FAQ: Difference between revisions

 

Some references to other flavours of Cumulus are included here. There is also a separate FAQ specifically for [[Cumulus MX FAQ|Cumulus MX]].

 

 

 

== What operating systems does Cumulus run on? ==

Cumulus 1 - All versions of Windows from XP to Windows 10 inclusive (and the server versions). It works on 32 bit and 64 bit editions. It may also work on Windows 2000, but this is not supported. You will probably not be able to get it to work on Windows 2000 with a Fine Offset station.

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1

*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!

 

 

{{Version badge 1}}This article in the wiki gives more details above moving Cumulus: [[Moving cumulus]]

 

== 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.

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.

 

 

* 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.ini#Section:_Station]] where 'N' is number of) minutes becomes the Cumulus 'Gust (available via <#wgust>, no matching direction web tag). Note that the WMO definition of a wind gust is the mean wind speed over a 2 to 3 second sample period (so Cumulus reports this within an extended 10, or as configured, minute period, not the 'latest' gust).

If the Cumulus figure seems lower than the Davis figure see [[#My_Davis_station_shows_a_higher_maximum_wind_speed_than_Cumulus]].

 

 

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.

Select value for 'N' using ''AvgSpeedMinutes=N'' in [[Cumulus.ini#Section:_Station]].

 

 

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.

See ''LCMaxWind=X'' parameter in [[Cumulus.ini#La_Crosse_specific:]] where X is the maximum (uncalibrated) wind speed in m/s that you want to allow.

 

 

{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1

 

== 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.

 

*See Fine Offset forum discussions for further information.

 

 

[[Temperature_(and_humidity)_measurement#Cumulus_Calculated_Parameters|see Cumulus_Calculated_Parameters]]

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.

 

 

* 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.

== How do I reset all my data to start again from scratch? ==

 

 

 

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

*Beaufort Scale

*Trend descriptions

*Graph titles

*Extra sensor channels

 

'''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 (or final) Cumulus 1 version, nor will they work with Cumulus MX.'''

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.

 

 

== How does Cumulus deal with extra sensors? ==

 

 

== What is this "Solar Max" value which Cumulus is displaying? ==

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.

 

 

{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1

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."

 

 

{{Version badge 1}}Reminder, this FAQ answer is ONLY for Cumulus 1

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, knowing what I know now. 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!

 

 

3 options:

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.

 

 

=== (Invented rain) Error prevention by Spike removal ===