Hello from central Mexico

[juan]

Hello.  My name is Juan Cordova and I've joined because I'm considering the purchase of a WeatherCat license.  Here are some background details:  Davis Vantage Pro 2, an old Power PC MacBook Pro running WeatherLink and brand new Macbook Pro 15" with Retina display running WeatherCat trial.  I live in rural Mexico, 2 hours west of Mexico City, 2200 meters (7,218 feet) above sea level.  I have not succeeded in running Davis WeatherLink on my new Mac but I have downloaded and successfully run WeatherCat.  However, I am also off the electric grid (running on limited solar) and connect to the internet via Hughesnet satellite service.  I am also totally dependent on the rainwater I can collect between mid-May and mid-October (which typically is about 1.2 meters) to last me until the following May or June.  This is my main reason for keeping track of the weather. But, due to electric and internet quota limitations, I can't try to run a website, or even keep the Mac running full time.

So, after expressing my gratitude for having found this software and this community (I have read a few threads here in the forum), let me tell you my questions and concerns.  First of all, up til now I have almost exclusively used the VP2 and WeatherLink to accumulate a database of historical weather information.  And I'm not sure, despite, at first glance, being vastly superior in other aspects to WEatherlink, that it will do the job I need (though it would appear that it will) or rather, if I can justify the cost just to collect the data.  I must confess that I have not yet spent a great deal of time with the manual but a brief search through the forum seems to indicate that there doesn't seem to be a straightforward way to import my old WeatherLInk data into a format WEatherCat can use. 

Also, I've been afraid to explore WeatherCat futher because I worry that it will download the data in the WL data logger, leaving it empty, and leave a hole in my WL data base.  Can anyone tell me if that would happen? 

Anyway, I'm happy to be here and will appreciate any suggestions or help from anyone.

[wurzelmac]

Sorry - can't answer your technical questions, but:
Welcome on board! 

Cheers, Reinhard

[WCDev]

Hello Juan and let me join Reinhard in welcoming you to the forum!

If you go to the Tools menu in WeatherCat then select 'Station Hardware Options' and make sure the 'Delete Log After Historical Download' tickbox is unchecked, WeatherCat will then leave your data intact in the logger after a download.

The is no way to import WeatherLink data into WeatherCat at the moment, the only data it can import is LWC data. LWC can import WeatherLink data so if you can find a copy (I can't give you a copy) you can import into that, then import the LWC data into WeatherCat - see http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=486.0 for a recent discussion on this.

Cheers,
Stu.

[juan]

Thanks Rheinhard and Stu for the welcomes and suggestions!

Stu: I will try to get ahold of a copy of LWC and attempt to import my data.  That would make a major difference.  On the other point, I ran WeatherCat and looked in the Tools menu and clicked on 'Station Hardware Options' but could not find the 'Delete Log After Historical Download' tickbox.  Could that be because I don't have it connected to the VP2 yet?  I'm still reluctant to connect it...  I'm wondering if WC will download historical data automatically or if it requires input on my part to do it, but I guess I should read the manual.

In any case thanks.  And I'll report back if I get LWC installed and how it goes trying to get my old data imported.

Best greetings,
Juan

[WCDev]

Hi Juan,
By default the delete log option is off, so it won't erase your data in the logger. If you are not seeing it, check you have selected the correct hardware when the communications window opens when WeatherCat is booting - it will look like the attached image if you select the Vantage/Vue station.

Cheers,
Stu.

[Minoic]

Hello Juan,
welcome to this forum.

I was on the road and not able to check the forum the last few weeks.

Did you convert your data? I guess I was the last one on this forum who went through a complex conversion, i.e WeatherLink of few years and other data from a strange type of weather station bought in Germany years ago.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

cheers
George