Solar setup

1: Turn the switch on to enable the solar settings to be used (i.e if your weather station has a solar or UV sensor (for stations with just a UV sensor, the UV reading is converted into estimated solar w/m2)
2: These are the thresholds, from the calculated solar % (which is the current solar wm/2 compared to the maximum solar w/m2 for the time of day (see below for how to set that)), to set the solar description. Note that when the current solar % is above the sunny threshold, sunshine hours are increased.
Reduce this threshold if your area suffers from lots of air pollution
3: Here you can change the description for when its dawn or dusk (and you can also change the description for each of the solar threshold settings too)
4: The first setting, is to set the icon on the WD main screen (including the forecasticon.gif) to be determined by the solar description level (i.e if sunny, cloudy, etc). Note that rain from your station will override this (if you have set to include WD current condition day time, then the solar description will be a combination of the solar threshold and if its raining or not, and if its windy, etc), and the last setting can be used so that this also occurs at night time (other than the solar description saying just nightime, if its raining or windy, it will mention that as well)
. If you are downloading a METAR and have that set to set the icon, then this will override that, but you can set the metar to set the solar description at night time as well (instead of just saying, nighttime)
5: This is the duration, minutes, of the averaging period used for the solar % checked against the thresholds (to smooth out fluctuations caused by clouds passing over the sun (e.g an otherwise sunny day is spoilt by 1 small cloud passing over the sun…)
6: the top setting is to set the override fine tune settings below that setting, for setting the icon from the solar thresholds…the first fine tune settings delays this occuring after sunrise ,because of the small values involved, the accuracy is less at that time of day (same for before sunset). The last setting here makes these same fine tune delays apply to the increase of the sunshine hours as well (if the calculated solar % is above the sunny threshold)
7: The delay for being able to increase sunshine hours (similar to above setting) (to avoid errors when small values are involved (i.e its easy for the solar % too be too high)
There is an offset available here for thre Davis VP solar sensor, and a calibration factor for the fine offset WH3081 type station
8: This setup screen is for the settings for the calculation of the solar % (i.e the current solar wm/2 compared to the expected solar max wm/2 for the time of day and for your location). Set this on to enable this (needed to be able to set the solar description/icon correctly)
9: Set your latitude and longitude here. Note that its important to get the correct +/-. Places that are east of London (east of GMT), i.e Eruope,Asia,Aus/NZ, the longitude is a -ve number. Places in the southern hemisphere, the latitude is a -ve number
10: The use this new calculation is on by default and leave that on. Your time zone (hours) also needs to be set correctly…note the +/- again…if east of London/GMT then its needs to be a -ve number. Do not worry about the attenuation or minute offset, those are advanced fine tune settings and are not normaly needed
11: If you set this, then the expected max solar wm/2 for the times during the day will be plotted on the graph. To make that graph appear not so high on the graph, then you can set the % adjust
12: This is a fine tune for if you have a building or tree that is causing a shadow at a certain time of day, and so this setting makes the solar % higher for between those times set (the 2nd setting is so you can set for another time of the day this might occur (e.g closer to sunset)
13: These are graph solar settings. To graph as blocked (shaded) the solar wm/2 on the solar real time graph (see under view), set the first setting (instead of just a line). To show apparent solar temperature on the main screen, instead of windchill) set that next setting .
You can set to plot the solar % instead of solar wm/2 on the real time graph too
14: The next settings apply to plotting the THSW (temperature/humidity/solar/wind temperature reading) on the main screen graphs (bottom or top graph)
15: ET stands for evapotranspiration, i.e the amount of moisture lost form the soil (via plants or directly). Its a sort of running cumulative (but it can end up getting smaller) value which gets reset at midnight (which is when the the final ET for the day is stored).You can set to have this value plotted on the real time solar graph. The last setting is on by default, and is so that the the solar w/m2 and UV are stored for graphing. If however you instead want to plot the extra temp 4 and extra hum 4, then unset this
16: Use this if you are put an extra temperature sensor in a jar, to act as a solar sensor (select the extra temperture sensor number)
17 Here you set the thresholds for the solar in a jar. I.e the sun heats up the sensor in the jar more than the normal outdoor temperature…and the bigger the differnce, the stronger the sunlight, and so the higher the estimated solar wm/2. There is a starting and ending point, i.e if not much temperature difference then a lower solar % (of expected max). The low setting default should be OK (1 and 1 (equates to 1.1 C) , for the top end, that might need adjusting (i.e compare the temperature value of the sensor in the middle of the day and in bright sunlight, to the normal outdoor temperature at that time (ie how much higher it is…when that amount is at or aove the top setting, 100% solar is assumed (default is 7 and 1 (i.e 7.1C difference).
You can set a temperature offset here for this temperature sensor in a jar , too
18: If you can adapted a WMR968 temp/hum sensor to be a direct light sensor, then set this setting
19: Set this if your staton type is a Irox with a UV sensor or WMR100/200 with a UV sensor or a WH301 with a UV sensor,so that the temperature sensor in a jar is used to set the solar % instead of the estimated solar wm/2 from the UV reading compared to the expected max solar for the time of day
20: If you have set 1 wire settings up, and you have a 1 wire solar sensor getting data into WD, then you use this setting. You need to find out what your sensor gives out at the middle part of the day on sunny day (mv), to set the max value (you can also set the decimal place for fine tuning of this mv value)
To then use this method, make sure to set to use this value, and to use this method to calculate the solar %, tick that next setting (calculate raw compared to max). What this does is the ratio of the current mv reading compared to the max for the day, is used to calculate an estimated solar w/m2 which is then compared to the max solar w/m2 expected for the time of day, to come up with the solar % value (to set the solar description/icon based on the solar thresholds)
22: If you have a WH301 type station, and you want to use the lux value for solar wm/2, then set this setting,and similar if you want the UV value from this station to be used for WD’s UV value (i.e if you instead want to use 1 wire solar or UV with this station type as overrides, then untick these 2 settings)