Cumulus MX FAQ - Revision history

Sfws: corrected a link

2021-01-26T18:17:14Z

corrected a link

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:17, 26 January 2021
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	I started pasting in useful material, mostly from Steve Loft's posts in the forum about the beta version of MX, but as at that time I was not using MX I hoped somebody else would make sense of it and create a better layout. Of course nobody did.		I started pasting in useful material, mostly from Steve Loft's posts in the forum about the beta version of MX, but as at that time I was not using MX I hoped somebody else would make sense of it and create a better layout. Of course nobody did.

	When I did start using MX, I decided to edit other articles first, see [[Cumulus MX]], [[Cumulus MX formal release versions]], [[Webtags]], [[Cumulus.ini]], [[Dayfile.txt]], [[Category:Log Files]], [[Php webtags]], and various others.		When I did start using MX, I decided to edit other articles first, see [[Cumulus MX]], [[Cumulus MX formal release versions]], [[Webtags]], [[Cumulus.ini]], [[Dayfile.txt]], [[:Category:Log Files]], [[Php webtags]], and various others.

	So that left this page, ~~and now~~ I am ~~starting~~ on updating this article. If you read this, and believe you can help with completing this update, please do.		So that left this page, but I don't have enough time to complete updating this article. If you read this, and believe you can help with completing this update, please do.

	= Installation and Upgrading problems =		= Installation and Upgrading problems =
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	#* For other weather station types, look in the forum for advice or read the station instructions.		#* For other weather station types, look in the forum for advice or read the station instructions.
	# If the output values are frequently incorrect, MX provides some calibration settings in the admin interface. These vary dependent on the type of weather reading you want to correct. In general they use a formula like <tt> Output = Multiplier_2 X Input<sup>2</sup> + Multiplier_1 X input + Offset</tt> so in the settings you can specify the multipliers and offset to use in that equation.		# If the output values are frequently incorrect, MX provides some calibration settings in the admin interface. These vary dependent on the type of weather reading you want to correct. In general they use a formula like <tt> Output = Multiplier_2 X Input<sup>2</sup> + Multiplier_1 X input + Offset</tt> so in the settings you can specify the multipliers and offset to use in that equation.
	#If only a small numbers are incorrect, MX provides editors for the logs that store extremes (although for today only the rainfall can be edited). See the pages linked from [[:Category:Log Files\|Category:Log Files]] to discover more about each log and how to deal with rogue values. View and edit these on'''Edit''' tab of admin interface.		#If only a small numbers are incorrect, MX provides editors for the logs that store extremes (although for today only the rainfall can be edited). See the pages linked from [[:Category:Log Files\|:Category:Log Files]] to discover more about each log and how to deal with rogue values. View and edit these on'''Edit''' tab of admin interface.
	#You can correct any individual rogue value in a monthly log as MX (see viewer editor on '''Data logs''' tab of admin interface.		#You can correct any individual rogue value in a monthly log as MX (see viewer editor on '''Data logs''' tab of admin interface.
	#As rainfall has a lot of different derivatives stored for it (hourly totals, daily totals, rain rate) it is quite complicated to correct, so there are a series of instruction in 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\|C1 FAQ]].		#As rainfall has a lot of different derivatives stored for it (hourly totals, daily totals, rain rate) it is quite complicated to correct, so there are a series of instruction in 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\|C1 FAQ]].

Sfws: add category

2021-01-25T21:32:50Z

add category

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:32, 25 January 2021
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	= Introduction =		= Introduction =
			[[Category:Cumulus_MX]]

	<div style="background: LemonChiffon;padding:5px; margin:2px;">		<div style="background: LemonChiffon;padding:5px; margin:2px;">
	[[File:Crystal Clear info.png\|40px]] This document is 'Work In Progress' so content may not be complete or accurate!		[[File:Crystal Clear info.png\|40px]] This document is 'Work In Progress' so content may not be complete or accurate!

Radilly: Minor typo fixed.

2020-10-13T14:23:41Z

Minor typo fixed.

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:23, 13 October 2020
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	# Whether you are installing MX for the first time, or updating to a new version, you download the zipped software from [[Software\|Software page]].		# Whether you are installing MX for the first time, or updating to a new version, you download the zipped software from [[Software\|Software page]].
	#Unzip it either directly to the place where you want it, or to a holding ~~are~~ where you keep downloaded software, and then use copy or another file transfer process to get it to final destination		#Unzip it either directly to the place where you want it, or to a holding area where you keep downloaded software, and then use copy or another file transfer process to get it to final destination
	#You will find more advice in the [[Cumulus_MX\|Cumulus_MX documentation page]].		#You will find more advice in the [[Cumulus_MX\|Cumulus_MX documentation page]].
	#If there is a problem, the most likely problem is that you are trying to install onto say a SD card and that has failed, and needs to be replaced. You might want to consider investing in a SSD drive, they tend to be very reliable.		#If there is a problem, the most likely problem is that you are trying to install onto say a SD card and that has failed, and needs to be replaced. You might want to consider investing in a SSD drive, they tend to be very reliable.

Sfws: /* Introduction */

2020-07-12T09:24:21Z

Introduction

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:24, 12 July 2020
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	= Introduction =		= Introduction =

			<div style="background: LemonChiffon;padding:5px; margin:2px;">
			[[File:Crystal Clear info.png\|40px]] This document is 'Work In Progress' so content may not be complete or accurate!
			</div>

	If you are seeking information on why you might want to use Cumulus, then please read [[About Cumulus\|the About Cumulus article]] first. That is a general introduction to what Cumulus does and what might be its advantages over alternative software.		If you are seeking information on why you might want to use Cumulus, then please read [[About Cumulus\|the About Cumulus article]] first. That is a general introduction to what Cumulus does and what might be its advantages over alternative software.

Sfws: /* I use Cumulus 1 and want to move to Cumulus MX */

2020-07-07T09:59:19Z

I use Cumulus 1 and want to move to Cumulus MX

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:59, 7 July 2020
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	== I use Cumulus 1 and want to move to Cumulus MX ==		== I use Cumulus 1 and want to move to Cumulus MX ==
	You can move between versions fairly easily, but you should really read all the guidance on the Cumulus [[Cumulus MX\|MX page]]. However, here are some key points:
	* While Cumulus 1 has a tool to generate graphs itself and then uploads them to your website, the graphs used in Cumulus MX are drawn when the end-user loads the web page, they use Highcharts routines that are free for non-commercial use only, i.e. you may not use MX with these graphs on a company web site.
	* While Cumulus 1 runs as an application that includes a main screen, and other screens, that appear when you start it, Cumulus MX is two separate applications, there is the "engine" that connects to your weather station and processes that data, but there is also a separate administrative interface. The latter is viewed on a browser ''on any device connected to the same local network'' as the device that runs the engine. On this admin interface you change settings, you can edit the various logs, and you can view a series of web pages that allow you to see all the weather derivatives output from MX.
	* The settings for both Cumulus 1 and MX are held in [[Cumulus.ini\|'''Cumulus.ini''']]. For MX the file name is case sensitive and must have capitals where shown.
	**The case sensitivity of MX also applies to the section names within the file e.g. [FTP site] must use capitals for the FTP and must use lower case for site. Edit any section names that do not follow format in the wiki article for this file referenced above.
	**All the characters used within this configuration file must be within ASCII range (represented by binary 0 to 127, basically A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9, and some punctuation), any extended characters (such as those used for accented characters, symbols and non English characters) must be removed.
	**Whilst many settings are common between both flavours, some are not used by MX and MX has some new ones. In particular if you used '''Port''' in Cumulus 1, that will not be carried across to MX, and you will need to set '''ComPort''' instead. You are advised to check all '''Settings''' using the MX admin interface.
	*The contents of your Cumulus 1 '''Reports''' folder (NOAA style reports) can be read by MX.
	*The contents of your Cumulus 1 '''data''' folder (log files ending with extension '''.ini''' or '''.txt''') can be read by MX.
	**However, if you use decimal commas in your Cumulus 1 '.ini' files then you do need to change, in each stored value, the decimal commas into periods/full stops.
	**MX when it needs to update these files will change the way dates are stored, see the [[:Category:Log Files\|Log File]] pages in the Wiki for more information.
	** The '.txt' files in the data folder will work with both Cumulus 1 and MX - assuming you are using the same decimal and list separators in MX as you used in Cumulus 1 (i.e. the same locale).
	*The Cumulus 1 web templates (files using web tags) will not work with MX (whether you use the standard files provided or have written your own replacements)
	**The reason is because the content of the standard web pages is different. For any web templates you have written, you will almost certainly need to change some web tags, and you may find this difficult because certain formatting characters (e.g. H or M) have different meanings when they appear in isolation in an output format to what they mean when combined with others (e.g.H:mm or 'd M'). See the [[Webtags]] page for full information on how to change these, and ask in the support forum if you have difficulty.
	*(Other file names within MX will be as supplied in the file that you download, or as Cumulus MX decides when it creates the file).
	* The settings in Cumulus 1 and MX work differently, for Cumulus 1 you choose to save changes by clicking OK, for MX changes are only saved when you click a '''Save''' button if one is provided. If there is no Save button anywhere on the screen (as in Extra Web Files) then the setting is saved when you move to next field/line.
	Finally if you are moving from Windows to Linux, remember you need to learn a host of new commands!

			Please see [[Moving from Cumulus 1 to MX]] article.

	== Variation between releases ==		== Variation between releases ==

Sfws: /* DERIVATIVES ISSUES */

2020-07-06T14:33:42Z

DERIVATIVES ISSUES

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:33, 6 July 2020
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	**Cumulus provides recent history web tags to give you access to a selection of outputs for every minute in past 7 days.		**Cumulus provides recent history web tags to give you access to a selection of outputs for every minute in past 7 days.

			==EXTREMES ISSUES==
⚫	~~EXTREMES ISSUES:~~ When MX is calculating those maximum and minimum derivatives, these are within an individual day, but they are compared against others in the same month (to update both the this month web tags and the monthly extremes web tags), against others in the same year (to update the this year web tags) and against all previous derivatives (to update the all-time web tags). I say update web tags, because that is how you view the extremes, but actually there is a log file for maximum and minimum in a day (today.ini), for this month (month.ini), for monthly-all-time (monthlyalltime.ini), for this year (year.ini), and for all time (alltime.ini). These log files are where MX stores the extremes and where you need to do corrections. For total rain this month, this year, maximum rain for this month in all years and highest rainfall (hourly, daily, monthly), the same log files are used. The highest daily wind run per month, per year, in the same month for all years and all-time is similarly stored in these log files and made available as web tags.

			Extremes appear on the records web page, these are highest/lowest in a month, in a year and all-time.

		⚫	When MX is calculating those maximum and minimum derivatives, these are within an individual day, but they are compared against others in the same month (to update both the this month web tags and the monthly extremes web tags), against others in the same year (to update the this year web tags) and against all previous derivatives (to update the all-time web tags). I say update web tags, because that is how you view the extremes, but actually there is a log file for maximum and minimum in a day (today.ini), for this month (month.ini), for monthly-all-time (monthlyalltime.ini), for this year (year.ini), and for all time (alltime.ini). These log files are where MX stores the extremes and where you need to do corrections. For total rain this month, this year, maximum rain for this month in all years and highest rainfall (hourly, daily, monthly), the same log files are used. The highest daily wind run per month, per year, in the same month for all years and all-time is similarly stored in these log files and made available as web tags.

			== Advice re problems ==

	#Dealing with input problems depends on your weather station type		#Dealing with input problems depends on your weather station type

Sfws: /* Dealing with rogue or missing input or derivatives */

2020-07-06T14:31:33Z

Dealing with rogue or missing input or derivatives

@@ Line 166: / Line 166: @@
 # When you first start running MX, it does not seem to be able to populate charts and recent history web tags for earlier times.
-= Dealing with rogue or missing input or derivatives =
+= Dealing with rogue values =
 EXTREMES ISSUES: When  MX is calculating those maximum and minimum derivatives, these are within an individual day, but they are compared against others in the same month (to update both the this month web tags and the monthly extremes web tags), against others in the same year (to update the this year web tags) and against all previous derivatives (to update the all-time web tags). I say update web tags, because that is how you view the extremes, but actually there is a log file for maximum and minimum in a day (today.ini), for this month (month.ini), for monthly-all-time (monthlyalltime.ini), for this year (year.ini), and for all time (alltime.ini). These log files are where MX stores the extremes and where you need to do corrections. For total rain this month, this year, maximum rain for this month in all years and highest rainfall (hourly, daily, monthly), the same log files are used. The highest daily wind run per month, per year, in the same month for all years and all-time is similarly stored in these log files and made available as web tags.

Sfws: /* Troubleshooting - messages in MXdiags or in console/terminal output */

2020-06-19T12:08:22Z

Troubleshooting - messages in MXdiags or in console/terminal output

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:08, 19 June 2020
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	= Troubleshooting - messages in MXdiags or in console/terminal output =		= Troubleshooting - messages in MXdiags or in console/terminal output =

			Mark Crossley lists the issues outstanding in beta version of MX [[MX Issues\|in MX Issues article]]. Although that has not been updated since 2018, it might give you a hint of bugs that might still exist.

	=='''MESSAGE FROM SFWS'''==		=='''MESSAGE FROM SFWS'''==

Sfws: /* Weather Station Problems */

2020-06-05T07:21:36Z

Weather Station Problems

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:21, 5 June 2020
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	There are many places where you can look on the web for advice on setting up a weather station. In the UK, the best site to read first is '''the resources linked from''' [https://www.rmets.org/resource/how-can-you-make-high-quality-weather-observations how-can-you-make-high-quality-weather-observations] page.		There are many places where you can look on the web for advice on setting up a weather station. In the UK, the best site to read first is '''the resources linked from''' [https://www.rmets.org/resource/how-can-you-make-high-quality-weather-observations how-can-you-make-high-quality-weather-observations] page.


			=== The Moon rise or set time is showing dashes. ===

			The moon doesn’t rise and set every day, the dashes appear when that event doesn’t occur on that particular day. The period between a moon rise and set is approximately 12 hours and 25 minutes, on average. The moon rises (or sets) approximately 50 minutes later, on average, each day. It therefore follows that sometimes the moon will not rise or set on a particular day - i.e. it had risen the previous day, or will set on the following day.

			=== The Moon image is just black ===

			It's probably a New Moon.

	=== I have a message about web tags ===		=== I have a message about web tags ===

Sfws: /* I have a message about missing web templates = */

2020-06-05T07:20:47Z

I have a message about missing web templates =

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:20, 5 June 2020
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	Maybe MX is trying to upload to your web server and that web server is not currently available. Or MX is trying to upload to a database server, and that is not currently available.		Maybe MX is trying to upload to your web server and that web server is not currently available. Or MX is trying to upload to a database server, and that is not currently available.

	== I have a message about missing web templates ===		=== I have a message about missing web templates ===

	If you have selected the '''Include standard files''' option, MX expects to find all the standard web templates in the folder ''CumulusMX/web'', and will give an error message if it cannot find that folder or cannot find all the files in that folder that are provided in each MX distribution.		If you have selected the '''Include standard files''' option, MX expects to find all the standard web templates in the folder ''CumulusMX/web'', and will give an error message if it cannot find that folder or cannot find all the files in that folder that are provided in each MX distribution.