Cumulus Support

Hello All,

I am pretty new to this stuff and I have been working on tweaking my web site using JacquesD Sunny Weather template. The template has nothing to do with this problem. When I first set up Cumulus I did not have the barometer prssure set up in the units that I wanted. So I made a newbie mistake. Then I think that I have compounded the problem by replacing the 1009 (or what ever the numbers were) with a known 30.44 figure.

So now when ever I look at Today's and Yesterday's Highs and Lows the lowest pressure on those two always show 0.00.

Have I broke something with the software? Can I fix it?

Thank You.

http://www.robertyelverton.info/weather/index.htm

Today's and Yesterday's highs and lows are in today.ini and yesterday.ini respectively. Edit them with Cumulus stopped. Changing units does cause problems, but wouldn't normally cause a zero pressure value.

You have zeroes for most of your low values for today and yesterday, so something odd did happen. Correct them and then see if it happens again...

Thank You.

I hope I did it right and it does not reccur. Checked with the almanac for closest city that has figures.

I noticed that you have some zero minima again today. If you zip up the diags folder and attach it, I'll see if I can see what might be causing it.

I am going to be replacing the batteries in the station today. I have got cheapos in it right now. I am hoping that is what is causing the problem. It is odd because everyday when I start up my PC and Cumulus I have zero minima for:

Lowest Temp
Lowest Apparent Temp
Lowest Windchill
Lowest Pressure

Oh, it always occurs at 00:23

So what I have been doing is stopping Cumuls and running Heavy Weather and opening its history files. I write down all the correct figures then open the today.ini file for cumulus and fix it. Then I shut down heavy weather and restart Cumulus. Then all is good. That process is a pain in the rear everyday but everything works fine after that.

If the new batteries does not fix it I will be glad to send you the diags folder and really appreciate any help.

Thank You.

Well, it did no good. I am at a loss as to what is going on. I have stopped Cumulus this morning as soon as I saw the 0.00's again. Here is the zipped folder. Thank You.

Looks like your station is reporting all sorts of odd values:

12/17/2011 20:30:21.156 : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
12/17/2011 20:30:21.156 : Old value = 0.6 New value = -573.3 EWtempdiff = 11.1
12/17/2011 20:30:22.578 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: 110
12/17/2011 20:30:22.578 : Old value = 79 New value = 110 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
12/17/2011 20:30:22.781 : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
12/17/2011 20:30:22.781 : Old value = 0.0 New value = -447.0 EWwinddiff = 9.0

12/18/2011 09:30:26.437 : Wind > 49.9 m/s, probably sensor contact lost, using zero

etc...

How is the console connected to your PC?

Hi

Is the information on the actual weather station working all the time, you might be losing connection because when I got my second La Crosse I often got a unusual -6 in the Temp overnight several times.

It is connected with a serial port. Had to go out and buy a card because my pc did not have a serial port.

Last night the station did stop reporting around 9 something PM EST. I did not realize it until I turn the PC on this morning and saw the 0.00 again for the low values on Cumulus. I immediantly shut Cumulus down like I usually do and opened Heavy Weather to look at the history files. I noticed that it has stopped reporting on all outside values. So then I shut down Heavy Weather and went outside to check the station. UGH>> I am such an idiot, in the dark last night I did not make sure that the batteries had full contact before shutting the battery door. So last night was my fault.

BUT even before last night everymorning Cumulus would be reporting all 0.00 for low values when there would be no such thing in the Heavy Weather history file.

I have no idea what is happening.

I'll need to see the diags files again after the issue with the erroneous values is resolved.

Edit: Actually, I think I see what the cause of the problem is. You have your station set to a one hour interval, and in addition it looks like you close Cumulus down at 11.45 pm? When Cumulus starts up again, this is causing a problem when it does the midnight 'rollover' because it has no new data before the rollover.

I fully accept that this is in effect a bug in Cumulus, but it is very hard to cater for every situation. I'll look at the code when I get chance to see if I can improve it, but if you could avoid closing Cumulus down when no more entries will be logged by the station that day, you will probably avoid the problem. For example, if you keep your one-hour interval, you would need to close down before 11 pm, so that the 11 pm logger entry will be available the next day when Cumulus starts up again. Alternatively, you could close down after midnight.

Ahhh... that does make sense. I will start shutting down Cumulus around 10:45 PM. Cannot do the after midnight thing. I would turn into a pumpkin. LOL!

Shutting it down at 10:45pm EST did the trick. Got a nice log that I did not have to do any correcting with. Thank You.