Trixology

WeatherCat => WeatherCat General Discussion => Topic started by: elagache on May 21, 2012, 12:49:24 AM

Title: Don't check battery levels on Davis just after replacing a battery??
Post by: elagache on May 21, 2012, 12:49:24 AM
Dear WeatherCat fans,

I replaced the battery on my second temperature transmitter this morning and the Davis consoles insist there's a problem until midnight - even if the battery is now brand new.  I was checking on my data logger sample interval to help breno and saw that transmitter 2 battery level was shown as bad.  I had never tried before, so I pressed the Test Power System button to see if WeatherCat detected the new battery.  The red level on transmitter 2 immedately turned green - success!!  (or so I thought.)  Then the following very strange log entries appeared in the WeatherCat window:

Code: [Select]
4:23:18 PM 20-May-2012:  Power test starting...
 4:23:18 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: ***Station Power Advice*** All transmitter batteries are good.
 4:23:28 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Good.
Transmitter 2 - Fail.
Transmitter 3 - Good.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Good.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Good.

 4:23:38 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Fail.
Transmitter 2 - Good.
Transmitter 3 - Fail.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Fail.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Fail.

 4:23:41 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: ***Station Power Alert*** Station voltage is low - actual value is 4.173 Volts.
 4:23:50 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Good.
Transmitter 2 - Fail.
Transmitter 3 - Good.
Transmitter 4 - Fail.
Transmitter 5 - Fail.
Transmitter 6 - Good.
Transmitter 7 - Fail.
Transmitter 8 - Good.

 4:24:05 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Fail.
Transmitter 2 - Good.
Transmitter 3 - Fail.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Fail.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Fail.

 4:24:16 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Good.
Transmitter 2 - Fail.
Transmitter 3 - Good.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Good.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Good.

 4:24:23 PM 20-May-2012:  FTP2: FTP upload starting.
 4:24:23 PM 20-May-2012:  FTP2: Uploading WeatherCatBanner.jpg.
 4:24:23 PM 20-May-2012:  Wunderground: Generating image for Wunderground.
 4:24:23 PM 20-May-2012:  Wunderground: Waiting for web cam picture to stabilise.
 4:24:25 PM 20-May-2012:  FTP2: Finished. Uploaded 32199 bytes in 3 seconds at 9155 bytes per second.
 4:24:29 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: ***Station Power Advice*** All transmitter batteries are good.
 4:24:31 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Advice. Station voltage is now good - actual value is 4.523 Volts.
 4:24:33 PM 20-May-2012:  Wunderground: Getting web cam picture file.
 4:24:33 PM 20-May-2012:  Wunderground: Wunderground image ready for FTP - added to FTP queue.
 4:24:34 PM 20-May-2012:  FTP1: FTP upload starting.
 4:24:34 PM 20-May-2012:  FTP1: Uploading image.jpg.
 4:24:45 PM 20-May-2012:  Power test finished.
 4:24:46 PM 20-May-2012:  WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Alert. Transmitter battery failure.
ISS battery - Good.
Transmitter 2 - Fail.
Transmitter 3 - Good.
Transmitter 4 - Good.
Transmitter 5 - Good.
Transmitter 6 - Good.
Transmitter 7 - Good.
Transmitter 8 - Good.

Upon reflection, I think this a confusion between WeatherCat and the stubborn Davis console that detected an anomaly.  I know there is some way to reset the console to avoid this problem, but I'm lazy and usually just wait until midnight when the problem goes away.  However, I've learned something.  During this fickle period until the console drops the battery alert - leave the Test Power System button alone!!

Cheers, Edouard [cheers1]