Author Topic: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU  (Read 3865 times)

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Offline wx5rp

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VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« on: October 21, 2007, 01:35:05 AM »
I've been running a VP2 and WeatherLink 5.x for about three years now, reporting my data to WU. Within the past year, I added the module to support RapidFire, and things have worked flawlessly.

However, at some point, the graphs visible on WU's link to my station (KWABATTL5) developed a squiggle. This anomaly first appeared over a year ago and has increased in severity over the months since. The problem affects the daily graphing of temperature, humidity, and pressure, as far as I can tell. (Wind and rain reporting are too erratic to notice.)

This is the first time I've asked anyone anywhere about the issue. Aside from this, everything else seems to be running perfectly.

Has anyone seen or heard of this issue? I'd appreciate a heads-up if you have.

If my description is vague, feel free to pull up my station and look at the graphs. You'll instantly see what I mean. The smooth nature of the graph line has been replaced by something resembling a sawtooth.

Thanks,
Wx5rp
Rob / Washington State

Offline kray1000

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2007, 05:13:52 AM »
So this is what you're seeing?



I don't use WeatherLink, but a couple of possibilities I can think of:
1.  Someone else is using your login
2.  You have two programs doing uploads to WU (one with offsets?)

Look at the times the uploads are happening.  There's a definite pattern there.  I looked at October 19, 2007 and noticed right away that uploads were happening on the 8's with one set of data and on the 0's with the other. 

Are the clocks on all your computers correct and the same?  When you upload to WU at 1:00, does it show as happening at 1:00 or at 12:58?

It would help if you could determine on what date exactly this started happening.  There's a good chance either you installed or upgraded software on that date, or someone else in your area came online.

Offline wx5rp

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2007, 05:17:47 PM »
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, that graph is exactly what I'm seeing. Have you ever seen this before?

I live in a rural area and have no stations online within a mile of me, so that probably rules out the overlapping station theory.

As I peruse my station's data going back to the date of install (December 2004), it appears that the date of onset of these symptoms is not exactly clear.  They seem to have come on gradually.  (Sounds more like a medical condition.)

Also, I upgraded the WuiWlink module last night, speculating that my version had become obsolete.  The new version is exhibiting the identical problem.  I've also tried running without RapidFire, but the results are also the same.

You mentioned running more than one computer and different times.  I'm only running a single PC where the VP2 is installed, so I'm not clear what you meant by the time references.  My computer's clock is synced perfectly as far as I know, so the upload times should be correct.  How did you determine that I was two minutes off of WU's clock?  I'm unable to verify that portion.  Were you referring to the time on my VP2 vs the computer's time?

Thanks again.

Offline kray1000

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2007, 05:58:37 PM »
You mentioned running more than one computer and different times.  I'm only running a single PC where the VP2 is installed, so I'm not clear what you meant by the time references.  My computer's clock is synced perfectly as far as I know, so the upload times should be correct.  How did you determine that I was two minutes off of WU's clock?  I'm unable to verify that portion.  Were you referring to the time on my VP2 vs the computer's time?

Not saying that your time is incorrect... was just trying to verify that it was correct.  Just in general terms, when computer-related things go out of sync, verifying that all the dates and times are correct is a good place to start.  I guess I was going on the premise that there are two stations in your town with different system times, and wondering which set of observations (uploads on the 8's, or on the 0's) belonged to you.

The fact that one set of observations is close to the other (within a degree or two) and the fact that they track the same is interesting.  When there are isolated showers in your area, are there times when one set of observations will show rain and the other one doesn't?

So you have just the one system... I take it that you don't have two programs on that system doing uploads to WU?

I've never used WeatherLink except on the day I got my station, so program-related issues will have to be addressed by someone else.  Good idea to turn off Rapid Fire as a test.

I wonder if an e-mail to WU support might help.  Maybe they can check their log files to verify that different IPs aren't being used.

Offline wx5rp

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2007, 07:40:41 PM »
You refer to two sets of observations -- one on the 8s and one on the 0s.  That has me baffled.  I'm only uploading once.  And yes, I am only running the one weather software program, Weatherlink 5.7.

One question is: Where are you seeing two sets of uploads?  I'd like to look into that angle.

The fact that the issue came on gradually rather than abruptly is intriguing, if not worrisome.  It makes me question the VP2 unit rather than issues on the WU side.

What software do you use to upload your data, assuming you have a wx site?  Do you recommend something other than Weatherlink, if for no other reason than to try and eliminate Weatherlink as a culprit?

Failing to resolve things here (if I do), a message to WU tech support will be the next thing on my list.  I can almost see the runaround already...




Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2007, 07:50:23 PM »
Here something that might be a clue I see in your Comma Delimited File:  (This is a snip of part of it)  Part of the time it shows Wunderground v.1.13, part of the time it shows WeatherLink 5.7.  Also notice the upload times.  Some are only a minute apart.  I don't use the WeatherLink module for uploads either.  (I use VWS)  It's almost like you have two different modules or leftover pieces of past modules running inside WeatherLink.  One time I left VWS running on both my laptop and desktop PCs, forgot to turn off uploads on my laptop, and as I recall I had the weird looking graphs like yours from both programs sending the data.   :-k

007-10-21 00:00:00,48.0,46.4,30.26,ESE,111,2,2,94,0.00,,,0.39,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:06:00,48.0,46.4,30.26,ESE,113,1,1,94,0.00,,,0.39,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:10:00,48.0,46.4,30.28,SE,135,1,6,94,0.01,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 00:11:00,48.0,46.4,30.26,SE,133,1,1,94,0.00,,,0.39,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:17:00,48.0,46.4,30.26,SSE,160,0,1,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:20:00,48.0,46.4,30.29,SSE,157,2,5,94,0.01,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 00:23:00,48.0,46.4,30.26,SSE,160,1,1,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:29:00,47.9,46.3,30.27,SSE,160,0,0,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:30:00,48.0,46.4,30.29,South,180,1,3,94,0.00,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 00:35:00,47.9,46.3,30.27,SSE,163,0,1,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:40:00,48.0,46.4,30.29,South,180,1,3,94,0.00,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 00:41:00,47.9,46.3,30.28,SSE,163,0,0,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:47:00,48.0,46.4,30.28,SE,145,4,4,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:50:00,47.9,46.3,30.29,South,180,1,4,94,0.00,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 00:53:00,48.0,46.4,30.28,SE,139,1,3,94,0.00,,,0.40,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 00:59:00,48.0,46.4,30.28,SE,140,4,4,94,0.00,,,,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 01:00:00,47.9,46.3,30.31,South,180,1,3,94,0.00,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 01:05:00,48.0,46.4,30.28,SW,214,1,2,94,0.00,,,,Wunderground v.1.13,
2007-10-21 01:10:00,47.9,46.3,30.31,South,180,1,4,94,0.00,,,,WeatherLink 5.7,
2007-10-21 01:11:00,48.0,46.4,30.29,South,179,0,1,94,0.00,,,,Wunderground v.1.13,
« Last Edit: October 21, 2007, 07:52:07 PM by Mark / Ohio »
Mark 
2002 Davis VP I Wireless, WeatherLink (Serial), GRLevel3, VirtualVP, StartWatch, Weather Display, Windows 10


Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2007, 07:54:52 PM »
You might try uninstalling the Rapid Fire module for the heck of it and see if the 5 minute uploads keep going.   :lol:
Mark 
2002 Davis VP I Wireless, WeatherLink (Serial), GRLevel3, VirtualVP, StartWatch, Weather Display, Windows 10


Offline wx5rp

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2007, 08:02:37 PM »
I see both those modules in my Manage Modules tab.  You might be onto something.  I was under the assumption (refusing to use the word "assume") that both were required to enable Rapid Fire.  Since I've run in Rapid Fire mode for over a year, I can't recall where I stumbled onto that (erroneous?) information.

Of interest: When I disable Rapid Fire, the sawtooth graph effect sometimes disappears. 

Temporarily, I disabled the Weather Underground Module v1.0 (I believe that correlates to Weatherlink 5.7 in the file snippet you attached), and re-enabled Rapid Fire.  I'd be curious to see if this resolves anything.

Thanks!

Offline kray1000

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2007, 08:04:10 PM »
Here's a snippet of your data on WU (I chose October 20, 2007 because it matches the graphs I posted earlier):



The 8's that were there on the 19th have been replaced by 1's.  Notice that the temperatures posted on the 1's are about a degree higher than the ones posted on the 0's.  As Mark just pointed out, these times are now only a minute apart, but that varies.  Sometimes these extra observations stop for periods of time.

And that's what so strange... you would think that a renegade process or an extra active profile within the WeatherLink program would cause the uploads to continue until the program is stopped or the user has logged off.

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2007, 08:27:30 PM »
..  Since I've run in Rapid Fire mode for over a year, I can't recall where I stumbled onto that (erroneous?) information...

Yep, you only need one or the other.  It was a bit confusing to me at first when they moved the settings adjustments to a different location in WeatherLink with the addition of Rapid Fire.  (I did use the module back before I bought VWS)
« Last Edit: October 21, 2007, 08:29:11 PM by Mark / Ohio »
Mark 
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Offline wx5rp

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Re: VP2 Graphing Problems on WU
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2007, 09:27:13 PM »
Excellent job on debugging, guys (assuming -- there's that word again -- you're all guys).  After removing the additional module, the comma delimited file and the graph are behaving correctly.  For whatever reason, one module was interpreting the data one way and the other differently, hence the erroneous reporting, I presume.

Thanks very much!

Rob
Wx5rp / Washington State
KWABATTL5

 

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