there was nothing on the display to suggest that it was picking up that data.

SageMacLeod wrote: No, I did not try to run them both at the same time. I started Cumulus and specified that it should use the EasyWeather.dat file,

That was the point I was trying to make; if you really want to use the 'easyweather.dat method', you have to run them both at the same time. And you have to have them both running 24 hours a day.

but there was nothing on the display to suggest that it was picking up that data.

I would have expected it to at least pick up the last set of data in the file (that's how it works, it continuously reads the last line of the file). But really, this facility is deprecated and you should really use the direct Fine Offset setting. And as you say you're unable to get Easyweather to work now, it seems to me that this is the only choice you have anyway?

OK, I did try that, but cannot persuade the program to show anything. EasyWeather insists that there is no data after 17/1/2010, but Cumulus will not display anything if I specify "This year" as an option. It would appear that EasyWeather has lost all my data for this year, although it seemed happy when pulling that data off the WH1081 for the past month, which it did yesterday. I have asked "Fine Offset" if they will give me the specs to write my own program to pull data off the WH1081, since I apparently have no other means of extracting data. I would be happy to use Cumulus for display purposes, (and contribute) if I can find out what I am presumably doing wrong as regards showing data from the EasyWeather.dat file.

Have you tried running Cumulus with 'Fine Offset' selected for station type? If so, does it show 'live' data on its main screen? If not, if you zip up the diags folder and attach it here, I'll see if I can find out why not.

If Easyweather was reading the data successfully yesterday, then it must have been storing it somewhere. Was this on Windows 7 and is Easyweather installed under Program Files? If so, the data file will actually be in 'virtual store', so perhaps this is why it/you cannot find it. Unfortunately I know very little about Easyweather so can't offer much help with it.

I'll be stunned and amazed if Fine Offset give you the specs. I gave up trying. Unofficial, reverse-engineered specs are available, and I'd be happy to share them with you (I've posted them to the forum a few times already). You may not be able to retrieve your data as far back as January, though, depending on your logger interval.

Yes, I have tried Cumulus with station type as Fine Offset and with the data file specified as EasyWeather.dat - I cannot get anything on the display, even if I ask for a displayof this years data.
I never put software into 'Program files'. I always split the disk into 3 volumes, with Windows on C:, software on D: and data on E:. It will be interesting to see what Fine Offset have to say. If they will not help, I would be grateful for any help that I can get to decode the WH1081 output. Does Cumulus expect to plugged into the device all the time, or does it interrogate the .dat file?

SageMacLeod wrote:Yes, I have tried Cumulus with station type as Fine Offset and with the data file specified as EasyWeather.dat

In 'direct' Fine Offset mode it doesn't use the easyweather.dat file at all, it reads the data directly from the station.

I cannot get anything on the display, even if I ask for a displayof this years data.

You won't get anything on the 'This Year' display on the first day you run Cumulus. The 'This Year' display doesn't include today's data - as it says on the screen - and unless you force Cumulus to download 'old' data from the logger, you will only have today's data. Except that you don't seem to be getting any data, because if you were you would see it on the main display. If you zip up the diags folder in the Cumulus installation folder and attach it here, I'll have a look to see why it's not getting any data.

Does Cumulus expect to plugged into the device all the time, or does it interrogate the .dat file?

It doesn't use the .dat file; if you stop it and then start it again some time later, it catches up by reading the data from the station memory.

Like this: Plug in the station, and it should display current data.

I tried that - it displays nothing at all. EasyWeather is adding new data on to the end of the existing data. That has an old date, so the import routine changes the record date to carry on from what it already has, but the import date is still there in the .DAT file, so I might be able to work out what the real date should be. Easy Weather have just sent me another email insisting that if I run the program as Administrator then it will work - but it doesn't. That ws a response to my first email; I will let you know how they reply to the second, asking for the data format.

SageMacLeod wrote: I tried that - it displays nothing at all.

Please zip up the diags folder and attach it.

One set of diagnostics, as requested. I can probably recover the EasyWeather data by writing a program to remove info from the .DAT file. It would appear that the data recording dates have been changed, so that they carry on from what is already there.

If you need the format of the easyweather.dat file, Jim Easterbrook has it here: http://www.jim-easterbrook.me.uk/weather/ew/

SageMacLeod wrote:One set of diagnostics, as requested.

You've got the station type set to 'easyweather', it should be 'Fine Offset'.

Thanks for the very swift reply. I did try "Fine Offset", but saw no change. I have just plugged in the WH1081, THEN started Cumulus and, LO, it promptly read 48 records from the device and displayed the data. Progress, obviously, thankyou. I will follow up the .DAT format link. Thanks, Nigel MacLeod.