Topic: Cumulus Dayfile problem...2 entries for same day????

[Intheswamp]

Ok, last night I was trying to get StartWatch working.  I rebooted both WeatherLink and Cumulus a time or three and thought I had everything "OK".  Then I looked at the rainfall section of the Cumulus screen and saw that we had .73" rain for the last 24 hours (correct) but also that the monthly rainfall showed 1.46" (wrong).

Don't get confused that the 1.46 is 2x.73...it just ended up that way but made me pull my hair out for a while trying to figure it out.    I was piddling around with all of this around midnight (roll-over or whatever is set for midnight).  Anyhow, I dug around some and find that I have two entries for 02/06/13 with a time for what I believe is the bogus data line being 00:03...but dated the same as the previous entry...02/06/13.  The rainfall amount entered on that bogus line is exactly the amount of the error.

I also see on the "Recent Extremes" section of the main screen that most of "yesterday's" data is dated at 00:03 and much of that is wrong...high wind gust shows as 1mph whereas I know it was 24mph, max temp at 71F (I wish!) ....etc.,.

Should I simply delete that line of the dayfile?  Is there another data file that I need to give attention to?  Did I simply mess up by messing with things during the roll over event?

Thanks,
Ed

[Weather Display]

you could try deleting the incorrect line
also ask on the cumulus support forum

[Intheswamp]

I did delete the second entry...it corrected the rainfall amount errors but left other errors such as max and min extremes being off.  I'm debating now whether to uninstall Cumulus and start back from scratch...from what I understand I will lose any logger data that has built up....???

I've also been having a conversion with Steve over at Sandaysoft but I'm having a mental bogdown, I think, in understanding exactly what Cumulus will retrieve from the logger.

I'm beginning to think that my best direction to go would be to toss VVP to the side and decide on a single software package to run for uploads and viewing...and keep Weatherlink standing by in the case I need to run it for some reason.

Got a recommendation for some wx software? 

Ed

[SlowModem]

I run weatherlink once or twice a month to download the data from the datalogger.  I email the data file to a cloud email account for a backup.  The data from my stations are on WU and PWS Weather as another type of backup.  Of course, I rarely, if ever, look at the computer that is connected to the weather stations.  I usually look at my web page or the cwop page for a quick glance of conditions.

You need to just pick the software that suits your needs, likes, and ease of use.

[tobyspond]

Hi Ed,

I'm a Cumulus user.  Cumulus will download all available data on the logger; how much data depends on your interval.  I use five minutes because the data logger will store eight days worth of data.  If I lose power for a day or two, the data will be there for Cumulus to download.  I do have weather link installed and use it to download data every couple of days (I use VVP).  I thought about using more than one program, but find that Cumulus suites my needs.  It's a matter of personal preference as to which software to use.

Kerry

[Intheswamp]

Thanks for the feedback, guys.  Yeah, I'm finding out living with the new v3.12 firmware and vvp isn't exactly a honeymoon.   I'm kind of leaning towards Cumulus.  It seems good and apparently there is lots of templates and website tools available.  I guess I need to switch over my WU uploads from Wlink to Cumulus...then download data from the logger every week or so.

Greg, you've probably already told me, but what are you using to upload to WU and CWOP?

Kerry, from your knowledge, if I uninstall Cumulus from my computer and reinstall it (obviously having removed all data files) will Cumulus download all the data on my logger?  That is something that I've had trouble understanding.

Thanks,
Ed

[SlowModem]

Greg, you've probably already told me, but what are you using to upload to WU and CWOP?

I use WUHU because it plays well with all three of my stations.

[PaulMy]

Ed,
If you uninstall and remove all data files then reinstall Cumulus will read from the station/data logger only from that new startup time (you would loose previous data).  However I think there is a way to download earlier data by settings in cumulus.ini and these instructions will be at the Sandaysoft forum/wiki.  However, if you have valid data in your backup folder from the Cumulus automatic backups then the easiest way is to copy-in the files from Backup to data and then restart Cumulus and Cumulus will then read the logger data from that backup date/time so no lost data.

I have also given up on running with VVP quite a long time ago as Weatherlink would stop frequently but Cumulus was much more stable.  I run Cumulus full time without issue, and stop it every 15 days just so I can run WL to keep my Weatherlink data up to date (using 10 min interval gets me about 17 days of logging).

I did delete the second entry...it corrected the rainfall amount errors but left other errors such as max and min extremes being off

I also have had the rare max/min error, like yesterday when I found my rain gauge plugged with debris and then after cleanout somehow had an erroneous 1000mm+ rain rate but these are easily corrected by the Cumulus built-in records editors.  Generally the MonYYlog.txt and dayfile.txt do not have the erroneous data so the editor can populate the hi/lows correctly.

Paul

[PaulMy]

Ed,
Does this from the Cumulus Wiki help?

I’ve just installed Cumulus, and it didn’t download all the old data from my weather station

Cumulus deliberately doesn’t attempt to download any data from before the point when you first run it. If you wish, although this isn't recommended, you can force it to download data from any point by editing the ‘Timestamp’ line in the today.ini file (in the data folder), before starting it (you will need to have run it at least once previously). If you do this, you will probably need to edit your data files as you may have duplicate entries and/or entries out of order. Your rain totals will almost certainly also be wrong - the total for "today" in particular. See the FAQ entry about correcting rainfall data.
 
Note that this method does not work for the Oregon WMR200 station. This station deletes logger entries when they are downloaded, and there is no mechanism for retrieving logger entries for a particular period - it just sends all the entries that it has. You may be able to circumvent this by creating a today.ini file in the data folder before you run Cumulus, with just this in it:
 
[General]

Date=10/04/2012

Timestamp=10/04/2012 10:00:00

Change the dates and time to match the point from which you want Cumulus to start downloading data. If the station has already sent the data, this may not work, unfortunately.
 
If you stored data from your weather station (on another file-based system) before you first ran Cumulus, then you may be able to (using a text editor outside Cumulus) generate Monthly log files for the pre-Cumulus period. See that Wiki article for more information on what you can then do with those files within Cumulus.
 

While the above is an option the best way is to replace the \cumulus\data folder files from the backup files as noted in my earlier post.

Paul

[Intheswamp]

YES YES YES!!!!!! SUCCESS!!!!!!! 
(Wow, I was so excited I went ahead and posted just the "yes yes yes" part of the message!  )

I decided to give replacing the data files a shot.  First thing I did was create a folder in the data folder and copied all the files found there into the new folder.   Then I looked in the backup folder and there were several files in there, all with dates in their names of June 3rd which was a bad day.  I then went into the "Daily" folder and found other folders with dates incorporated in their names.  I went into the one that preceded the time the problem happened and found older copies of data files.  There were a two or three files in the data folder that were not in the backup folder.  I then copied and pasted the files in the backup folder over the files in the data folder.  This left those two or three files (mostly log files) in the data folder unchanged.  I held my breath and restarted Cumulus.  It started up, but...the download window didn't open, the weather screen started up quickly, no apparent history data, it looked like it's "start date" was when I just started up Cumulus.  My face was shortlived, though!   

Since I had backed up all the files in the data folder previously I decided to delete everything in the data folder and then paste what files were in the chosen backup folder into the data folder.  My weak mind was hoping that Cumulus was reading the old, bogus log files and thus not downloading the data from the logger.  My feeble mind was telling me that Cumulus would create it's own log files if it didn't not find any in the folder...and it would have to create them from "new" data.  I did the delete, copy, paste sequence and restarted Cumulus.  The download window opens...and suddenly I'm seeing the last several days of weather life pass before my eyes!!!  I looked at my All Time Records and they look about right.     

IT WORKED!!!!

Thanks everybody!!  And Paul, I appreciate your last two messages.  Those and a thread with Steve over at Sandaysoft helped me to try and salvage the few days of data that I had...and learn how to do it in case I need it later! 

Now to figure out how to seamlessly(?) convert over from WeatherLink to Cumulus for my WU uploads...     

Ed