Trixology

Weather => Weather Hardware/Measurement => Topic started by: N4KHQ on March 09, 2018, 06:54:42 PM

Title: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 09, 2018, 06:54:42 PM
I'm guessing Weather Underground is doing something to cause my problem but the issue seems not to be happening with other weather apps. I only use WC to send data to my weather underground personal weather station (PWS). The problem started about 3 or 4 months ago but I will only refer to the last 6 weeks after they got Weather Underground working again. I know it still has issues. Currently if I don't restart the iMac every day, WC can't send data after about 24-36 hours of working. The current status says "starting" when you check the Online - Weather Underground preference page. Everything except sending data to WU seems to be fine. In the last 3 months my PWS has been down at least 50 times and restarting WC always brings the PWS back online. I usually reboot the iMac but both methods starts resending the packets and it works for about one and half days. I restarted the iMac every morning for a week and a half. The PWS stayed online 100% of the time. I quit rebooting and the PWS went down the morning of the second day. I rebooted the iMac and it came backup and ran for 30 hours and went down again. I left it down 24 hours; it will not come back without restarting.

Any suggestions on what I should try, should I install version 3 beta? Thanks
Title: Problem with your install? (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: elagache on March 09, 2018, 11:39:53 PM
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

I'm guessing Weather Underground is doing something to cause my problem but the issue seems not to be happening with other weather apps. I only use WC to send data to my weather underground personal weather station (PWS). The problem started about 3 or 4 months ago but I will only refer to the last 6 weeks after they got Weather Underground working again. I know it still has issues. Currently if I don't restart the iMac every day, WC can't send data after about 24-36 hours of working. The current status says "starting" when you check the Online - Weather Underground preference page. Everything except sending data to WU seems to be fine. In the last 3 months my PWS has been down at least 50 times and restarting WC always brings the PWS back online. I usually reboot the iMac but both methods starts resending the packets and it works for about one and half days. I restarted the iMac every morning for a week and a half. The PWS stayed online 100% of the time. I quit rebooting and the PWS went down the morning of the second day. I rebooted the iMac and it came backup and ran for 30 hours and went down again. I left it down 24 hours; it will not come back without restarting.

So sorry to hear that you are still struggling with these problems.  Unfortunately, many other WeatherCat users are successfully uploading data to Weather Underground, so It seems unlikely that it is a simple WeatherCat bug.  However, there could be some sort of curious interaction between WeatherCat and your current setup.  Could you tell us more about your installation? Is there any other sort of software you run all the time?  I don't recall if you have mentioned this, which year and model iMac are you using?  I believe the suggestion has already been made, but make sure you have the latest Silicon Lab driver for your Davis station.  Any additional information you can offer us could be the key to solving your problem.

Any suggestions on what I should try, should I install version 3 beta?

WeatherCat 3 is 64-bit so the Weather Underground code has been updated to run 64-bits.  That might make a difference given that we don't understand the problem, but otherwise it is doing the same things.  WeatherCat 3 is a very welcome upgrade, you'll definitely want to upgrade at some point.  However, it might be more prudent to spend some more time trying to troubleshoot the present situation before further complicating matters with two different versions of WeatherCat involved.

Sorry, that's the best I can offer at the moment.

Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Felix on March 10, 2018, 11:28:11 AM
I also don't have any suggestions to add beyond what Edouard has already offered...sorry. Things are running just peachy on the versions noted in my profile.


Tonight (or more precisely, early tomorrow morning) we'll get a chance to see how the latest build responds to the change to Daylight Savings Time. Of course I've tested it during the build cycles by "tricking" my system but there's nothing like a continent-wide time change to unmask gremlins in the code.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 10, 2018, 03:47:38 PM
I reloaded the Silicon Lab Davis driver about a month ago. The computer is my wife's iMac. She is not a heavy use; apple mail, iMessage, and safari a couple times a day. Occasional she might use photos, Word, or excel. It is usually several hours of none use when Weather Underground stops accepting data and WC gets the current status hung as starting.
Mac (27-inch, Late 2013)
3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1 GB

I changed to Rapid Fire every 15 seconds on a suggestion for the developers posted on Weather Underground Trello several weeks ago when everyone was having issues with WU. Making a setting change and testing requires about 2 days on average. When WC is not uploading to WU, I can not find any other issues with Mac or apps on the Mac not even WC. It just so much easier to restart the mac than trouble shoot. I think I will upgrade to version 3 beta and start testing if the issue is still present. I was waiting for the paid release but assume I can just buy and update when it is released.

Thanks for the replies and good suggestions
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 10, 2018, 03:56:19 PM
A little more info:
Davis Vantage Pro 2 Wireless
I send Webcam jpegs directly form a DLink  DCS-7010L webcam with a web interface stored on EPROMs
The webcam is staying up now when weather data is down.

Thanks again
Title: Energy saver settings? (Re: Weather Cat bug)
Post by: elagache on March 10, 2018, 10:16:30 PM
Dear N4KHQ, Felix, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

It is usually several hours of none use when Weather Underground stops accepting data and WC gets the current status hung as starting.

If this is happening when the computer is idle one thing to look into is the computer's energy saver settings.  For starters, make sure that AppNap is disabled for WeatherCat.   Select the WeatherCat application from the Finder and do a Get Info on it.  That should bring up a dialog box like this:

(http://www.canebas.org/misc/Capto_images/Disabling%20App%20Nap%20for%20WeatherCat%202018-03-10.png)

Make sure the check box marked on this example is indeed checked.  WeatherCat attempts to prevent macOS from enabling App Nap, but caution is the better part of valor.

Next take a look at your system energy saver settings:

(http://www.canebas.org/misc/Capto_images/Capto_Capture%202018-03-10_02-09-03_PM.png)

Make sure that the computer going to sleep is set to never and that the hard disks will not be powered off.

If this doesn't work, there is still one more recourse.  Other WeatherCat users have had similar problems that it turned out where caused by the Mac going to sleep even if the macOS settings were supposed to preclude it.

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=2526.msg24555#msg24555 (http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=2526.msg24555#msg24555)

In such cases there is a free program that has reliably solved the problem.  It is called Amphetamine and it really does prevent your Mac from going to sleep - period!  Here is the link to the App on the Mac App Store:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?mt=12&ign-mpt=uo%3D4)

Hopefully one of these measure will solve your problem.  Please let us know what remedies you try and what are the outcomes.

Cheers, Edouard

Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 11, 2018, 04:17:35 PM
Thanks, Prevent App Nap was checked. The iMac Energy Saver is a little different, I unchecked Enable Power Nap to see if that will solve the problem. Not sure about Wake for Network access, it should not be asleep. I will try the app next if the problem continues. The screen shot shows current settings of Energy Saver.
Title: Interesting - not friendly? (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on March 11, 2018, 10:53:17 PM
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Thanks, Prevent App Nap was checked. The iMac Energy Saver is a little different, I unchecked Enable Power Nap to see if that will solve the problem. Not sure about Wake for Network access, it should not be asleep. I will try the app next if the problem continues. The screen shot shows current settings of Energy Saver.

Thanks for sharing the screenshot of your wife's Energy Saver preference pane.  I sure don't like what I?m seeing.  As I read the various options, there is no setting that would guarantee that the iMac wouldn't go to sleep at some point.  If that's the case, that is precisely what your problem is.  Indeed if the problem persists, try the Amphetamine app.

*Sigh*, I'm getting really tired of Apple trying to save me from myself. . . . . . .  (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/sigh_bubble.gif)

Oh well, . . . . . Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 12, 2018, 05:53:53 AM
Regardless of settings, I couldn't get my iMac to stop taking a nap so I installed Amphetamine and have never had a problem since.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 12, 2018, 09:34:45 PM
I installed Amphetamine yesterday and did not restart the iMac this morning. In the past 90% of the time, it would be down by now. Looking hopeful, thanks for the help.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 12, 2018, 09:37:41 PM
Let us know how this goes. I have been using Amphetamine for a couple of years now and it has resolved my issues similar to yours.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 13, 2018, 09:17:33 PM
It been up a record time with no restarts for a record length of time. I never had the problem until about the time I installed High Sierra and that was about the time Weather Underground issues started in mass and I thought it was WU for a month or two.

Thanks for the help
Title: Please check in again. (Was: Weather Cat, MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug)
Post by: elagache on March 13, 2018, 10:47:36 PM
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

It been up a record time with no restarts for a record length of time. I never had the problem until about the time I installed High Sierra and that was about the time Weather Underground issues started in mass and I thought it was WU for a month or two.

If you continue to have no more problems for a week or more, could you please post the confirmation of your success on this thread?  If indeed that is the case, I think I'll need to add a WeatherCat Wiki entry about this problem.  It has happened often enough that we should document the solution more formally.

Thanks for putting up with this long struggle!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: pbeaudet on March 14, 2018, 09:31:06 PM
I have had no problem with the my Mac Mini going to sleep. It is now running 10.13.4 beta. However, my Energy Saver preference pane is different. I had been running 10.3.3 until last week without a problem.



Title: Different controls for different Macs (Re: Weather Cat & MacOS Higher Sierra)
Post by: elagache on March 14, 2018, 09:36:48 PM
Dear Phillip and WeatherCat sys-admins,

I have had no problem with the my Mac Mini going to sleep. It is now running 10.13.4 beta. However, my Energy Saver preference pane is different. I had been running 10.3.3 until last week without a problem.

Yes, you also have the Energy Saver preference pane that allows you to explicitly prevent your Mac from ever going to sleep.  I don't know why some iMacs cannot be configured in the same way.  However, since we appear to have at least 2 examples of this sort of problem, it might be time to write something up on the Wiki about it.

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 14, 2018, 11:02:07 PM
Even Apple "Support" shows more of the minimalist ES versions: Use the Energy Saver settings on your Mac (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202824)

Of course, they don't always update their details pages very often... there's no telling what OS those screen captures were made. The only one that shows "Computer sleep" claims to be what shows on a Mac mini. Likewise, these screen captures may come from machines newer than my mid-2011 iMac... maybe I should just buy a new machine...  [rolleyes2]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 16, 2018, 01:06:31 AM
My wife iMac is doing 4 times better than before I installed Amphetamine, but I had the same problem this morning about 8 am. WC has been in starting mode on the weather underground preference online setup page for 12 hours. Restarted the iMac and it came right back up. WC does not know to send missing data when this happens. There must be a connection for it to run 4 days without restarting for the first time in a couple of months. I was going to do one final check before declaring it fixed.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 16, 2018, 10:16:14 AM
Here is the overview of the WC iMac that shows year and model. Can anyone direct me to instructions on moving WC data to a new mac? I would prefer to move the data and install WC as opposed to using time machine. I have looked for the data in Library/ Application Support can can't find file related to WC big enough to be a data file. Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 16, 2018, 10:54:35 AM
Sorry, here is the screen shot I meant to send
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 16, 2018, 04:07:56 PM
There is a WC Wiki article that may be of help in your move. It's cleverly named: Moving a WeatherCat installation from one computer to another (http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=Moving_a_WeatherCat_installation_from_one_computer_to_another)

I think you are looking in the correct place, but there are so many "Library" directories... [banghead]  :)
Mine data files/folders are at: HD/Users/userName/Library/WeatherCatData/Location1/
I have data for 2015(partial year), 2016, 2017, 2018 and three .xml files.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: JosBaz on March 17, 2018, 08:45:51 AM
FWIW... There is a neat little (free) tool called Onyx which I can recommend. My family considers me the PC/Mac doctor for some reason. Mac's are fairly reliable but whenever someone approaches me with vague Mac problems, I always run this tool (ticking all 'Maintenance' and 'Clean' options) before doing any further troubleshooting. It fixes the problem 3 out of 4 times. YMMV.

https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html (https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html)

It never caused nasty side effects for me (it is more or less a GUI for already built in functionality), but make sure you let it do its job. Your Mac maybe appear unresponsive - be patient and don't try to interrupt the cleaning/rebuilding process.

Jos
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 17, 2018, 02:03:40 PM
Thanks for the reminder, I usually forget it's even installed! [blush] Cocktail is another handy app, BTW.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 17, 2018, 09:49:26 PM
WC hung in starting mode again last night. I did not restart the iMac Yesterday. Thanks for the suggestions I will download the app and run it.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 17, 2018, 10:57:30 PM
I ran OnyX. If it works, I will donate. I will let you know in a couple of days.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 18, 2018, 12:23:49 AM
Looks like my Vantage Pro 2 has died. The weather station has probably been my problem from the beginning. It not connecting to the wireless weather gauges outside. I took the batteries out and remover power to reset the console. On trying to setup the console, Receive from is not getting a station ID. Any suggestions on a fix. I have had the station for many years, is it time for a replacement. I read the wireless transmitter runs from a big capacitor. I replaced the smaller battery about 8 months ago. Would you get another Davis Vantage pro 2?

Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 18, 2018, 01:43:01 AM
I?d replace that small battery first, it?s a lot cheaper than any new station! ;) But to answer your question, I certainly will/would buy another Pro 2, 3 or whatever it is when too many parts of mine fail.

I?m not sure Davis promises even a year on that battery. They don?t make them and who knows how long it sat in a hot warehouse!

But those capacitors have also been known to fail. At least look to see if you can see any swelling or actual leaks (I think it is an electrolytic type).
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Steve on March 18, 2018, 02:33:42 PM
I'm still on my original batteries from September 2011.

Davis offers a rebuild for your VP2 that would be far less expensive than a new unit. You send them the entire unit, they go over *everything*, replacing with new parts or refurbishing parts, and send it back to you prepaid. All it costs is shipping to send it and the rebuild cost. Last I heard it was something like $125 and well worth it.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 18, 2018, 05:22:34 PM
OK thanks, The console started telling me to replace the small battery about 8 months ago but the weather station kept working. I ordered an extra battery to at that time so I can give it a try. Amazon prime sells the sending units for $119 and I mine should arrive Wednesday. I read the Vantage Vue all in one will connect to the Pro 2 console and the accuracy is the same except you can't mount the temperature sensor 5 feet on the ground and the wind gauge 30 up. If you don't get a console the Vue is about $220.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 18, 2018, 06:07:52 PM
Do be aware that it is possible to put the battery in backwards. I know from the experience of a very close relative whoshall remain nameless but is married to my wife... [rolleyes2] [blush] [banghead]

I started with the Pro 2, no experience with the Vue but if it covers your needs it seems fine. My decision for the 2 was based on future additional sensors which I may never take advantage of. [rolleyes2]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 18, 2018, 06:21:03 PM
Battery checked 3 volts. The capacitors are electrolytic, no swelling on any of the three. Two small and the larger on for storing the charge. I think is see the problem, looks like I left the plastic film on the solar charger. See photo below. No matter, new transmitter will be here day after tomorrow. Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 18, 2018, 07:33:01 PM
I will let you know in a week or so but my guess is WC was hanging in starting mode because the Pro 2 was loosing power at night. As I remember the problem occurred in early morning. Weather underground tells you how long you have been off line. Sun comes up and Pro 2 starts working but WC needs a restart to get out of starting mode. The time it worked for 3 days after installing the no sleep app was sunny weather. Not sure why restarting in the morning would keep it up but I am guessing it just happen because of more sunshine or other factors. 2 or 3 occurrences are not enough samples. Thanks
Title: Let us know how repairs work out. (Was: Weather Cat bug)
Post by: elagache on March 18, 2018, 10:59:15 PM
Dear N4KHQ, X-Air, and WeatherCat station caregivers,

I went ahead and moved this topic into Weather Hardware so that we could continue the discussion without disturbing Stu monitoring of the Bugs topic.

I will let you know in a week or so but my guess is WC was hanging in starting mode because the Pro 2 was loosing power at night.

It does appear that you allowed your station to go too far without some TLC.  WeatherCat has a nice feature to remind you to check your station hardware.  It is on the Misc2 pane of the WeatherCat preferences.  It is described starting on page 165 of the WeatherCat 3 manual.

Do let us know how your transmitter replacement works out.  I ran into a similar problem a few years back, but my problem was definitely more complicated and ultimately required changing the location of my transmitter as well.  In your case, it should be a straightforward swap of new for old.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 18, 2018, 11:33:40 PM
It worked great for 8 years. I have the console in a window that has line of sight to a short rohn 35 tower. Not sure what caused white looking plastic on the solar charger. I tried to clean it off but it does not appear to be glass under the plastic material.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 19, 2018, 03:06:50 AM
I agree with Steve's suggestion that you get your entire unit refurbed by Davis. I did that a few years ago and it was well worth it. They replaced every sensor and upgraded the firmware in the console. I also have replaced my wireless transmitter unit, several times. The first couple of replacements were dead and did not work right out of the box. There is a thread somewhere on this forum about that saga.

Also, Davis says that the solar panel will work unless the panel becomes cloudy. They are not concerned about the plastic covering. They also told me that they have never seen a solar panel fail so they are very skeptical about the need to replace that panel.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 19, 2018, 11:43:00 AM
Thanks for the info, must be the age that turned mine cloudy.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 21, 2018, 06:14:22 PM
Ok, senile old men don't need weather stations. I did not want to wait for a Davis repair so I ordered a transmitter. My transmitter came today, it did not fit my pro 2 rain gauge mount. It was pole mounted and bigger and heaver. I cut the back off the old transmitter, mounted it to a piece of aluminum and bolted the aluminum to the new transmitter. The clip on worked well. I went through the setup. It saw the transmitter on the default 1. x was blinking. Settings was still in memory. I turn retransmit off because I thought did not need it for one station. Console is not receive anything but indoor readings. I have an R in the lower right corner where the blink x used to be. Any thoughts.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 21, 2018, 06:23:32 PM
It just took some time to start working. I will let you know how well it stays connected to Weather Underground after a few days of testing. Thanks for the help.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 21, 2018, 06:45:50 PM
I left the console running for 3 days waiting for the transmitter to arrive. It keep my settings alive but the trade of is WC has been upload bad historical data for 20 minutes. I turned WC of and apparently the usb interface from the pro2 console stored the bad data. Still uploading bad data.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 21, 2018, 07:13:36 PM
Duh!! after 45 minutes of uploading Historical junk data, I disabled Historical update. my Personal Weather Station is working again. Does anyone know how the Console stores historical data. Hopefully it is constantly overwriting the data an after a period of time will be good data again. I like the Historical upload for power outages. Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 21, 2018, 08:57:21 PM
You are making progress!

Since you did not change your Station ID when you replaced your transmitter, make sure the old transmitter does not have the battery in it because you can still be picking up the signal from the old unit.

It is your data logger that is storing historical data. You can clear the data logger by changing the interval in WeatherCat, as follows:

WeatherCat | Tools | Station Hardware Options | Set DataLogger Interval

When you change the interval, it will clear the data in the logger. You can wait a couple of minutes and change it back to the original interval if you like that. There is a wiki article on how much data you save based on the interval.

http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=Capacity_of_the_Davis_data-logger_to_store_weather_data_depending_on_the_chosen_sampling_interval
Title: Glad you are putting things back together (Was: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on March 21, 2018, 09:21:39 PM
Dear N4KHQ, Blick, and WeatherCat station caregivers, . . . .

Ok, senile old men don't need weather stations.

 [wink] . . . . . True, but that doesn't mean some men really, really want them! . . . .  [biggrin]

I did not want to wait for a Davis repair so I ordered a transmitter.
. . . . .

Yup!  When it comes to weather data I really wait to lose any more than necessary.

It is your data logger that is storing historical data.  . . . .

Just for the sake of completeness, you can also clear it directly using the Davis WeatherLink software if you kept your copy.

Let us know how you are progressing.  Hopefully your station will be back to normal soon!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Glad you are putting things back together (Was: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: Blicj11 on March 21, 2018, 09:35:42 PM
Just for the sake of completeness, you can also clear it directly using the Davis WeatherLink software if you kept your copy.

Hahaha. I forgot about that because I threw my copy away about 11 years ago.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 21, 2018, 10:38:51 PM
Thanks for the information. running smooth but it will take several days to tell for sure.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 22, 2018, 03:01:00 PM
I am running 10.13.3 and do not have the never sleep option on the energy saving panel. I can tell it not to sleep when the monitor sleeps. I am running the app to never sleep but I don't think I need it after repairing the weather station. It took Weather Underground 24 hours to recover from the bad historical data I unloaded. This morning the Personal Weather Station (PWS) started showing summary data and started the graphs. Weather Station and WC appear to be running perfect. It will take a few more days to be sure. About the time I loaded the never sleep app, we had 4 days of sunny weather before clouds came back in. I think the sunny days was what made me think the never sleep app fixed my problem. After a few days or being up I will remove the never sleep app and test.  Thanks for the help

Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 22, 2018, 03:38:10 PM
Happy for your progress. Let us know how it turns out when you have verified.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 24, 2018, 12:22:03 AM
I turned off Amphtamine (app to keep Mac from sleeping) off yesterday. This morning when I checked Weather Underground said I hand not reported in several hours. I went to the iMac running WC and checked WC. Weather underground started receiving data without a restart. WC's Weather Underground page said it was running which was different from when the Pro 2 was dying. Checking the log, I could see time where no data was sent. I now think I have been dealing with 3 different issues. Cloudy plastic on the solar charger letting the Pro 2 die. Weather Underground going down in flames and iMac going to sleep. It going to take more time to determine what I'm thinking is correct.

Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 24, 2018, 01:10:15 AM
Turn Amphetamine back on and do not make any other changes. If that resolves the issue, the problem is that your Mac goes to sleep when it's not supposed to.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 24, 2018, 03:26:15 PM
Thanks for the advice:
WeatherCat | Tools | Station Hardware Options | Set DataLogger Interval
to clear historical data. I just gave is a try and it worked. Weather Underground is still mad at me for sending up 40 minutes of junk data and won't list my weather station one their map

https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap?lat=34.570&lon=-83.935&zoom=13&tl.play=0&tl.spd=2&viewportstart=now-3881&viewportend=now-281&groupSevere=1&groupHurricane=1&%3BgroupFire=1&groupCamsPhotos=1&groupRealEstate=1&eyedropper=0&extremes=0&fault=0&favs=0&femaflood=0&fire=0&%3Bfirewfas=0&fissures=0&fronts=0&hurrevac=0&hur=0&%3Blabels=0&lightning=0&livesurge=0&mm=0&ndfd=0&rad=0&dir=1&dir.mode=driving&sst=0&sat=0&seismicrisk=0&svr=0&ski=0&snowfall=0&stateLines=0&stormreports=0&tor=0&tfk=0&tsunami=0&riv=0&wxsn=1&wxsn.mode=tw&wxsn.opa=50&wxsn.bcdgtemp=0&wxsn.rf=1&wxsn.showpws=1&cams=1&pix=0


Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on March 24, 2018, 03:35:04 PM
You'll have to give it a while with WU. They have bigger problems than yours. If you're still off their map come Monday, you can send them an email and point it out to them.
Title: Sad but true - WU woes . . . . (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4. . . . )
Post by: elagache on March 24, 2018, 09:38:22 PM
Dear N4KHQ, Blick, and WeatherCat faithful,

You'll have to give it a while with WU. They have bigger problems than yours.

Alas, you are so right!  I'm getting the FTP errors associating with uploading my webcam image to Weather Underground once more.  So the crew at WU are still messing with their applications on the Amazon cloud.  Perhaps they should have followed Apple's lead with iCloud and used the Google cloud instead.

Oh well, . . . . . . Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 24, 2018, 10:35:17 PM
Just installed 3.0 official release. Easy install.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 27, 2018, 12:35:39 PM
Progress is slow. The issues with Weather underground and weather data uploading seemed to change so often you could not describe the problem. There may still be issue, with weather data uploading and displaying on the Personal Weather Station page. Webcam is a different issue. After 3 days of running perfect (fixed weather station solar charger, and Installed 3.0) I was offline again the morning. See the attached log, WC started logging again as soon as I woke the iMac (space bar at 6:05:03 AM 27 Mar-2018). Amphetamine was running. I had an update ready to install; dialog in the upper right window of the iMac. I have only been down twice after getting the solar panel fixed and I remember another install waiting the other time I was down. I went to the preferences for App store and unchecked automatically check for updates. I keep you posted if I have more problem of let you know if it works more that 3 days.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 27, 2018, 05:13:25 PM
OFF TOPIC: When waking the Mac (or any computer, really), it is usually completely safe to press the cursor movement keys (up, down, left, right arrow keys). You might be surprised one day if you press any other key when you discover that you just changed the name of your HD to "" or " "! Or you agreed to the "Do you really want to erase this drive" dialog. Oops! [blush]  Never trust a computer to do only what you want! [banghead]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: ELO on March 27, 2018, 09:11:51 PM
After 3 days of running perfect (fixed weather station solar charger, and Installed 3.0) I was offline again the morning. See the attached log, WC started logging again as soon as I woke the iMac (space bar at 6:05:03 AM 27 Mar-2018). Amphetamine was running. I had an update ready to install; dialog in the upper right window of the iMac. I have only been down twice after getting the solar panel fixed and I remember another install waiting the other time I was down. I went to the preferences for App store and unchecked automatically check for updates. I keep you posted if I have more problem of let you know if it works more that 3 days.

I am experiencing exactly the same issue of late with both WC2xx and now WC3.0. Everything runs perfectly for somewhere between hours and days and then WC seems to hang. My logs look virtually identical to N4KHQ's and like him, simply logging in to the mac mini running WC (directly or remotely) clears the hang and everything works fine until the next time. I have amphetamine running and have tried all the suggestions in this thread thus far. I have tried activating WatchDog to try to clear the hangs. When it is active, I get an email that notes the hang and that WatchDog is initiating a WC restart. The log shows evidence of a restart, but the restart itself hangs part way and doesn?t complete until I log in - without me taking any other action other than logging in. WU may well be the problem, but it seems to me that if it were, more than a couple of us would be seeing the issue.

Other apps I have running full time on the mac mini are Mail, SpamSieve, Network Logger Pro. Background processes are Carbon Copy Cloner, Dropbox, Backblaze, ChronoSync, Amphetamine, BlockBlock, and Dyn Updater. N4KHQ, anything not absolutely mainstream in common?
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 27, 2018, 10:22:16 PM
"without me taking any other action other than logging in" I assume that means the mini may be running 24/7 and that you don't usually do anything on/with it? If not, disregard all the following. If so, what does ChronoSync, BlockBlock and Dyn Updater do? Not sure why you'd need Mail running, and Spamsieve would probably not run without Mail starting up.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: ELO on March 27, 2018, 10:51:19 PM
"without me taking any other action other than logging in" I assume that means the mini may be running 24/7 and that you don't usually do anything on/with it? If not, disregard all the following. If so, what does ChronoSync, BlockBlock and Dyn Updater do? Not sure why you'd need Mail running, and Spamsieve would probably not run without Mail starting up.

My mac mini runs as a household server and is awake 24/7, and no I typically don't do anything with it requiring login or manual interaction unless something needs to be updated, restarted, etc. I typically restart the server every 7-14 days just for good housekeeping purposes. It serves 3 key functions:

-Weather station management via WeatherCat including template and data uploads to Weather Underground, PWS, and my personal site on a 3rd party hosting service.
-Spam filtering of my email accounts on a real time basis via SpamSieve and Apple Mail running 24/7. This process filters spam out of my IMAP mail account inboxes before it ever reaches my laptop, iPad or iPhone.
-Backup & photo/music sync services for the 3 other Macs in our household via Carbon Copy Cloner, Chronosync and Backblaze (for cloud backup).

As for Dyn Updater, my ISP (Comcast) uses dynamic external IP addresses that are subject to change so I use the DynDNS service to work around that and be able to remotely reach the mac mini and other services in my home reliably. Dyn Updater is DynDNS' background app that locally monitors my Comcast dynamic IP and advises/updates DynDNS when my home Comcast IP address changes (often if the modem reboots itself).

BlockBlock is a small background app that prevents installation of launch agents and daemons, etc. without approval. It's a tool to monitor/block malware components since the mini is exposed to the web 24/7.

All of these apps and services have been happily coexisting for well over a year with no problems and may have nothing to do with the WeatherCat hangs I been experiencing recently. But I'm grabbing at straws and trying to figure out what to try next. All thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome!
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 27, 2018, 11:06:09 PM
Thanks for the info, all makes sense... except for the hanging problem... my setup is much simpler.

Hope your Spamsieve works better than mine, I am still getting several "FedEx" messages and lots of "Critical security alert" messages every week. They all come in from my Apple (iCloud) accounts. I don't think SS gets to look at those before Mail does. [banghead]

And now, back to your regularly scheduled support thread! [tup]
Title: Not sure WeatherCat can run - logged out. (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: elagache on March 27, 2018, 11:18:06 PM
Dear N4KHQ, ELO, X-Air, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

My mac mini runs as a household server and is awake 24/7, and no I typically don't do anything with it requiring login
 . . . .

I don't believe WeatherCat is designed to run in the background as you are doing.  It was intended to be active on a computer that has a logged in user.  Otherwise there is no way to access the graphs, gauges, CTWs and so on.  It may work just fine in the manner you are using it, but I just don't know if that?s true.  You might want to contact WeatherCat technical support directly and ask that question.  The contact information is on this web-page of the Tixology site:

https://trixology.com/contact-us/ (https://trixology.com/contact-us/)

N4KHQ, you aren't running your installation of WeatherCat after logging out - are you?

Let us know what you uncover!

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Not sure WeatherCat can run - logged out. (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: ELO on March 27, 2018, 11:34:34 PM
Dear N4KHQ, ELO, X-Air, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

My mac mini runs as a household server and is awake 24/7, and no I typically don't do anything with it requiring login
 . . . .

I don't believe WeatherCat is designed to run in the background as you are doing.  It was intended to be active on a computer that has a logged in user.



My bad here. The mac mini is set put the display to sleep and require a password after 30 minutes. The computer is set to "Never Sleep" and in addition I have amphetamine running.

By "logging in", I meant entering a password to deactivate the screen saver and wake the display, not logging into an account/user as you would do when starting or restarting the machine from scratch. My main admin account is logged in and active active 24/7, and I generally leave a WeatherCat window frontmost to give it as much priority as possible.
Title: Check the WeatherCat log entries? (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: elagache on March 28, 2018, 11:39:44 PM
Dear ELO and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

My bad here. The mac mini is set put the display to sleep and require a password after 30 minutes. The computer is set to "Never Sleep" and in addition I have amphetamine running.

Oh well, that puts us back to square one.  When you see WeatherCat not working properly, could you look in the console for error messages that might explain this?   Better still, since you are running WeatherCat 3, it stores it own log files.  You can find them in:

~/Library/Logs/WeatherCat

Where ~ refers to your own home folder.  You need to have access to your Library folder to view these files.  Let us know if you come up with anything.

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Not sure WeatherCat can run - logged out. (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: N4KHQ on March 29, 2018, 01:17:57 AM
Dear N4KHQ, ELO, X-Air, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

My mac mini runs as a household server and is awake 24/7, and no I typically don't do anything with it requiring login
 . . . .
[/quote
https://trixology.com/contact-us/ (https://trixology.com/contact-us/)

N4KHQ, you aren't running your installation of WeatherCat after logging out - are you?

Let us know what you uncover!

Cheers, Edouard
I never log out. I think I was dealing with 3 issues at the same time. Weather Underground Server issues, Loosing power on the Pro 2, and the last issues was automatic update downloading in the background. I noticed the failures always (at least the last two) had an install now dialog in  he upper right corner. I am thinking the weather station will stay up for weeks if not months like it has done in the past. Not sure if I need the never sleep app. After I am confident my personal weather station is going to stay up, I will try stopping the app and see it the PWS goes down..
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 29, 2018, 01:19:34 AM
Sorry, must have typed in front of a /Quote
Title: Keep us posted (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: elagache on March 29, 2018, 10:16:59 PM
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

I never log out. I think I was dealing with 3 issues at the same time. Weather Underground Server issues, Loosing power on the Pro 2, and the last issues was automatic update downloading in the background. I noticed the failures always (at least the last two) had an install now dialog in  he upper right corner. I am thinking the weather station will stay up for weeks if not months like it has done in the past. Not sure if I need the never sleep app. After I am confident my personal weather station is going to stay up, I will try stopping the app and see it the PWS goes down..

It is clear that you had all 3 issues going on at the same time and that threw a monkey-wrench into the troubleshooting.  Indeed monitor the situation and let us know if indeed you have put your troubles behind you or if they return.  If you have new problems, you might check the console log as WeatherCat 2 does log errors there.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on March 30, 2018, 02:18:48 PM
Personal weather station (PWS) is approaching a record up time since the issue started many months ago. I am guessing I don't need Amphetamine but the app does not cause in problems so I will probably keep running the app. I am 99% sure auto update was causing the final problem. I unchecked, Automatically Check for Updates, and Automatically Download Apps Purchased in System Preferences - App Store.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on March 30, 2018, 02:30:40 PM
Glad to read your problems may be cured, hopefully permanently (as much as that ever happens with computers!). Sometimes "automatic" is not the best solution. I prefer to have others discover an update brings new problems. I'll gladly wait a few days/weeks, thank you very much! [rolleyes2] [lol] I'm still only running 10.12! And WC is running 10.11!!
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: WCDev on March 30, 2018, 06:39:48 PM
Something else that can help when weird stuff starts happening is creating a new preferences file for WeatherCat - if this becomes corrupt (and they sometimes do) then strange stuff can happen.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 01, 2018, 01:32:11 PM
I think the Personal Weather Station powered by WC is back to normal and running flawlessly. The final issue that was stopping WC from sending information started about the time I installed Mac OS 10.13. I think 10.13 changed the auto update system app. It was set to auto download and I was usually slow on installing the downloads. I usually had a dialog in the upper right screen telling me about the update and asking to install. If I did not do the install, the dialog would come back the next days and stop WC again. It only took 4 months to resolve, I'm telling myself it has nothing to do with my age. I'm blaming it on Weather Underground server issues, and a hardware failure on the Pro 2.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 01, 2018, 02:39:24 PM
My 2 cents (keep the change). I hate that "Reminder/Notification", it is designed to confuse people into making the update. Yeah, after a couple of days it switches the wording and is even more insidious! Making updates to most third-party apps is safer than doing so with Apple's, IMHO. "Upgrading" the OS is even more prone to problems unless the user practices a lot of due diligence, back ups and app updates.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 07, 2018, 10:51:36 AM
Everything was working great until the last 3 days. Now my Pro 2 console has stopped receiving data 3 times from the outside unit. WC log says error receiving and the console has dashes for the outside data. I remove power and a console battery, reapply power, step through the settings which are retained and it starts working again for about a day. The Pro 2 is 8 to 10 year old and working for now. I don't want to send in back to Davis and be down totally. I think I will order another Pro 2. Will the USB cable I'm currently using working with the new Pro 2? I think I got the cable with Weather Link software. Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 07, 2018, 02:51:51 PM
I don't remember, but did you also change the battery in the outside transmitter?

I'm not aware of any changes to the USB port on the Data logger. Perhaps a new purchaser can confirm? But it's always nice to have an extra cable of any particular type. Pets do like to chew on those things! ;)
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 07, 2018, 03:24:15 PM
Yes new battery in the new transmitter. This problem is different, resetting the console at 4 am before sunrise will start the unit working again. Thanks for the prompt about data logger. I have a dozen usb cables. I just remember ordering a data logger and putting it behind the battery cover. The only data logger I see comes with either software for mac or software for windows. They are about $125, do I need to order a data logger and what does the software do? Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 07, 2018, 03:37:48 PM
The question is can you buy the data logger insert without buying Weather Link software? Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 07, 2018, 03:57:33 PM
Many of us get the data loggers from retailers other than Davis. I don't think they come with the disk with the WeatherLink software. Here is a post with several dealers: Data logger clones and discount dealers (Re: Davis Instruments confused.) (http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=2625.msg25352;topicseen#msg25352)

That Davis software doesn't include the software used for the data logger, however. That software "simply" provides an extension/driver for the OS to use the USB connection to the logger. It comes free from SiLabs.com (https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers), just scroll down the page looking for the "Download for Macintosh OSX (v5)" section.

I didn't even know one could collect the data with a computer without a logger!
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 07, 2018, 04:24:42 PM
OK thank for the clone information.
Title: Sorry to hear about your station meltdown (Re: Weather Cat bug)
Post by: elagache on April 07, 2018, 10:44:19 PM
Dear N4KHQ, X-Air and WeatherCat faithful,

Everything was working great until the last 3 days. Now my Pro 2 console has stopped receiving data 3 times from the outside unit. WC log says error receiving and the console has dashes for the outside data. I remove power and a console battery, reapply power, step through the settings which are retained and it starts working again for about a day. The Pro 2 is 8 to 10 year old and working for now.

Sorry to hear that you are having so many problems with your station.  If I had to guess, most likely your problem is in the console.  The sensors aren't likely to fail all at once and they don't have any sophisticated electronics.  Since the ISS electronics is brand new, the most likely cause of failure is the console.  You are certainly most unlucky to have both main electronic components fail one after the other.

I don't want to send in back to Davis and be down totally. I think I will order another Pro 2. Will the USB cable I'm currently using working with the new Pro 2? I think I got the cable with Weather Link software. Thanks

Since you are considering buying a new Davis VP-2 station, you might consider carefully collecting all your old components and sending that in to Davis to be refurbished.  That way should you have any problems in the future, you would have a complete set of spares for any component.  I've thought about this, but my setup is no longer a standard VP-2 so I'm not sure how Davis refurbishes that sort of setup.

Keep us posted on your struggles get back online.

Wishing your luck finally turns around for good!

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 07, 2018, 11:20:04 PM
Thanks for the suggestion, the new Pro 2 will be her Wednesday.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 09, 2018, 11:36:59 AM
The old weather station is working fine after I ordered a new Pro2. I have a question about the Davis Data Logger. Davis call it the weather link data logger. I have used one for 10-15 years, can't remember how long I have had the Pro 2. It stores the data from the console when the computer is not connected or WC is not running and WC uploads the data to Weather Underground when it starts. I was wondering if you can you use a Pro 2 without the data logger. Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Dave13 on April 09, 2018, 02:19:13 PM
Yes you can use the Pro2 without a data logger, it is an optional add-on.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 09, 2018, 03:39:35 PM
Quote
can you use a Pro 2 without the data logger
I'm not sure I understand your question about not using a data logger. Without the data logger, you will only see/use the wx info on a Davis Console, right? You can, of course, have as many Consoles as you can afford. ;) You can also use the Envoy, but I think it has the logger (RAM) built-in so you can connect to a computer (USB) and use software to analyze/display/upload the data to other places?

I'm probably just confused about this part of the equipment, also... [blush] [rolleyes2] Maybe I can learn something! [lol]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 09, 2018, 04:04:30 PM
I was thinking if you plugged the usb cable in the port where the data logger goes, WC might read data the same as with the data logger except the stored data feature.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 09, 2018, 09:18:40 PM
I don't remember the type of connection on the Console that the data logger plugs in to. I do remember seeing something about not removing the data logger while the Console is powered (with either batteries or the 'wall wart'), so, unless I can find where that is wrong, I'm not um=nplugging my logger. However, I see one mention of a "USB-to-Serial (DB-9) Cable (#8434)" in "Optional Accessories" in the Console User Manual (no publication date - got mine back in 2015). I suspect the DB-9 port is for an RS-232 serial output. That's a very old format used in electronic equipment for decades, well before even the Apple ][. I don't think Apple ever directly supported it, however, going instead for ADB, SCSI, FireWire, ThunderBolt, and probably some I've left out! Those early Apple cables may have simply been adaptors to use RS-232 signals while creating a 'unique' product for Apple. [rolleyes2] You can easily find BD-9 to USD cables.

However, I think you'd still need a driver in the Mac to interpret the signals. There seem to lots of RS-232 drivers around, also. But you still would not have the 'logger' portion, so you would have to settle for wx info only for when the computer is running. Plus, I think you'd also have to use the Serial version of WeatherLink from Davis (not even sure if they make a Mac version of that software). And this is all assuming that the cable and drivers did what the data logger does.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: elagache on April 09, 2018, 11:10:41 PM
Dear N4KHQ, X-Air and WeatherCat system caregivers,

I was thinking if you plugged the usb cable in the port where the data logger goes, WC might read data the same as with the data logger except the stored data feature.

The Davis data logger looks like this:

(http://www.weatherbuffs.com/v/vspfiles/photos/D-6510SER-2.jpg)

If that is what you are referring to as the USB cable, then yes you can use your old data logger in your new Davis console.  I don't think there is any conflict.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Dave13 on April 09, 2018, 11:46:25 PM
I was thinking if you plugged the usb cable in the port where the data logger goes, WC might read data the same as with the data logger except the stored data feature.

The port the data logger connects to in the console is not USB, it is a 20-pin port specifically for the data logger to interface with the console. You need a data logger to connect the console to a computer.


If that is what you are referring to as the USB cable, then yes you can use your old data logger in your new Davis console.  I don't think there is any conflict.

You may run into an issue with your old data logger and new console. Davis did make an internal change to the data logger sometime within the last 5 years. I found this out the hard way when the board in my console died back in 2016 after 9 years of service. I installed a new console board, connected the data logger, and when I powered it up a message appeared at the bottom of the console "Incompatible Data Logger". I contacted Davis and they swapped it out for a fee of $50.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 10, 2018, 01:31:18 AM
OK thanks, I ordered a new data logger to go with the new Pro2. The old one is still working perfect after the reset.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 11, 2018, 12:18:42 PM
Here is a followup on the Weather Underground (WU) PWS. After WU fixed the server issues, and replacing the wireless sending unit (Solar cover turned white and cloudy days it stopped working on around 3 am) and finally discovering the automatic download of updates was stopping WC from sending data to WU, I had a week of success. The next problem was dashes on the console the console for outside data. I stepped through the setup process and it worked about 24. Stepped through setup again and it worked to about 4 am.  I removed a battery, the console beeped when I replaced the battery or power supply, can't remember which. Stepped through the setup process, console retained my settings, does it have a internal battery? I ordered a new Pro2 and datalink which arrived yesterday. The Pro2 has performed perfect since I removed the battery for a few seconds. I assume all the console needed was a microprocessor reset. If that is the case, it will be a first is 10 plus years. Guess I will leave the new Pro2 in the box for backup.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 11, 2018, 01:45:06 PM
Quote
I removed a battery, the console beeped when I replaced the battery or power supply, can't remember which. Stepped through the setup process, console retained my settings, does it have a internal battery?
"removed a battery" from where? The ISS has one battery. It supplies power if the large capacitor did not store enough energy during the previous day(s) from the solar cell charger. Davis claims that battery should last 9 months if the capacitor/solar cell system is working efficiently. Many have seen the battery last much longer. Most of us replace it at least once a year just to be safe... and avoid a trip in freezing rain/hurricane-force winds/etc. 8)

Quote
does it have a internal battery?
My Console has three C-cells. I tend to forget them but have received an alert that they needed replacement. That message had the word "Console" in it and I read it several days before I realized what it was talking about... and English is my native language! [banghead] [blush] [rolleyes2]

Coincidence?! Returned home a couple of hours ago to find two Admin messages:Console voltage is low - actual value is 3.885 Volts. WeatherCat TimeStamp: 01:27:03 11-Apr-18
WeatherCat Vantage Driver: Station Power Advice. Console voltage is now good - actual value is 4.775 Volts. WeatherCat TimeStamp: 01:28:03 11-Apr-18[/list]Perhaps if I wait long enough the voltage would get even higher?! I'm not sure you could expect more than 4.5 volts from 3 C-cells... I just decided to change the Console and the ISS batteries. [rolleyes2]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 11, 2018, 07:44:36 PM
I removed one of the three batteries form the console. My first ISS battery lasted 9 years before I got a low ISS battery warning on the console and replaced the ISS battery. Never had a single problem on the first ISS battery. My 3 console batteries are 10+ years old and still working. I leave it plugged in to AC all the time but over the years we have had power outages.
Title: Best not to leave batteries too long (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 bug)
Post by: elagache on April 11, 2018, 10:13:47 PM
Dear N4KHQ, X-Air, and WeatherCat station caregivers,

I removed one of the three batteries form the console. My first ISS battery lasted 9 years before I got a low ISS battery warning on the console and replaced the ISS battery. Never had a single problem on the first ISS battery. My 3 console batteries are 10+ years old and still working. I leave it plugged in to AC all the time but over the years we have had power outages.

The topic of how often to replace batteries has come up before and I don't think there was any consensus.  Still, leaving batteries for multiple years runs the risk of a battery leak which can destroy the contacts forcing you to replace the device (or motherboard if available.)

I replace all the batteries every year simply because I have it as part of my annual maintenance routine.  It seems too much of a hassle to create calendar events to replace batteries say every 5 years.  I'll be the first to admit: "waste not want not," but replacing a battery is a very small price to pay to protect an expensive piece of equipment which you want to have operating 24/7.

Hopefully at least some food for thought.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 13, 2018, 01:14:05 AM
WC and Weather Underground PWS are going on two week without a restart and everything is work it should with one exception. My PWS does does not show on Weather Underground map when first loaded. My PWS appears after a couple of minutes when the page refreshes or if you force a refresh by changing a from Wind/Temp to Temp it my station appears.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 17, 2018, 02:23:33 AM
The old Pro2 lost connection to the ISS again about 3 am yesterday morning. Now I am pretty sure I did not need to replace the wireless sender. As noted by Edouard, I think the problem was the console and not the replaced wireless transmitter (Sensor Interface). I am surprised at how little changes have been made to the Pro2 in the last 10 years. I thought surely by now, Davis would have added a Sensor Interface switch to turn the transmitting off. I wanted to use the default channel 1 on the new unit. I climbed the 30 tower disconnect the solar charger and battery and just as I suspected the capacitor keep the old station transmitting on channel 1. I set the channel on the ISS and Console to 2 and it seems to be working fine.
Title: Trick to discharge old transmitter. (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on April 17, 2018, 10:38:19 PM
Dear N4KHQ and WeatherCat station caregivers,

The old Pro2 lost connection to the ISS again about 3 am yesterday morning. Now I am pretty sure I did not need to replace the wireless sender. As noted by Edouard, I think the problem was the console and not the replaced wireless transmitter (Sensor Interface).

Sorry to hear you are in this predicament.  I've been there and it is really hard to troubleshoot these systems because they are quite complex.

I am surprised at how little changes have been made to the Pro2 in the last 10 years. I thought surely by now, Davis would have added a Sensor Interface switch to turn the transmitting off.

Davis doesn't do that but there is a trick that is close to it.  If you turn on the #4 DIP switch that causes an LED to flash every time a signal is sent.  This does discharge the capacitor rapidly so this is recommended only for troubleshooting.  However, if you want to rapidly discharge the capacitor - that is a relatively easy way to do that.

I wanted to use the default channel 1 on the new unit. I climbed the 30 tower disconnect the solar charger and battery and just as I suspected the capacitor keep the old station transmitting on channel 1. I set the channel on the ISS and Console to 2 and it seems to be working fine.

If you are in a suburban or denser population center it is actually a good idea to avoid using transmitter ID #1.  If a newbie installs a Davis station near you there is a risk of interference since of course they won't fuss with the transmitter ID.  Picking anything other than #1 immediately buys you some piece of mind.

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 17, 2018, 11:09:06 PM
N4KHQ:

These problems are so frustrating. I replaced the wireless transmitter on my ISS three times a couple of years ago. It had the unfortunate experience of having mine fail and the first two replacements I bought were faulty. Of course it took months to figure out eventually that I was on the right track but I don't envy you trying to isolate the cause of your lost connections. You might consider moving your console, if that is an option. I had to move mine after it worked perfectly in the original location for several years. One day it just would not connect. Moving it to a different location solved the problem.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 18, 2018, 01:02:49 AM
My PWS stopped receiving data about 9 am today. When I returned home about 30 minutes ago, WC was in starting mode for sending data to weather underground. I had the starting mode problem a lot over a month ago but have not see the problem for over a month. All other functions of Weather Cat seemed fine. and it was getting the current temperature from the all new Pro 2. The only thing I did not replace was the usb cable from the console data logger to the computer. I restarted WC and it started uploading historical data to Weather Underground and was in Running mode on the online/Weather underground preference page. As you can see from the attached graph Weather Underground filled in the graph but with a lot of straight lines. Looks like some good data was uploaded about 5 to 6 pm.  When the Pro 2 was loosing connection with the ISS, the graphs never filled in. Is weather underground having problems again.?

Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 18, 2018, 04:58:07 PM
As you can see from the attached graph Weather Underground filled in the graph but with a lot of straight lines. Looks like some good data was uploaded about 5 to 6 pm.  When the Pro 2 was loosing connection with the ISS, the graphs never filled in. Is weather underground having problems again.?

What is your data logger interval set to in WeatherCat | Tools | Station Hardware Options ?
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 18, 2018, 07:13:16 PM
one minute any suggestions?
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 18, 2018, 09:45:45 PM
I misunderstood the question, the Data Loggin Interval is 30 Minutes. 1 minute uploads to Weather underground. Any suggestions on either setting?

Thanks
Title: Best to match WeatherCat sampling interval (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on April 18, 2018, 10:54:52 PM
Dear N4KHQ, Blick, and WeatherCat Davis station caregivers,

I misunderstood the question, the Data Loggin Interval is 30 Minutes. 1 minute uploads to Weather underground. Any suggestions on either setting?

The Davis data logger is effectively a weather data backup when WeatherCat isn't running.  So if you want to keep your WeatherCat data uniform, the best choice is to set your data logger to the same value that you have WeatherCat's data sampling interval.  The sampling rate is set in the Misc2 pane of the preferences and is described on starting on page 169 in the WeatherCat 3 manual.  Setting the data logger is described on page 69.  We also have a WeatherCat Wiki entry that explains the trade-offs in setting the Davis data logger:

http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=Capacity_of_the_Davis_data-logger_to_store_weather_data_depending_on_the_chosen_sampling_interval (http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=Capacity_of_the_Davis_data-logger_to_store_weather_data_depending_on_the_chosen_sampling_interval)

I have my sampling interval and data logger set to 5 minutes.  That means if WeatherCat or my computer are disabled, I can go for almost 9 days before I would lose any data.  With the speed of commerce, I would hope that's enough time to make whatever repairs or replacements are necessary.

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 18, 2018, 11:23:59 PM
Thanks I understand
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 19, 2018, 12:59:46 AM
I misunderstood the question, the Data Loggin Interval is 30 Minutes. 1 minute uploads to Weather underground. Any suggestions on either setting?

That's why some of your lines appear flat. Your logger is only storing 2 data samples per hour. So if you have to upload history files to WeatherUnderground to recover from being disconnected you are only getting one data reading every 30 minutes from your logger.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 22, 2018, 02:56:48 AM
Seems like every 36 to 48 hours WC quits sending data to Weather Underground. Tonight I caught it after about 3 hours of not reporting to the my PWS. WC was not hung is starting mode as usual but the log showed Wunderground driver appears to have stopped. Any suggestions as to where to look. Restarting the iMac fixed the issue as usually. I probably should use the scheduled in Energy preferences to schedule a shut down at 12 midnight and a restart at 1 am.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 22, 2018, 03:59:51 PM
I set the iMac to shut down at 1 am and restart a 1:30 am. We will see if WC keeps sending data to WU PWS more than 3 days. If it continues to fail I think I will replace the WC preferences. Any tips on the best way to replace the preferences? Thanks
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 22, 2018, 07:59:45 PM
Replacing prefs is really about re-naming them. Before you do that, however, it will save lots of time if you make a screen shot of every single preference panel that the app has. [computer] WC has over a dozen separate pages of prefs. And there are dozens of .plist files. The one you don't make a screen shot of is the one you'll forget how to set.  [lol] [rolleyes2] [blush] Secondly, make sure you know/find every .plist the app uses. The basic one(s) should be in your User/Library/Preferences directory. Be aware that WC also has a dozen or so in User/Library/WeatherCatData. Additionally, there may be a coupl in User/Library/Application Support/WeatherCatTemp. They usually have the name of the developer and/or the name of the app in what is basically a reverse url format: com.apple.Mail.plist, com.trixology.weathercat.plist, etc. but sometimes it is something like WeatherCatDaily.plist,

1. Shut down the app that uses the Pref(.plist). If you don't quit the app, it will probably just re-create the old plist info when you do quit it next.
2. Change the name of the .plist to something really creative... like adding "-OLD" to the end of the name. Probably best to add it at the end of the name and just before the ".plist" part. That will keep it in the same relative position in your files and make it easy to find once you determine if it was the problem.
3. Restart the app and start re-creating the prefs settings... If you have a fast drive, it won't hurt to make a complete restart of the OS, but that's not usually necessary.
4. Recreate all the prefs the way you want or had them.

Be very careful when entering the info. I found a problem recently where I had typed in the url for my camera as http://10.0.1.10/live/0/jpeg.jpeg when it should have been: http://10.0.1.10/live/0/jpeg.jpg See the one letter erer?! I blame it on Microsoft because they never had a really effective way for apps to know which files they should open because they limited suffixes to 3 letters. Apple used four, plus they used Creator and Type values... or at least they did until they caved in to the M$ hoards. [rolleyes2]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 22, 2018, 10:06:11 PM
Thanks very much, i did not realize the complexity, Maybe the restarting will work.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: xairbusdriver on April 22, 2018, 11:55:22 PM
You can probably just re-create the main plist (user/Library/Preferences/com.trixology.weathercat.plist). Most of the others are pretrty specific about what they do. But it is certainly worth creating a collection of the main Pref screens for future reference, life is uncertain, be prepared to re-enter pref data! [lol]

Since you seem to be mostly concerned with uploads to WU, you might just look at the "Modified" date/time of the user/Library/Application Support/WeatherCatTemp/WeatherCatLastWundergroundUpload.plist. It's not so much what's in it, but the modified date/time of that file might help indicate when it last uploaded info. That would then provide a time to look near in Console logs for a possible error report.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 23, 2018, 12:38:23 AM
good ideal, thanks
Title: Backup? (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on April 23, 2018, 10:22:09 PM
Dear N4KHQ, X-Air and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

If it continues to fail I think I will replace the WC preferences. Any tips on the best way to replace the preferences? Thanks

If you have some sort of backup system like Time Machine, you might try finding an earlier copy of the preferences.  I couldn't easily see if you had upgraded to WeatherCat 3 or not.  If not, you might try to see if you have a WeatherCat preference file from before this problem started.  Simply replacing the file with a backup is much simpler. 

Because preferences files are at a much greater risk of becoming corrupted because of a caching scheme implemented in macOS, some of us have gotten into the habit of making explicit backup copies of the main WeatherCat preferences files to avoid this sort of problem.

Cheers, Edouard
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 23, 2018, 10:30:31 PM
Regarding replacing a plist file, the more recent versions of macOS re-create the corrupted (old) plist file from a cached version if you don't restart your iMac before you restart WeatherCat. Restarting the iMac goes between X-Air's steps 2 and 3. Edouard's suggested method is way way easier, but doesn't help you out until you get this problem sorted properly. When you know you have a fix, then duplicate the plist and stash it somewhere for future use.
Title: Thanks - important detail! (Was: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on April 23, 2018, 10:37:29 PM
Dear Blick and WeatherCat troubleshooter,

Regarding replacing a plist file, the more recent versions of macOS re-create the corrupted (old) plist file from a cached version if you don't restart your iMac before you restart WeatherCat. Restarting the iMac goes between X-Air's steps 2 and 3.

Yes indeed, I should have mentioned that - Thanks for the correction!  [tup]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 23, 2018, 11:42:02 PM
I have time machine but I have upgraded to version 3 when the paid release was available but I was experiencing problems long before I upgraded.

Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 24, 2018, 12:21:27 AM
In that case, I think it's best for you to get screenshots of your preferences and delete the current one (rather than rename it). Slightly different than what X-air wrote. I'll post a new set of steps for you in a few minutes.



Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 24, 2018, 12:27:19 AM
Thanks no rush, it been perfect since I have the iMac restart at 1:00 am but it has only been a couple of days.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 24, 2018, 12:27:57 AM
Make sure you have documented all of your WeatherCat preferences before doing this. Screenshots are the easiest way.

To re-create a new plist file:
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 24, 2018, 12:32:15 AM
My suggestion is to leave the webcam out of it until you have WeatherCat running without the webcam using the new plist. If you are stable for a few days, duplicate the plist file (so you have a copy of a good clean one that works), then see what happens when you add the webcam preferences back in.

Good luck and let us know what happens. Many a weird issue has been resolved with a brand new plist so we'll hope this is the case with yours.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 24, 2018, 12:32:51 AM
Thanks,

I think I will give it a try.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 24, 2018, 12:35:25 AM
I don't use WC for the webcam. The DLink has a web interface built in firmware that lets me schedule and FTP photos.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 24, 2018, 12:38:22 AM
Haha, I'm sure I have you mixed up with another user. You are the user with WUnderground complications. So skip my comments about webcam preferences. I was off in Lala Land, where I spend most of my time these days.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 24, 2018, 12:38:56 AM
Should have said jpegs for the webcam.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 24, 2018, 12:43:20 AM
Yes, Weather underground is uploads is the only thing I us from WC. Makes preference entry much easier.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: N4KHQ on April 30, 2018, 04:24:34 PM
Probably break today after posting but WC had been sending data for about 2 weeks. Restarting the iMac automatically a 3 am has solved the problem.
Title: Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4 MacOS Higher Sierra 10.13.3 bug
Post by: Blicj11 on April 30, 2018, 09:43:32 PM
Probably break today after posting but WC had been sending data for about 2 weeks. Restarting the iMac automatically a 3 am has solved the problem.

Interesting solution. Many of you will recall the good old days when restarting your Windows-based computer was on the daily task list.
Title: Sorry you had to resort to that. (Re: Weather Cat version 2.4.4)
Post by: elagache on April 30, 2018, 11:34:25 PM
Dear N4KHQ, Blick, and WeatherCat system admins,

Probably break today after posting but WC had been sending data for about 2 weeks. Restarting the iMac automatically a 3 am has solved the problem.

I'm glad you have solved your problem in some way, but sure am sorry that you could isolate the actual cause.  Normally WeatherCat is extremely stable and some users have it running for weeks without any problems.  Alas, macOS isn't the bullet-proof UNIX platform it started out as.  It wasn't that long ago that I would have to remind myself to reboot once a month just as a precaution.  These days I really struggle to run more than 3 days before rebooting.  If rebooting my computer wasn't such a hassle I would use a scheduled rebooting scheme as you have done.

Cheers, Edouard