Sandaysoft

capacitor on the dtr/dsr makes it even worse close to 4 inches on startup

removed the cap and back to two on's one off.

so far thats the only thing thats the same

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http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IARGYLLA4

Hi
One thing I noticed about Bruce's debug log is that all the switching seems to occur within a single second. I am still getting correct ON/OFF (single) but there is at least 1 second between ON and OFF. I've contacted my electronics expert friend Ole to see if he can shed any light.
Are you sure the polarity of the capacitor is correct DTR +ve - the other way round it could be the decaying voltage is showing up on the DSR line and appearing like changes. Another Alan guess !!
Regards
Alan

hi alan

the two on's then one off is without a cap fitted

just tried the usb to rs232 convetor with and without cap same results i am thinking that it could be the old dell c400 notebook which has the direct rs232 port not working as well as it should. setting it up on a insprion 6400 with win7 on it to see what it sees

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ok set up with win7 laptop via usb to rs232 convertor



looks the same as other laptop no capacitor fitted

two on's then one off.

looks like we are in for a down pour so will leave it to see what real rain records but dont think it will be any different

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Hi
I had this message from Ole

I guess it is contact bounce in the relay which is the cause – at every closure there could be an additional number of open/closures each only a fraction of a milli second.
The capacitor can normally handle such problems but I would try out some lower values – reason is that charge on the capacitor will be shorted by the relay contact and they might be burned for that reason.
You could probably also use the 10uF in series with a resistor say 47 -100 ohm – that would limit the discharge current and protect the contacts better.

I have fitted an LED on the DTR line to ground so if my theory of DTR going low (I found a liitle on Google which suggests it's possible) the LED should flash OFF but a) I need some rain and B) if I blink I'll miss it. But worth a try.
Alan

Could you please download, unzip and run the attached .net test program? I thought it might be useful to see whether there's an issue with the Delphi serial port component that I'm using in Cumulus. Put the com port number in the box and click the start button. Then 'make it rain'. It should display a message each time DSR changes. It doesn't quite work the same way as in Cumulus, because the event message doesn't carry the current state of the port, so I have to read that from the port when the message arrives. It's possible that the state may have changed by the time the program reads it. But it will still be useful to see how many event messages are raised for each 'tip'.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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ok Steve what am i doing wrong

tried with culumus running and cumulus closed

both times error message access to com port denied

pressed continue poured water nothing

im still using the usb rs232 convertor is this for direct rs232 ports?

sorry to be a pain


bruce

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http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IARGYLLA4

You'll have to run it without Cumulus running. You might have to run it 'elevated' - right click and 'run as administrator'. If that doesn't work, something else probably has the com port open - I don't explicitly close it in Cumulus, so maybe something odd is happening and you may need to reboot and then run this.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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ok thats easy to try will report back shortly

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http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IARGYLLA4

ok tried that both times got

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Morning all. Ok, going out on a limb here, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful because I am extremely grateful for all that Steve has done thus far in implementing and supporting the RG11 into Cumulus and trying to solve and understand this issue . Hopefully I shall be implementing both my RG11's tomorrow using this method.

But, if I am correct, back at the beginning of all this, Alan already had the RG11 recording tips (on/offs) reliably via the A/D converter to Ole's software. Could this not be a better interface of connection to Cumulus? As what I believe we are trying to achieve is exactly what this module is designed to do - convert analogue (relay) into digital (USB).

There was even a brief discussion about the COM port using FTDI drivers.

The A/D converter is about £20.00 in the UK and similar in the states and can support 8 devices so only one would be required for what we are trying to achieve using two RG11's.

Just a thought. Especially if it alleviates the "double tips" issue.

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Duke

Nightingale Weather PHP
Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK

If the A/D converter is easy enough to drive, then I can add support for that, since I've written the rest of the code anyway. I had a quick look at the protocol earlier and it seems to be straightforward. But there may be an issue because the protocol requires polling rather than being event driven. If Cumulus is busy doing something else for more than 50 ms, it may miss a 'tip'.

I may be misunderstanding, but I don't think that's the case, as the RG-11 is using the digital input, it's not actually using the analogue to digital capability of this device.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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I think something must be opening the com port on your PC; the test program runs fine on my PC.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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ok any idea how i could find out if the port is open?

if it is then how would i close it?

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Hi Steve
This is the result of my hosepipe test - quite heavy 'rain'
Incidentally I took Ole's advice and added a resistor (DTR - 800k resistor - +ve capacitor -ve - DSR) to avoid the relay arcing - I only had a bigger resistor than Ole recommended but it still works.
Regards
Alan


08:45:58.547 DSR change: off
08:47:56.057 DSR change: on
08:47:56.659 DSR change: off
08:47:59.608 DSR change: on
08:48:00.232 DSR change: off
08:48:03.751 DSR change: on
08:48:04.380 DSR change: off
08:48:07.521 DSR change: on
08:48:08.133 DSR change: off
08:48:11.247 DSR change: on
08:48:11.884 DSR change: off
08:48:15.785 DSR change: on
08:48:16.396 DSR change: off
08:48:19.532 DSR change: on
08:48:20.166 DSR change: off