Prospective Newbie

[Nottub]

Greetings,

I'm a prospective newbie to Cumulus and before taking the leap, I would like to check if what I propose is possible, and ask a couple of questions.

1) Is the installation and running of the software as complex as it seems from the instructions, bear in mind i'm a relative novice at running commands in a Win environment?

2) My goal was to:

• Maintain my Weatherlink Software records (.wlk files) both historic (back to 2000, all complete and intact) and going forward

• Use Cumulus to just read the data during the day, but not to download the datalogger (so as to preserve the .wlk files at download with Weatherlink onto my PC)

• Update Met Office WOW automatically using Cumulus

• I know I can't run both pieces of software at the same time but was hoping to just download Weatherlink at the start and end of the day, to generate my .wlk files and to use Cumulus during the day

3) Would I be better with Weather Display for ease of use?


I do have a weather webpage at www.calvertoncam.co.uk/weather, which shows my use of current Weatherlink software, historic data, and my webcam.

Currently running an aged Weather MonitorII, but want to update to a cabled VantagePro2 in the very near future.

Any help or advice much appreciated. I have procrastinated for so long, it's time to make a move.


Kind regards

Nottub

[archae86]

I have for some years run the configuration of operating Cumulus nonstop except for a few minutes once every 3 to 9 days when I stop Cumulus and run weather link just long enough for weather link to get the data since the last time it ran. The 9 day limit arises from my use of a 5 minute logging interval.

Just one point of terminology: both programs download data from the data logger, but neither one erases data in the data logger, so they just get the data that is new since the last time they had access to it.

[mcrossley]

Edit: Cross posted with @archae86 post above.

Greetings,

I'm a prospective newbie to Cumulus and before taking the leap, I would like to check if what I propose is possible, and ask a couple of questions.

1) Is the installation and running of the software as complex as it seems from the instructions, bear in mind i'm a relative novice at running commands in a Win environment?

1) No! The current Wiki instructions try to cover every possible scenario and thus appear very complex. In reality the install and set-up is quite simple!

You download the zip file.
1. Extract the contents to a folder (outside Program Files).
2. Run CumulusMX.exe "as an administrator" **
3. Point your browser at http://localhost:8998 - this opens your administrator interface. In there configure your weather station, location, desired units of measurement etc.
4. Stop CumulusMX, and restart it to bring up the new configuration

It's up and running. You can then think about configuring your web uploads etc.

** You can run CumulusMX as a non-administrator, but you need to run the netstat command from the Wiki to tell Windows you want to allow a non-privileged program to start a web service.

2) My goal was to:
Maintain my Weatherlink Software records (.wlk files) both historic (back to 2000, all complete and intact) and going forward
Use Cumulus to just read the data during the day, but not to download the datalogger (so as to preserve the .wlk files at download with Weatherlink onto my PC)
Update Met Office WOW automatically using Cumulus
I know I can't run both pieces of software at the same time but was hoping to just download Weatherlink at the start and end of the day, to generate my .wlk files and to use Cumulus during the day

Lots of people keep running WeatherLink and Cumulus to maintain both sets of records. Once a day (or whatever period you want) you just need to...
1. Stop Cumulus
2. Start WL, let it download its data
3. Stop WL
4. Start Cumulus again

Some people automate this via the task scheduler.

AFAIK with the Weather MonitorII both programs can use the logger - certainly they can with the VP2 - reading the logger data does not erase it.

3) Would I be better with Weather Display for ease of use?

You will get a biased view on this forum But personally I think Cumulus is a much easier program to work with. WD has configuration options for everything including your kitchen sink, and I think is pretty confusing because of that - particularly for new users.

Currently running an aged Weather MonitorII, but want to update to a cabled VantagePro2 in the very near future.

Nice, and the VP2 works very well with Cumulus, you also have a choice of lots of different logger types to choose from now from Davis and third parties.

[Nottub]

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts, you have confirmed that I can continue to produce my .wlk files.

Mark, that's a very comprehensive reply which is really useful.

Nothing to loose then


Kind regards

Nottub

[PaulMy]

Hi,
And welcome to Cumulus... I fully agree with the other posts. I initially started as a total novice with WeatherlinkPC in 2008 and then added Cumulus a couple months later and have been running both since, and each having their separate data. My USB datalogger interval is 10 minutes which stores 17 days of data so I stop Cumulus twice a month, on the 1st and 15th to run WeatherlinkPC and maintain the data.

I do admit that I've progressed a little over time and now also have the WeatherLink Live and AirLink with CumulusMX.

Many nice extras with CumulusMX.

Enjoy,
Paul

[Nottub]

Forgive my outload of questions, but I'm reading and thinking ahead.

Can you confirm if the USB datalogger in a VP2 can be read by CumulusMX?

I'm using a serial port to USB at the moment but intend, with the new purchase for pure USB.


Thanks

Nottub

[freddie]

Cumulus reads the serial to usb, but won't read pure usb.

[prodata]

Just to add a little detail here: A USB logger actually has two modes of operation called (confusingly) USB and serial. You can switch between the two modes using software. So CumulusMX can only use the mode that's called 'Serial' (yes, even though it's a USB connection), whereas the Weatherlink for Windows program can use either mode. So you need to be careful to use Weatherlink only with 'Serial' mode, which is actually the mode supplied from the factory.

[Nottub]

Thanks...

First stumbling block after entering units and location is how to restart Cumulus after exiting.

Did get this error message

http://datatables.net/tn/7

when trying to view current readings.




John, ill be in touch soon to place my order.


Regards

Nottub.

[Nottub]

ALSO - Console is using COM3 and I can't change it, can I change Cumulus from COM1 to COM3?


Regards

Nottub

[PaulMy]

Yes in CumulusMX Sation settings Serial port name change to COM3 then Save the settings page at the bottom.

To restart go to CumulusMX folder, right click on CumulusMX.exe and run as Administrator.

Enjoy,
Paul

[Nottub]

Swapped to COM3 in the Cumulus.ini file presume this is OK. The program seems to be opens in the command window so I presume its running.

Cumulus MX v.3.9.2 build 3097
Working Dir: D:\CumulusMXDist3097\CumulusMX\
Today.ini = data\today.ini
Last update=2020-12-07T16:21:12
Connected to station
Cumulus running at: http://*:8998/
(Replace * with any IP address on this machine, or localhost)
Open the admin interface by entering this URL in a browser.
07/12/2020 16:21:35
Type Ctrl-C to terminate
Downloading Archive Data
Downloading Archive Data
Normal running

With that running I can go into Edge with the usual http://192.@@@.0.??:8998 and the program does open but with no current readings.

With a MonitorII which station would I select as it isn't there?

I'm getting there; slowly.

Nottub

[Nottub]

Think I've found the answer:

Unsupported Devices
Specifically, the following do not work with Cumulus. This is not a definitive list but stations we have come across which are not supported.

La Crosse WS3650 and WS2800 (all model numbers in range WS36xx and WS28xx)
TFA-Sinus/TFA-Nexus/Honeywell/Irox/Cresta/Ventus WXR-815LM/TE924W/TN924W/W928 etc
AcuRite
Peet Bros
Rainwise
Davis Weather Monitor
Davis Weather Wizard
Davis Envoy8X
................I

THANKS for getting me started with Cumulus.

I'll be back.


Better get hold of a VP2 then

Nottub