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This is the
(consult also the Help screens within Cumulus software, and learn more from the rest of this Wiki)
= Installing and Running Cumulus =
== What operating systems does Cumulus run on? ==
Cumulus 1 - All versions of Windows from XP to Windows
== Where do I find the Cumulus 1 installer? ==
All available via the [[Downloads|Downloads page]] in this Wiki
== What do I need to get right when first getting Cumulus 1? ==
The installation process for Cumulus 1 displays '''readme.txt''', that has many tips. See also [[Setup]]. Below are three key points.
# Install Cumulus in its own directory directly under a drive root.
# Connect your weather station before you start Cumulus
# When you first run Cumulus 1, it displays the '''Station settings''' screen. On this, make sure you pick the right sort of station (to ensure Cumulus communicates correctly with your weather station, and can identify all the observations) and choose your '''units''' wisely. (Changing units later means all stored Lowest and highest numbers up to that point have to be converted immediately manually). See the '''Help''' for information about the rest of the screen, but generally you can easily adjust the other options later.
== What weather stations does Cumulus 1 work with? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
*Davis Vantage Pro (VP), Vantage Pro2 (VP2), and Vue (the Envoy8X and Weatherlink Live is '''not''' supported).
*Oregon Scientific WM918, WMR918, WMR928, WMR968, WMR88 (see [[FAQ#How do I set up recording wind speeds in Cumulus, with Oregon Scientific and La Crosse stations | this FAQ]]), WMR100, WMR180, WMR200.
*Fine Offset - USB-connected stations which use the Easyweather software such as MyDEL, Nevada, Watson and Fine Offset, with model numbers such as WH1080, WH1081, W8681, 265NC etc.
== Will you support a new weather station type? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Cumulus 1 is no longer being developed, its source code is no longer available, so it cannot be edited to support anything new.
== How do I get Cumulus to update to the internet? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Cumulus 1 provides multiple options:
*'''Internet Update''' - this feature is to place [[Website_setup|web pages]] onto a personal web server. You can use the web templates provided with Cumulus, or your own (customised) pages. This is optional, and there are a lot of settings to get right, but it is a standard feature that has always been part of Cumulus.
*'''APRS/CWOP ''' - this feature is to update your observations onto the ''cwop.aprs.net'' server, the update will happen automatically while Cumulus is running if you configure it in the APRS/CWOP frame within Cumulus internet settings.
*'''Twitter''' - this feature allows you to send a message to http://www.twitter.com at an interval that you configure in the twitter frame within Cumulus internet settings.
== How do I request a new feature for Cumulus
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
As of 2017, development of Cumulus 1 was stopped by Steve Loft and a new version called '''Cumulus MX beta''' replaced it. Although there have been a couple of patches to change the years listed in drop downs with Cumulus 1, its code is frozen as the relevant development environment is no longer available.
Consequently, there is no possibility of any new features for Cumulus 1.
== Why haven't you added the feature I asked for a long time ago? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Steve Loft developed and supported Cumulus in his spare time while having a full time job. He invited donations, but didn't make a living from Cumulus. He added facilities when he could. There was a long list of enhancement requests but many were not implemented and the list was lost during a move between hosts. Thus any feature requested in that list, which has not been implemented since, will not be implemented.
== How do I upgrade to a new Cumulus 1 release? ==
{{Version badge 1}} There are no upgrades available for Cumulus 1.
If you are using an earlier version of Cumulus 1, do upgrade now,
#first download the '''installer''' ''CumulusSetup.exe'' from ([https://cumuluswiki.org/Downloads/CumulusSetup.exe Downloads/CumulusSetup.exe]).
#Next follow the instructions at [[Setup|Setup page]]
# Finally, replace just the one file "Cumulus.exe" in your installation by the patch available from [[Downloads|Downloads page]].
If you are using the final version of Cumulus 1, and your drop down dates do not run to 2030, then you need to follow this last instruction and apply the patch
== Do I need to leave Cumulus running all the time ==
This answer applies to all flavours of Cumulus.
Cumulus is designed on the basis that it works best if it is operating continuously, so it can interrogate the weather station at maximum frequency and has least risk of missing extreme measurements. All the derived calculations (maximum and minimum in a day, apparent temperature, average temperature,and many more will be more accurately calculated if based on the most possible measurements at consistent intervals.
if you are using the EasyWeather input option or your weather station does not have a logger, then Cumulus must run all the time, because there is no way of accessing readings while it is 'switched off'.
That said, many Cumulus users do turn their devices off when they are not around, to save energy or reduce fire risk; and accept that the quality of the derivatives output is poorer and that some extremes may be missed, some averages might be biased etc. When Cumulus is restarted, if the weather station it is talking to has retained measurements in a logger, Cumulus will read these, and do a catch-up from when you turned it off (it may miss some if the clocks have changed, see later question). Cumulus will roll over to next day when it has finished reading logger results from previous day and starts with those to assign to new day.
== Changing to different weather station ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Just change the station type. If Cumulus doesn't start reading the data from the new station, stop Cumulus and start it again. Some of the rain figures may be odd for a while (e.g. rain in last 24 hours). It is as simple as that.
== Moving Cumulus software to a new PC (or updating Windows Operating System) ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Cumulus will continue to work with your existing weather station and existing log files, providing
== Can I view my Cumulus data on another device? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
# If Cumulus uploads your weather information to an online web site, you can view that on another device.
== How do I back up my data? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Recent builds of Cumulus 1 back up some of the log files each time the software is restarted in the backup folder and each time it processes a rollover it stores the log files as they are at the start of a new day in the daily folder. The routine that does this ensures no more than 7 sub-folders are kept in each of those main folders. These back up are designed to help you restart Cumulus 1 in the event of a problem they are not not preserving your valuable data.
*It can be useful to take copies of the Cumulus 'backup' sub-folder on key dates (e.g. at change of month or year), or if you think you might have some rogue figures. The '.ini' files in the backup sub-folder contain past extreme values that you might want to look up.
*You should also back up, at least once, your cumulus.ini file in the main Cumulus folder. This contains all the key settings and you need a record of those!
== Moving Cumulus 1 software to a different location on your PC? ==
{{Version badge 1}}This article in the wiki gives more details above moving Cumulus: [[Moving cumulus]]
== What are the formats of the Cumulus data files? ==
These are detailed in the [[:Category:Log Files|Log Files]] section of this Wiki, see that category page for key information about log files and the
Format information is also in the Cumulus 1 help file, in the section “Data log file format”
The '''Configuration''' menu, ''Station'' setting screen (near bottom) has option to enter there the ''rainfall total'' for the bit of the year (starting month can be selected here too) until when you first start using Cumulus. See the Cumulus '''Help''' for this screen for further details.
Yes is the answer for other weather information, providing you can manipulate the information you have into either (preferably) the format used by the [[
A converter for Weather Display log files is available from
A converter for WeatherLink log files is available from
== I was away on the last day of last month/year - How do I see the final lowest and highest figures for last month/year? ==
{{Version badge 1}}
'''View''' menu, ''This month'' or ''This year'' screens show some figures for any month or year selected by you, but do not show all the figures shown on a standard web page or as shown on the ''Highs and Lows'' screen for the current month/year.
*Look in the ''backup\daily'' subfolder within your Cumulus installation.
*These daily backups will be created if Cumulus was left running during the period of interest, or stopped before that period and since restarted.
*Normally about 10 such back ups are available, each folder has a name based on the timestamp and contains the 6 [[:Category:Log_Files|xxxx.ini files]], the current [[
Open as a text file [[month.ini]] in the folder whose name is bearing the timestamp after your final rollover, for Cumulus builds 1041 to 1088 the final lowest and highest for each observation in the month will be listed.
In a similar manner if you miss the last day of the year, for Cumulus builds 1041 to 1088 see the final 'this year' figures for last year by opening [[year.ini]] from the appropriate backup.
== What do the various wind speeds in Cumulus 1 correspond to, with Davis stations? ==
Davis station firmware supplies two
* The latest Davis 3-second average is treated by Cumulus as 'Latest' (available via <#wlatest>, matching direction is '<#currentwdir>' and '<#bearing>')
* The highest of the station's 3-second readings over the previous 10 (configurable by adding ''AvgSpeedMinutes=N'' in [[Cumulus.
* The Davis 10-minute average is the Cumulus 'Average' (available via <#wspeed>, matching direction reported as '<#wdir>' and '<#avgbearing>').
Davis VP2 station loggers record a single spot wind speed, so if you restart Cumulus and the software attempts to catch up from the station logger there may be only one or two values to include in the Cumulus average (over 10, or as configured) minutes calculation.
Note that if you sample these readings at shorter (real time) intervals it is possible for Cumulus 'Latest' to be lower than Cumulus 'Average' because approximately half of the 3-second wind speeds will be higher and half of them lower than the 10-minute average.
If the Cumulus figure seems lower than the Davis figure see [[#My_Davis_station_shows_a_higher_maximum_wind_speed_than_Cumulus]].
== What do the various wind speeds in Cumulus 1 correspond to, with Fine Offset stations? ==
Fine Offset sensors measure wind over 48-second intervals, divided into 24 2-second intervals. At the end of each 48-second period, the outdoor unit (anemometer) transmits two values, the "Gust" is calculated from the number of revolutions of the anemometer in last two seconds and the "Average" from the number of revolutions adding all two second counts in the 48 seconds. The console keeps '''overwriting''' the newly received 'Gust' and 'Wind' values to the same area of console memory every 48 seconds, until the station logging interval time is reached, then it moves on to the next memory location, leaving the last values it wrote in the previous console memory location.
=== Summary with default selections ===
# '<#wgust>' contains "Calculated Wind Gust (highest value for any 2 seconds in last 10 minutes) Speed" reports highest console gust value in last 10 minutes (this is capturing WMO gust definition over a longer 10 minute reporting interval)
# '<#wlatest>' contains "Latest Peak (the value for last 2 seconds in 48 seconds prior to storing) Wind Speed" taken from console gust value (this is capturing the latest WMO Gust)
=== In detail with all the configurations ===
* The highest of the Fine Offset 'Gust' values over the previous 10 (number fixed and not configured to match any other interval set) minutes becomes what Cumulus reports as the 'Gust' speed ('<#wgust>'). Cumulus does not report a matching direction for this as a web tag, although it will be somewhere in array '<#wdirdata>'.
* The value labelled 'Latest'('<#wlatest>', matching direction is '<#currentwdir>' and '<#bearing>') by Cumulus is Fine Offset console 'Gust' value. (Cumulus also adds each new latest value to the array <#wspddata> and moves the index of the array <#nextwindindex> onto the next position in the circular array.
** If 'Calculate 10-min wind average' and 'Use speed for avg calculation' are both selected; the average of the Fine Offset 'Wind' values read over the previous N (configurable, defaults to 10) minutes is reported.
Select value for 'N' using ''AvgSpeedMinutes=N'' in [[Cumulus.
== How do I set up recording wind speeds in Cumulus 1, with Oregon Scientific and La Crosse stations ==
La Crosse and some Oregon Scientific weather stations only output a single wind speed. To allow Cumulus to calculate 'gust' and 'wind speed' with different values, select the '''Station''' dialogue from the ''Configuration'' menu and set ''Calculate 10 min wind average'' in the 'Settings' frame, so in [[cumulus.ini]] this will produce the parameter 'Wind10MinAverage=1 when cumulus is next stopped.
* The station's 'Wind' value will then display as Cumulus 'Latest'.
* A 10 (configurable by adding ''AvgSpeedMinutes=N'' in [[Cumulus.
* The highest of the station's 'Wind' value in a 10 minute period will then display as Cumulus 'Gust'. Note that the WMO definition of a wind gust is the mean wind speed over a 2 to 3 second sample period (not the maximum instantaneous wind speed).
See ''LCMaxWind=X'' parameter in [[Cumulus.
== How do I make Cumulus 1 run automatically when Windows starts? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
There is no option in Cumulus to set this up automatically as I prefer to leave it under the control of the user: The safest and most reliable method is simply to put a shortcut in your Startup folder. If you are running Vista or Windows 7, or later versions of Windows, you may find that Cumulus gets blocked by UAC if you try to run it from the Startup folder, in which case it is recommended that you use Task Scheduler instead. See here for a good description of how to do this - http://blogs.techrepublic.com/window-on-windows/?p=616
== How does Cumulus handle Daylight Saving Time? ==
Cumulus provides the option for you to use rollover at 9am winter time that is preserved throughout the year so all days are 24 hours long even when clock changes, simply click "Use 10am in summer" on the Station settings.
As far as the timestamps in the extreme logs, monthly log, and the graphs, are concerned; Cumulus doesn't do anything in particular for DST.
*It generates timestamps based on the
**So basically, at the start of DST (i.e. when the clocks 'go forward' for the summer) you will get an apparent gap of one hour in your data logs and on graphs.
**Similarly at the end of DST (i.e. when the clocks 'go back' for the winter) you will get an apparent hour of duplicate timestamps in your logs and graphs.
**This is because the console memory does not time-stamp the data blocks and each memory location simply contains the number of minutes elapsed since the previous memory location was last updated.
**Cumulus does not remember the console data block used just before shutdown, (after all depending on how long Cumulus has been stopped and the station logging interval, the old memory location could be overwritten by now), and so Cumulus works out a time-stamp based on current clock time and the stored elapsed interval times as it works back through those memory locations.
**The stored minutes elapsed value will be consistent with the logging interval you selected for the station (might be different to that selected on Cumulus) and
**On restart Cumulus just tries to read the appropriate number of hours worth of observations back from the block now marked as latest.
**For example if it was stopped at 2200 DST and restarted at 0600 standard time, Cumulus catches up with the last 8 hours worth of stored measurements as if going back to 2200 standard time, that means it retrieves back to 2300 DST and has forever lost the period 2200 to 2300 DST.
*See Fine Offset forum discussions for further information.
== What formula does Cumulus 1 use for
[[Temperature_(and_humidity)_measurement#Cumulus_Calculated_Parameters|see Cumulus_Calculated_Parameters]]
== How does Cumulus know the height of the cloud base? ==
For stations which supply a rain rate, Cumulus uses that. For stations which don't supply a rain rate (e.g. Fine Offset and La Crosse), Cumulus simply takes the rain total from the last five minutes and calculates a rate based on that; e.g. a single tip of 0.3mm in 5 minutes is a rate of 3.6mm/hr. When data from the station's logger is used, a similar calculation is performed, but the interval used is the logger interval rather than five minutes.
== Where does Cumulus 1 get its this month and this year rainfall totals from? ==
* The rainfall totals (for this month, year, and season), are initialised when Cumulus is (re-)started by adding up the corresponding daily totals in [[dayfile.txt]] and storing those sums in memory.
**Don't forget that Cumulus uses binary arithmetic to base 2, that does not correctly represent what in base 10 are decimal places, so you may see slight errors for those using inches and expecting correctness to two decimal places (read up this on internet if you don't understand binary arithmetic).
** The rainfall totals shown on the ''This period'', ''This month'', and ''This year'' screens within the '''View''' menu in Cumulus 1 are generated by adding up the daily rainfall totals found in [[dayfile.txt]] for the selected period. Using default settings via '''View''' menu in Cumulus 1, ''This month'' screen for this month excluding today, ''This year'' screen for this calendar year (this does always start on 1 January, unless you only started using Cumulus after that) excluding today. ''Note any rainfall for the current (meteorological) day is excluded as the latest dayfile.txt row is for yesterday.'' Totals can be shown for any past period, by selecting the required dates, the figures are recalculated when you press the ''Update display'' button and will include all days available in dayfile.txt for the chosen period. ''Important note: The view menu 'This year' screen always calculates the total for a selected calendar year starting in January.''
* Each time Cumulus
**As you will see if you look in [[
** If there is no rain in a day, the start of day count will be the same at the start of the next day.
**Today's rain is added to the figures (as described above) derived from dayfile.txt for what the front screen in Cumulus 1, labels '''This month''', and ''This year'' (this last figure is the seasonal total, you can choose for it to start on 1 January or any other month). Thus these figures are updated each time Cumulus receives a rain reading from the station (they all include today-so-far), and these figures will not be displayed if Cumulus is unable to read rain information from your station.
** The today's total so far at each reading time is also added to the 'recent tag' array allowing total values for the day-so-far at one minute intervals for up to a week ago to be added as web tags to a web template.
* For the web tags, Cumulus
**Important, for the <#ryear> web tag, and for the 'This year' display on the ''main'' Cumulus screen, the processing reads the ''dayfile.txt'' for the rainfall season starting with the month set on the station settings screen and stored as the value for attribute ''RainSeasonStart'' in [[Cumulus.
**If you have set a 'year to date' value and Cumulus is being re-started when the year specified beside that figure matches the current calendar year, your year-to-date amount is also added into this year's total. This should normally only be relevant in your first rain season of operating Cumulus, but could be used if in any season you needed to add an extra amount because for some reason you had a gap in your recording period. ''Do be aware that if you select a rain season starting in a month other than January, the year to date figure will stop being added on 1 January because the year specified next to the figure to add on will then be the previous calendar year!''
**There is no corresponding setting for amending the total for the first 'this month' of Cumulus operation. The only way round this is to manually change the rainfall in dayfile.txt for the first day of operation to include rainfall on all previous days of month, but that could potentially cause you to set the maximum daily rainfall extreme record wrongly.
*Note that you need to stop and then restart Cumulus to update these initial values that are stored in memory and get any corrections you made to rogue values in the daily summary log (or year-to-date) reflected on the main Cumulus screen and in web tags.
The built-in dayfile.txt editor is used if it is necessary to amend the daily totals (to correct any monthly, rain season, or calendar year, totals); the built-in all-time (or monthly records) editor(s)
== How do I reset all my data to start again from scratch? ==
Stop Cumulus 1 and delete all of the files in the data folder. You may also want to edit the 'StartDate=' line in [[cumulus.ini]] to set the date for the start of your data, if you are starting again on a different date, although Cumulus 1 does not make any decisions based on that date, it simply outputs it twice (!) on one standard web page.
== How do I localise Cumulus 1 to my own language? ==
Cumulus does not directly support languages other than English. It was never intended for use in other languages, and it is not possible to add support for this now. However, the text used for:
*Forecasting
*Moon phases
*Beaufort Scale
*Trend descriptions
*Graph titles
*Extra sensor channels
can all be customised by using the [[strings.ini]] file.
'''This wiki page [[:Category:Other_Languages|Other Languages]] has some obsolete (valid in 2009-2010) information about customising what were the standard web pages in versions of Cumulus 1 up to 1.8.x. The translations there are NOT compatible with later
On the downloads page you can find third-party alternative web pages, these typically include some language translation modules, but beware that these may not be maintained to work with latest versions of Cumulus.
== Can I connect/disconnect my weather station while Cumulus 1 is running? ==
No. You must make sure your weather station is connected to your PC and switched on, before running Cumulus 1. Do not disconnect your station while Cumulus 1 is running.
== How does Cumulus deal with extra sensors? ==
By default, Cumulus 1 deals with weather stations incorporating solar sensors, if you have selected the relevant station 'Type' or 'Display solar/extra data' in configuration, but it has some capability to deal with extra sensors added including the Blake-Larsen Sun Recorder.
Cumulus 1 has the ability to input, log, and display Current Values/Outputs from the [[Rain_measurement#Optical_Rain_Gauges|Hydreon Optical Rain Sensor - Model RG-11]] and from either Oregon Scientific or Davis [[Extra_Sensor_Files|extra sensors]]. Only today's and yesterday's total rainfall from a Hydreon sensor are available in [[today.ini]] and [[yesterday.ini]] respectively.
For some Oregon Scientific models, the temperature from an extra sensor can replace the temperature from the main sensor for processing by Cumulus 1, but all extra sensor values are stored in a series of [[Extra_Sensor_Files| monthly log]] files for extra sensors.
No other processing is performed for Davis extra sensors, but past values are retained in a series of [[Extra_Sensor_Files|extra sensor monthly log]] files. The file [[strings.ini]] is used to customise the description associated with extra sensors.
== What is this "Solar Max" value which Cumulus is displaying? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
It's the current theoretical maximum solar radiation value at the current date and time at your location. It is calculated using the Ryan-Stolzenbach formula, and uses the 'transmission factor' configurable in the station settings to allow for the effect of transmission through the atmosphere. The figure is not particularly useful in itself; it is used if you have a solar sensor, to compare with the current solar radiation reading, in an attempt to determine whether the sun is currently shining or not.
You don't need to, and it's much safer if you don't; clearing the memory could lead to a loss of data. The memory indicator on the console has no effect on the logging of data; the console will automatically start re-using the oldest memory locations. As long as you are running Cumulus (at least occasionally), Cumulus will have downloaded the data it needs from the console, so the console is free to overwrite the oldest data when it needs to.
== How do I get my Davis station with USB working with Cumulus 1? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
Cumulus cannot drive the station in USB mode, you must install 'virtual serial port' drivers, and configure Cumulus to use the virtual serial port. Make sure you have the station connected to the PC during the following operations.
this utility, select Convert USB to Virtual Serial in your WeatherLink program group on the Start menu of your computer (Start>AllPrograms>WeatherLink>Convert USB to Virtual Serial) and run the utility to convert your data logger. Please contact Davis Technical Support (“Contacting Davis Technical Support” on page 26) for more information."
== Why does Cumulus 1 do some things the way it does, when there are better ways? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1
''This text is by the author, Steve Loft''
Cumulus was originally something I 'knocked together' quickly when I got my first weather station, simply because I couldn't find any other software anywhere which I was prepared to use.
No 'design' went into it, it was really just a prototype. Some of the things I did were just quick 'hacks' that I intended to fix when I did it 'properly'. But I never got around to going back and doing it 'properly', and it was never my intention that anyone else would use it. But I was persuaded to make it available for others, and then to add more and more enhancements.
The fact that it works with several different types of weather station means that much of it is a compromise; it doesn't use certain features of the weather station which it could use if it were dedicated to that type of weather station. For example, it typically does not use any high/low data that the station might store internally. Instead, it maintains its own high/low data from individual readings. There are a number of reasons for this; the fact that Cumulus supports an 0900-0900 day, and the weather station does not, and the fact that typically Cumulus maintains far more high/low values than the station does, and these need to be self-consistent.
So yes, I am aware that some of things that Cumulus does may seem strange, but it is simply not possible for me to start again from scratch,
And it is not possible for me to effectively produce separate versions of Cumulus specifically for each type of weather station. If you don't like the way Cumulus does certain things, do what I did and write your own software!
== Can I run 2 copies of Cumulus 1? ==
3 options:
*You can install Cumulus 1
*You can install 2 copies of Cumulus 1 in different paths on a single PC, ''if you have two weather stations'' and Cumulus is able to distinguish between them, e.g. they are from different manufacturers, or both are serial port stations (different ports), or one is USB and one is serial, or one is a Weatherlink IP. In other words the combination that does not work on a single PC is two USB stations (including clones from different suppliers) from the same manufacturer. Note that Davis stations with USB loggers are serial port stations as far as Cumulus is concerned, so there are no problems using multiple copies of Cumulus with multiple Davis stations on the same PC.
*It is possible to back up the Cumulus files from one installation running off a weather station, and briefly have another reduced functionality copy just looking at historic data without ever any updating (the second Cumulus is set up as if reading from an EasyWeather.dat file, but not given a path/file name) - see [[Cumulus.
Don't attempt to run Cumulus 1 and MX at same time, they cannot share a single weather station. However you can with a single weather station, stop Cumulus 1 and then run MX if they use different data folders, then later stop MX and run Cumulus 1.
= Troubleshooting =
{{Version badge 1}}<big>''Please note, these answers are written for Cumulus 1.x.y
The equivalent page for Cumulus MX is [[Cumulus MX FAQ]].
== My 'Error' light is flashing ==
{{Version badge 1}}Click on it, and a window will open describing the error. It may just be a temporary ftp problem. If you want to stop ftp errors being reported in this way, you can turn them off in the display settings ("Show FTP errors on error log window").
== My ‘new record’ light has stopped flashing ==
{{Version badge 1}}It is the normal situation that the light does not flash. The ‘new record’ light only flashes when an all-time record has been broken. It stops flashing if you click on it or restart Cumulus, until another all-time record is broken. When you first start using Cumulus, inevitably the light will flash a lot, even if you cancel it, as you will be breaking records constantly. After a while, it will 'settle down' and not flash so often.
== I installed a new version and my web page templates got over-written ==
{{Version badge 1}}The supplied web page templates are part of Cumulus and will be over-written on upgrade.
*If you want to create your own web pages, don’t edit the supplied ones, place your templates in a different folder and use the ‘extra files’ facility.
*From version 1.8.9, the installer offers the option of not over-writing the web templates; it unconditionally also installs them to a sub-folder of the web folder called 'originals', so you can refer to the originals if required, even if you chose the new option not to over-write whatever template files are already being processed in the web folder.
== I can’t find my data files! ==
{{Version badge 1}}You’re probably running Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 (or one of the corresponding server versions of Windows). Look in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Cumulus - note that this is a 'hidden' folder. Ideally, to avoid this situation, you would install to somewhere outside the Program Files hierarchy, as recommended in the '''readme.txt'''.
== I can't save my NOAA reports! ==
{{Version badge 1}}You've probably corrupted your Cumulus.
== My sunrise and sunset times are wrong ==
You've almost certainly entered your co-ordinates incorrectly, or not entered them at all - on the station settings screen
*You must enter DEGREES, MINUTES, and SECONDS, no other format will work.
*Make sure to use '''unsigned whole numbers''' for degrees, minutes, and seconds, with a 'W' for your longitude if you're West of the Greenwich meridian (e.g. if you are in the United States), and the appropriate letter for your latitude (N for northern hemisphere, S for southern hemisphere).
If you are not familiar with the degrees/minutes/seconds standard format and have your co-ordinates in some other format, there are pages on the web which will convert for you. One such is here: http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html
== End of Day Rollover Failures ==
{{Version badge 1}}The yesterday values on the Main Screen under "Recent Extremes" are not shown correctly:
*EITHER when the ''end of day rollover has not taken place''.
**The usual cause of this is allowing your PC to 'sleep' while Cumulus is running.
**You can try the same cure, but may not be able to recover the lost information in this case.
If you are viewing or editing log files at the time when rollover takes place, it is likely that some parts of the daily rollover will fail.
*Cumulus 1 provides the functionality to view any log file and you can update the log files that contain extreme records or the daily summary.
*Do make sure you have exited out of the built-in viewer or editor before rollover is due.
**If you inadvertently forget this, the cure of overwriting files mentioned above is applicable if your weather station has an internal log and it is around 2 logging intervals (see [[#Cumulus_takes_a_long_time_to_download_the_data_from_my_Davis_station_at_start_up]]) after rollover.
*When using an external editor, close Cumulus before opening any Cumulus file.
== Why do I have some unexpected zero figures? ==
== I’ve ‘zoomed’ a graph, how do I get it back to full size? ==
{{Version badge 1}}Drag from lower right to upper left.
== Cumulus can't read a data update from my station ==
== Cumulus read some invalid figures from my station ==
If you have:
*just started using Cumulus,
... check you have the correct station type selected (see the Cumulus ''Help'' for the settings screen).
{{Version badge 1}}Choosing the wrong station type means individual items of information are not correctly assigned to weather parameters. Cumulus knows what is at what location for each station type.
*Is the information ''correct on the station console'' (i.e. not a fault with a sensor), but incorrectly displayed on Cumulus screen (i.e. transfer problem)?
Check all your settings on Cumulus, or see a [[#Cumulus_can.27t_read_a_data_update_from_my_station|previous question]].
Over successive versions of Cumulus more and more code has been incorporated to deal with the way some stations are prone to reporting rogue readings.
*Ensure you are using the latest Cumulus build, if you are using an old version you will not have any enhancements made since the earlier build that might improve the way Cumulus reads from your station type.
In general, if Cumulus 1.x.x identifies an odd value for up to 6 times, it will reuse the last good value instead
up to 5 minutes. That is designed to be long enough for you to spot the problem and deal with it. Sometimes the problem will right itself within that time. After that time, a problem with reading temperature, humidity, wind, or pressure, means Cumulus cannot calculate derived values, the last successful read is considered too stale to reuse, and by default Cumulus will stop any further processing.
'''Fine Offset stations''' are prone to reporting the odd
*{{Version badge 1}}From the '''Configuration''' menu select [[Cumulus_Screenshots#Configuration_Menu_Screens|''Calibration'']] and in the '''Spike removal''' frame you can specify "the maximum '''differences''' between successive values" that Cumulus is to tolerate
*{{Version badge 1}}See the '''Help''' for that screen, and note that '''spike removal applies while Cumulus is running''', it is not applied to catch-up readings from the station's logger.
'''Possible Cure:'''
The purpose of the backup files is to allow Cumulus to be 'rewound' to a particular point in time. It simulates the situation where someone had closed Cumulus down at that point, and is only now starting it up again, and needs data to be downloaded from the station's logger to catch up to the present time. Obviously this cure will not work if your station type does not have a logger (one is needed for Cumulus to read old readings again).
*If you have only installed Cumulus a few days ago, or have just re-started Cumulus after it was stopped and encounter multiple ''rogue readings in the catch-up from the station logger''; '''one possibility''' is to stop Cumulus and find the [[#On_restarting_Cumulus.2C_it_did_not_successfully_read_all_data_from_when_it_last_ran|backup files]] that it took when you started it up (or just after the previous roll-over time), copy those files into the data folder, overwriting the ones that are there, then when you start it up again it will rewind back to the time in that back-up, and could sort itself out.
{{Version badge 1}}The Cumulus 1 [[
== How to restore a corrupted log file ==
Full information about all the log files is elsewhere [[:Category:Log_Files]], so you can study the notes linked from there, but here is a very quick summary.
You may want to read [[Calculate_Missing_Values]] for more information.
Cumulus will create a copy of each of the logs (.ini and .txt) in the [[backup folder]], both at end of day rollover, and when the software is (re-)started.
If the corrupted file in [[Data folder|'data']] folder is a log file holding extremes (not the detailed log created for each month nor 'today.ini'), then the easiest way to remove false extremes recorded recently is to to overwrite the current file with the one from the most recent back-up.
Since 'today.ini' is updated very frequently (every time Cumulus interrogates your weather station), it is not advised that you overwrite that file, unless you are able to do a rewind as described in [[#On_restarting_Cumulus.2C_it_did_not_successfully_read_all_data_from_when_it_last_ran|earlier]] answer.
If you were to use the backup folder copy of the detailed log, you would lose all of the stored values since the backup, so again only do that in a rewind context where all the files from the backup are overwriting those in data folder, and you simply want to copy in what is still in any station logging memory.
Cumulus 1 provides editors - go to Edit menu and pick the relevant extremes file, the either type over the figures that you want to change or use the buttons that load the more detailed log files and then figures from them can be copied into extreme file. There is an option (in the view menu) to read the latest detailed log for the current (or past) month, but there is no built in editor for those files.
You may want to read [[Correcting_Extremes]] for more information, but here is a summary.
* Remember 'alltimelog.txt' logs each change made to 'alltime.ini' so you don't need to correct the former, but it can help you know how to regress the latter.
* "speciallog.txt" (if used) holds internal temperature and internal humidity, it does not get copied to backup folder, so you need to back it up yourself.
* 'yesterday.ini' will get overwritten at end of day, so it is rare to edit that.
* "dayfile.txt" has a new line appended to it at the end of each day, if you go back to the backup copy and you lose the latest line, then most of the information can be extracted from the 'today.ini' in the same backup folder, but you need to understand the process and content differences as explained in the Wiki for the two files.
* 'year.ini' and 'month.ini' record extremes shown for this year and this month, the diagnostics logs created in the sub-folder
* "monthlyalltime.ini" is
* 'log.xml' is another file that Cumulus does not copy to the backup folder, so you should back it up periodically. It is only found in Cumulus 1 and is edited using the 'Weather Diary' screen in the 'View' menu. Although it can be edited by a 'XML' editor, I advise against it, as the way that the field 'RowState' is calculated is complex, and if you corrupt the file, Cumulus 1 will crash.
* "mmmyy.txt" (naming varies depending on computer settings) is the detailed log mentioned above
Because many positive values are realistic, Cumulus generally will accept those odd increases as a result of accidental knocking of a tipping bucket gauge, due to wind effects on the gauge, or even due to the station electronics generating a rogue reading. The sub-answers below explain how to correct such errors.
=== (Invented rain) Error in today's total ===
Easy - correct today's total using the [[Today.ini#Editing_rainfall_in_today.ini_within_Cumulus | 'today's rain']] editor on the edit menu
=== (Invented rain) Error in date/time of 'Last Tip' ===
=== (Invented rain) Error in number of consecutive days with or without rain ===
# The counts are for completed days, not part days. The threshold for whether a day counts as a wet day is set in the optional parameter [[Cumulus.
# Remember that 'ConsecutiveDryDays' and 'ConsecutiveWetDays' do not include today, they reflect the daily rainfall amounts stored in the [[dayfile.txt|daily summary log]].
=== (Invented rain) Error in total or high rainfall rate for any day before today ===
Just edit the total or rate for the relevant day in [[Dayfile.txt#Editing_the_file_or_other_Manipulation_outside_Cumulus|dayfile.txt]], using the [[Cumulus_Screenshots#File.2FEdit.2FHelp_Menu|the daily summary log file - dayfile.txt]] editor on the Cumulus 1 edit menu
=== (Invented rain) Error in total, or extremes, for this month and/or this year ===
*Longest dry period
*Longest wet period
The correction procedure for all these is as briefly described in [[#How_do_I_correct_my_all-time_.28or_monthly_all-time.29_records.3F |this FAQ]] and more fully described in [[Correcting_Extremes]].
To see the previous value for all-time records see [[Alltimelog.txt]]. If your all-time records, or month-by-month all-time records have been affected, in Cumulus 1 you can use the built-in editors
=== (Invented rain and) Rain Counter ===
Note that other rain figures, such as 'rain last hour', 'rain last 24 hours' and 'rain since midnight' depend on a sensible progression of the rain counter described in previous sub-answer, so it's not easy to correct this; it is easier to wait until the erroneous figure is far enough in the past so as not to affect the calculation of these 3 other values. Note that if you're using a midnight start of day then you don't need the 'rain since midnight' figure anyway, as it is normally the same as 'rain today', and that figure is much more easily corrected.
If you really do want to try to correct these other rain figures; you would need to stop Cumulus, then find (for the period in question), the correct [[
=== (Invented rain) Error prevention by Spike removal ===
=== (Invented rain) More information ===
There is more information about correcting rogue data elsewhere in the Wiki,
== My monthly and/or annual rainfall totals are wrong ==
Cumulus calculates these when it is restarted, holds the values within memory, and increments them as required while it is running. This FAQ in the previous section [[#Where_does_Cumulus_get_its_this_month_and_this_year_rainfall_totals_from.3F]] has a concise description of how Cumulus calculates these figures.
* The rainfall total shown on the ''This month'' screen within the '''View''' menu, is calculated from summing [[dayfile.txt]] totals for a selected month, and so for the default current month will exclude the current meteorological day.
**The rainfall total for today so far is added for the web tag ''<#rmonth>''. If too small a figure is shown, then the most likely issue is that your dayfile.txt is corrupted and Cumulus cannot read one or more lines. Such corruption might be introduced if you have had a power blip while Cumulus was writing to the file, or if you have viewed the file in a Microsoft tool that might have introduced unwanted characters.
**The Cumulus editor for [[Amending dayfile|amending dayfile.txt]] arranges the fields in columns and you should be able to spot when the fields in one line don't match others. The editors for monthly records (and others) have a facility to read dayfile.txt that can pick up some errors in this file and tell you the line number of the first error.
*
**Note that for Cumulus 1 the value labelled "This year" in the rainfall frame may not be the total for this calendar year, as you can choose it to start in any month (see next point).
* The rainfall total reported by the ''<#ryear>'' web tag is for the rainfall season to date, it is calculated from taking today's rain and then adding the sum of the totals in dayfile.txt starting with the first (meteorological) day of the month specified in the 'rainfall season' frame on the ''station settings'' screen within the '''Configuration''' menu, until the end of dayfile.txt is reached. So check you have specified the right starting month there before deciding the rainfall total shown is wrong. This is the same figure as is shown on the main screen of Cumulus 1 for "This year" in the rainfall frame.
**If you need to, you can specify a year-to-date total to add in for the period up to the point where you started using Cumulus, so that your first year’s total is correct. This is also on the [[Cumulus_Screenshots#Station|Station Configuration screen]]. Make sure you specify the first Cumulus operating year here, otherwise the extra will be added to the annual total for the wrong year! Do note, if your rain season starts in a month other than January, the extra is added throughout the calendar year specified, it is lost when the season swaps to a different calendar year, and if you change the specified year then it will also apply to the next season!
See immediately preceding FAQ [[#My_station_invented_some_rain_that_didn.27t_really_occur.2C_and_I_want_to_set_it_to_zero_.28or_some_other_figure.29 |correcting rainfall]] for how to correct errors in total for particular days and how to correct the high extremes for the various periods.
In all cases, wait until Cumulus has written the next log entry (i.e. wait the number of minutes that you have set as the Cumulus logging interval), then restart Cumulus to get the monthly and annual totals recalculated from correct daily totals.
If you need to correct within day values for trend graphs as well as the longer period totals, provided you know roughly when the rogue rainfall was recorded, find (and edit) it in the [[
== The ‘gust’ line has disappeared from my graph ==
{{Version badge 1}}You probably have Cumulus set to calculate a 10-minute average, and your logger period is 10 minutes or longer, so your gust comes out the same as the average when using data from the logger. Depending on your weather station type, there are a few things you could try, to improve things. Decrease your station's logger interval, and if you have Cumulus calculating the wind speed average and you have a Fine Offset station, set 'Use speed for avg calculation'.
== My ‘gust’ values are the same as my ‘average’ wind speed values. ==
== I’ve just installed Cumulus, and it didn’t download all the old data from my weather station ==
''Cumulus deliberately doesn’t attempt to download any data from before the point when you first run it.
{{Version badge 1}} If you wish, although this isn't recommended:
# Ensure you have run Cumulus at least once, then stop Cumulus
# Edit [[today.ini]] (in the data folder), look for the ‘Timestamp’ line, then carefully sticking to exactly the same format as is currently in the file, change the date and time to your earliest available data in your weather station logger (or just before if you don't know exact time)
# Optionally, if you have '''only just started''' using Cumulus, so you have nothing useful to lose, you could delete all of the ''other'' files in the data folder, and delete all lines in the "today.ini" other than those shown in the extract below (with dates modified appropriately).
# Now restart Cumulus
#* if you did step 3, processing will start again with just the data from the station's logger.
#* if you have existing files in [[data folder]] when you restart, you will probably need to edit your log files in the '''data''' folder as you may have duplicate entries and/or entries out of order. Your rain totals will almost certainly also be wrong - the total for "today" in particular. See the [[FAQ#My_station_invented_some_rain_that_didn.27t_really_occur.2C_and_I_want_to_set_it_to_zero_.28or_some_other_figure.29 |FAQ]] entry about correcting rainfall data.
# Note that if you do this, it is at your own risk, and you will need to sort out any issues which may arise yourself.
<pre>
[General]
CurrentDay=10
</pre>
Note that this method does not work for the Oregon WMR200 station types because this station deletes logger entries when they are downloaded, and there is no mechanism for retrieving logger entries for a particular period - it just sends all the entries that it has. You may be able to circumvent this by missing out step 1 above, and before you run Cumulus 1 for the first time, creating a [[today.ini]] file in the [[data folder]], with just the items shown above in the file. Change the dates and time to match the point from which you want Cumulus to start downloading data. If the station has already sent the data, this may not work, unfortunately.
If you stored data from your weather station (on another file-based system) before you first ran Cumulus, then you may be able to (using a text editor outside Cumulus) generate [[Standard_log_files#Importing_pre-Cumulus_data|standard logging files]] for the pre-Cumulus period. See [[Calculate Missing Values|elsewhere in this Wiki]] for more information on what you can then do with those files within Cumulus.
== I have inserted pre-Cumulus data and now I get errors ==
Probably some of your inserts used the wrong format (blank rows, fields with real numbers where integers expected, alternatively missing or duplicated fields). See [[:Category:
== I have inserted pre-Cumulus data making ''''Records began on'
There might be confusion about the terminology ''Records'', in the Cumulus usage it does not mean when was your earliest data, it means when did Cumulus start tracking extremes (see [[Correcting_Extremes#Introduction]] (it does not say '''Data recording began on'''). You should update the extreme records for the inserted data, as advised in [[Correcting_Extremes]] before you make the changes suggested below.
''''Records began on' this_date''' appears in TWO places in the example [[Cumulus_template_file|template file]] called [[Customised_templates#The_Standard_Templates_for_Cumulus_1|recordT.htm]]:
There are alternative ways to correct this (do any one or any combination):
*You can manually replace the '''<#recordsbegandate>''', with any date as ordinary text, in either or both of those places.
*You can manually replace either ''Records began on'' or ''Records Since'' with '''Cumulus began on''' leaving the web tag unchanged.
**You can change the other one, not changed above, to read '''Imported data starts''' and replace the web tag with the new date.
*You can stop Cumulus, and manually edit [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)#Section:_Station |'''station''' section of cumulus.ini]] within the main Cumulus folder.
**Change the "StartDate=" line so the value for that property has the date you want. Be sure to use the same format for the date.
Like most FAQ on this page, this was written for Cumulus 1, please be aware that MX works differently, and so this does not apply!
== Cumulus doesn’t show the same pressure as my Fine Offset console ==
# that you are comparing the Cumulus display with the ‘relative’ pressure on your console,
# that only one copy of Cumulus is accessing the weather station (and no other software),
# that you do not have a 'EWpressureoffset=x.y' line in the [Station] section of [[Cumulus.
# and that you do not have a setting for pressure on the Cumulus calibration screen.
The Fine Offset stations only store absolute/station pressure readings in their weather memory locations updated with each transmission and read by Cumulus. Within Cumulus, the software applies the adjustment to sea level before any further processing. It does ''not'' use the altitude setting in the cumulus station configuration screen.
Normally when Cumulus starts, it reads in [http://www.jim-easterbrook.me.uk/weather/mm/ the fixed block] in the console a pair of absolute/station pressure and relative/sea level pressure readings and uses the difference between these as the ‘offset’ in millibar for the station; Cumulus uses this offset subsequently to calculate the sea level pressure (each time when reading the absolute pressure in the weather memory locations of the station), but it is possible to define the offset in
'''IMPORTANT''' These notes apply to Cumulus 1. '''bvs79669''' did some investigation in January 2019 that reveals ''the [[Fineoffset_Memory_Map|mapping of memory bytes to pressure]], reported by Jim Easterbrook, and used by Steve Loft is wrong''. The two most significant bits included in that mapping as being part of the pressure output should not be included as they create impossibly high readings for pressure.
Make sure that you have set your console's relative pressure correctly:
Sometimes the offset that cumulus reads from the fixed block is clearly garbage, so
# the cumulus error light is set {{Version badge 1}},
# an error message suggests you check the station, and
# Cumulus uses zero offset instead as a best effort.
EWpressureoffset=x.y
where x.y is your pressure offset. '''Cumulus will then use this instead of reading the fixed block offset from the station'''.
'''Note''' that ''you must supply the offset in hPa'' (i.e. the millibar units that the station works with) and that this circumvention generally stops Cumulus from agreeing with the relative pressure displayed on the console.
''If you swap from Cumulus 1 to Cumulus MX, remove this pressure offset'', the latest release of MX is much better at communicating with a Fine Offset weather station and rarely needs use of this offset.
== My pressure suddenly dropped! Or suddenly increased! ==
== I get an error when I try to view my all-time records. Also, they don’t appear on my web site ==
The date format on your system has probably changed. If you look at [[Alltime.ini|alltime.ini]], you may spot the date format differences and work out what was date of change. Otherwise, go into '''Control Panel''' on your PC (not "Settings" as is normal for Windows 10 Operating system) and open the '''Clock and Region''' section. Next choose '''Region''' option. On the "Region pop-up-screen" you should check what is shown in the ''Format'' box, and what is shown in ''Short date'' and ''Long date'' drop downs.
Please see [[Correcting_Extremes]] page for further advice.
== I get an error when I close Cumulus ==
Cumulus 1 does sometimes report an error when you close it. This does not appear to cause any problems, you can just close the error message. I don't seem to be able to do anything about this, as the 'crash' is not in code that I have control over. You may be able to avoid this error by avoiding closing Cumulus while it is uploading to the internet. Please don't bother sending me a bug report about this.
== My forecast says "Not available" ==
== My computer hibernated/suspended, and I lost data/my graphs 'flat-lined' ==
{{Version badge 1}}
Cumulus can't cope with being suspended, it just carries on as normal after being woken. There is an option in the station settings to 'close on suspend', so Cumulus will close itself as a safety measure, if you forget to do it manually. Don't use the 'close on suspend' option and the 'confirm shutdown' option at the same time; this will cause problems.
== My heat index/humidex/wind chill is the same as my temperature ==
*These can only be calculated when you have not only your temperature sensor working, but also your humidity sensor must be working for humidex and heat index; and your wind speed sensor must be working for wind chill
*Wind chill only applies when the average wind speed is above 4.8 kph '''and''' (by default in Cumulus as it should really always be set, but this is an option that can be unset) the temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius.
*Heat index only applies when the temperature is above 27 degrees Celsius '''and''' the humidity is above 40%.
* Humidex does not have any 'cutoff' values, but at low temperature and/or humidity it will give the same figure as ambient temperature.
If heat index or wind chill is not applicable, Cumulus will set them the same as the ambient temperature. You may wish to use a script on your web pages to '''set to null''' heat index, humidex and wind chill when required sensors are not working or when the measure is notapplicable.
== Cumulus is showing a different wind speed compared to my console ==
== I get error -32710 with Cumulus and my USB Davis station ==
The USB support in the Davis DLL which Cumulus uses doesn't seem to work. You need to use the CP210X USB/serial software which Davis supply, and use the station in serial mode. If you have previously been using your station with Weatherlink in USB mode, you will need to change to serial mode in Weatherlink before you can use the station with Cumulus. You can do this using [http://www.davisnet.com/support/weather/download/CP210X_USB_Serial_Converter_ver2.exe this utility from Davis]. See also this FAQ entry - https://cumuluswiki.
== When I start Cumulus, the graphs restart again each time and don't show the earlier data ==
{{Version badge 1}}You probably have an error in one or more data files. Look near the beginning of the latest file in the
This problem can also occur if you change your system format settings (date format, decimal and list separators etc). Again, check the diags file for a message about a number not being a valid floating point value.
== The peak values on my graphs are not the same as my extreme values ==
{{Version badge 1}}The graphs are snapshots of the data, taken once a minute while Cumulus is running; it is not feasible to plot every data point. If the extreme value did not coincide exactly with the point at which the data was added to the graph, then it will not appear on the graph. The graphs are not intended to show all of the highs and lows, they are there to give an idea of the trends. This also applies to 'Select-A-Graph', which takes its data from the data logs; the highs and lows do not necessarily appear in the periodic data logs.
This is most noticeable with wind gusts, the value of which can change rapidly, even over a period of a minute. The 'Plot latest gust' setting causes the 'Latest' figure (as shown on the main screen) to be plotted. What this figure represents exactly depends on your weather station type. This figure may vary rapidly, e.g. on Davis stations, it changes every 3 seconds or so. The graphs are plotted once a minute, and hence, with Davis stations, for example, there is approximately a one in 20 chance of any given 'latest' figure actually being plotted.
Cumulus will always show zero average bearing when the average wind speed is zero (it can't be otherwise because it's calculated using the wind speed). In addition, it will show zero current bearing when the current wind speed is zero if you have ''use bearing zero when calm'' selected in the [[Cumulus_Screenshots#Station|station]] settings (accessible from '''Configuration''' menu).
This also happens if your
== My graphs appear to be plotted less frequently just after Cumulus starts up ==
{{Version badge 1}}When running live, Cumulus plots data at 1-minute intervals. When it starts up, it pre-fills the graphs with data from the log files, which generally (depending on how you have Cumulus and your station configured) will be at less frequent intervals.
== I closed Cumulus, the 'please wait' form appeared, but Cumulus didn't close, even after several minutes ==
{{Version badge 1}}If you've closed Cumulus shortly after it has downloaded a lot of data from the logger, it can take a while for the logging thread to get everything written away to disk, and Cumulus won't close until this has completed. However, in some circumstances, there seems to be a situation where Cumulus will never close, so you will need to close it with task manager. If you think you know what conditions cause this to happen, please let me know.
== Cumulus isn't logging data at the interval that I set ==
== Cumulus takes a very long time to shut down ==
{{Version badge 1}}You may have closed it very soon after starting it up, when it had a lot of data to download from the station logger, and you use Weather Underground. From version 1.9.1 there is a facility where it 'catches up' with data that hasn't been uploaded to Weather Underground while it hasn't been running. This takes a little while, and if you close it while it is doing it, it will take a long time for all of the updates to time out. You need to give it sufficient time to finish the upload. From version 1.9.2, there is a 'catch up' light which shows that the upload is taking place, and the 'catch up' is optional'; and it will abort much more quickly if you still close it while the catch up is taking place.
== My temperature Min/Max/Avg graph is empty ==
{{Version badge 1}}
The most likely explanation is that you have only recently started running Cumulus (in the last day or two). It adds new values to this graph at the end of each day; it wouldn't make sense to add a value part of the way through the day, and you need a few points to be plotted before the graph starts to take shape. You need to wait until you have been running Cumulus for a few days.
If you've been running Cumulus for more than a few days, but the graph is still empty, the most likely explanation is that it was unable to read your dayfile.txt file. Look at the latest file in the [[Diags_folder|'diags']] folder (the files are plain text) for error messages mentioning dayfile.txt.
== The longest dry/wet spell for this month/year includes days from last month/year ==
== Cumulus isn't performing periodic tasks, like data logging or web uploads ==
{{Version badge 1}}Cumulus assumes a certain level of weather station functionality. It checks that it has received data from a number of sensors (e.g. pressure, outside temperature, wind) before it starts periodic calculations, logging, uploading to the web, or drawing graphs.
This is an attempt to make sure that bad data is not logged. If your weather station is not fully functional, you will not be able to use Cumulus fully.
You can over-ride the start up check by adding a line to the [Station] section of [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)#Section:_Station|cumulus.ini]], thus: ''NoSensorCheck=1''
(You need to do this while Cumulus is stopped). Note that you are likely to get bad data logged if you do this.
'''NOTE: In Cumulus MX, you can now set the No Sensor Check value from the GUI. See... Station Settings | Common Options'''
== I've changed my Twitter password, and now Cumulus won't update Twitter ==
{{Version badge 1}}
You need to force Cumulus to re-authenticate with Twitter. Stop Cumulus and edit cumulus.ini. Find the [Twitter] section, and '''delete''' the lines which start
== How do I correct today's or yesterday's highs and lows? ==
If the problem occurred because Cumulus wasn't able to download the data from the station's logger when you started it up in the morning (or perhaps you turned off the 'use data logger' setting for some reason), you can get it to try again by 'rewinding' to the time when you started Cumulus, and allowing it to try again. Cumulus takes a copy of the current files each time it starts up, and puts them in a folder in the backup folder in the Cumulus installation.
To do a rewind:
#Stop Cumulus,
# find the backup folder with the appropriate timestamp,
# copy all of the files from the backup folder into the Cumulus data folder,
# start Cumulus up again.
'''Today's''' totals, highs and lows (and '''yesterday's rain''' total) are held in [[today.ini]] in the Cumulus data folder. Follow the cross-references if you are unsure which parameter is what. To change any values, stop Cumulus and edit the file(s) in a text editor. Be sure to keep any date and time formats the same.
If you are editing '''yesterday's highs and lows''', the totals (including RG11 rain but not standard rain), highs, and lows are held in [[yesterday.ini]]. However, you probably also need to
If your all-time and/or monthly all-time records have been affected, see the next [[#How_do_I_correct_my_all-time_.28or_monthly_all-time.29_records.3F|FAQ entry]].
== How do I correct my all-time (or monthly all-time) records? ==
Cumulus works by whenever the reading it is currently processing exceeds a particular extreme record, that record is updated. It cannot make any adjustments retrospectively.
Cumulus takes a backup of most of the active data files when it starts up, and also at the start of the meteorological day (just after midnight for a lot of users). The backups are kept in folders within the backup sub-folder in the Cumulus installation. So often the easiest method would be to find the latest backup from before the error occurred, and copy the ''alltime.txt'' and/or ''monthlyalltime.txt'' file from the backup to the Cumulus data folder. Do this with Cumulus stopped.
There is advice on [[Correcting_Extremes]] page that explains how corrections can be made. Using the Cumulus 1 [[Cumulus_Screenshots#File.2FEdit.2FHelp_Menu|built-in appropriate editor]] from the first couple of commands in the Edit menu allows you to see, and copy across, suggested extremes based on contents of the monthly [[Standard_log_files]] or contents of the [[dayfile.txt|daily summary log]].
If you know the correct figures, you can alternatively enter them manually directly into the .ini files and not bother to update the detailed log or the daily summary log. (It is pointless to edit the .ini files directly and then afterwards edit the log files):
*You can look at the [[Alltimelog.txt]] file to find the previous values for the [[alltime.ini|all-time records]].
*Similar entries are logged to the [[Diags_folder|sub-folder called 'diags']] files for any updates to the monthly highs and lows in [[monthlyalltime.ini|month-by-month records]].
== It's January 1st and my 'rain since midnight' and/or 'last 24 hours rain' and/or Evapotranspiration are wrong/negative ==
== Cumulus stops at the "Downloading data" screen ==
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If you have a Fine Offset station, this is probably caused by the station's USB interface locking up - a known problem with some Fine Offset stations. You should be able to get it going again by doing a reset - remove batteries and the USB cable. Recent Fine Offset models have a problem where they can lock up frequently, requiring a reset. From version 1.9.3 of Cumulus onwards, there is an option to synchronise the reading of data with the console writing the data, to avoid doing both at the same time, and this seems to avoid most lockups. The setting is "Synchronise Fine Offset reads" on the station settings screen.
If you look in the status bar at the bottom of the Cumulus window, there may a message "Error: no response"; this would confirm that the station has locked up and needs resetting.
If you are using the "Synchronise" setting but are still getting frequent console interface lockups, then the clocks on the console and the platform running Cumulus may be drifting too far between synchronisations. Look in the
FOReadAvoidPeriod=N
== Cumulus locks up when it starts and I have to use the task manager to kill it ==
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If you have a ''Fine Offset station'', this is most likely caused by the station's interface locking up, i.e the station has stopped communicating with the PC.
== Cumulus gives an error and won't run on my HP computer ==
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It's a known problem with HP computers; they have missing fonts. One solution is to install [http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=16083 this font update] from Microsoft. It appears that computers other than HP can have the same font issue, so it is worth installing the font update anyway, if you get a problem where Cumulus won't start.
== The wind rose in Cumulus does not display anything with my Fine Offset ==
{{Version badge 1}}The Fine Offset weather stations are supposed to supply data for 16 wind directions, however the design is such that most of them only actually use 8 of the possible 16. Try setting the wind rose to only display 8 directions by setting the 'wind rose points' value to 8 on the display settings screen.
== I've set the graph background to white, but there's a problem with the small wind direction graph ==
== I have problems after upgrading to Windows 10 ==
{{Version badge 1}}See this forum post - https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14148
== How do I enable debug logging in Cumulus? ==
This depends on your build:
* The only way to turn on the logging of debugging messages in all builds of Cumulus 1, is to stop Cumulus 1, edit the [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)#Section:_Station|Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1) configuration file]], and add a line in the [Station] section: <tt>Logging = 1</tt>, then restart Cumulus 1.
* From build 1003 onwards, you can also turn it on/off using the '''Configuration''' menu (debug option is included in drop down of that menu).
Please see all these pages: [[Bugreport.txt]], [[Debug.log]], and [[Diags_folder]].
= Website =
== How do I replace the 'bird' image on my website? ==
There are several ways to change the image of the 'bird' on the standard Cumulus web page. You will need a [[FTP tools|FTP tool]].
* The simplest way is to upload a new picture to the images folder of your website; the file should be called picture.jpg. Please ensure the image is not too large and bear in mind it will appear on the bottom left of the page; the site data may cover some of the image. As a guide, the default image is 600 x 450 pixels.
* Secondly, you may upload an image using your own file name. Edit the ''weatherstyle.css'' file and look for the line <tt>background-image: url(images/picture.jpg);</tt> around line 9 and adjust as necessary. Upload the edited css file to your website.
</pre>
== How do I remove Inside Temperature graph, or add solar/UV/sunshine, to Trends Web Page? ==
{{Version badge 1}}BELOW ONLY APPLIES TO CUMULUS 1.
Locate the Cumulus 'web' folder on your PC and edit the following file:
'''trendsT.htm'''
<td></td>
</pre>
*If you want to stop Cumulus uploading the indoor temperature graph, you can un-tick 'Include standard images' on the 'files' tab of the internet settings, and list all of the images that you still want to be uploaded as extra files.
*To show solar instead, replace 'intemp.png' with 'solar.png', replace 'intempsm.png' with 'solarsm.png', and change the wording of the value associated with the alt property.
*To make Cumulus upload the solar graph, select it on the 'files' tab of the internet settings.
== Why are there no graphs on my standard trends web page? ==
{{Version badge 1}}CUMULUS 1 ONLY
Either 1) You have not created an images sub-folder (within your folder that holds web pages) as instructed in the Cumulus Help ('setting up your website' page) - also explained in [[Simple Website setup]]. In this case, the bird image will not be appearing in the bottom left corner of your web pages.
== What is the size of the standard Cumulus update? ==
{{Version badge 1}}The default is that all of the standard pages and standard images are uploaded on each update at whatever standard update frequency you select.
In total for version 1.9.2, it's about half a megabyte - about 100kB for the pages (about half of that is the gauges.htm page with all the detailed wind plotting points, and half the other pages) and 400kB for the variable images (moon phase, some gauges images and trend graphs - the exact size of latter can vary if you change the period they cover).
== My web pages are empty ==
One common cause of web pages appearing to be of size zero, or not uploading with new contents when Cumulus attempts to use FTP, is that your firewall (or your FTP server) has limited the allowed operations (e.g. can't delete, can't insert, can't rename ...). Try changing from passive mode to active mode transfers (or vice versa). Try using a manual FTP operation (with your own FTP client) and see if that works.
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If empty web pages are being successfully uploaded to your web site (i.e. they report size of 0 kB, but do not produce 'error 404 - page not found' message), and your browser shows that their modification date is recent (see next FAQ), then another likely cause is that the [[Customised_templates#What_is_meant_by_.27Cumulus_processes_templates.27| Cumulus processing]] of templates is failing:
*Either (since build 1093, as made clear in the release notes)[[File:Web settings.JPG]] the character encoding (for standard named templates that are [[Customised_templates#What_is_meant_by_.27Cumulus_processes_templates.27| processed by Cumulus]]) is specified incorrectly on the '''Configuration''' menu, ''Internet'' dialog, '''Sites/Options''' tab, ''Web Settings'' frame as shown about half way down on this screen extract:
**Deselect the option where indicated by red arrow if your template includes something like <code><meta content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type" /></code>
**For customised pages, (without standard Cumulus template names), select/un-select the UTF-8 encoding in the appropriate column on the '''Configuration''' menu, ''Internet'' dialog, '''Files''' tab screen where you list the local and remote names.
*Or you have edited/customised the template and added an incorrectly specified Cumulus [[
== My web pages have obsolete web tag values in them ==
You'll need to list the (source) file including paths on the files tab of the internet settings, and specify a destination path and file name for the remote file in each case. Don't tick the ''FTP?'' box for standard cumulus pages (the exception is for a local web server and any non-standard web page that attempts to read using a script a local file such as dayfile.txt as this does need FTP to generate the server-based web page). For the standard images, you can supply a folder name (specify on the same screen), and they will all get copied there. See [[Customised_templates#What_to_select_on_the_.27Files.27_tab_of_the_Internet_Settings_screen_within_the_.27Configuration.27_menu|here]] for greater detail.
There's a limit of 10 entries on the files tab in Cumulus 1.9.x (in Cumulus MX all 100 entries are included in the settings interface). Entries for the full 100 files can also be amended by editing [[Cumulus.
== Error Codes generated by FTP or Winsock ==
Cumulus 1 doesn't support Secure FTP. You can configure Cumulus to invoke an external program like WinSCP, as described here: [[SFTP | SFTP article]]
== Directory related problems in FTP ==
*
* Any ''files you specify'' for uploading at standard update frequency are uploaded between standard pages (if 'Include Standard Files' selected) and (applies only to Cumulus 1) standard images (if 'Include Standard Images' selected). You should specify the path (including any web site directory) in 'remote filenames', as there is no call to 'change directory'. In this case, if that path is invalid, the upload fails.
*
* If you have enabled ''Realtime'', the realtime.txt file is uploaded without doing a change directory, (by appending "/realtime.txt" to the directory on the ''Internet settings'' screen in '''Sites/Options'''). In this case, if the web site directory in your settings is invalid, the upload of the real time file fails.
* On the ''NOAA Setup'' screen the optional '''Directory''' parameter required is the relative path; from your FTP root, to where the NOAA report pages are to be stored. (It is totally independent of the directory on the ''Internet settings'' screen in '''Sites/Options'''). Click the '''Help''' button for full explanation. Like realtime.txt, the upload destination is determined by appending the file-name for the report to any NOAA directory, and will fail if that directory is specified wrongly.
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