Warning email when X is likely not functioning

[staze]

All,

So, I would love to see a feature request, and I'm not sure how it would be implemented. Basically, I just found out my anemometer has been "jammed up" with spider webs for the last month. So, no wind speed gathered/reported. DAMN! So, climb up on the roof, get the pole down, clean it up, put it back up. At least I realized it in the morning rather than hot afternoon! 

I would "think" WC could have thresholds set and say, if after a week there was no wind direction/speed (change) recorded, it would alert the station owner (email?). Same for something like temp, or pressure.

Maybe that's already possible with a custom gauge and monitoring deltas, but I'm curious how that would be done if it's possible.

Thanks!

[xairbusdriver]

Good suggestion, in my opinion. Perhaps an AppleScript solution... I'd suggest comparing yesterday to today for most things. Rain may be more difficult to monitor, however; how do you know if it's "simply" a drought?! OTOH, I've started just checking the rain funnel/tipping buckets weekly...

[staze]

Good suggestion, in my opinion. Perhaps an AppleScript solution... I'd suggest comparing yesterday to today for most things. Rain may be more difficult to monitor, however; how do you know if it's "simply" a drought?! OTOH, I've started just checking the rain funnel/tipping buckets weekly...

Yeah, that's not a great option since it's on my roof (requiring a ladder setup). Rain would be next to impossible... especially given how long it's been for some parts of the Western US.

But things like Wind, Temp, Pressure, Humidity, etc should be relatively reliable to say "if X time has passed, and the value hasn't changed by more than Y, then an error is likely".

Thoughts Stu?

[elagache]

Dear Staze, X-Air, and WeatherCat station caregivers,

So, I would love to see a feature request, and I'm not sure how it would be implemented. Basically, I just found out my anemometer has been "jammed up" with spider webs for the last month. So, no wind speed gathered/reported. DAMN! So, climb up on the roof, get the pole down, clean it up, put it back up. At least I realized it in the morning rather than hot afternoon! 

I would "think" WC could have thresholds set and say, if after a week there was no wind direction/speed (change) recorded, it would alert the station owner (email?). Same for something like temp, or pressure.

For the anemometer it might be possible, but it gets tricky for the other instruments.  There is another way you can get this sort of email even if it is somewhat unexpected.  The European weather data upload service AWEKAS might do this for you for free:

http://www.awekas.at/

As part of their software they compare the values from your station to nearby stations.  If they see what the software considers to be sufficiently large discrepancy they will send you an email and ignore your data until the issue is straightened out.  Last winter, we are a period of extreme calm and AWEKAS sent me an email claiming my anemometer was down.  It wasn't and I explained the situation to them so I was put back on their listing.

This strategy only makes sense if there are nearby stations uploading to AWEKAS, but it is worth a shot.  There are instructions on how to upload to AWEKAS on the WeatherCat Wiki:

http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php/Automatic_Weather_Map_System_%28AWEKAS%29

Cheers, Edouard 

[staze]

Dear Staze, X-Air, and WeatherCat station caregivers,

So, I would love to see a feature request, and I'm not sure how it would be implemented. Basically, I just found out my anemometer has been "jammed up" with spider webs for the last month. So, no wind speed gathered/reported. DAMN! So, climb up on the roof, get the pole down, clean it up, put it back up. At least I realized it in the morning rather than hot afternoon! 

I would "think" WC could have thresholds set and say, if after a week there was no wind direction/speed (change) recorded, it would alert the station owner (email?). Same for something like temp, or pressure.

That's actually cool. The explaining to them is a bit of a hassle though. I was thinking Wunderground could probably do that.

Still would be cool if WC did this. =)

For the anemometer it might be possible, but it gets tricky for the other instruments.  There is another way you can get this sort of email even if it is somewhat unexpected.  The European weather data upload service AWEKAS might do this for you for free:

http://www.awekas.at/

As part of their software they compare the values from your station to nearby stations.  If they see what the software considers to be sufficiently large discrepancy they will send you an email and ignore your data until the issue is straightened out.  Last winter, we are a period of extreme calm and AWEKAS sent me an email claiming my anemometer was down.  It wasn't and I explained the situation to them so I was put back on their listing.

This strategy only makes sense if there are nearby stations uploading to AWEKAS, but it is worth a shot.  There are instructions on how to upload to AWEKAS on the WeatherCat Wiki:

http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php/Automatic_Weather_Map_System_%28AWEKAS%29

Cheers, Edouard 

[Randall75]

Hi Staze and Edouard and cat fans


 The other day when GoDaddy went down I got a email from awekas that they had not received any data from my station in 2 hours please check your station to see what is wrong
That's how I found out that my uploads from the cat were not going out
So like Edouard stated they would probably let you know that your wind speed and wind direction was not changed


cheers


 

[xairbusdriver]

If an email is all you want, you can ask WC to send you a "Daily Data Email" (Prefs->Email) to include "Windspeed". You'd still have to read the message, of course. But you could also create a rule in Mail to send the message to a folder called "We ain't had no wind fer a while" or "Spider web check" if the message contains "Wind Speed: 0" (or whatever text WC inserts in the message about the windspeed). I think there are options to sound a tone, color code, or call Davis.

[WCDev]

Interesting - I've added a feature request for it .
 

[elagache]

Howdy Stu, X-Air, Randall, Staze, and WeatherCat admirers of Stu's genius . . . .

Interesting - I've added a feature request for it .

Hmm, should this actually make it into some future version of WeatherCat, I'll be very interested to see how Stu implements this!  It doesn't look like something that straightforward to do, but the very way Stu writes this suggests that . . . . . .  he is startin' to get ideirs . . . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard 

[Randall75]

Hi Edouard
 As good as you are  with your AppleScripts you should be able to give him suggestions or write it your self




cheers


 

[Felix]

<snip>....just found out my anemometer has been "jammed up" with spider webs for the last month. So, no wind speed gathered/reported. ...<snip> DAMN!

Believe I'd notice in the data graphs if my anemometer showed no wind and no change of wind direction for a period of time; for sure for a month.   

But maybe we typically get more wind than you do.

However, I see Stu added your suggestion to the To Do list so it should show up in a future update.

Several items added of late so I'm hopeful the Daylight Savings Time (DST) data statistics retrieval bug is reaching the top of the list and will be solved before the next USA switchover (1 Nov 2015). I've been harping on it for two years including through a major WeatherCat upgrade but only affects those who use the Statistics feature in the Tools menu. During the two months of the year when the time changes, the Statistics lookup time is in error by an hour. But as soon as the month rolls over, all's good again until the month of the next switchover.

[staze]

Believe I'd notice in the data graphs if my anemometer showed no wind and no change of wind direction for a period of time; for sure for a month.   

Well, as it turns out, it wasn't THAT bad. Not sure how I was looking at wunderground, but looking at my raw data, it only showed about 16 hours of no wind. So some spider had a fun night binding up my anemometer.

The problem is, I don't pay THAT close attention to my weather station. I really only noticed because I was in my yard watering plants and noticed the cups not spinning. =/

As to how to implement, I would assume you would have two things you could set in preferences. Value to check against, and Duration of not changing. So, in the case of wind speed, the value would be 0 (units), and after X hours/X days, if it doesn't change (or rather, if the max wind is 0.0 for several days), then there's probably a problem. With temp, humidity, etc, you'd actually have to have it check multiple days and see if the value never changes, rather than have it be enterable (I doubt most stations fail in such a way as to reliably say "0 degrees" or "100 degrees", I'm sure they stick on some undetermined value.

[elagache]

Dear Randall, Felix, Staze, and WeatherCat "never enough time types,"

As good as you are  with your AppleScripts you should be able to give him suggestions or write it your self

Alas not only has my AppleScript gotten a bit rusty from lack of use but I'm still trying to finish up wiring this . . . .



Even more serious is that the engine builder is getting close to asking for a check, so I'm really in the squeeze!

Well, as it turns out, it wasn't THAT bad. Not sure how I was looking at wunderground, but looking at my raw data, it only showed about 16 hours of no wind. So some spider had a fun night binding up my anemometer.

Is it common for you to have a period of time in the summer when there is no wind for 8 hours or more?  In a way, I'm surprised nobody else has ever had this problem.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, there is always wind during the warmer seasons, so the spiders never get a chance.  In winter it is too cold for spiders.  However, that is an unusual climatic feature.

Cheers, Edouard 

[staze]

Is it common for you to have a period of time in the summer when there is no wind for 8 hours or more?  In a way, I'm surprised nobody else has ever had this problem.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, there is always wind during the warmer seasons, so the spiders never get a chance.  In winter it is too cold for spiders.  However, that is an unusual climatic feature.

I'm in the Willamette Valley (Oregon, so not far from SF), and yes? You can certainly have times at night where the wind dies down at night, and doesn't really blow at all during the night. Don't get me wrong, I am impressed he/she managed to so solidly secure the anemometer. Next time I'm on the roof I'm going to see if the flea collar trick works. Spiders definitely seem to be my main nemesis with the Vantage Vue ISS.

[Bull Winkus]

Hmm, should this actually make it into some future version of WeatherCat, I'll be very interested to see how Stu implements this!  It doesn't look like something that straightforward to do, but the very way Stu writes this suggests that . . . . . .  he is startin' to get ideirs . . . . . . .

Cheers, Edouard 

I don't think it would be that difficult for anemometer reporting. One can create a subroutine that starts a timer when the reported windspeed touches zero, and kills it when the value changes. Then it's "if timer #value >#variable do email." The tricky part is determining the comparison number to use as a threshold. Too low and there are frequent false alarms. Too high and there is dead air reported where it shouldn't be, and you're more likely to see it before it gets reported, leading to operator frustration. So, you let the operator decide? 

Might be that a better and more fun solution would be to get a BUG-A-SALT and start a weekly patrol.