Cumulus Support

Hello,

We have just purchased a weather station which sends it's data wirelessly to the touch screen receiver. We purchased this from OzPlaza on ebay, and it doesn't appear to have a brand so I don't know where to look for support. The software supplied for the PC is EasyWeather, although it seems to be quite simple and we are not having any problems there.

Basically, the wireless link seems to lose the connection to the weather station, and our only option seems to be taking out the batteries from the touch screen receiver and starting again, but we lose our data when we do this. We are on a remote property in Australia and our power is solar + wind. These systems are installed away from the station, and we have tried a number of different sites but the same problem is occurring.

(Note: I realise that the data can be downloaded to the computer prior to removing the batteries, but my partner is anti-computer and I'm at work).

The weather station is very close to the receiver i.e. it is supposed to work up to 330 feet (100m), so we initially installed about 50m from the house. But we lost the signal within minutes. We moved to another location which was <5m from the house and this time had a direct line of sight through the window to the receiver (and it is only 2m above ground). So it is as close as we can get it without messing up the readings by interfering buildings etc. Readings are initially fine, but at some point they drop out.

Now, being remote, we use:

* digital TV aerial
* 2 x mobile phones
* Next-G mobile telephone aerial
* satellite internet
* wireless router from satellite internet modem to router

However, the modem is off-site at present and the computer, satellite, modem & wireless router have not been used since day 1.

Q1 - I'm guessing that one of the above is causing interference. Can anyone please provide suggestions on things we can try in order to eliminate the problem?

Q2 - Also, can the unit's connection to the sender be reset without removing the batteries?

WindWatcher

My Fine Offset sensor is about 30m away, and loses connection from time to time. We also have lots of wireless stuff...

I've found that I can regain connection just by moving the console around - holding it out of the window for a couple of minutes, even.

Hi
You might just have a bad battery somewhere as I have found the transmitter is quite critical on the supply voltage. You didn't say what type of batteries you are using and rechargeables are not reccomended.
Regards
Alan

Edit
I have just noticed the airconditioner on your diagram - I have found motors seem to create interference - I'm sure others more expert than me will comment on that.
Alan

Funnily enough, I just logged in to post a new topic on this same subject

My FO has been in use 6 months now and there's only about 20m between the station and the receiver. There was a break in signal from about 10pm to 6am a fortnight ago and again at roughly the same times last night. The first time out I wasn't sure if it was the FO or Cumulus, as Cumulus continued to record a constant non-zero temp and wind at the last received value (maybe something to change?). But this morning I was up early and saw the receiver showing no wind or temp (but pressure ostensibly OK?) even though umulus was (again) recording non-zero values.

I assumed it wasn't the batteries, but maybe it is even though they're relatively new? Certainly nothing else has changed, nor was the weather extreme.

Hi
I doubt whether it would affect Windwatcher in remote Oz but I have found that when the house walls are very wet the reception can be lost. I've also found that the Cumulus record shows a constant value for the external values (pressure comes from the indoor base unit) - maybe Steve has used the last available readings in the event of signal loss.
I have wondered about fitting a remote antenna (or yagi at both ends maybe ?) to the base unit - maybe one of the radio experts (Gina ?) could suggest what is needed.
Regards
Alan

apenwith wrote:I've also found that the Cumulus record shows a constant value for the external values (pressure comes from the indoor base unit) - maybe Steve has used the last available readings in the event of signal loss.

Yes, there's not really any alternative. There is no 'no data' value in Cumulus, and if I invented one, everything would break - the graphs, the monthly analysis, all time records etc. It would be a huge change.