OS 10.9 and Keyspan USA-19H serial adapter

[Robert.P]

Ever since upgrading to 10.9, Weather Cat has stopped performing correctly.  It ran flawlessly prior to the upgrade.  Problems I am encountering:

- WC only gets data from my data logger on a sporadic basis.  It will run smoothly for a few minutes and then stops working.  Checking my station at Wunderground and st on RapidFire will show updating in hours and not seconds as it has done in the past.

- If I quit WC and try to start it again, the app just hangs and is unresponsive.

I have updated WC to 1.2.3, Uninstalled the drivers for the Keyspan and installed the latest driver version 2.6.4.  The iMac is set to not sleep and I have allowed access through Little Snitch and the firewall for WC.  I have tried running WC with, and without my web cam running using Evocam.

I suspect it is the Keyspan driver that may be the problem.  They have stated that they do not know for sure that it will run properly under OS 10.9 (even though it installed fine.  Any other ideas?  Is anyone else using this same Serial to USB adapter under 10.9 successfully?

TIA

[WCDev]

Hi Robert,
If you have to reboot the machine to get it going again that would point to the driver as being a problem - maybe grab another/different brand serial to USB adapter to test with if you have access to one.

[Robert.P]

Ugh!  Problem solved.  The station was plugged into a USB hub and that was causing the issue.  Plugged directly into the iMac and all is fine.  I guess it is time to search for a new hub.

[Blicj11]

Robert:

The station was plugged into a USB hub and that was causing the issue.  Plugged directly into the iMac and all is fine.

I don't know if you saw any Comms errors whilst plugged into your hub but here is a quote from the WeatherCat Manual, page 36:

If you are receiving a lot of ?Comms Errors? then the problem lies with the connection between the computer and the weather station ? check your USB dongle and/or driver along with any USB cables; in particular do not use USB extension cables between the weather station and your computer and make sure the station is connected to the computer, not any hubs or keyboards.

[Robert.P]

I have now tried four different brands of USB 2 hubs and none work with Mavericks/Vantage Vue/WeatherCat.  I had no problems whatsoever with 10.8 so it appears than Mavericks broke the use of a hub for now.  Will test again when Apple releases a needed update.  Everything still works great when the Vantage is plugged directly in the iMac USB port.

[xairbusdriver]

I know this thread is old, but when using USB hubs, remember that it should be self-powered, not "Buss-powered". the difference is that splitting the signal of a buss-powered hub will usually also split the power supplied to each device. Once the power gets to a certain, critical, low value, the device will usually just stop working. A "self-powered" hub provides its own power (yes, another 'wall-wart') so it does not depend on the computer to provide the extra amperage to any more devices.

In my opinion, this lack of power/voltage and current is just one of the trade-offs made in the development of USB. Low cost, were the first priority, not speed, distance, power, or number of devices. These sacrifices were accepted with the increasing use of mobile, low powered computing devices.

[ColdnFrosty]

I have now tried four different brands of USB 2 hubs and none work with Mavericks/Vantage Vue/WeatherCat.  I had no problems whatsoever with 10.8 so it appears than Mavericks broke the use of a hub for now.  Will test again when Apple releases a needed update.  Everything still works great when the Vantage is plugged directly in the iMac USB port.

I had Belkin hub problems on an off until 10.10.x and have not had any problems since. Currently on 10.10.5.

[elagache]

Dear Robert.P, X-Air, ColdnFrosty, and WeatherCat computer hardware caregivers,

I have now tried four different brands of USB 2 hubs and none work with Mavericks/Vantage Vue/WeatherCat. 
. . . .
 Everything still works great when the Vantage is plugged directly in the iMac USB port.

As far as I know there is no iron-clad requirement for this, but it has been recommended for as long as I've been on this forum to try to provide a USB port on your Mac itself for your weather station.  USB is supposed 'ta not lose any signal quality, but if your equipment doesn't work that's scant comfort isn't it.

I know this thread is old, but when using USB hubs, remember that it should be self-powered, not "Buss-powered".

Alas, your point is valid even if when using devices that won't use any power, it shouldn't make any difference.  For any desktop installation, you should avoid having any bus-powered hubs with perhaps the exception of infrequently used ones for data transfer.

I had Belkin hub problems on an off until 10.10.x and have not had any problems since. Currently on 10.10.5.

If you run a "tight ship" old USB hubs will probably continue to serve you well.  Alas, as buy new devices we might discover that our old hubs aren't up to the task.  I had to buy a second hub so that I could recharge my iPad while syncing.  Since then my old Belkin hasn't performed as well as it once did.  One of these days I'll upgrade once more.

Cheers, Edouard