Realtime.txt

Revision as of 15:20, 13 February 2010 by Daj (talk | contribs) (Note for FineOffset users)

Although not technically a 'log file' is is automatically produced by Cumulus and follows a similar format to the other Log files.

realtime.txt is a text file with a single line of space separated values. It contains a list of key values of the sensors and is updated frequently.

Using cumulus you decide how often to update the file -- for example every 15 seconds. This is then uploaded to your website and used to produce near instant readings.

To set how often the file is produced by Cumulus, click on the 'Configuration' menu then 'Internet' (Click the thumbnail opposite)

CumulusInternetSettingsScreen.png


Notes:

  • The realtime.txt file is NOT a log file and is constantly replaced. It does not therefore contain any historic data.
  • The 'interval' sets how often Cumulus produces and uploads to the website


Special note to Fine Offset/EasyWeather users

Weather stations which come shipped with the EasyWeather software (generally known as FineOffset or Watson) should consider the realtime updating with care. The station only updates every 48 seconds, so sending realtime information to your website every 5 seconds is very wasteful. It may be better for a figure of around 30 seconds, that way a visitor knows not to expect updates too often but you also allow Cumulus to catch up to two updates within a minute (depending on when the first and second 48 second update came to Cumulus)


Bandwidth Considerations

In order to provide near real-time updates, Cumulus uploads a very small file at regular intervals. Typically this is 15 seconds buy depends on your setting above.

Most internet providers now place a limit on the amount of Bandwidth you can consume each month. Bandwidth is a figure representing the data you can upload and download. Doing such a regular upload will impact on your allowance.

The file Cumulus uploads is less than 1024 bytes in size, but for the calculation we will assume 1024 bytes

During a month (31 days) the upload process will consume roughly 175 Mbytes of bandwidth -- this is a tiny consideration as usually bandwidth restrictions from your provider start in the Gigabytes (Gb) range, not Megabytes (Mb).

On top of your internet connection bandwidth restrictions, you may also have bandwidth caps on your web server so this same figure should be considered for your webserver.


Where is the files used

The realtime.txt is used by:


Format of the file

Field # Example Description
1 19/08/09 date (always dd/mm/yy)
2 16:03:45 time(always hh:mm:ss)
3 8.4 outside temperature
4 84 relative humidity
5 5.8 dewpoint
6 24.2 wind speed (average)
7 33.0 latest wind speed reading
8 261 wind bearing (degrees)
9 0.0 current rain rate (per hour)
10 1.0 rain today
11 999.7 barometer
12 W wind direction
13 6 wind speed (beaufort)
14 km/h wind units - m/s, mph, km/h, kts
15 C temperature units - degree C, degree F
16 hPa pressure units - MB, hPa, in
17 mm rain units - mm, in
18 146.6 wind run (today)
19 +0.1 pressure trend value
20 85.2 monthly rainfall
21 588.4 yearly rainfall
22 11.6 yesterday's rainfall
23 20.3 inside temperature
24 57 inside humidity
25 3.6 wind chill
26 -0.7 temperature trend value
27 10.9 today's high temp
28 12:00 time of today's high temp (hh:mm)
29 7.8 today's low temp
30 14:41 time of today's low temp (hh:mm)
31 37.4 today's high wind speed (average)
32 14:38 time of today's high wind speed (average) (hh:mm)
33 44.0 today's high wind gust
34 14:28 time of today's high wind gust (hh:mm)
35 999.8 today's high pressure
36 16:01 time of today's high pressure (hh:mm)
37 998.4 today's low pressure
38 12:06 time of today's low pressure (hh:mm)
39 1.8.7 Cumulus version
40 819 Cumulus build number
41 36.0 10-minute high gust
42 10.3 heat index
43 10.5 humidex
44 13 UV Index
45 0.2 evapotranspiration today
46 14 solar radiation W/m2
47 260 10-minute average wind bearing (degrees)
48 2.3 rainfall last hour
49 3 The number of the current forecast as per strings.ini. If the forecast is not being provided by the station and not being generated by Cumulus a value of 0 (zero) is returned
50 1 Flag to indicate that the location of the station is currently in daylight (1 = yes, 0 = No)
51 1 If the station has lost contact with its remote sensors "Fine Offset only", a Flag number is given (1 = Yes, 0 = No)


Example of the file

(this is one complete line, although it may appear on this page as two or more due to screen width restrictions)


18/10/08 16:03:45 8.4 84 5.8 24.2 33.0 261 0.0 1.0 999.7 W 6 mph C mb mm 146.6 +0.1 85.2 588.4 11.6 20.3 57 3.6 -0.7 10.9 12:00 7.8 14:41 37.4 14:38 44.0 14:28 999.8 16:01 998.4 12:06 1.8.2 448 36.0 10.3 10.5 13 0.2 14 260 2.3 3 1 1