Page 1 of 1

Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Tue 28 Aug 2012 10:01 am
by Matt.j5b
Steve, I seem to be having a problem with using My La Crosse station with Cumulus. I am using the 1.9.3 build 1044 beta on Windows 7 and using a serial/usb adapter. I often get garbage readings (see below for a sample) and when I click on the red flashing error light to check what the error is, Cumulus often freezes and stops responding.

I found if I click on the red light while it is red it almost always freezes, sometimes it does not freeze but it never freezes when there is no error when I click on the error light. This is something that only happened for the last month or so. I then have to stop Cumulus using Task Manager and restart Cumulus.

I think these readings are a result of the adapter; they are not recorded on the receiving unit as the true crazy spikes like -6.0 temperatures or 0% humidity which are the true crazy readings created by the station. In the last month the station has recorded at least 22 occasions of the true crazy downward spikes but never with air pressure or wind speed. These readings have become more frequent, I just wondering if the number of garbage readings would help to freeze Cumulus when I click on the error, or is this case of a unknown problem and I am the only one for this to happen to.

Sample of Garbage readings:
26/08/2012 19:36:31.123 : Ignoring rain total: -1000
26/08/2012 18:07:19.436 : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 17:14:59.235 : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
26/08/2012 17:14:59.237 : Old value = 23.2 New value = -1000.0 EWtempdiff = 15.0
26/08/2012 17:28:47.235 : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
26/08/2012 17:28:47.236 : Old value = 0.0 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0 Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 15:17:55.391 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 15:17:55.397 : Old value = 33 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
26/08/2012 15:19:43.891 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 15:19:43.893 : Old value = 32 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0

Thanks for any help; any ideas would be most helpful.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Tue 28 Aug 2012 11:08 am
by steve
I suppose it could be something to do with the number of 'spike removal' messages; I assume you have logging of those turned on? It keeps the number of messages in the error log window to a maximum of 256. But having said that, I've just tried to reproduce this and it works fine for me. Does it freeze if you click on the error light as soon as it first flashes?

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Tue 28 Aug 2012 7:45 pm
by Matt.j5b
Steve, thanks for your help. I do have logging of the spikes turned on. I do not have Cumulus running all the time, mainly morning and night, but on weekends I run it all day. The garbage readings do not happen all the time. Some days it does not happen at all but other days it happens several times in a single days.

But I do get more garbage readings when I get the crazy downward -6 for Temperature etc. as the latter created by the station comes along in stages with a few days break, but have been happening more often. This may be got to do with this with the freezing.

I have not clicked on it at the very moment it flashes, I clicked on it when I noticed it a little while after. Would the delay to click the error light help it to freeze? But I will keep an eye on this. It does not fail if I get a ftp error only with spikes.

I can't check if this is related to the specific computer in use as the usb adapter is no longer supported by the Manufacturer so the driver can not be updated or be installed on another computer.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Tue 28 Aug 2012 8:09 pm
by steve
Matt.j5b wrote:I have not clicked on it at the very moment it flashes, I clicked on it when I noticed it a little while after. Would the delay to click the error light help it to freeze?
I just wondered if the number of error messages that had been logged had anything to do with it freezing.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Tue 28 Aug 2012 10:25 pm
by mermaidbeachweather
Hi Matt,

I have been getting the same readings I have attached a copy of my records

Highest Temperature 73.3 °C at 5:57 PM on 09 November 2011
Lowest Temperature -67.8 °C at 5:58 PM on 09 November 2011
Highest Dew Point 73.3 °C at 5:57 PM on 09 November 2011
Lowest Dew Point -67.8 °C at 5:58 PM on 09 November 2011
Highest Apparent Temperature 186.0 °C at 5:58 PM on 09 November 2011
Lowest Apparent Temperature -74.6 °C at 6:00 PM on 09 November 2011
Lowest Wind Chill Temperature -87.8 °C at 6:00 PM on 09 November 2011
Highest Heat Index 569.4 °C at 5:57 PM on 09 November 2011
Highest Minimum 24.6 °C at 2:40 AM on 27 February 2012
Lowest Maximum 0.0 °C at 12:00 AM on 09 April 2012
Highest Humidity 100 % at 5:54 PM on 09 November 2011
Lowest Humidity 18 % at 1:49 PM on 18 August 2012
Highest Daily Range 141.1 °C on 09 November 2011
Lowest Daily Range 0.0 °C on 08 April 2012
Rainfall
Highest Rain Rate 1645.8 mm/hr at 4:01 PM on 18 February 2012
Highest Hourly Rainfall 21.6 mm at 9:33 PM on 30 October 2011

I can't explain as to what has caused this as i don't know where to look as I am not computer savvy as the rest of the forum..

Cheers

Brian

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Wed 29 Aug 2012 2:34 am
by Matt.j5b
Steve,

It freezes regardless of the number of errors; it does it when there is any number of errors. I often don't get trouble when I click in between the flashes but that does not always work. There seems to be no link between lots of errors and the freezing but the crazy readings don't always happen.

Cumulus has been working very well up to recently but crazy readings have been of trouble in the last few months. This has been a bit of a shame after the station is only 11 months old, and started to get more often after about 8 months after the purchase. But I did take that risk in full knowledge of the trouble with using the adapter and the limited data logger which allow no room for anything to happen (such as the computer failure etc.) and would result in missing data, as I don't have the pc on and connection 24/7, instead I run it off the logger, which makes running into spikes to edit out of Cumulus an ongoing job. At 5 minute intervals the data logger only lasts 14.5 hrs.

But I will keep an eye on this; it seems to be unusual for this to happen.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Wed 29 Aug 2012 2:41 am
by Matt.j5b
Hi Brian

It would be most likely be created by the station, and unlike the Fine Offset and La Crosse which can be ignored by Cumulus in the calibration setting , you will need to edit them out. But it quite annoying when it happens especially because I had to edit Cumulus 13 times in the last month.

The way I do it is to delete the affected line in the monthly log file and then open Cumulus and use the all-time, monthly, this month and this year extract the editors to correct values, but that won’t work until the files are clean of the bad readings. You also most likely need to edit the dayfile but I make sure I edit it out of the monthly file to make sure dayfile is not affected. I use Cumulus Toolbox to edit the files.

For me it getting very annoying; in the future I plan to upgrade the station (most likely to a Davis VP2) to solve this trouble and to get better readings away from the house as the current siting under cover at the eaves can’t be improved. Also wind readings have been trouble with over readings due to smaller wind cups than my older La Crosse which after 2 and half years is working without trouble but can’t be used with Cumulus. I only bought this unit in late September 2011 and since about May or June it has started to record more crazy readings than the odd one every few weeks.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Wed 29 Aug 2012 6:48 am
by steve
mermaidbeachweather wrote:Highest Dew Point 73.3 °C at 5:57 PM on 09 November 2011
Lowest Dew Point -67.8 °C at 5:58 PM on 09 November 2011
Highest Apparent Temperature 186.0 °C at 5:58 PM on 09 November 2011
Brian, your problems are not related to the problems Matt is having, you have a different station type. Matt's data problems (the data problems, not the error window freezing) are due to the known problem of La Crosse stations not working with serial/USB adapters.

Your problems will be down to a faulty temperature/humidity sensor on the 9th November last year. I recognise the values as mine started doing the same; intermittently to begin with, and finally permanently. The Davis agent in the UK is replacing my sensor for me.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Wed 29 Aug 2012 6:51 am
by steve
Matt.j5b wrote:It freezes regardless of the number of errors; it does it when there is any number of errors. I often don't get trouble when I click in between the flashes but that does not always work. There seems to be no link between lots of errors and the freezing
I'm afraid I have no idea what the cause is; I can't reproduce it and no-one else seems to have this problem. Having said that, many people don't seem to have read the documentation and don't know that you're supposed to click on the red light when it's flashing...

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Wed 29 Aug 2012 9:19 am
by Matt.j5b
Steve I was worried it was the case of it has not happened to anyone else except for me. I just not sure why this happens, I may have to disable the logging but this is eaiser than looking through the diags files.

It could just to be something to do with the station and the adapter and nothing can be done. But thanks Steve for the help you have given, Cumulus have worked very well but my station has been a disappointment.

I also like to thank you for the effort that has been made with the help file and the wiki. Before I started using Cumulus last year I read much of help file and wiki and it answered many of my questions I had and was very helpful.

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Sun 02 Sep 2012 7:58 am
by Matt.j5b
Just as a update I ran Cumulus for about 12 hrs yesterday and today. I found that clicking in between the flashes solved the problem and the freezing did not happen. However clicking the error light when the red light is on as it flashes results in the freezing. So it is something with my computer and the Cumulus window. The errrors are included here, there was much more today than normal.

1/09/2012 06:30:49.747 : Old value = 0.0 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
1/09/2012 06:32:19.242 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
1/09/2012 06:32:19.242 : Old value = 55 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
1/09/2012 08:30:08.191 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
1/09/2012 08:30:08.193 : Old value = 47 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
1/09/2012 09:27:27.043 : Ignoring rel pressure: -1000
1/09/2012 09:27:27.045 : Old value = 1020.5 New value = -1000.0 EWpressurediff = 15.0
ignoring wind speed: -1000
1/09/2012 10:29:09 AM : Ignoring rain total: -1000
1/09/2012 10:51:23 AM : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
1/09/2012 10:51:23 AM : Old value = 1.1 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
1/09/2012 12:55:26 PM : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
1/09/2012 1:33:04 PM : Ignoring rain total: -1000
1/09/2012 5:27:48 PM : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
1/09/2012 5:27:48 PM : Old value = 0.3 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
1/09/2012 6:42:22 PM : Ignoring rel pressure: -1000
1/09/2012 6:42:22 PM : Old value = 1019.0 New value = -1000.0 EWpressurediff = 15.0
1/09/2012 6:50:38 PM : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
1/09/2012 7:24:22 PM : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
1/09/2012 7:24:22 PM : Old value = 50 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0

2/09/2012 06:16:47.339 : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 06:48:40.473 : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
2/09/2012 06:48:40.473 : Old value = 0.0 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 06:54:07.200 : Ignoring rel pressure: -1000
2/09/2012 7:55:41 AM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 7:55:41 AM : Old value = 10.7 New value = -9.6 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 7:56:07 AM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 7:56:07 AM : Old value = 10.7 New value = -9.6 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 7:56:39 AM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 7:56:39 AM : Old value = 10.7 New value = -9.6 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 7:56:57 AM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 7:56:57 AM : Old value = 10.7 New value = -9.6 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 7:57:15 AM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 7:57:15 AM : Old value = 10.7 New value = -9.6 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 7:57:39 AM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 7:57:39 AM : Old value = 10.7 New value = -9.6 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 9:16:19 AM : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 9:16:19 AM : Old value = 51 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 9:25:03 AM : Ignoring rel pressure: -1000
2/09/2012 9:25:03 AM : Old value = 1024.2 New value = -1000.0 EWpressurediff = 15.0
2/09/2012 9:39:04 AM : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
2/09/2012 9:39:04 AM : Old value = 0.0 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 12:41:29 PM : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 12:48:18 PM : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 1:54:54 PM : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
2/09/2012 1:54:54 PM : Old value = 0.6 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 2:05:06 PM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 2:05:06 PM : Old value = 21.4 New value = -1000.0 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 2:15:18 PM : Ignoring rel pressure: -1000
2/09/2012 2:15:18 PM : Old value = 1020.0 New value = -1000.0 EWpressurediff = 15.0
2/09/2012 2:30:36 PM : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 2:35:42 PM : Ignoring rain total: -1000
2/09/2012 2:45:59 PM : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 2:45:59 PM : Old value = 35 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 2:51:05 PM : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
2/09/2012 2:51:05 PM : Old value = 0.6 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 3:01:17 PM : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
2/09/2012 3:01:17 PM : Old value = 21.4 New value = -1000.0 EWtempdiff = 15.0
2/09/2012 3:11:30 PM : Ignoring rel pressure: -1000
2/09/2012 3:11:30 PM : Old value = 1020.0 New value = -1000.0 EWpressurediff = 15.0
2/09/2012 3:26:48 PM : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
2/09/2012 3:31:54 PM : Ignoring rain total: -1000

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Tue 26 Nov 2013 8:53 pm
by swyman18
I know this thread is quite old, but I happened to be browsing through some of the Lacrosse related posts and discovered this. I had never had this happen until this morning after doing a fresh install of Cumulus on a WinXP computer the night before. I don't think I had ever used the "Log to Error Log" option for the spikes before, but I figured I would turn it on so I could easily check for spike removal entries. This morning, the error light was flashing and as soon as I clicked it, the program froze. I checked in the diag files and there were indeed couple of spike removals overnight.

It's not really a big deal, I can certainly leave the "Log to Error Log" option turned off. I was just wondering if anyone had noticed this again over the past year or so.

It was kind of funny actually how I was reading through this year+ old post the night before and I didn't think much of it since it had never happened to me before. Then sure enough, the next morning it happened! I think I jinxed myself by reading it!

Take care,

-Scott

Re: Problems with La Crosse station

Posted: Fri 18 Jul 2014 6:03 am
by mm23
Matt.j5b wrote:Steve, I seem to be having a problem with using My La Crosse station with Cumulus. I am using the 1.9.3 build 1044 beta on Windows 7 and using a serial/usb adapter. I often get garbage readings (see below for a sample) and when I click on the red flashing error light to check what the error is, Cumulus often freezes and stops responding.

I found if I click on the red light while it is red it almost always freezes, sometimes it does not freeze but it never freezes when there is no error when I click on the error light. This is something that only happened for the last month or so. I then have to stop Cumulus using Task Manager and restart Cumulus.

I think these readings are a result of the adapter; they are not recorded on the receiving unit as the true crazy spikes like -6.0 temperatures or 0% humidity which are the true crazy readings created by the station. In the last month the station has recorded at least 22 occasions of the true crazy downward spikes but never with air pressure or wind speed. These readings have become more frequent, I just wondering if the number of garbage readings would help to freeze Cumulus when I click on the error, or is this case of a unknown problem and I am the only one for this to happen to.

Sample of Garbage readings:
26/08/2012 19:36:31.123 : Ignoring rain total: -1000
26/08/2012 18:07:19.436 : Ignoring indoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 17:14:59.235 : Temp difference greater than specified; reading ignored
26/08/2012 17:14:59.237 : Old value = 23.2 New value = -1000.0 EWtempdiff = 15.0
26/08/2012 17:28:47.235 : Ignoring wind speed: -1000
26/08/2012 17:28:47.236 : Old value = 0.0 New value = -277.8 EWwinddiff = 15.0 Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 15:17:55.391 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 15:17:55.397 : Old value = 33 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0
26/08/2012 15:19:43.891 : Ignoring outdoor humidity: -1000
26/08/2012 15:19:43.893 : Old value = 32 New value = -1000 EWhumiditydiff = 15.0

Thanks for any help; any ideas would be most helpful.
old topic, but maybe to someone will be helpful ............... I solved this in the following way .... open Cumulus / open error window (the window is empty because no error yet ) / when the first error appears close the window (red light will remain to flash) / reopen the window to turn off the error light ...... onwards everything is working normally.....in my case :o