FAQ: Difference between revisions

# When you first run Cumulus 1, it displays the '''Station settings''' screen. On this, make sure you pick the right sort of station (to ensure Cumulus communicates correctly with your weather station, and can identify all the observations) and choose your '''units''' wisely. (Changing units later means all stored Lowest and highest numbers up to that point have to be converted immediately manually). See the '''Help''' for information about the rest of the screen, but generally you can easily adjust the other options later.

== What weather stations does Cumulus 1 work with? ==

As of 2017, development of both Cumulus 1 and Cumulus MX was abandonedstopped by Steve Loft and a new version called Cumulus MX replaced it. Although there have been a couple of patches to change the years listed in drop downs with Cumulus 1, its code is frozen as the relevant development environment is no longer available.

== Moving Cumulus 1 software to a different location on your PC? ==

== What do the various wind speeds in Cumulus 1 correspond to, with Davis stations? ==

Davis station firmware supplies two windspeedswind speeds, a 3-second average and a 10-minute average (later versions of the firmware also supply a 2-minute average, Cumulus currently doesn't use this).

== What do the various wind speeds in Cumulus 1 correspond to, with Fine Offset stations? ==

== How do I set up recording wind speeds in Cumulus 1, with Oregon Scientific and La Crosse stations ==

== How do I make Cumulus 1 run automatically when Windows starts? ==

== What formula does Cumulus 1 use for values derived from temperature? ==

== Where does Cumulus 1 get its this month and this year rainfall totals from? ==

Stop Cumulus 1 and delete all of the files in the data folder. You may also want to edit the 'StartDate=' line in [[cumulus.ini]] to set the date for the start of your data, if you are starting again on a different date, although Cumulus 1 does not make any decisions based on that date, it simply outputs it twice (!) on one standard web page.

== How do I localise Cumulus 1 to my own language? ==

can all be customised by using the [[strings.ini]] file. This facility may be extended to allow other items to be translated, but it is very unlikely that there will ever be a fully multi-language version of Cumulus in its current form.

== Can I connect/disconnect my weather station while Cumulus 1 is running? ==

No. You must make sure your weather station is connected to your PC and switched on, before running Cumulus 1. Do not disconnect your station while Cumulus 1 is running.

By default, Cumulus 1 deals with weather stations incorporating solar sensors, if you have selected the relevant station 'Type' or 'Display solar/extra data' in configuration, but it has some capability to deal with extra sensors added including the Blake-Larsen Sun Recorder.

Cumulus 1 has the ability to input, log, and display Current Values/Outputs from the [[Rain_measurement#Optical_Rain_Gauges|Hydreon Optical Rain Sensor - Model RG-11]] and from either Oregon Scientific or Davis [[Extra_Sensor_Files|extra sensors]]. Only today's and yesterday's total rainfall from a Hydreon sensor are available in [[today.ini]] and [[yesterday.ini]] respectively. For some Oregon Scientific models, the temperature from an extra sensor can replace the temperature from the main sensor for processing by Cumulus, but all extra sensor values are stored in a series of [[Extra_Sensor_Files| monthly log]] files. No other processing is performed for Davis extra sensors, but past values are retained in a series of [[Extra_Sensor_Files| monthly log]] files. The file [[strings.ini]] is used to customise the description associated with extra sensors.

== How do I get my Davis station with USB working with Cumulus 1? ==

== Why does Cumulus 1 do some things the way it does, when there are better ways? ==

So yes, I am aware that some of things that Cumulus does may seem strange, but it is simply not possible for me to start again from scratch, knowing what I know now. And itthis is notdone possiblein formy mespare to effectively produce separate versions of Cumulus specifically for each type of weather stationtime. If you don't like the way Cumulus does certain things, do what I did and write your own software!

== Can I run 2 copies of Cumulus 1? ==

{{Version badge 1}}The supplied web page templates are part of Cumulus and will be over-written on upgrade. If you want to create your own web pages, don’t edit the supplied ones, place them in a different folder and use the ‘extra files’ facility. From version 1.8.9, the installer offers the option of not over-writing the web templates; it unconditionally also installs them to a sub-folder of the web folder called 'originals', so you can refer to them if required, even if you chose not to over-write those in the web folder.

{{Version badge 1}}You’re probably running Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 (or one of the corresponding server versions of Windows). Look in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Cumulus - note that this is a 'hidden' folder. Ideally, to avoid this situation, you would install to somewhere outside the Program Files hierarchy, as recommended in the '''readme.txt'''.

{{Version badge 1}}You've probably corrupted your Cumulus.ini file in the default Cumulus folder. See [[Cumulus.ini#Section:_NOAA]]. It can only be edited either (if Cumulus is stopped) with an external text file editor or (with Cumulus running) using the ''NOAA Setup'' in the configuation menu. Pay attention to where the quotes are required for the file names, and check that you have an allowed date format (see [[Webtags#Time.2FDate_.27format.27_ParameterThe_format_used_for_naming]]).

You've almost certainly entered your co-ordinates incorrectly, or not entered them at all - on the station settings screen. You must enter DEGREES, MINUTES, and SECONDS, no other format will work. Make sure to use '''unsigned whole numbers''' for degrees, minutes, and seconds, with a 'W' for your longitude if you're West of the Greenwich meridian (e.g. if you are in the United States), and the appropriate letter for your latitude (N for northern hemisphere, S for southern hemisphere).

{{Version badge 1}}Choosing the wrong station type means individual items of information are not correctly assigned to weather parameters. Cumulus knows what is at what location for each station type.

In general, if Cumulus 1.x.x identifies an odd value for up to 6 times, it will reuse the last good value instead,. assumingDepending thaton thehow problemfrequently willCumulus eitheris rightable itself,to orread befrom spottedyour andstation, dealtthat withcan quickly.represent

'''Fine Offset stations''' are prone to reporting the odd non-sensicalnonsensical value, and Cumulus has the ability to compare successive readings:

*{{Version badge 1}}From the '''Configuration''' menu select [[Cumulus_Screenshots#Configuration_Menu_Screens|''Calibration'']] and in the '''Spike removal''' frame you can specify "the maximum '''differences''' between successive values" that Cumulus is to tolerate. See the '''Help''' for that screen, and note that spike removal applies while Cumulus is running, not to catch-up readings from the station's logger.

{{Version badge 1}}The Cumulus 1 [[Diags|Diagnostic]] log often contains useful information for sorting out what has been read, which values have been ignored, and which highs or lows may have been updated incorrectly. Note that automatic backups are made just after roll-over time because restarting Cumulus when there are no logger records to read before roll-over has been known to cause problems. Therefore, the backup to choose might be one with the date before when the problem occuredoccurred, but remember that any calculations Cumulus makes are based on readings at least every minute when Cumulus is running, but for the catch up period such calculations can only use the readings available at your station's logging interval. Note if you choose a later backup and it does not work, you can always then repeat the 'rewind' with a earlier backup.

Easy - correct today's total using the [[Today.ini#Editing_rainfall_in_today.ini_within_Cumulus | 'today's rain']] editor on the edit menu (select from main screen in Cumulus 1, or find in the MX browseradmin interface).

If you really do want to try to correct these other rain figures; you would need to stop Cumulus, then find (for the period in question), the correct [[monthly_log_filesStandard_log_files|monthlystandard log file]] field 11 (assuming date is field 0), which stores the Cumulus 'rain counter' values, and edit (increasing the value in the count field, decreases the difference to the next (or current) count, and therefore reduces the rain in the in-between period) so they are correct relative to the current value of the rain counter (i.e. the latest one logged).

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. {{Version badge 1}}You may be able to circumvent this by creating a today.ini file in the data folder before you run Cumulus 1, with just this in it:

Note that Cumulus MX stores some time-stamps '''in ISO format''' (yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss) within '[[today.ini]]', the format example above only works for {{Version badge 1}}Cumulus 1, see the article on the log file itself for specifics.

[[File:Badge vMx.png]] However in calculating and updating extremes, Cumulus MX'''CumulusMX.exe''' will ignore any monthlystandard log file datafor any month prior to the start date set, so it is crucial to make sure the start date is right before you (re-)start MX. However, if you use '''ExportMySQL.exe monthly''' this will start with January 2000 and process any standard log found for any month after that.

{{Version badge 1}}Itand really[[File:Badge representsvMx.png]]There "Cumulusis beganone on",web sopage template file ''recordT.htm'' that in two places uses this date. If you want to make one of those be the earliest date you now have for your data and the other one to be when you started using Cumulus; there is an alternative of leaving cumulus'''Cumulus.ini''' unchanged, but editing default Cumulusthe ''recordsTrecordT.htm'' template twice:

Cumulus works by whenever the reading it is currently processing exceeds a particular record, that record is updated. In essence, Cumulus end-of-day works by reading what is in the detailedmonthly [[Monthly_log_filesStandard_log_files]] to find the highs and lows during the day just ended, these then update the [[dayfile.txt|daily summary log]]. Cumulus can also read what is in the daily summary log to update the all-time extremes held in [[alltime.ini]] and month-by-month all-time extremes held in [[monthlyalltime.ini]]. Look up those cross-references to help you understand the various items, and how they can be updated.

# Correct the rogue values or values in the detailedmonthly [[Monthly_log_filesStandard_log_files]] ''with Cumulus stopped''. Neither Cumulus 1 nor Cumulus MX provides an editor to do this, and you need to guess new values for readings as there is no other file provided by Cumulus to offer any suggestions, often people interpolate between earlier and later readings.

# Correct the all-time extremes held in [[alltime.ini]] and monthly all-time extremes held in [[monthlyalltime.ini]]. Using the Cumulus 1 [[Cumulus_Screenshots#File.2FEdit.2FHelp_Menu|built-in appropriate editor]] from the first couple of commands in the Edit menu (and now also in CumulusMX) allows you to see, and copy across, suggested extremes based on contents of the detailedmonthly [[Monthly_log_filesStandard_log_files]] or contents of the [[dayfile.txt|daily summary log]].