Topic: WMR200A data logger retrieval vs. graphing

[L5n25]

I recently acquired an Oregon Scientific WMR200A which has a data logger storage onboard.  I am using Weather Display 10.37N and when connected the live data feed largely works as I expect.  However, occasionally the live data feed fails due to some sort of USB communication failure.  When that happens I have to restart and re-invoke WD.  The WD status window seems to recover the data logger data and seems to update the "Extreme conditions" but the graph for the downtime remains flat-lined (for the most part) or in the case of my PWS page, occasional "spiky" behavior.

Does anyone know the proper way to configure WD to recover the console's stored data so it get's graphed appropriately?  I publish the data to my Wunderground PWS at:  http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KORBEAVE41 so I'd like to discover how to eliminate the "flat-lining" and/or "spikes".

I'm pursuing this question as an effective workaround to the USB communication issue which is more fundamental but also more elusive and perhaps impossible to fix.

Thanks in advance.

[JG4660]

I have a WMR200 on the way and hope that you get an answer as i'll likely have the same issue.

Another issue i see with the WD software is that most of the stations i see on Wundrground that use it all seem to show the wind and wind gust as the same value, i'd like to know if that can be corrected. I don't notice that with the stations that use VWS or some of the others.



Good luck
JG

[L5n25]

I have a WMR200 on the way and hope that you get an answer as i'll likely have the same issue.

Another issue i see with the WD software is that most of the stations i see on Wundrground that use it all seem to show the wind and wind gust as the same value, i'd like to know if that can be corrected. I don't notice that with the stations that use VWS or some of the others.



Good luck
JG

Hopefully you won't have the USB issue -- it's annoying to say the least.  USB for data collection is finicky (I work at a place that does that sort of thing although I don't pretend to know how to fix this); my issue could be any number of things.  When you get your station setup up, I'd be interested in knowing if you have the same issue or not.

re. the wind gust vs. velocity, I don't see that per se... they are close but not exactly the same.  On my station the gusts show in green on wunderground and the velocity (average?) shows in red... there are a few points where there's a green dot above the red line.  I'm referring to the graph here; but maybe you mean the current conditions?

[JG4660]

I'll be sure and let you know if i have the same USB issues. It seems that USB problems are pretty common with all the different manufacturers. Which suprises me..generally i find all my current USB connections much more stable that my serial RS-232 devices i had on my old PC's. I'm now using a Laptop and all i have is USB.

As far as the wind/wind gust readings..scroll through some stations in your area and compare those using VWS and those using WD 10.37. You'll see what i mean. VWS displays more what you would see on your console during say a 5 minute period..for example wind= 5.8 gust=13.2. Where typically with the WD stations i see they would be 5.8/5.8. I'm hoping this is just the way people have there software configured.

I posted the same question on the WD forum..if i get a solid answer i'll post it here also.

Thanks
JG

[L5n25]

I'll be sure and let you know if i have the same USB issues. It seems that USB problems are pretty common with all the different manufacturers. Which suprises me..generally i find all my current USB connections much more stable that my serial RS-232 devices i had on my old PC's. I'm now using a Laptop and all i have is USB.

<snip>

Thanks
JG

My company produces a USB driver for data collection (science education "probeware"  ).  They use a third party vendor for the driver "toolset" and then customize a set of library routines on top of it to do data collection.  In general it is very reliable.  Every once and while though we encounter an installation issue or a "long term collection" issue (installation issues are by far the most common).  Most of the USB interfaces out there actually have to deal with relatively small amounts of data... keyboards, mice, joysticks don't really generate much data.  But attach a motion detector or even a thermometer and the interface gets "hammered" of the course of either minutes or hours respectively.

I'm beginning to suspect that the USB connection is getting noise that causes the drop out and the Weather Display USB interface program (WMR100.exe?) just doesn't notice so it just keeps on sending the same cached data up to the program.  The failures don't seem to follow a pattern -- sometimes I go for 17+ hours without incident and other times it fails within the first couple of minutes... and every interval in-between.  It's a silent failure, the program goes along merrily posting the last data... over and over again.     It's like the weather station's heart beat just goes flat-line... beeeeeeeeeeepppp!   

Now some USB interfaces tolerate plugin, plugout, plugin events very well; but, not so for this one... at least on my XP such a sequence yields "Unknown device".  At this point, I'm left with no recourse than the reboot and restart.

[JG4660]

I got my WMR200 setup today and i think i have it even worse than you. Everything works fine with the console and all the sensors. However, the USB connection causes my wind readings to stop being updated in the software (WD 10.37 M and VWS 14.0) and whats real strange is it also stops the console from updating too. If i unplug the USB the console retuns to normal within 30 seconds. Plug it back in and restart the software and the same thing will happen again within a few minutes.On occasion instead of this happening i'll lose contact with my outdoor temp/hum sensor, once again after unplugging the USB it finds the sensor and all is normal again.

I tried all the usual stuff..moving the PC farther from the console, trying a different USB cable, nothing seems to help. Running the console on battery helps a little but not much.

I just got this friday from Ambient so i am going to see what they are willing to do about it.

Thanks
JG