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Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:00 pm
by HughCallaway
After yesterday's fake rain was sorted, more strong winds created havoc again today. I've now relocated the rain guage so it shouldn't cuase any problems and corrected the month year log file but I'm still getting off readings for rain in the last hour, rain today and annual totals. My reckoning the rain in last hour is 0, rain todat 11.7 and total rain for year 101.2mm
Is this anything to do with the data coming from my Fine Offset unit? Will I have to wait until tomorrow to try and get rid of this rogue figures or is there something else I should look at?
I've uploaded Feb's file and a screen shot.
Thanks
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:11 pm
by steve
Your rain counter was behaving reasonably up until the last entry in the log file, at which point you had 11.7 mm for today. But then presumably the counter increased suddenly by 40.4 mm. You don't seem to have particularly high winds at the moment, so I think it's unlikely that the spurious rain was caused by the bucket actually tipping, more likely by some sort of interference causing corruption of the transmitted data. I'd need to see what happens in the log after 15:30 to know whether the increase was permanent or just a one-off bad reading.
You say you have relocated the rain gauge - was that the cause of the spurious 40.4 mm?
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:22 pm
by HughCallaway
Thanks for the reply Steve. I guess the 40.4 mm could have been caused by me moving it, although I thought I was pretty careful. The guage is now screwed down so it cannot move.
Ive checked the file and it did need altering, which I think I have done but I'm still getting the wrong data.
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:27 pm
by HughCallaway
I've just checked the file again and it seems to have another duplicate entry. I've deleted this but still getting the wrong data. I'm thinking it must be to do with the data that's in my Fine Offset unit when it updates.
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:28 pm
by steve
It's virtually impossible to move the rain gauge even slightly without the bucket tipping. You should really unplug it from the transmitter before moving it.
You need to stop Cumulus and edit the files, in particular, to fix today's total you need to fudge the start of day figure in today.ini. You need to add 40.4 to it to compensate for the extra 40.4 mm rain. See the FAQ for more details.
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:40 pm
by HughCallaway
Thanks, I have done as suggested but still get the wrong dat for today. The only file I have not altered is all time log. Do I need to alter this one as well?
I don't particularly want to start all over again, but if I need to, can anyone offer any advice how to clear the data coming in from the unit?
Thanks
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:44 pm
by steve
What have you put for the Start= figure in today.ini? Did you edit the file with Cumulus stopped?
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:54 pm
by HughCallaway
Added 40.4 to it as suggested and yes, it was stopped. It now shows 129.899993896484
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 4:58 pm
by steve
Your rain counter was 141.6 at the end of the log file you uploaded, so at start up Cumulus would now be showing 11.7 mm for today. If it's not showing that, then your rain counter has probably moved on, for some reason. What figure is it actually showing for today's rain now?
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 5:08 pm
by HughCallaway
11.7 for today (it wasn't when I sent my last post), 40.4 last hour. Can this be changed or will it just right itself eventually. Screen shot attached and febs file
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 6:25 pm
by steve
Yes, the 'last hour' figure will correct itself; you'll just need to make sure it's removed form any high/low data.
Re: Fake rain still driving me crazy
Posted: Sun 06 Feb 2011 7:41 pm
by HughCallaway
Thanks Steve