Running a LaCrosse 2310, WD version 10.32h. Running wired to base station.
Could be coincidence, could be WD, could be failing weather unit… Since I upgraded to 10.32h over the weekend, I’ve been experiencing at least one, sometimes 2, random spikes in windspeed - all going up to around 57 mph. They’ve all been occurring in the same time frame, somewhere between 2230 and 0230 each night. The wind is dead calm, with daily gusts in the 3-5 mph range, and evenings have been calm.
Are any other WS2310 (Jaxweather?) users experiencing winds spikes?
I am going to fallback to the 10.31s version today, just to rule out a possible bug in WD. I’m also going to disassemble and use a compressed air cleaner on the vane and the temp/hydro unit, possibly change the batteries, although I’m not even sure there are batteries in it, since I’m running wired.
I know from readings in the forum, the WS2310 ain’t the most reliable, but, it’s all I’ve got and I’d like to work this spike issue out.
Any one have pointers, advice, tests etc I can work thru?
Thanks
Ken
ps — I use the ‘log edit’ function to correct these values, right? I want to change day /month/year/alltime, as this spurious spike has affected all of them
Have you replaced the cable from the wind sensor to the thermo/hydrometer unit? This cable seems to be the weak spot in the WS23xx units. While I only got one or two spikes to 57mph I did get regular spikes to 28 mph ( and like you the wind was calm). I tried one suggestion of twisting the supplied flat cable, and that seemed to work for about a month or two, but then I started getting the spikes again. So I fianlly bit the bullet and replaced the wire with cat5e twisted pair. Most folks are recommending to use shielded twisted pair, but I could not readly find any, so I tried unshielded. Has been doing fine for 8 months now.
From what I could tell it seemed that it had to do with the moisture on the wire, If it was really wet outside, it was fine, if it was dry outside it was fine, but transitioning from wet to dry caused spikes…
I no longer use the La Crosse Anemometer but switched to a 1-wire wind sensor some months ago to get away from the weird occasional spike as well as the missed wind gusts…
Peter – Ah yes, great idea, just did it, and yes, I’m showing a 57 mph spike, so it is from the station. Since I don’t go to work until 3pm today, I might just go out and clean things up on it… Thanks for the insight on what to check…
Mike, thanks - I haven’t looked at the wires into the anemometer to see if it’s hard wired or if it uses the RJ11 connectors… I’m ‘okay’ to do wiring changes, are there any tricks to it?
part Deux… I cleaned out the 11 bad records from the Feb log file (22006.txt(?)), is there a way to edit /change the max wind /max gust from the month-to-date-, year-to-date, all-time-records that’s fairly simple so an old F*rt like me can do it? I’d like to reset it to previous values, but afraid I don’t remember th dates and values… Is there a way her to do it?
To alter the All time records go to “View - All time records” and then click on “Set values” make sure you select each All time record from the top, make the change then select another and make the change until all three are done then click “OK”
The wire into the Anemometer is hard wired but there are a number of step by step instructions on the web some with picture that you should be able to find…
as a bear of limited brain, I sometimes (often?) get overwhelmed with the capabilities of this wonderful program, to the point that I know what I want to do, i just don’t know how…
Hi all again… The wind spike issue has returned to haunt me. Around Feb 9, when I was experiencing the problem, I fell back to 10.31S, and cleaned and reset all connectors, both the outside ones - hygro/temp/wind- and the internal ones to the 2310 - power, line-in, line-out. For the next few days, there was no problem with windspikes. So, having established that it ‘seemed’ to be fixed, I installed 10.32N around 8AM this morning. Returning home from work at 630, I discovered about 18(!) max wind spikes had occurred. To remove a variable, I fell back the WD to 10.31S and thus far, no wind spikes.
Now, as before, the WS2310 also showed the 57mph spike max.
I’m now starting to suspect that WD10.32 and the WS2310 are a little out of kilter. I’m going to leave it at 10.31S until Sat, then upgrade to 10.32N again. No other changes. To me, this should indicate the potential problem area.
Okay, so much for the background. I’m running wdwatch as well, but nothing out of the ordinary appears there or in the program log. So, this now begets the question, should i be using a debug version of 10.32 to attempt to isolate the root cause?
Thanks, as always, for the incredible program and incredible support.
Ken
in Cold, frosty (expecting 28F, -3C as the overnight tonight) San Francisco …
Okay, ‘cold’ is relative…
i did make a few small changes , i will review things, with the windspeed from a 2310
and i might be letting through spikes now when i was not before
(but you sill have a hardware problem that rewiring would help)
I did make the suggestion before but would it be possible to filter data so that impossibly high/low/ratechange values were ignored and replaced by the previous known good values? My system creates hassle on temp and, above all, humidity, with ridiculous spikes.
On wind, on one occasion, I forgot to plug in the wind sensor on the WS2300 and it did not behave sensibly. It went up and down like a yoyo between 0 and some silly high value, randomly. I mention this because a poor connection on the RJ-11 sug and plocket may have a similar effect (or condensation in it). Thes connectors are not designed for anything other than indoor use in a benign climate. It may be worthwhile to unplug/replug them at, say, monthly intervals just to ensure there is good metal-to-metal contact. The gold plating on the pins is very thin (<1
when no windspeed detected on a 2310, it reports 58mph or something like that
wd would then try and ignore that, but it cant keep in ignoring it and eventualy says, well, thats what the windspeed must be , and sets to use that
hence why you saw what you saw happening
anyway in the latest version I have made some changes that might help with the 2310 windspeed
Would it not be possible to have an optional set-up page where the user can set up maxi/mini values to ignore, please? For example, when my system humidity spikes, it goes to 99% and when the temp does so, it goes to ~-18
OK, thanks, Brian. I had one such spike overnight (obviously it lasted 10 minutes, as I was on 10 min data logging, at the time). Note the figure above the graph actually says 110% RH! Never seen that before. The rest of the 10 minutes says 100%. I just changed to a different computer which is more stable, with the new console/thermo-hygro unit and this has made no difference to the problem. I guess that this is something inherent in WS2300 technology, as I’ve seen it happen on the console without any 'puter connection, with both wired and wireless data transfer and various physical configurations. The only thing I haven’t tried is the screened TP wiring, as I haven’t yet located where to get the right cable (suggestions in Europe welcome).
Edit: I later checked in the HW file and it didn’t offer a figure but —; will your trap work also on non-numerical “data”? If the wind spikes that the OP mentioned are also non-numerical, such an error would be more easily trapped.
Is 10.32u already spike enabled? I’ll download and install it later today (and take it out of trial config!)
I have no explanation why I lost data between 0800 and 0900 this morning. Everything between 0809 and 0853 is missing. It is probable I switched the computer on at 0809 with boot start of WD and I actually looked at WD at 0853 (plausible times). In the meantime, it had downloaded the data log but not switched back to real time data collection until I put the WD window into focus. I’ll see tomorrow if it does the same thing.
Hadn’t planned to post here, but since the thread is still active to a point, thought I’d update on events so far. As long as I stay on 10.31S, I’m not getting the spurious spikes showing in WD, although I know they’re happening, as the min/max readings for wind on the WS2310 are showing the infamous 57mph readings. Brian sent a test version to me; I loaded it, but last night between 2000 and 2200 local, I had 11 spikes. I fell back to 10.31s, reset the daily max figures and no spikes since then. I’m suspecting bugs - real bugs, like spiders, or moisture is my culprit. They seem to happen only in the evening, especially cold evenings, as the temp transitions below 40F. This week I plan to disassemble the whole kit-n-kaboodle to clean, dry with warm air, replace with new cables, and test, probably some in-and-out-of the fridge and freezer testing too, then create a solid backup of everything and upgrade to 10.32r or s and fiddle around. I will conquer this, it’s just a matter of time and careful step-by-step work – just like caring for old Jaguars…
Sorry, Brian, it still needs a little tweak. Attached is a capture and you will see there is still a spike. The correspong HW data for yesterday’s and today’s spikes:
Relative Pressure Indoor Temperature Indoor Humidity Outdoor Temperature Outdoor Humidity Dewpoint Windchill Wind Speed Wind Direction Rain Total Time Date
[hPa] [
Brian - yes, it’s all pointing to cables…
I pulled everything part - well cablewize anyway, and used a soft brass wheel to clean the rj11’s plug wires, and a soft Brass electronics brush to clean up the tangs in the inserts.
I then hooked the anemometer and rain gauge to the main unit. I decided to use the wireless xmission as part of my debugging. 24 hours have now elapsed and no spurious readings. I have a new, shielded 50ft cable, to go from the main unit to the station inside. If by mid morning tomorrow I get no bad readings, I’ll plug it in and monitor it for 24-36 hours…
My only problem, is I lost my ‘real’ wind max’s - somewhere in the high 20 mph’s, unknown date, in the process. Can’t have everything, happy with what I’ve got.
i am uploading now 10.32x
where you can set the maximum windspeed threshold ,in the offset setup…
(and set other thresholds too)
this threshold now works correctly for extracted data and for stations like the 2010-13 data logger
(when it was not working before)
