FAQ: Difference between revisions

 

= Installing and Running Cumulus =

 

== Where do I find the Cumulus installer? ==

On the [http://sandaysoft.com/downloads downloads page]

 

 

== How do I upgrade to a new release? ==

Just run the installer for the new version. Your data and settings are not affected, but of course you should back up your data and any settings files (e.g. cumulus.ini and strings.ini) before you run the installer. You can install the new version where you like, but the installer will offer the same place as the previous version as the default. Occasionally, there may be actions you need to perform before or after the upgrade. Required actions usually appear in the announcement of the version you are installing, or may be documented in the readme.txt file that will appear as you run the installer.

 

 

== Moving Cumulus software to a new PC (or updating Windows Operating System) ==

Cumulus will continue to work with your existing weather station and existing log files, providing

#Your Windows regional settings are the same (i.e. date format unchanged, same time zone, decimal point symbol unchanged, list separator character unchanged) - if there is a difference, the new installation cannot understand the old lines in the log files and will give an error when Cumulus is restarted.

 

== Can I view my Cumulus data on another device? ==

# If Cumulus uploads your weather information to an online web site, you can view that on another device.

# Software like 'Remote Desktop' can be used to view the computer that is running Cumulus - see many postings on the Support Forum.

 

== How do I back up my data? ==

*Copy the contents of the Cumulus ‘data’ sub-folder on a regular basis to a different storage device. Then if you have any problem with the original storage device, or corruption of files, you can minimise the loss of logged observations. To restore from the backup, just copy the saved data folder back into your Cumulus installation, with Cumulus stopped.

*It can be useful to take copies of the Cumulus 'backup' sub-folder on key dates (e.g. just after change of month or year), or if you think you might have some rogue figures. The '.ini' files in the backup sub-folder contain past extreme values that you might want to look up.

 

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

This article in the wiki gives more details above moving Cumulus: [[Moving cumulus]]

 

 

== Can I import logged information from before I installed Cumulus? ==

The '''Configuration''' menu, ''Station'' setting screen (near bottom) has option to enter there the ''rainfall total'' for the bit of the year (starting month can be selected here too) until when you first start using Cumulus. See the Cumulus '''Help''' for this screen for further details.

 

 

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

Davis station firmware supplies two windspeeds, 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).

* The latest Davis 3-second average is treated by Cumulus as 'Latest' (available via <#wlatest>)

 

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

Fine Offset sensors measure wind over 48-second intervals, divided into 24 2-second intervals. At the end of each 48-second period, they transmit the highest of those 24 values as 'Gust', and the average of those 24 values as 'Wind'. The console keeps '''overwriting''' the newly received 'Gust' and 'Wind' values to the same area of console memory every 48 seconds, until the station logging interval time is reached, then it moves on to the next memory location, leaving the last values it wrote in the previous console memory location.

*If Cumulus is not running all the time, on restart it works through the console memory locations and extracts the Fine Offset Wind and Gust in each memory location, i.e. at the station logging interval.

 

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

* Each time Cumulus reads records from the weather station it applies any change to the 'total rain count' against today's total in its memory.

* The today's total so far at each reading time is also added to the 'recent tag' array allowing values for up to a week ago to be added as web tags to a web template.

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

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

 

== How does Cumulus deal with extra sensors? ==

By default, Cumulus 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 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.

 

== What is this "Solar Max" value which Cumulus is displaying? ==

It's the current theoretical maximum solar radiation value at the current date and time at your location. It is calculated using the Ryan-Stolzenbach formula, and uses the 'transmission factor' configurable in the station settings to allow for the effect of transmission through the atmosphere. The figure is not particularly useful in itself; it is used if you have a solar sensor, to compare with the current solar radiation reading, in an attempt to determine whether the sun is currently shining or not.

 

== My Fine Offset console says the memory is nearly full - how do I clear it? ==

You don't need to, and it's much safer if you don't; clearing the memory could lead to a loss of data. The memory indicator on the console has no effect on the logging of data; the console will automatically start re-using the oldest memory locations. As long as you are running Cumulus (at least occasionally), Cumulus will have downloaded the data it needs from the console, so the console is free to overwrite the oldest data when it needs to.

 

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

Cumulus cannot drive the station in USB mode, you must install 'virtual serial port' drivers, and configure Cumulus to use the virtual serial port. Make sure you have the station connected to the PC during the following operations.

 

 

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

Cumulus was originally something I 'knocked together' quickly when I got my first weather station, simply because I couldn't find any other software anywhere which I was prepared to use. No 'design' went into it, it was really just a prototype. Some of the things I did were just quick 'hacks' that I intended to fix when I did it 'properly'. But I never got around to going back and doing it 'properly', and it was never my intention that anyone else would use it. But I was persuaded to make it available for others, and then to add more and more enhancements.

 

 

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

3 options:

*You can install Cumulus on more than one PC, but each copy must connect directly to its own weather station (one station connected per PC).

 

Click on it, and a window will open describing the error. It may just be a temporary ftp problem. If you want to stop ftp errors being reported in this way, you can turn them off in the display settings ("Show FTP errors on error log window").

 

== My ‘new record’ light has stopped flashing ==

Drag from lower right to upper left.

 

 

== Cumulus read some invalid figures from my station ==

*Is the information correct on the station console (i.e. not a fault with a sensor), but incorrectly displayed on Cumulus screen (i.e. transfer problem)?

*If you are only getting bad data when you start Cumulus up (i.e. when it is using archive data from the station logger), then a possible cause is that you have set the wrong station type (so individual items of information are not correctly assigned to weather parameters).

 

== I get very large amounts of rainfall shown, or other high readings ==

Fine Offset stations have a habit of producing unbelievable readings, and Cumulus filters many of these out automatically. You can also use the 'spike removal' settings on the calibration page, and Cumulus will then filter out large changes in readings. Please read the help for how to use these settings. Another possible explanation is that you have chosen the wrong station type in the Cumulus station settings. You should only select the "Fine Offset with UV/Light sensor" type if your station actually has SENSORS for these. Your station may have solar CHARGING, but this is not the same as having a solar SENSOR, and so you should choose the "Fine Offset (WH1080 etc)" type. Typically, stations which do have solar SENSORS have a model number which starts with a '3', e.g. WS3080, and stations without solar sensors start with a '1' or '2'. Selecting the wrong type of station will cause Cumulus to misinterpret the logger data read from the station and hence incorrect readings will result.

 

== My station invented some rain that didn't really occur, and I want to set it to zero (or some other figure) ==

Cumulus does include some code to try to ignore some obvious rain errors. For example, if the station reports negative rain, Cumulus will normally ignore that, but if for 6 consecutive readings the rain cumulative count stays below what it was before, Cumulus will normally accept the new count as a new starting point. Because many positive values are realistic (see sub-answers), Cumulus generally will accept those as a result of accidental knocking of a tipping bucket gauge, due to wind effects on the gauge, or even due to the station electronics generating a rogue reading.

=== (Invented rain) Error in today's total===

 

== My monthly and/or annual rainfall totals are wrong ==

Cumulus calculates these when it is restarted, holds the values within memory, and increments them as required while it is running. This FAQ in the previous section [[#Where_does_Cumulus_get_its_this_month_and_this_year_rainfall_totals_from.3F]] has a concise description of how Cumulus calculates these figures.

 

 

== I have inserted pre-Cumulus data and now I get errors ==

Probably some of your inserts used the wrong format (blank rows, fields with real numbers where integers expected, alternatively missing or duplicated fields). See [[:Category:Log_Files]]. Note that Cumulus will only flag errors in the log files that it reads (e.g. those relating to the period for which it displays trends graphs). Check all the log files you have amended.

== I have inserted pre-Cumulus data making 'Records began on' date wrong ==

Stop Cumulus and edit [[Cumulus.ini#Section:_Station | cumulus.ini (station section)]] within the main Cumulus folder. Change the "StartDate=" line. Be sure to use the same format for the date.

 

 

== Cumulus doesn’t show the same pressure as my Fine Offset console ==

Cumulus displays atmospheric pressure corrected to sea level. The console calls this ‘relative pressure’; it displays the letters "rel" when this is being displayed. First of all, check

# that you are comparing the Cumulus display with the ‘relative’ pressure on your console,

 

== My heat index/humidex/wind chill is the same as my temperature ==

*Wind chill only applies when the average wind speed is above 4.8 kph '''and''' (by default in Cumulus as it should really always be set, but this is an option that can be unset) the temperature is below 10 degrees Celsius.

*Heat index only applies when the temperature is above 27 degrees Celsius '''and''' the humidity is above 40%.

 

This problem can also occur if you change your system format settings (date format, decimal and list separators etc). Again, check the diags file for a message about a number not being a valid floating point value.

 

== The peak values on my graphs are not the same as my extreme values ==

 

== My average wind bearing remains at zero ==

Cumulus will always show zero average bearing when the average wind speed is zero (it can't be otherwise because it's calculated using the wind speed). In addition, it will show zero current bearing when the current wind speed is zero if you have ''use bearing zero when calm'' selected in the [[Cumulus_Screenshots#Station|station]] settings (accessible from '''Configuration''' menu).

 

 

== Cumulus takes a very long time to shut down ==

You may have closed it very soon after starting it up, when it had a lot of data to download from the station logger, and you use Weather Underground. From version 1.9.1 there is a facility where it 'catches up' with data that hasn't been uploaded to Weather Underground while it hasn't been running. This takes a little while, and if you close it while it is doing it, it will take a long time for all of the updates to time out. You need to give it sufficient time to finish the upload. From version 1.9.2, there is a 'catch up' light which shows that the upload is taking place, and the 'catch up' is optional'; and it will abort much more quickly if you still close it while the catch up is taking place.

 

== My temperature Min/Max/Avg graph is empty ==

The most likely explanation is that you have only recently started running Cumulus (in the last day or two). It adds new values to this graph at the end of each day; it wouldn't make sense to add a value part of the way through the day, and you need a few points to be plotted before the graph starts to take shape. You need to wait until you have been running Cumulus for a few days.

 

 

== The longest dry/wet spell for this month/year includes days from last month/year ==

This is intentional. I decided that it didn't make sense to arbitrarily chop off a dry/wet spell at the start of the month/year, as then the figure is meaningless. So the figures are to be interpreted as "the longest dry/wet spell which includes this month/year". I note that other software takes the same approach.

 

== Cumulus isn't performing periodic tasks, like data logging or web uploads ==

Cumulus assumes a certain level of weather station functionality. It checks that it has received data from a number of sensors (e.g. pressure and outside temperature) before it starts periodic calculations, logging, uploading to the web, or drawing graphs. This is an attempt to make sure that bad data is not logged. If your weather station is not fully functional, you will not be able to use Cumulus fully.

 

 

== I've changed my Twitter password, and now Cumulus won't update Twitter ==

You need to force Cumulus to re-authenticate with Twitter. Stop Cumulus and edit cumulus.ini. Find the [Twitter] section, and '''delete''' the lines which start

 

 

== When I start Cumulus, I get the error message "The station is not initialised" ==

For Fine Offset stations, when Cumulus starts up, it checks the first two bytes of the station's memory. They are supposed to contain the values Hex 55 and Hex AA to indicate that the station has initialised itself correctly. If they do not, then presumably the station has had some kind of internal problem, so Cumulus doesn't try to read any data from it. A reset of the station normally fixes this - remove the batteries and the USB cable; but note that you will almost certainly lose any stored data in the logger.

 

 

== How do I correct today's or yesterday's highs and lows? ==

Today's totals, highs and lows (and yesterday's rain total) are held in [[today.ini]] in the Cumulus data folder. Yesterday's totals (including RG11 rain but not standard rain), highs and lows are held in [[yesterday.ini]]. Follow the cross-references if you are unsure which parameter is what. To change any values, stop Cumulus and edit the file(s) in a text editor. Be sure to keep any date and time formats the same. If you are editing yesterday's highs and lows, you might also need to edit [[Dayfile.txt#Editing_daily_summary_in_Cumulus|dayfile.txt]], as the same values will probably have been written to that file. You can use the [[Cumulus_Screenshots#File.2FEdit.2FHelp_Menu|built-in dayfile editor]] in Cumulus to do this. If your all-time and/or monthly all-time records have been affected, see the [[#How_do_I_correct_my_all-time_.28or_monthly_all-time.29_records.3F|FAQ entry below]].

 

 

== How do I correct my all-time (or monthly all-time) records? ==

Use the editor in Cumulus - on the Edit menu. If you know the correct figures, you can enter them manually.

*You can look at the [[Alltimelog.txt]] file to find the previous values for the [[Monthlyalltime.ini|all-time records]].

 

== It's January 1st and my 'rain since midnight' and/or 'last 24 hours rain' and/or Evapotranspiration are wrong/negative ==

You are probably using a Davis station. Cumulus needs an incrementing rain counter to calculate all of the rain figures, and the nearest to that on a Davis station is the annual total. When this resets at the end of the year, this causes some of the rain data to show odd values for a day. You will notice this particularly if you use an 0900 start of meteorological day, as the 'rain since midnight' figure is used for services such as Weather Underground. There's no easy solution to this, sorry.

 

== Cumulus stops at the "Downloading data" screen ==

If you have a Fine Offset station, this is probably caused by the station's interface locking up. You should be able to get it going again by doing a reset - remove batteries and the USB cable. Recent Fine Offset models have a problem where they can lock up frequently, requiring a reset. From version 1.9.3 of Cumulus onwards, there is an option to synchronise the reading of data with the console writing the data, to avoid doing both at the same time, and this seems to avoid most lockups. The setting is "Synchronise Fine Offset reads" on the station settings screen.

 

 

== Cumulus locks up when it starts and I have to use the task manager to kill it ==

If you have a ''Fine Offset station'', this is most likely caused by the station's interface locking up, i.e the station has stopped communicating with the PC.

 

 

== Error messages with "Error on line..." or "Error at line..." ==

These are corruptions in the log files, typically caused by Cumulus being unexpectedly closed (e.g. killed using Task Manager, or a PC reboot) while it is writing to the log files, but there can be other causes. The error message may say something like "List index out of bounds". The error message will name the affected file(s) and the affected line number(s).

 

 

== Cumulus gives an error and won't run on my HP computer ==

It's a known problem with HP computers; they have missing fonts. One solution is to install [http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?DisplayLang=en&id=16083 this font update] from Microsoft. It appears that computers other than HP can have the same font issue, so it is worth installing the font update anyway, if you get a problem where Cumulus won't start.

 

== The headings or data look wrong in the data log viewer ==

You're probably trying to view the wrong type of file. Use [[Cumulus_Screenshots|menus]] on main screen.

 

 

== The wind rose in Cumulus does not display anything with my Fine Offset ==

The Fine Offset weather stations are supposed to supply data for 16 wind directions, however the design is such that most of them only actually use 8 of the possible 16. Try setting the wind rose to only display 8 directions by setting the 'wind rose points' value to 8 on the display settings screen.

 

== My Davis console clock is not exactly the same as my PC clock, but I have "Synchronise station clock" selected ==

The Davis protocol only allows hours and minutes to be set, so there is always likely to be a difference of up to a minute between the PC and the station.

 

== I've set the graph background to white, but there's a problem with the small wind direction graph ==

This appears to be an issue with the third party chart component. The work around is to choose a gradient background and set all three colours in the gradient to white.

 

== My Weather Underground tabular data interval is not the same as the interval I've set in Cumulus (I'm using Rapid Fire) ==

If you have selected 'rapid fire', the data is uploaded every 5 seconds, and the interval you configure in Cumulus is not used. Weather Underground decide how often your tabular data is logged when using rapid fire, not Cumulus.

 

== My WU or PWS highest and lowest do not match Cumulus ==

Note that Cumulus does not send minimum and maximum values to PWS and WU, they determine those themselves from the individual values that Cumulus sends.

 

== My monthly (month-by-month) all-time records don't have entries for all of the months that I have been using Cumulus ==

You need to initialise them. See the release announcement for version 1.9.3, which is when this facility was introduced: http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9286

 

 

== I am getting I/O error 32 or I/O error 103 ==

I/O error 32 = ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION; &nbsp; I/O error 103 = ERROR_TOO_MANY_SEM_REQUESTS mean something on your system has one of the Cumulus files open, preventing Cumulus writing to it (Cumulus needs exclusive access). If you are seeing "file access denied", you may have a permissions problem.

Possible reasons for locked files:

 

= Website =

 

== How do I set up a website? ==

*On the ''Sites/Options'' tab, you must have '''Auto Update''' selected if you want Cumulus to generate web pages at the standard interval. Other parameters will depend on your particular set-up, but are explained in the Cumulus '''Help''' and in Wiki pages starting with [[Website_setup]] and following links as required.

*On the ''Files'' tab, you select whether to use the standard Cumulus templates and images, or specify your own templates and destinations.

 

== How do I replace the 'bird' image on my website? ==

There are several ways to change the image of the 'bird' on the standard Cumulus web page. You will need a [[FTP tool]].

* The simplest way is to upload a new picture to the images folder of your website; the file should be called picture.jpg. Please ensure the image is not too large and bear in mind it will appear on the bottom left of the page; the site data may cover some of the image. As a guide, the default image is 600 x 450 pixels.

 

NOTE: It is not recommended that you overwrite the image in your local folder (webfiles\images\picture.jpg) because that gets overwritten when you update to a new build of Cumulus. Ideally your image will be in its own local folder outside the Cumulus structure.

 

== Why does the heading say 'weather weather' ? ==

The standard first template page contains '''&lt;h1&gt;&lt;#location&gt; weather&lt;/h1&gt;''', so do not include 'weather' in your station name (this is what the tag &lt;#location&gt; represents, see next answer) to avoid it being duplicated.

 

 

== How do I remove Inside Temperature graph or add solar/UV/sunshine? ==

Locate the Cumulus 'web' folder on your PC and edit the following file:

'''trendsT.htm'''

 

== How do I include extra items on supplied web templates? ==

Open the folder cumulus\web and edit the relevant file named xxxxxT.htm. For example instead of deleting the sections in the [[#I don't have a solar sensor. How do I remove the solar data from the supplied web templates?|remove solar answer]], edit their contents.

See [[Customised_templates#Changing_the_Standard_Templates]] for fuller description.

 

== How do I upload extra web pages? ==

See Cumulus help for the Internet Settings screen, or for a step-by-step guide see [[Customised_templates#What_to_select_on_the_.27Files.27_tab_of_the_Internet_Settings_screen_within_the_.27Configuration.27_menu]]

 

== What character encoding does Cumulus use for the web pages it generates? ==

Cumulus 1.9.4 build 1093 changed all the template pages from XHTML 1.0 Transitional using charset=iso-8859-1 encoding to HTML 5 using charset="UTF-8" encoding. It uses this without [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark Byte Order Mark] (BOM).

 

 

== Why does a standard gauges web page have text where it should show gauges? ==

[[File:Gauges missing.jpg]] If a standard Cumulus 'gauges.htm' web page displays like this then either

 

 

== Why are there no graphs on my standard trends web page? ==

Either 1) You have not created an images sub-folder (within your folder that holds web pages) as instructed in the Cumulus Help ('setting up your website' page) - also explained in [[Simple Website setup]]. In this case, the bird image will not be appearing in the bottom left corner of your web pages.

 

 

== What is the size of the standard Cumulus update? ==

The default is that all of the standard pages and standard images are uploaded on each update at whatever standard update frequency you select.

 

 

== How do I upload my own pages or files once a day? ==

Cumulus allows you to specify a command (with optional parameters) that will be actioned just after daily rollover. The command is entered in the ''External programs'' frame at the bottom left of the Internet Settings screen. The box is labelled '''Daily'''. Click the Cumulus ''Help'' button for guidance. For example you could type 'c:\cumulus\daily.cmd' in the box labelled ''Daily''.

 

This could be used to upload the pages with the longer term extremes (as your monthly, annual and all-time extremes may only change a few times a month or even less frequently) and so reduce the upload burden at the standard uploading frequency. To achieve this you would use the content of that example file 'daily.cmd', in the default Cumulus folder, to call your own [[FTP_tools| file transfer tool]] for those infrequently changing pages. Remember to also unselect '''Include Standard Files''' on the'' 'Files' tab'' of 'Internet settings', and list [[Customised_templates#How_Cumulus_uses_its_templates|the templates]] on that tab, selecting '''Process?''' for all of them, but only selecting '''FTP?''' for the other frequently changing pages that are still to be uploaded at the standard interval. You may find help on the forum or elsewhere on this wiki [[SFTP| for the FTP call]] and [[Customised_templates#Creating_Your_Own_Templates| for 'Files' tab settings]].

 

 

== The 'real time wind data' gauges on the standard gauges page aren't working ==

These require a [[realtime.txt]] file to be uploaded by Cumulus. Tick the "Enable Realtime", "Enable Realtime FTP" and "Enable realtime.txt FTP" boxes on the internet settings screen. If the gauges still do not work, check that the [[realtime.txt]] file is being uploaded to the correct place. If it is not, it is likely that you have specified an incorrect 'ftp directory' in Cumulus. If your 'normal' pages are being uploaded correctly, but realtime.txt is not, then it is likely that you simply need to leave the ftp directory blank (but see the note below first).

 

 

Alternatively, if the web templates are listed in [[cumulus.ini]] (and for the first 10 appear on the '''files''' tab of ''Internet'' dialogue of '''Configuration''' menu), the '''Process''' option must be ticked for the web pages generated by Cumulus to have values replacing the [[Webtags]]. Otherwise at each web update, Cumulus will generate web pages the same as the templates.

 

== My web pages are empty ==