Topic: Rain total

[Inverno]

Is there a reason why myAcuRite rain total resets after about a half hour of no rain?  It rained here 0.02 inches at 1 PM, then stopped and now myAcurite AND WU are showing 0.00 for a rain total.  This has happened continuously since we switched to the new site.

[nincehelser]

Is there a reason why myAcuRite rain total resets after about a half hour of no rain?  It rained here 0.02 inches at 1 PM, then stopped and now myAcurite AND WU are showing 0.00 for a rain total.  This has happened continuously since we switched to the new site.

I'm guessing a network issue is causing it to reset.  I'm having no problems on any of my 3 SmartHUBs.  After app version 224 was released, I had one troublesome SmartHUB that would reset, but after putting it on an a UPS, my problem cleared up.  So in my case it was simply a power issue.

In the old firmware the system would reset if it didn't get any response back from the servers within a certain amount of time.  For example, if your network connection to the server was disrupted, the bridge would keep sending data for a while, but would eventually realize it was hearing nothing back from the servers, so it would assume something went wrong and would reset to try to re-establish communications.   Since the old firmware wasn't keeping track of rain fall itself, this was not a terribly huge issue, except for the possibility of losing some 36-second rain data.

On the new system, I expect something similar might be happening... the SmartHUB is not getting responses back from the server for some reason, so it periodically resets (on the hour doesn't seem too unreasonable for that).  If there is no rain for the day this isn't an easily noticeable problem, but if there is, the rain counter drops to zero and the problem becomes obvious.

Unfortunately no one with the problem has yet been able to monitor their network to see what's actually going on, so for now it's just a theory.

I have noticed some of the same people who complained about lost rain under the old system are also complaining about it under the new system, even though they are using new hardware.  That would be consistent with them having an underlying network issues.

[DoctorKnow]

I just took mine off the netgear router and plugged directly into Arris cable modem... I'll monitor. I wasn't having the issue until recently.

[SteveFitz1]

Is there a reason why myAcuRite rain total resets after about a half hour of no rain?  It rained here 0.02 inches at 1 PM, then stopped and now myAcurite AND WU are showing 0.00 for a rain total.  This has happened continuously since we switched to the new site.

Something weird is obviously going on with Rain Totals on the Acurite website. Take a look at their support forum and you'll see you're not alone in your issue. A friend of mine has ongoing similar issues when it rains. Attached is his graph from Sunday. You can see the rain total climb throughout the day, then suddenly drop to zero, only to begin climbing again. At the end of the day, his dashboard said his Rain Total was 0.78 inches. That was simply the highest total reached during the day before the rain total was reset to zero. His actual total for the day was over 2 inches. The Rain Total should not be resetting throughout the day, but it is.

[DoctorKnow]

Here is my graph. It is incorrect with the total, it should be .90, and it did not rain all those times.

[Inverno]

George, that seems like a stretch to assume everyone that is having rain totals has a network issue.  My FIOS internet is rock solid and has been for years.  This looks to be more like a problem with myAcurite's website and the fact that they are not allowing the 24 hour time window to expire before they reset the rain total.  Instead its resetting after 30 to 60 minutes.  If you look at my rain chart on WU, it is not supposed to be a sawtooth like it is.  Under the old Aculink system, it grew to a total value then stayed at that value until it reset around midnight.  Blaming an internet connection, come on now. [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[Inverno]

Here is my graph. It is incorrect with the total, it should be .90, and it did not rain all those times.

Same problem I have DoctorKnow and have been having since the update.  I go in and check my WU site and it says 0.00 rain yet it may have rained all morning and is sunny now in the afternoon.

[DoctorKnow]

There is a huge discussion on acurite. No solutions yet that I can tell.

[nincehelser]

George, that seems like a stretch to assume everyone that is having rain totals has a network issue.  My FIOS internet is rock solid and has been for years.  This looks to be more like a problem with myAcurite's website and the fact that they are not allowing the 24 hour time window to expire before they reset the rain total.  Instead its resetting after 30 to 60 minutes.  If you look at my rain chart on WU, it is not supposed to be a sawtooth like it is.  Under the old Aculink system, it grew to a total value then stayed at that value until it reset around midnight.  Blaming an internet connection, come on now. [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

When I'm talking about network problems, I'm talking about conditions that often go wrong in networking.  Like what happens if there is an IP conflict, or how the program reacts when a server can't be reached, or odd responses are coming back from the server.

The old MBW kept track of rain totals on the server.  The new firmware keeps track of rain totals on SmartHUB.  Something is causing the rain totals on the SmartHUB to reset.  The SmartHUB is sitting on a user's local network.  It makes sense to look at what is happening on the local network.

When you look at the communications going on with the servers, under normal conditions there is nothing coming back from the servers except local time and the checkversion number.  However, something must be coming back from the servers, or some other local condition is occurring that is causing the rain totals to reset.  Looking at the local network traffic is a big part of figuring that out.

Simply put, if you think Acurite is resetting the rain total on the SmartHUB improperly, you will be able to see such a thing happening with network monitoring.  The problem is, no one has yet been able to catch something that might look like they are doing that... not even a strange server response that might be confusing the SmartHUB.

So, C'mon, Inverno.  Since the rain totals are kept on the SmartHUB, the SmartHUB is in the local user's environment, and so far no one has yet been able to find a "reset rain totals" command coming back from Acurite's servers... just localtime and checkversion, what is going on? 

Black magic?

[Inverno]

So AcuRite is not doing anything to address this?  The user is supposed to get internet packet monitoring software to investigate if their provider has an IP address conflict or loss of connection etc?  I haven't seen any posts on here saying that AcuRite is aware of the problem and is looking to fix it soon.

[nincehelser]

So AcuRite is not doing anything to address this?  The user is supposed to get internet packet monitoring software to investigate if their provider has an IP address conflict or loss of connection etc?  I haven't seen any posts on here saying that AcuRite is aware of the problem and is looking to fix it soon.

No.  Nobody said that Acurite is not doing anything, Inverno.

If you aren't interested in investigating what is going on, then I guess you don't have to do anything, but don't just sit on your hands complaining that someone else is doing nothing, or that they don't don't know what they're talking about.

[Inverno]

Someone is a bit frisky today. I was asking if Acurite was doing anything to fix it.  I was not complaining about anything. There is a basic need by the user to have accurate rain totals, is that too much to ask? Plus if what you say is true, what's the fix? Contact Verizon and tell them to get their crap together? Come on now Georgey!

[nincehelser]

Someone is a bit frisky today. I was asking if Acurite was doing anything to fix it.  I was not complaining about anything. There is a basic need by the user to have accurate rain totals, is that too much to ask? Plus if what you say is true, what's the fix? Contact Verizon and tell them to get their crap together? Come on now Georgey!

If we knew the details of what was causing the problem, then a fix might be found. 

That's the whole purpose of seeing what is going on the network side.

Apparently you're not interested in doing that.

[Mehdi]

I use a Meteobridge with my new Acurite 5-in-1 and the HD display (Model 995WES-bundle).   I started uploading to Wunderground using Meteobridge.  It has been raining here for the past few days and all looked good with the Meteobridge upload.

Last night I signed up for MyAcurite and added the Wunderground information, just for kicks, and now my rain totals are setting to zero as you see below. The rain total before adding the Wunderground info to MyAcurite was 0.22" of rain. 

This problem is definitively with MyAcurite systems and setup on their side.  I will go back to Meteobridge and won't allow MyAcurite to mess with my data again! 

I will report back tomorrow to see if the issue is resolved.

[nincehelser]

This problem is definitively with MyAcurite systems and setup on their side.  I will go back to Meteobridge and won't allow MyAcurite to mess with my data again! 

Your data to wunderground isn't flowing through myAcurite.  It's going from the SmartHUB straight to wunderground.

[Mehdi]

This problem is definitively with MyAcurite systems and setup on their side.  I will go back to Meteobridge and won't allow MyAcurite to mess with my data again! 

Your data to wunderground isn't flowing through myAcurite.  It's going from the SmartHUB straight to wunderground.

My data for Meteobridge is not going through SmartHUB.  The Meteobridge is connected through USB to a 1536RX display.

My set up is a bit different. I started with a HD Display and SmartHUB, but was disappointed that the HD Display did not have a USB connector. I then purchased the station Costco had on sale for $59 and am using the display from that to connect to the Meteobridge for data uploads to Wunderground and my web site. All was good at this time.

I finally created an account on MyAcurite and added the SmartHUB to it.  Problem started when I setup the MyAcurite to upload to Wunderground.

[nincehelser]

My data for Meteobridge is not going through SmartHUB.  The Meteobridge is connected through USB to a 1536RX display.

Well, that would explain it, as the problem occurs because the SmartHUB's rain counters are resetting.  A USB display (with or without myAcurite) would be unaffected.

So, now we're back to trying to figuring out what's happening to the SmartHUB that is causing it to reset...

[Mehdi]

So, now we're back to trying to figuring out what's happening to the SmartHUB that is causing it to reset...

It's a brand new SmartHUB (purchased in late November) and connected to the same network that the Meteobridge is plugged in (which is working just fine), so it's not a network issue (at least not in my house)!

[nincehelser]

So, now we're back to trying to figuring out what's happening to the SmartHUB that is causing it to reset...

It's a brand new SmartHUB (purchased in late November) and connected to the same network that the Meteobridge is plugged in (which is working just fine), so it's not a network issue (at least not in my house)!

So what's impacting it then?

Personally, I'd look at the network data and see what's going on for some clues.

[Mehdi]

So, now we're back to trying to figuring out what's happening to the SmartHUB that is causing it to reset...

It's a brand new SmartHUB (purchased in late November) and connected to the same network that the Meteobridge is plugged in (which is working just fine), so it's not a network issue (at least not in my house)!

So what's impacting it then?

Personally, I'd look at the network data and see what's going on for some clues.

It's not really impacting me right now as I have a working solution already, but I'm willing to help figure it out. However, that will have to wait till next weekend. This installation is at my beach house and I'm heading back to town for the week.  In the mean time, I will research network sniffers/traffic monitors to see what I find out.  If you know of one I can use, please let me know.  Also let me know specifically what to look for... maybe a PM?

Thanks for the help, George!

[nincehelser]

So, now we're back to trying to figuring out what's happening to the SmartHUB that is causing it to reset...

It's a brand new SmartHUB (purchased in late November) and connected to the same network that the Meteobridge is plugged in (which is working just fine), so it's not a network issue (at least not in my house)!

So what's impacting it then?

Personally, I'd look at the network data and see what's going on for some clues.

It's not really impacting me right now as I have a working solution already, but I'm willing to help figure it out. However, that will have to wait till next weekend. This installation is at my beach house and I'm heading back to town for the week.  In the mean time, I will research network sniffers/traffic monitors to see what I find out.  If you know of one I can use, please let me know.  Also let me know specifically what to look for... maybe a PM?

Thanks for the help, George!

The easiest way is if you have a switch with port-mirroring ability.  They can be had for about $20 to $30 if your present switch doesn't have that feature.  This is the particular one I've been using the last few months that I got for $20 at the local Fry's: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0OHEMA/ref=psdc_281414_t1_B000FNFSPY?th=1

Then download a free network sniffing program like wireshark.  Or maybe use tcpflow on Linux.

Some routers allow you to monitor network traffic, too, but usually the ones where you load up open-source routing software. 

[Mehdi]

The easiest way is if you have a switch with port-mirroring ability.  They can be had for about $20 to $30 if your present switch doesn't have that feature.  This is the particular one I've been using the last few months that I got for $20 at the local Fry's: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0OHEMA/ref=psdc_281414_t1_B000FNFSPY?th=1

Then download a free network sniffing program like wireshark.  Or maybe use tcpflow on Linux.

Some routers allow you to monitor network traffic, too, but usually the ones where you load up open-source routing software.

I happen to have the Netgear ProSAFE JGS516PE switch (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GG1ACX2) which I believe has mirroring capability. I'll download wireshark and get familiar with it.

[Mehdi]

I've connected the PC running the Wireshark and the SmartHub to the same switch. The switch does have port mirroring capability.  I'm not sure what I need to do to capture the traffic.

 

[nincehelser]

I've connected the PC running the Wireshark and the SmartHub to the same switch. The switch does have port mirroring capability.  I'm not sure what I need to do to capture the traffic.

The first thing you need to do is set up the port mirror.  You'll want the port wireshark is on to mirror the data (both coming and going) from the port the SmartHUB is on.

Then you'll want to set up wireshark to monitor the traffic coming and going from the IP number of the SmartHUB.

There are a number of tutorial videos on youtube that should walk you through the basics of wireshark.

[Mehdi]

OK... I've setup the switch to mirror the SmartHub port to another port. A USB ethernet controller is attached to that port and is connected to my Surface Pro. Wireshark is setup to capture the ethernet, filtering the traffic on the IP address of the SmartHub.  I'll let it run for a while.  Good thing is that rain is expected.  I will upload the file(s) after a few hours.