Author Topic: Weatherlink download problems (Read 4367 times)

davisuser1 · « **on:** July 22, 2019, 05:36:45 PM »

Hi all,

I own a Davis Vantage Vue sensor and console with an IP data logger. I have owned them for years with little or no problems. Recently the system has developed the following problem:

Every time I start the Weatherlink application on the PC it wants to download 513 data records from the console. About half the time it encounters data CRC errors down the road and quits. The behavior from there on is unpredictable. Invariably it wants to restart the download with equally unsuccessful result. I suspect that one or more of the configuration files are corrupt. I have downloaded the Weatherlink 6.0.3 but its installation is an update only so I had to keep the older version with its corrupt (?) configuration file(s).

I don't care if I lose all past weather data. All I want is to pick up future data reliably. So I think what my options are:

1. Identify which configuration files to delete.
2. Find a *full* installation package for 6.0.3, uninstall the current version and install 6.0.3 for a fresh start.

Can anybody help me.

Of course a hardware problem can't be ruled out. The IP logger is connected with Ethernet cable to my router and is reliably seen on the router.

Can anybody help me?

Knut - AB2TC

CW2274 · « **Reply #1 on:** July 22, 2019, 05:52:16 PM »

The bad file is usually ID'ed by a bad date (like showing a year from 1956 or 2033, something like that). If you can't/don't want to fix it (shouldn't be too hard to find), here's a full build of WL 6.0.3, no CD is necessary.

http://toolbox.davisnet.com/downloads/weather/software/WL_6_0_3_fullinstall/6_0_3_full_install.zip

PaulMy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 22, 2019, 06:04:21 PM »

And v.6.0.5 which you can get from your weatherlink.com site http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=35720.msg366130;topicseen#msg366130

Enjoy,
Paul

johnd · « **Reply #3 on:** July 23, 2019, 03:10:15 AM »

Reinstalling Weatherlink is likely to make no difference at all - the issue is probably with data in the logger or already downloaded to the PC. Reinstalling WL will make zero difference to these. For details of all the troubleshooting that may be necessary please see:

https://www.manula.com/manuals/pws/davis-kb/1/en/topic/errors-with-archive-downloads

davisuser1 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 23, 2019, 08:10:07 AM »

Hi,

Well, I did install 6.03 from one of the links sent to me. That was a *full* install so first I uninstalled the original version with the corrupted database. This *did* solve the problem so the problem was obviously not in the logger (part of the console). So the only problem left now is to reconnect to an Internet server for uploads using the APRS protocol. But I think I can resolve that by going to the old install (on another computer) and look for it's upload settings. I haven't gotten around to hat yet (I just got out of bed).

I could probably have avoided the full reinstall if I had known which one(s) of the many mystery files contained the database for downloads, but I have no clue. These files should not have been been in the install directory but rather something like \users\<me>\appdata\roaming\weatherlink. This program is *very* old and clunky.

Knut - AB2TC

PS. How do i quote your original message? I found the quote/unquote pair but not the text content.

davisuser1 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 23, 2019, 04:09:59 PM »

Hi again,

I seem to have gotten the 6.0.3 to work. It has no problem with the *download* from the console part. It typically has only a couple of records to download which it does in a flash. I have it set to upload data to an internet APRS server which I find here:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=AB2TC-1&last=48

As you can see data comes to an end more than a day ago What is puzzling is that the Weatherlink log is indicating successful uploads every 5 minutes as it it is programmed to do. I have put a screenshot of the most recent log page here:

http:\\ab2tc.com/weatherlink_log.png

As you can see it reports successful uploads every 5 minutes with one exception due to a download failure. I know you guys are probably not experts on this particular APRS service (which is free and popular with ham radio ops).

Knut - AB2TC

davisuser1 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 23, 2019, 04:12:57 PM »

Hi again,

Oops, I mangled the ab2.tc URL. Corrected below.

Hi again,

I seem to have gotten the 6.0.3 to work. It has no problem with the *download* from the console part. It typically has only a couple of records to download which it does in a flash. I have it set to upload data to an internet APRS server which I find here:

http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=AB2TC-1&last=48

As you can see data comes to an end more than a day ago What is puzzling is that the Weatherlink log is indicating successful uploads every 5 minutes as it it is programmed to do. I have put a screenshot of the most recent log page here:

http://ab2tc.com/weatherlink_log.png

As you can see it reports successful uploads every 5 minutes with one exception due to a download failure. I know you guys are probably not experts on this particular APRS service (which is free and popular with ham radio ops).

Knut - AB2TC
Modify message

davisuser1 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 23, 2019, 09:14:07 PM »

Hi again, again

One thing I forgot to mention is that I find it curious that each successful APRS upload uses a different IP address. Is this normal?

Knut - AB2TC

dalecoy · « **Reply #8 on:** July 23, 2019, 09:34:43 PM »

Your log seems to say "No new data to download".

Which would indicate that your logger isn't getting new information, which would lead to what you are seeing.

davisuser1 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 23, 2019, 09:57:50 PM »

Hi,

I see your point. I thought the "no new data" message was just an occasional thing but it is isn't. What could cause this? The data display on the PC everything seems to update normally.

Knut - AB2TC

dalecoy · « **Reply #10 on:** July 23, 2019, 10:07:45 PM »

There are lots of threads in this forum about that sort of symptom.

Make sure that the date/time on the console, and on the computer, are the same.

Close the Weatherlink program, and then:

Delete any .wlk files that have strange names, and delete the datasets.dat and datalists.dat files (feel free to make copies somewhere, if you wish)

Restart Weatherlink and see if it's fixed.

davisuser1 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 24, 2019, 02:14:59 PM »

Hi,

To your recent comment that the message "No new data to download" is an error: I don't think so. As long as Weatherlink is running this should be perfectly normal since another *archive* record is created on the device only every 30 minutes. So the APRS record is created from the most current data which is sent from the device every few seconds. This is the data that drives the live display on Weatherlink. Only when Weatherlink has been offline for several hours or more will there be a significant amount of data accumulated in the device. I have this information from the link from earlier in this thread:

https://www.manula.com/manuals/pws/davis-kb/1/en/topic/errors-with-archive-downloads.

I am now more focused on the fact that each APRS message is sent to a different IP address. This doesn't seem right. All 4 octets in the IP address are different which seems to imply that they are going all over the world.

Knut - AB2TC

johnd · « **Reply #12 on:** July 24, 2019, 02:27:23 PM »

Quote from: davisuser1 on July 24, 2019, 02:14:59 PM

Only when Weatherlink has been offline for several hours or more will there be a significant amount of data accumulated in the device. I have this information from the link from earlier in this thread:

https://www.manula.com/manuals/pws/davis-kb/1/en/topic/errors-with-archive-downloads.

No, that's not what it says at all (I know because I wrote it

). Once the data logger has been running for a while then it is ALWAYS full with 2560 records. It's a circular buffer - as each new record is added so the oldest record is deleted. Sorry, it's not worth my trying to help any further - you need to follow up what has already been suggested.

davisuser1 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2019, 03:24:39 PM »

Hi again,

I am sorry you have decided to give up on me. I have tried and checked everything that has been suggested. The time on the console *is* correct (no, the year is not off either). I have tried to delete the two configuration files suggested. It makes no difference and they recreate themselves once you run *and* exit Weatherlink again. The new copies are identical to the ones deleted. I see no files with strange names. I have done several other things, too. I don't care if lose historic data so I cleared the database in the logger. I have rebooted the device several times and yes, I know I have to unplug the AC PS *and* remove a battery. I have checked that the logger is firmly seated in the console.

But I have one last appeal. It appears that Weatherlink is not configured correctly. The list of configuration parameters is long and the maze of configuration menus (for Internet access) is complex. Do you or anybody else on here have a complete list of the values of these parameters to enable uploading data to the findU APRS web server. Or even better a step by step procedure for doing this. I am not asking anybody for the effort to create this for me, just point me to information that already exists. Does anybody know if there is any point in contacting Davis' customer support?

I am sorry if I am a pain, but I have enjoyed this weather station for more than 10 years and I really like to track it online.

Knut - AB2TC

dalecoy · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2019, 04:09:53 PM »

Yes, it is expected that those two .dat files are recreated. A few questions, then:

What kind of logger are you using?

Are you uploading to anywhere else, in addition to APRS?

What changed at your location/computer/network around mid-day on the 22nd? [AND is that perhaps when you uninstalled the old version and installed the new version?]

What was the version of Weatherlink that you were using, that had the problem?

Exactly how did you uninstall the problem version, before installing the new one?

When you uninstalled the problem system, did you delete *ALL* of the files from the configuration?

davisuser1 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 24, 2019, 04:22:58 PM »

Thank you, dalecoy

Answers below in red

Yes, it is expected that those two .dat files are recreated. A few questions, then:

What kind of logger are you using?

It's an IP logger connected by Ethernet cable to my router

Are you uploading to anywhere else, in addition to APRS?

No

What changed at your location/computer/network around mid-day on the 22nd? [AND is that perhaps when you uninstalled the old version and installed the new version?]

It does coincide with the uninstall and update

What was the version of Weatherlink that you were using, that had the problem?

I am not sure, maybe 5.9.something

Exactly how did you uninstall the problem version, before installing the new one?

I used Windows(10) uninstall and then I deleted the entire Weatherlink directory from the root directory This should answer the next question, too

When you uninstalled the problem system, did you delete *ALL* of the files from the configuration?

Knut - AB2TC

davisuser1 · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2019, 04:57:49 PM »

Hi all,

I am not going to quarrel with johnd about the inner workings of the data logger, but I am still convinced that the message "no new data to download" is *not* a sign of a problem. Here is a link to a recent log that shows that every 30 minutes there *is new* data successfully downloaded from the device, but not in the intervening exchanges.

http://ab2tc.com/log2.png

This seems normal to me. This is consistent with setting of 30 minutes for the archive creation. What is abnormal is that none of the apparently successfully uploaded data shows up at findU.com. There must be a problem with the APRS upload configuration settings.

Knut - AB2TC

dalecoy · « **Reply #17 on:** July 24, 2019, 05:14:53 PM »

The following page will get you a copy of Davis Appnote_26, which might help you with configuration.

https://support.davisinstruments.com/article/s0wkvbl3tk-app-notes-setting-up-a-weather-data-web-page

...although it only has a brief mention of CWOP/APRS.

I'm presuming that you had to re-create all of the Westherlink settings for internet, etc. So, perhaps if you provided screen captures of the applicable setups, somebody could spot the problem.

BTW - https://aprs.fi/weather/a/W5VBQ

Mattk · « **Reply #18 on:** July 24, 2019, 05:57:15 PM »

"No new data to download" is not an error, it is simply a message stating there has been no new records written relative to the archive interval since the last download relative to the PC WeatherLink files. Same message occurs when downloading from WeatherLink.com where new archive data to download is available for download every 60 minutes or so even if the logger is set to archive say every 5 minutes, one won't be able to download the last 12 odd records until the hour is up. Locally the archive download is per archive record.

Where did this "No new data to download" is an error thing come from?

dalecoy · « **Reply #19 on:** July 24, 2019, 06:26:21 PM »

Quote from: Mattk on July 24, 2019, 05:57:15 PM

Where did this "No new data to download" is an error thing come from?

I (incorrectly) suggested that, based on a limited posting of data.

johnd · « **Reply #20 on:** July 25, 2019, 03:27:34 AM »

Quote from: Mattk on July 24, 2019, 05:57:15 PM

Where did this "No new data to download" is an error thing come from?

It can be totally genuine exactly as you describe (ie if the archive interval is set to its default of 30 mins but software is configured to request new data every 5 minutes then obviously that message will be 100% accurate). There is zero point configuring the software to request an archive download at intervals shorter than the archive interval (as I suspect may be the case here). But this can happen if the user is not careful about checking the settings, as one example if the 'Download Weather Station First' checkbox is ticked in the Data Upload Profile for upload interval < Archive Interval.

OTOH it can also be a symptom of an issue, depending on circumstances. If software is asking the console/logger for all records since a certain date/time (which is how it usually works to save unnecessary downloads), but the date/time of the software or console do not agree adequately then it is effectively an error message or, in other words, a sign that the data configuration somewhere in the system has been corrupted. As one example, the software may be asking for data in the future because the year parameter in the data request has been corrupted.This is quite a common fault case.

davisuser1 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 25, 2019, 02:55:22 PM »

Hi all,

I wanted to thank you all for all your efforts. I didn't want to spend any more time on this so I went back to a year old backup I had. It's working fine for the upload and the real-time data but not for the archive download. So I disabled the "Download Weather Station first" in the Internet setting. My Weatherlink PC is on 24/7 so the archive data should never really be needed. The APRS server archives data for at least 10 days. It's working now and at least it confirms that the ever changing IP address target for the upload is not a problem.

Is there a new model of the console on the horizon? It would be nice if it could handle all of this without help from a PC (for other than setup which would not practical without a PC). My 10 year old Honeywell thermostat talks directly to a Honeywell server (via the access point/router of course).

So I might get back to this later with a fresh mind but for now I'll leave and see how reliable it works.

Thanks again.

Knut - AB2TC

dalecoy · « **Reply #22 on:** July 25, 2019, 04:43:53 PM »

Well, you could get an account on WeatherLink.com, and then....

https://www.davisinstruments.com/resource/use-weatherlink-com-send-data-cwop-globe-weather-underground/

davisuser1 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 25, 2019, 05:01:36 PM »

Hello again,

Wow, this can't be a coincidence! I just received in the mail Davis' product catalog for 2019. I have never received any mailings from them before.

It shows a new device called Weatherlink Live which works in parallel with the Vue console and seems to do exactly what I want; it independently updates data to the cloud. It has its own receiver for the sensor data and connects wirelessly to my network. I am not sure if the "cloud" is limited to weatherlink.com, but I am not completely married to the APRS site I currently use and their pricing is reasonable (starting at $0 per month for "basic"). The device is rather expensive at $250 but I would gladly pay that to avoid the current hassle. Am I making any wrong assumptions?

Knut - AB2TC

PaulMy · « **Reply #24 on:** July 25, 2019, 05:05:28 PM »

Yes, Weatherlink Live may be a good option for you.

The WiFiLogger may also do what you want and it uses your existing console and connects wireless to your router and can upload to several weather services such as WU, CWOP, WOW, Windy, etc.

Enjoy,
Paul

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Author Topic: Weatherlink download problems (Read 4367 times)