Problem with WH3080 after latest WC upgrade

[Michel]

Hi, folks !

I'm facing a strange behaviour of my setup
WC 3,31  Build 8 / FineOffset WH3080 / iMac late 2013 / macOS 10.15.7 (19H2026)
after WC's ugrade from 3.3.? to 3.3.1 Build 8 the other day. May be it's just a timely
coincidence, but ...

Everything worked flawlessly before but now there is some unknown problem with reading
data from the WH3080 console. It's even unclear whether it's a communication problem
or a hardware problem (Mac USB bus ? console itself ? whatever else...) or whether the
WC upgrade may have wreaked some sort of havoc.

Effect:
The values presented on the console's display are updated every few seconds as usual
but they don't make it to WC any longer (values in gauges window don't change).
Say WC gauges are updated ONCE only after rebooting the WH3080 console and restarting WC.
And this despite the WC gauges window claims:
Good data: 621 (increasing continously)
Comms error: 0
Sensor error:  0
Quality: 100,00%

So it seems either the console has some issue with publishing the latest values
(unlikely since I have a spare unit which behaves the same way now) or WC has some
software or hardware based problem with reading the latest values after having read them
once after its own restart and a restart of the console.
I already tried different USB ports - in vain.

Any words of wisdom how to track this one down, masters ?

  Regards !

      Michael

[elagache]

Dear Michel and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

I'm facing a strange behaviour of my setup
WC 3,31  Build 8 / FineOffset WH3080 / iMac late 2013 / macOS 10.15.7 (19H2026)
after WC's ugrade from 3.3.? to 3.3.1 Build 8 the other day. May be it's just a timely
coincidence, but ...
. . . . .

Unfortunately, you might have discovered a bug that was introduced in the attempt to squash another bug.  There is only one entry in the release notes for WeatherCat 3.3.1:

Fixed a crash that could occur in USB based stations (WH1080, WH3080, WMR88, WMR200) when running on MacOS 15 or later.

It is possible that fixing this bug introduced another bug that is effecting you.  Is there any chance you can roll-back to WeatherCat 3.3.0 and see if that resolves your problem.  I couldn't find an obvious link to download the previous version of WeatherCat.  Are you running Time Machine and could roll-back that way?

Let us know.

Edouard

[Blicj11]

Michel, I just went through your website and love your technology and sense of humor. Well done.

[Michel]

Hi, Edouard !

Yes, I noticed the entry in the release notes for WeatherCat 3.3.1 regarding
USB based stations. Given we have no details on what exactly has been
changed here, we can just make assumptions or bilnd guesses in this direction. 
But granted, fixing a bug popping up in a new OS version may result in a
new one popping up on an old system :-)
Perhaps the developer can shed a light on the details ?

As for your suggestion to try a roll-back to an earlier WC version… cute idea.
Yes, I have WC 3.2 (Nov 2023) handy in Time Machine (went for carbon copy cloner
later on).

What would be the correct way to restore 3.2 and preserve 3.3.1 ?
Simply rename /Applications/WeatherCat  to  /Applications/WeatherBroken
and tell TimeMachine to restore 3.2 ?
Or would it be sufficient to rename /Applications/WeatherCat/WeatherCat.app
to  /Applications/WeatherCat/WeatherBroken.app and then tell TimeMachine
to restore the November 2023 .app only ?

You see, I never did a roll-back of this kind and I’m not sure what kinds of
dependencies might interfere here… 
But it’s definitely worth a try since the result will tell if fixing a bug introduced
a new one or whether both of my consoles are toast…

  Regards !

    Michael

[Blicj11]

Or would it be sufficient to rename /Applications/WeatherCat/WeatherCat.app
to  /Applications/WeatherCat/WeatherBroken.app and then tell TimeMachine
to restore the November 2023 .app only ?

This is correct. Just rename your current app and then restore just the earlier version of the app. You do not need to do anything to preserve or restore your data. The older version of the app will work just fine with them data you have.

[Michel]

Thanks, Blick.

Unfortunately, replacing 3.3.1 with 3.2 didn't cure the problem.
Given the results of further tests with different external USB hubs and the iMac's buitl-in ports
it looks like the station console's memory (management) is toast. 
It seems it stores only one set of values after its reboot and does not add new subsequent values
any longer. At least this would explain why WC's status display claims no bad/invalid data or
sensor errors and declares comms to be "excellent".
I assume WC reads the station console's current values always at/from the console's same
memory address and with each new data set of values there should be "some sort of roll down in
the memory registers" and the latter does not work any longer (after ten years).

BTW, the spare console unit completely refuses to talk to the iMac after being a standalone unit
in the living room for 10 yrs.  WC's status window asks to "check installation". Maybe the developer
would like to change this message to "check installation or replace broken console" 🤪

Time to get hold of a new station...

  Regards !

    Michael

[elagache]

Dear Michel, Blick, and WeatherCat station caregivers,

. . . .
Unfortunately, replacing 3.3.1 with 3.2 didn't cure the problem.
Given the results of further tests with different external USB hubs and the iMac's buitl-in ports
it looks like the station console's memory (management) is toast.
. . . .
Time to get hold of a new station...

Sorry to hear that your station has "given up the ghost," but hardware does fail from time to time.

Best of luck in procuring a new station that fits your fancy!

Let us know what you finally decide to purchase.

Edouard

[Michel]

Let us know what you finally decide to purchase.

Sure 😁

I went for a WH3080 again.
https://www.foshk.com/weather_professional/wh3080.html
Simply because its price is unbeatable (EUR 120 / USD 125)  and because it fits my
needs (no high precision instruments or really professional hardware required).
Say feeding data to https://michelswunderland.de/weather/current_en.html is
the only purpose more or less.
And… replacing the old one with the same type provided for a “smooth transition” 😎

The new outdoor sensor unit is different, though. It makes a more robust impression.
Sensor power is provided by solar cells and a supercapacitor (and 2 AA Lithium batteries
for “emergency cases” - said to last ~1 year) as opposed to the old one that had
rechargeable 1.5V (!! _not_ 1.2V !) batteries. The latter gave up after 5 years and
replacement wasn’t available… production terminated… Ordinary 1.2V rechargeable
batteries had to be replaced every 10 days or so since these aren’t compatible
with the old sensor’s charging circuitry…

It seems - fingers crossed - the new console unit does not suffer from the USB-comms
flaw any longer. See https://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1931.msg17488#msg17488
Comms haven’t failed, yet. But it remains to be seen whether this is a stable status
since the new console has been in ops for just 4 days now.

  Regards !

    Michael

[elagache]

Dear Michel and WeatherCat station caregivers,

Let us know what you finally decide to purchase.

Sure 😁

I went for a WH3080 again.
. . . .

I'm glad that you could simply replace your old station with another WH3080.  That is always the path of least resistance. 

May your new station serve you as well or better than the last!

Edouard

[Blicj11]

I love it when a WeatherCatter gets a bit of new kit and it works!