FAQ: Difference between revisions

Davis station firmware supplies two wind speeds, a 3-second average and a 10-minute average (later versions of the firmware also supply a 2-minute average, Cumulus currently doesn't use this).   

* The latest Davis 3-second average is treated by Cumulus as 'Latest' (available via <#wlatest>, matching direction is '<#currentwdir>' and '<#bearing>')

* The Davis 10-minute average is the Cumulus 'Average' (available via <#wspeed>,  matching direction reported as '<#wdir>' and '<#avgbearing>').

** 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.

== 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'.

* 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).

== How do I make Cumulus 1 run automatically when Windows starts?  ==

* For the web tags, Cumulus (both 1 and MX) takes its stored sums and adds today's latest total each time, to give the current totals for this month and this rain season (year so far) when processing 'indexT.htm' web template which is where these figures ase shown (not on this month nor on this year templates).

**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.

*You can install Cumulus 1 (or MX) on more than one machine, but each copy must connect directly to its own weather station (one station connected per Cumulus installation).

*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. (Same rules for two copies of Cumulus MX).

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.

== I can't save my NOAA reports! ==

== My sunrise and sunset times are wrong  ==

=== (Invented rain) Error in number of consecutive days with or without rain ===

# Remember that 'ConsecutiveDryDays' and 'ConsecutiveWetDays' do not include today, they reflect the daily rainfall amounts stored in the [[dayfile.txt|daily summary log]].

== I have inserted pre-Cumulus data making 'Records began on' date wrong ==

{{Version badge 1}}'''Note''' ''StartDate=xxxx'' does ''not'' need to be updated for Cumulus 1 to recognise earlier data in log files in its ''data'' subfolder.   

[[File:Badge vMx.png]] However in calculating and updating extremes, '''CumulusMX.exe''' will ignore any standard log file for any month prior to the start date set, so it is crucial to make sure the start date is right before you (re-)start MX. However, if you use '''ExportMySQL.exe monthly''' this will start with January 2000 and process any standard log found for any month after that.

*after the h2 heading is ''&lt;p&gt;Records began on <#recordsbegandate>. Here are the extremes recorded since then.&lt;/p&gt;'';  you can replace '<#recordsbegandate>' with the new earliest date typed in as text; and

*at the start of the table is the ''&lt;caption&gt;Records Since <#recordsbegandate>&lt;/caption&gt;''; replace the label "Records since" with "Cumulus began on" leaving the web tag unchanged.

# 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),

# 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.

{{Version badge 1}}'''IMPORTANT'''  These notes apply to Cumulus 1.  '''bvs79669''' did some investigation in January 2019 that reveals the ''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. From build 3047, MX excludes these two bits when reading the pressure and the reliability of reading correct pressure from a Fine Offset station has been significantly improved.

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.

== The longest dry/wet spell for this month/year includes days from last month/year ==

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 need to do this while Cumulus is stopped). Note that you are likely to get bad data logged if you do this.

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.

FOReadAvoidPeriod=N

*From b3068 CumulusMX can be started with the -debug parameter to switch on debug and data logging from start-up. This is often the best option.

*Whilst MX is running the logging can be switched off/on via the administrator interface - Settings|Station settings|Options ''Debug logging'' & ''Data logging''

<pre>Logging=1

DataLogging=1</pre>

     <td></td>

</pre>

*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.

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.

== Error Codes generated by FTP or Winsock ==