Sandaysoft

Hi all I just installed my davis vantage vue about a week ago. I purchased the weatherlink IP data loger when I purchased the station. My question is this , I just found cumulus 2 days ago, I have the weather link software running on one of my computer system running windows 7 and this is the system that uploads my data to cwop, weatherbug, and weather underground, as well as the davis web site that they give you when you buy there product. My question it this, Can I have Cumulus running on say my laptop and still have the davis software running on the other computer ?

In doing this the davis software would still be sending the updates to the above and my laptop would just be looking at the weather station.

In the past 2 days when I had this set up running it look like it was ok but when I checked my weather info at the findu web site it would all at once lose me and tell me that my station was 150 miles from the ukrane. My station is in the USA in Mass. I would uninstall cumulus from my laptop refress the system running the weather link software and then It would so me back were i should be.

Did I do something wrong ? or is it just that even that the programs are running on two diff computers it still can not be done.

please help before i start to do this to my head

Thanks
Mark

You can't have two programs connected to Weatherlink IP at the same time, it can only handle one TCP/IP connection.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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Thanks Steve I thought it might be that but was hopping that because it was two diff systems and that the davis con. had its own ip as its using the ethernet logger not the usb or seriel one that it would work. the loger has its own network cable pluged into a port on the router its not connected to any of the computers at all it is a stand alone on the network and the other systems just see it as a node like any other system on the network.

oh well it was worth a shot

thanks

Mark

Steve I have to disagree with you...

For testing purposes (and still testing as I write this message), on one WeatherLink IP are connected WeatherLink (the software), SoftWx VPLive and Cumulus (no error reported by Cumulus) - all three software are updating their data on a regular basis.

But, indeed, there is a 'but', through the WeatherLink IP online configuration screen, I have de-activated the automatic process of continually sending the console data to the Davis WeatherLink site.

Another option would be the use of SoftWx VirtualVP - VirtualVP can connect directly to the WeatherLink IP and distribute the data to more than one weather station software.

There is one negative note to that 'beautiful' concept: WeatherLink (the software) does not 'play' nice with any other software - I have stopped running/using WeatherLink as it would regularly lock up VirtualVP and prevent the other software connected to VirtualVP from getting their weather data - WeatherLink is/has been the only 'non-friendly' software of the half dozen weather software I have installed on my computer.

As far as moving your station to Kyrgyzstan, that is simply a result of leaving off the negative sign preceding your coordinates. Change it to -70.xxxx, and you'll be right back home.

I will also concur with using VirtualVP software for running multiple programs at once

_________________
Jack Bakker
CWOP: DW5051←☼
MADIS ID: D5051←☼
WU: KMAEASTH4←☼
Davis VantagePro2 Plus#6163 ←☼
Cumulus v1.9.3 (1059) ←☼

Thanks guys , I'll try the neg sign ans see what happens with that it was just odd that one sec i was where i should be the next i was on vacation but never left home

Respectfully
Mark

That's perfectly OK, you own one and I don't, and Davis don't provide any documentation for developers for the Weatherlink IP. All of my 'knowledge' about the Weatherlink IP is from scraps I've picked up on the internet and from making guesses based on the results of Cumulus/Weatherlink IP users like yourself.

You'll have to explain to me how that works, then, given that, as I understand it, the logger can only handle one TCP/IP connection at a time (hence the need for software to disconnect periodically to allow uploads to the Davis web site). Presumably this 'only one IP connection' theory is actually false, and there is some other restriction which prevent Davis web site uploads while a program is connected?

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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Steve, my experiments with the WeatherLinkIP have not been ... let me just write ... as enjoyable as those with either the serial or the USB adapters.

In the WeatherLinkIP, there is a one-screen configuration screen (re-posted here):

Normally, there is no need to modify any of the parameters. With the default setup, the processor inside the WeatherLinkIP will send the data from the console to the WeatherLink Network web site - although I cannot technically prove this, from reading other post in other forums, it is my belief that the uploads are done every 10 seconds (if not more often). That means the WeatherLinkIP is (almost) continually busy uploading and thus with very limited time for other connections (from other software).

Since I care little about providing my weather data to the WeatherLink Network web site (and them passing that data to other sites without my agreement/permission), I have removed the check mark in front of the "Upload to weatherlink.com" option (my page on the WeatherLink Network web site has not been updated since February) - this mean the WeatherLinkIP adapter is not 'forced' anymore to do those continuous uploads - the green LED on the WeatherLinkIP adapter still flashes (meaning something, some comunications is happening inside the unit) but not as often as before (I really do not know what the adapter is doing as I do not have the required electronic testing equipments).

By de-activating those 'forced' uploads, the WeatherLinkIP adapter has more time for other software - the adapter, more likely, will only accept one connection at a time from a software, forcing the other software to wait, but, since its main priority (to continuously upload to the WeatherLink Network web site) has been de-activated, the WeatherLinkIP adapter now has a lot of free time is available, time it can share with more than one software.

This afternoon, when I did my tests, the three software were connecting directly to the WeatherLinkIP adapter and none of them reported any error getting their data from the console - the VPLive software is probably the best software to test that type of communication as it displays all encountered errors.

My recommendation, thought, would be to use SoftWx VirtualVP to connect multiple software ... rather than trying to connect multiple software directly to the WeatherLinkIP adapter - this means that VirtualVP has (almost) the full attention (connect time) of the WeatherLinkIP adapter.

Did I manage to answer your questions or did I simply confused things... Is there something I can do to further assist you in gaining more knowledge about the WeatherLinkIP adapter - and, Steve, I really do not recommend that you buy that adapter to pursue your tests as that would be money poorly invested...

I understand what you're saying; but it seems that my belief that the logger can only maintain one TCP/IP connection at a time was incorrect.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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But, but... Steve, I was not saying anything ... I have been quiet all night listening to classical music... And you are thousand of kilometers/miles away from my location...

Steve, since I cannot prove it, it is my belief (as it was yours) that the WeatherLinkIP adapter can maintain only one connection at a time, more likely, forcing the other software to wait a few milli-seconds before they are able to connect and get their data.

Steve, do you have the facility in Cumulus (through a function or something else) to test how long Cumulus is waiting or has waited before it was able to start the download of data?

No, I'd have to put a timer around the call to the DLL; it's the DLL which has to wait for the data. But in any case, at the TCP/IP connection level, the DLL establishes the connection when Cumulus tells it to, and doesn't release it. So, if the logger could only support one connection, no other software would be able to read data at all while Cumulus was running.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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OK, if I understood correctly what you wrote, once the DLL (I presume that would be the 'VantagePro.dll' provided by Davis Instruments) has established a connection with the WeatherLinkIP adapter it continues to hold that connection indefinitely ... well, as long as Cumulus is running... Is that what is happening?

Yes, that's right.

There's the option to periodically release the connection, so that the WLIP can upload to the Davis web site. I thought that was necessary because of the perceived 'only one TCP/IP connection' rule, but clearly there's more to it than that.

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Steve
Sanday Weather
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Indeed...

How can it be tested - if there is an easy way?

I remember reading, a few months back, in another forum, the other weather software designer (not naming anyone here ) spent almost a week with some users trying to understand the operation of the WeatherLinkIP adapter and figuring out a way to share communication time with it ... always without any assistance from Davis Instruments...

Well, at least, with the last release of the firmware update for the WeatherLinkIP (June 2010), an option was added to de-activate the "Upload to weatherlink.com" function...