Sandaysoft

This may have been covered in the forums somewhere but I can’t find any link to it

My station works fine. Most times but since I changed the batteries in the sensor unit I have I problem with the sender unit losing signal to the base unit
Is this an antenna problem? , think I read here about a loose antenna in the sensor unit could cause this problem
I have reseated the batteries multiple times but the problem is still happening see attached graph pictures

Anyone got any ideas as to why this is happening?

Any help would be great

Thank You in advance


Neil

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Hi Neil,

You could have a look on this thread with the connector wire fix...

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1813&start=0

Does it always loose connection at exactly the same time every day?

Personally I wouldn't think the 'loose antenna' problem is the cause. It could be that the signal is 'on the edge' of reception, if so the long thin wire fix may work.

If it's exactly the same time every day then it could be some machinery near to you, or some other piece of electrical equipment that's causing interference to it.

If it's totally random then we can investigate further, but a loose connection would not normally go off for several hours like that, it would be randomly on and off many times through the evening.

Also it doesn't appear to be temperature causing it as there's no sudden drop around that time.

Please send more info on times it fails to receive.

Mike.

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Retired Radio and Electronics Engineer residing in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Thanks for the Reply and info Mike

I Checked out the link you gave, think the mod for a 1/2 wave would be good
But not sure that is my problem as I said this has only been happening since I changed the batteries
! but if I’m honest maybe just before this as I had a couple of signal drops which I put down to low batteries, re the change of cells. (Oct 2009)

as to times of signal drops, could be anytime the damn thing wants to, only thing close to a pattern in the time of the drop out even the length of signal drop mostly overnight but it’s never constant could be as little as 30 min or as long as 6/7 hours but that’s the only common factor in this problem 90% of the signal lose is overnight.

I thought maybe it was the wind speeds increasing and rattling the sensor re: loose antenna

Neil

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Also check to see if your PC puts your USB into hibernation...don't know which version of windows you are using but I've found one other case which was similar. The USB was simply ticked to shut down due to lack of use and didn't come back to life until the operator hit the keyboard and cancelled the USB hibernation. Just a thought. Mike is, in my opinion, on the right track in trying to establish a pattern as a troubleshooting starting point.

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Steven



http://cactusjunction.info/weather

Good idea Sonny, about the computer hibernating.
You can switch all that off in Start/settings/power options.
Switch all the front page (Power Schemes) to 'Never' and switch 'Hibernation' to off.
See if that cures it.
Mike.

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Retired Radio and Electronics Engineer residing in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Do you get the flatlining on the internal temp readings too?

Would dodgy remote sensor readings affect that at the same time?

Would that tend to indicate a base unit issue or base unit to PC issue?

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"This is the way freedom ends...Not with a bang, not even with a whimper... but with the soft click of a channel being changed." - RTFQ 2006

Website - http://www.semmyconcious.co.uk

This is exactly how you can tell the difference between the two (if you haven't been able to look at the console). My VP2 lost contact with its sensors for a few hours again last night. I know it was sensor to station that was the problem, as all of the internal readings continued OK.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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Thanks for all the tips on this

1 usb is not going in to hibernation.... been running for 11 month with out a hiccup til now

2 the flat lining is only from the External sensors ...which its doing at this moment in time since 16:00 hrs


3 i'm really getting stumped with this as i cant track down a pattern to the problem


ps Cumulus is running on a Dell Laptop (set with no Power saving ) OS is windows XP SP 2 ( and no i'm not puting it on SP3 because that is Poo)

still think its the remote signal antenna , so when it stops P**ing down i'm going to take the sensor block down, and strip it to see if i can find the problem, and do Mike's mod to the 1/4 wave Ant and make it 1/2 wave

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Neilk,

Sorry we couldn't come up with your solution.

This all started when you changed batteries in the remote sensor unit. Did you change type of battery say from NiCad to NiMh? NiMh typically output 1.25VDC while NiCad is closer to 1.5VDC. If there are two AAA batteries and you made the switch to NiMh, you would have lost 1/2 volt...3 AAA batteries = 3/4 volt etc...which may be enough to put you on the "fringe area". These transmitters are kinda picky about that sort of thing. It takes x volts to turn transisistors on and off, as example. If the voltage drops below that pre-determined voltage, it doesn't turn on.

Just a thought.

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Steven



http://cactusjunction.info/weather

Sonny; they use 2 x AA batteries in the transmitter unit and they do tell you NOT to use rechargeables for the reason you state.
It's best to use good quality Alkaline batteries like Duracell+ or similar. They last a year at least so no great expense.
Could well be the cause of Neilk's problem, or perhaps he has replaced the batteries with a cheap version which is loosing volts at night due to a lower temperature. If the internal readings are OK it's definitely a transmitter problem or a reception problem.
Mike.

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Retired Radio and Electronics Engineer residing in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Mike,
Yes you're right of course.

I'm fresh out of ideas here. It'll be of some interest to learn if the battery type was changed.

Sonny (N7GXP)

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Steven



http://cactusjunction.info/weather

If NiMH or nicads are used that will be a problem at some time.
Batteries last about a year in the Transmitter if they are good quality Alkaline so I see no reason to use anything else, including solar rechargeables.

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Terry Wiltshire
http://www.janter.co.nz/weather/index.htm

Sorry to disappoint you guys but the cells I put in are Duracell ultras (I don’t do Cheap Batteries )
But they are different to the cheap alkaline ones that came with the unit last Dec
FYI the last drop of signal was tonight between 16:00 -21:45

so i think i'm getting the testmeter and soldering Iron out , thinking on the lines of a dry joint or loose connection which is showing its head when the wind is blowing a tad harder than the summer , and do a couple of mods on it

i cant really make it any worse than what it is already
So thanks a lot to all you guys for the Ideas and input and your time , i knew it would not be a simple problem to fix


Neil

quick edit


Steve is it possable to extend the graph time span to say a 7 day graph ?

by that i mean for me to be able to edit to extend it

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Neilk; do let us know what it was if you find the fault.
Mike.

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Retired Radio and Electronics Engineer residing in Cambridgeshire, UK.

I don't think it would be too hard for me to add extra options like that (a week and a month, say) in addition to the existing 12 and 24 hour options.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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