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Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

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silverview
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri 01 Jan 2010 9:40 pm
Weather Station: Davis VP2
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

Post by silverview »

Yesterday I added a solar radiation sensor to my VP2 (thanks to Steve's enhancements to Cumulus :D ).

Hours of sunshine is recording sun whenever the sensor has a reading above zero. I checked the monthly log and the realtime.txt files and they both show values of zero for current theoretical max solar radiation. What have I missed in getting Cumulus to calculate this value?

Thanks,
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steve
Cumulus Author
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Re: Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

Post by steve »

It uses:

Your location - altitude, longitude and latitude as configured in the station settings.
The current date and time according to your PC, converted to UTC using the Windows time zone setting.
The transmission factor as configured in the station settings.
Steve
silverview
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri 01 Jan 2010 9:40 pm
Weather Station: Davis VP2
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Contact:

Re: Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

Post by silverview »

My station is set up with the correct lat, long, and elevation. Time on the PC is correct. The current max solar radiation value hasn't moved off of zero since I installed the sensor yesterday afternoon.

I have adjusted the transmission value through the range of .7 to .91, but no change in the max solar value.
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steve
Cumulus Author
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Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
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Re: Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

Post by steve »

Could you let me have your cumulus.ini file, with passwords taken out, and tell me what timezone your PC is set to, and I'll see if I can reproduce it with your settings.
Steve
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steve
Cumulus Author
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Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
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Re: Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

Post by steve »

I know what the problem is. The annoying thing is that I knew about this already, so I don't know why the problem is still there. The library function I use to determine the sun's elevation uses positive numbers for longitudes West of Greenwich, rather than the more usual negative. I'll fix it in the next build.
Steve
silverview
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri 01 Jan 2010 9:40 pm
Weather Station: Davis VP2
Operating System: Windows 10
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Contact:

Re: Current Theoretical Max Solar Radiation

Post by silverview »

Glad you figured it out. I was sure I had missed a simple step in the configuration. As usual, thanks for your time and help.
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