Author Topic: Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed  (Read 674 times)

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Offline garlandclan

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Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed
« on: November 19, 2016, 03:00:52 PM »
Hello to all.  I have no idea when this started, but on my weather page (http://weather.lavacrawlers.com), when you refresh, the wind and gust are different values for a second, then the numbers turn green (I assume an ajax update - not an ajax coder, just a computer nut) and the wind speed is replaced by the gust speed (as is the gust). 

I don't enough about the ajax portions to go through all the programming (I've tried, but am missing where it is actually happening).  If someone can point me in the right direction that would be great.

I'm running on version 6.8 of Burnsville scripts (as you'll see), on weewx 3.62, with weewx-wd 1.0 running on a loonix box.  I have an Oregon Scientific WMR968 that's been going since 2006.

Thanks!  Banging my head against the computer hasn't helped.
Sean Garland
Garland Tech, Inc.

Offline gjr80

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Re: Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2016, 06:21:51 PM »
I will be the first to admit that Weewx-WD run under weewx has its issues but I am not so sure this is the issue in this case.

When I was customising the Saratoga templates to suit my requirements I noticed and was puzzled by this same effect. In ajax-dashboard.php the span tag 'ajaxwind' is populated with the $avgspd tag from testtags.php. Yet when I look at ajaxWDwx.js I see that the span tag 'ajaxwind' is populated with (essentially) clientraw.txt field 2. My understanding is that clientraw.txt field 2 is 'Gust' (as per clientrawdescription.txt included with WD and every parser I have seen) and clientraw.txt field 1 is 'Average windspeed (kts)'. In fact, clientraw.txt field 1 is not used at all in ajaxWDwx.js. The same behaviour is present in the alternative dashboard (ajax-dashboard6.php) and its supporting javascript (ajaxWDwx3.js) (well field 1 is used in ajaxWDwx3.js but only in terms of calculating cloud base).

This behaviour does not seem consistent to me, I know there is not what I would call a technical specification for testtags.php and clientraw.txt but I think the descriptive terms 'average speed' and 'gust speed' are fairly well understood. I think this is the reason behind the erratic wind speed displays.

Gary

Offline garlandclan

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Re: Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2016, 09:58:20 AM »
Thanks Gary for that concise answer.  Would it make sense then to modify the ajaxWDwx3.js to pull from position 1 of the clientraw.txt to retrieve the correct value?  (or at least the value I want it to have)?  It appears if earlier versions of either the .js or weewx-wd used to have it correct, or at least a friend's station is reporting correctly, but he has a bone stock implementation of the Saratoga (born at Good Sam across the 17, and lived off Glen Una in the Monte Sereno area off hwy 9 for years) scripts with no modifications.  And I think his setup is old and hasn't been updated in forever. 

I might just hack it to see what the heck :)

Thanks
Sean Garland

Offline gjr80

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Re: Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2016, 06:26:23 PM »
That's exactly what I have done. I have looked at some other sites running Weather Display and the alternative dashboard and there is clearly some inconsistencies in wind speeds being displayed. Since weewx-wd does not (yet) generate a near real time clientraw.txt the issue becomes quite evident when using weewx-wd.

Gary

Offline garlandclan

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Re: Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2016, 01:35:31 PM »
Hey Gary,

Do you mind sharing what changes you made?  I changed the "wind" to use clientraw[  1] instead of 2, and I still see the same problem.  Is there another place in the .js file where the ajaxwind is getting overwritten? 

Also it looks like 1.0.1 of weewx-wd is pretty close to done?  Was just going through the commits.  I'm happy to see active development!  I do like my little weather station which is a bookshelf PC running Ubuntu, with Atom processor and a 32 gig SSD.  And I've had my Oregon Scientific WMR968 since 2006.  We're hitting 34 mph winds today so nice to have the records...

Thanks for all the hard work!
Sean Garland
Garland Tech, Inc.

Offline waiukuweather

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Re: Wind speed getting overwritten with gust speed
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2016, 01:36:24 PM »
current speed is a better description than gust speed
(which can be lower than the average speed)

 

anything