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Lost Sensor Contact!!

Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
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hans
Posts: 171
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Weather Station: wh1080 /ws4000(alecto)
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by hans »

you can try improving the reception of the station.
inside the basestation there is a wire alongside the pcb.
been a long time but i thought it was roughly 16cm long,which is a quarter wave length of 433mhz.
you can replace(!) the wire for a 34cm long one ,which is a 1/2 wave,that could give you abetter reception,if possible stick it outside the station.
geoffw
Posts: 556
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Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by geoffw »

hans wrote:you can try improving the reception of the station..
I don't think that is the issue if they wont talk at a distance of a couple of metres.

.................................Sprang back to life sometime between 3.30 and 4.30 this afternoon. Logged in to Cumulus and we are back to normal... it seemed to have been saving data while out of touch so it looks like the problem is maintaining the link.

Furthermore I've just received an email from Maplins with a "Returns Number" (I will have to dismantle it and pack it up to send back to them) and they offer a replacement "if the engineers find a fault" .... I don't know how rigorous there 'testing' is, but I supect it will work fine for them if I do as they ask. It was bought last June 2009.

Decisions.....decisions!
Geoff
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daj
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by daj »

geoffw wrote:[... Logged in to Cumulus and we are back to normal... it seemed to have been saving data while out of touch so it looks like the problem is maintaining the link.
This is exactly the same as my issue -- but what confuses me is 'what' is saving the data? I did not think the transmitter could, but as you say, when it comes back online there is valid data -- me confused!
David
kippfordweather.uk
Cumulus MX & Raspberry Pi
geoffw
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Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by geoffw »

daj wrote:
geoffw wrote:[... Logged in to Cumulus and we are back to normal... it seemed to have been saving data while out of touch so it looks like the problem is maintaining the link.
This is exactly the same as my issue -- but what confuses me is 'what' is saving the data? I did not think the transmitter could, but as you say, when it comes back online there is valid data -- me confused!
As Maplins have conditionally offered a replacement I think I must make it clear to them that this appears to me an intermittent fault, and not a complete failure of the unit. In other words I don't want them to test it and simply say it is working for them..

How old it yours Dave? - mine was purchased last June!
Geoff
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steve
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by steve »

I don't think the transmitter can be saving data.

The way the station works, there is no difference between 'current' data and 'archive' data. It has a set of 4000+ memory locations, and as each set of data comes in from the sensors, it writes that data to the current location. When the logger interval expires, it moves on to the next location, leaving behind the last set of readings. If it loses contact with the sensors, it sets a flag (a 'bit') as part of the data. So, if the lost sensor condition exists at the time it moves on to the next location, the archived data has the flags set. So even if sensor contact is lost for a period, it continues logging and moving on as usual.

I've looked at the Cumulus code and realised that it doesn't check the 'sensor lost' flag when it's processing archive data. It probably should. What surprises me is that you apparently don't get 'bad' data values. I would expect it to be storing some sort of 'invalid' value while sensor contact is lost. But you would notice if that was the case.

I've just noticed that mine has lost contact - I moved it earlier to look for something. I'll start up Cumulus now and see what I get.
Steve
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daj
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by daj »

geoffw wrote:How old it yours Dave? - mine was purchased last June!
Aug 2008, so 18 months
David
kippfordweather.uk
Cumulus MX & Raspberry Pi
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daj
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by daj »

steve wrote:I don't think the transmitter can be saving data. .
I don't think so either -- which therefore means that it is making periodic connections to the console and storing data. So when we do start backup we are getting some data. My logging interval is 10 minutes so I assume within that 10 minutes it is getting the data at least once as I have not really had any bad data (nothing obvious anyway)
David
kippfordweather.uk
Cumulus MX & Raspberry Pi
Gina
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Nothing worse than an intermittent fault :( :(
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
geoffw
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by geoffw »

Gina wrote:Nothing worse than an intermittent fault :( :(
I think they are the worst kind :bash:

If it just goes dead, at least you know where you stand, Gina.

Here I am coming to the end of the guarantee period.

Do I dismantle it ....... send it back to Maplin ...... they check out and it works ........ have a dispute ........ finally get something back that may or may not work ...... have to set it all up again ...... loose weeks of data? ..... GRRH!
Do I accept these outage periods and do nothing?
Do I wait to see whether it fails again?
Do I hang on until the guarantee period ends and then I can't send it back?


I'll keep you all posted ..... so now to get on with my life and stop feeling sory for myself. I have a gate post to concrete in today! ;)
Geoff
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steve
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by steve »

geoffw wrote:Here I am coming to the end of the guarantee period.
Don't forget your statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act. Even after the guarantee period, a product has to work for a "reasonable" period of time.
Steve
geoffw
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by geoffw »

steve wrote:
geoffw wrote:Here I am coming to the end of the guarantee period.
Don't forget your statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act. Even after the guarantee period, a product has to work for a "reasonable" period of time.
I've emailed Maplin's to see how long the Returns Number is valid so that I can at least wait till the Easter Holiday to go through the process of packing it, sending it back a waiting for their judgment. My weather station is linked our local primary school website http://www.spittalschool.org.uk/Pages/Weather.html Unless, of course it crashed out completely - which I suspect it will not do.

I've just had a thought though ....... Could it be the result of the newly active SUN? A precursor to the Solar Storms that are going to trash the World's Communications very soon .......doom!.......doom! :shock:
Geoff
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Gina
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

I can certainly see the problems with returning it to Maplin - I'll give the problem some more thought. You're losing all outdoor data, aren't you? Does the console say you've lost contact? Most common cause of intermittent trouble is bad connections. Were the battery contacts clean?

I noticed you said it seemed to have data for when it was not working - could you attach the data files please? I would expect to see normal data for the indoor sensors but nothing (zero?) for the outdoor ones.

I think there's probably a few things to check before returning it. I can imagine how fed up you are with it!
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
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steve
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by steve »

Gina wrote:I would expect to see normal data for the indoor sensors but nothing (zero?) for the outdoor ones.
I've been trying to find out what it logs when it loses contact with the sensors, but annoyingly I can't actually get mine to lose contact at the moment (within the confines of my desk).
Steve
Charlie
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Charlie »

Wrap it in tinfoil to make it lose contact? :twisted:
Gina
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Re: Lost Sensor Contact!!

Post by Gina »

Decided to check this out myself. Booted up into Win XP and installed Cumulus. Set it up and connected the console. Data transfer fine :) So I next tried to lose the signal from the outside sensors. Moving the console about withing range of the USB cable and the extension cable, I failed to lose the signal. So tried wrapping the console in baking foil. Guess what?!... It's still receiving!! Quite amazing. Want a good reliable signal - have problems... Try to lose the signal and it's rock solid!!! I'll have to connect it with a gert long USB extension cable and stick it behind a radiator or the Rayburn or something.

I'll be back...
Gina

Sorry, no banner - weather station out of action. Hoping to be up and running with a new home-made one soon.
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