32701 error solved!

[Farminator]

After several years of communications problem free operation for my Vantage Pro 2 wireless station I started receiving the dread 32701 error message, "data input appears to have stopped". This was very sporadic, sometimes once a week, sometimes a half dozen times an hour, the condition appeared to be deteriorating.

Several weeks of fruitless repair efforts resulted in this solution: I replaced the original Davis USB cable between the data logger and my computer using a new cable which has a ferrite noise suppressor. The problem disappeared immediately and has not reoccurred in 6 weeks.

The ferrite choke may or may not have been necessary, it's possible all I needed was a new cable, but the ferrite cable didn't cost any more than one without. With 17 devices plugged into my home office wall outlets (within about 2 meters of my station) it seemed prudent to protect against electrical interference. I live in a remote rural location, no electronics stores nearby, and didn't want to order two cables (with and without ferrite) to conduct a controlled study.

Hope this helps somebody.

[Vossenberg]

Great tip, actually the newer loggers come supplied with those ferrite anti distortion pieces. If your cable does not have them, it is possible to add it yourself.

[Mapantz]

Interesting..

I bought an extension USB cable the day i got my Vantage Vue, it has a ferrite core on it and i still get the same problem at least three of four times a month.
My station has frozen too, i've had to unplug the USB to get it working again.

[The QCC]

but maybe not solved.
I am running my Vantage Vue console off a 5m powered USB extension cable with ferrite core.
Up until December 2012 I would get the 32701 error almost every day.
In January I decided I could better use the screen space occupied by Cumulus and set Cumulus to run minimized.
Voila.
In more than two months of operation with Cumulus minimized nary a 32701 error.

I guess it is possible Cumulus or the virtual port was having difficulty competing with other higher priority USB applications.

Cumulus is now running error free for 16 hrs/day so I am happy.