Solar anomalies in WD

Stuart

Good thinking. However, you are right but with WD/Davis. The decimal points are only in WD/WH3083.

I did wonder after I had posted but was not completely sure whether or not those logs were Davis ones so left the comment to make sure.

Stuart

as I have explained, the solar glitches from the WH3081 solar data will be to WD not handling when the data gets of sync very well
I have for now added to ignore that when its night time, but I need to come up with a way to know if the solar data (which is a different memory location) is out of sync and so ignore it, for the WH3081 data

Thanks, Brian. It would be great if you could do that; I’d be very grateful. However, it is not just on the WH system that it happens, but also the Davis over several years. In fact, as I write (on a different computer; the weather one is dedicated), I’ve just seen a typical glitch on the Davis system as per attachment. This is a short one over 2 minutes, but I’ve seen occasional glitches lasting up to an hour, on both systems. On the attachment on the message of 24 April 2017, 14:13, there is a


Just to be completely clear on this … you are saying that on the 24th April you saw the exact same anomaly for the exact same time frame on both your Davis system AND your WH3081.

If true this would tend to indicate that at least on the WH3081 WD is actually reading the correct value from the sensor and it is highly likely that since both sensors are reading almost exactly the same values there has to be an external effect coming from somewhere to cause this.

This would be extraordinary since I am not sure how any of us could explain the external effect which could cause this at least not by the sun. I suppose it could be some electrical interference but again very difficult to explain.

Stuart

Sorry, Stuart, I express myself badly. I have never seen anomalies on both systems at the same time. They seem to be random on both systems. E.g., this morning’s glitch was only on the Davis system, but one I did not report here yesterday was only on the WH system, as some above. They happen at totally random times, day and night (except for Brian’s suppressing night time ones on WH).

I’ve not done any software development for well over 20 years, so have forgotten more than I ever knew, but my guess would be loss of sync over the 100 bytes transfer. Just one extra or missing bit would do the job. If it happened once at random, that is easily understood: less easy for my feeble brain is the same thing happening over many minutes.

I think that’s what is flummoxing all of us, how do you get such wrong but sometimes consistent errors over a few minutes, which is why we are clutching at straws. I suspect Brian is correct over the WH system. The Davis system is a different kettle of Surstr

maybe you could try covering the solar sensor on the Davis
and see if the spike still occurs
(also note that WD does use the CRC error check in the Davis LOOP data …i.e they needs to pass before WD will accept the data)

…and the console does a CRC check on the data packet from the ISS. It’s virtually impossible for couple of rogue bits to get into the data :?

@Devil: Have you always had the same Davis hardware, or has some of it been swapped out over the years?

The WH and the Davis are “chalk and cheese” as the Brits say. I think it’s confusing the situation to be looking for similarities…

I changed the Davis system for the same type at the same time as I bought the solar sensor: before that I didn’t have solar. It is a wired type with a fairish length run of Davis’ black cable (guess ~25 m) which is unscreened (unshielded for the US). Of course, the other system is wireless.

Regarding the Davis:

There are two separate CRC checks on the data before it hits WD making data corruption in transit extremely unlikely.

Solar is only present in 1/24 of the total data packets and yet solar is the only parameter affected. Statistically unlikely in a data corruption situation.

The spikes are very close to the full scale reading from the solar sensor that would result from the sensor output being equal to the supply voltage.

The sensor/ISS hardware has not been changed.

My conclusion is that there is a hardware problem either with the sensor, the sensor cable/connector, or in the solar measurement circuitry on the ISS.

I think Niko is correct
because in checking my code in WD for handling the solar data, I put in there that if the reading is over 2000 for 2 data points in a row, then WD set the reading to 0
which explains the zero readings after a spike

As there is so much in common in the software on the two systems, e.g., in the registry but also some functional parts of the two systems, I’ve decided, for clarity, to separate them entirely. I’ve uninstalled completely the WH system and Cumulus from my weather computer. I have therefore ONLY the WD/Davis system on my weather computer. On another computer, I have ONLY the WD/WH system, no Cumulus, with a totally clean installation. The only thing in common between them, now, is a stand-alone UPS.

Since the divorce and separate households, there has been no glitch on either.

Didn’t the Davis have spikes for a long time before you had the WH?

Yes, indeed, but I had a feeling (unsubstantiated) that it had become more unstable when both were on the same computer, sharing the same registry and some other items. Maybe a kind of symbiosis! :slight_smile:

Fair enough.

Have had anomalies on both systems since they were physically separated.

143143 is the Davis system and shows a single negative glitch
143610 is the WH3081 system and shows a 29 minute inclusive positive glitch

If you look at post #33, the UV index reading shows a 29 minute inclusive negative glitch (the solar irradiance reading, with a positive glitch, at 14:34 could easily be correct, within normal tolerances), also on the WH system.
Question: is it coincidence that we have had two separate glitches with exactly 30 error values???


You should remove all common denominators, including the UPS (for your testing purposes) and as you are getting interference from somewhere on both, you need to look ate what is in common and as youve said, they are both on the UPS still, so for this, i would remove the UPS totally, it could be the source.

they are not occuring at the same time
so not related,between the 2 systems, and as I have already pointed out, WD could be improved some what for how it handles the solar data from the WH3081 station

as for the 0 reading from the davis station that you got in the post above, I have already pointed out that if a raw reading goes over 2000 then WD sees that as a hardware glitch at sets the reading to 0 (if that raw reading is over 2000 for 2 readings in a row)

Definitely not the UPS, as it is brand new; the problems started years ago.

One problem with the new UPS has come to light. If the load on it is less than 15 W (my main weather microcomputer alone), it cuts out with a power cut. If I have a load >20W, it works fine. However, this is irrelevant to the thread, as I have a desktop on it as well as the microcomputer.