After moving, new WU station does not upload

[Denver]

Hi,

I recently moved, and have set up my old Davis Vantage Vue weather station (and Mac computer) at the new location.

However, when I run WeatherCat, after setting up my new information in the tab for Wunderground in WeatherCat preferences, the weather cat client and software still seem to be looking for historical data from my previous set up.  I can see in the WeatherCat log that it is trying to upload historical data from my previous setup (several months ago), and ignoring the new configuration data that I set up in preferences.   The log message says "no Wonderground data to upload" or something to that effect.   On the Wunderground website, the new station is listed as inactive because it isn't receiving any data.

Trying to fix this, I deleted the WeatherCat files in user/Library/WeatherCat* on the Mac, and restarted WeatherCat, but that doesn't fix the problem.

How can I get WeatherCat to forget about the old Wunderground station, and simply use the new station that is now configured in the WeatherCat preferences under the Online/Wunderground tab.

It is never easy...

Thank you,

Denver

[xairbusdriver]

Not sure what the asterisk means in this sentence: "...I deleted the WeatherCat files in user/Library/WeatherCat*..." There are at least two "WeatherCat" directories in ~/Library:

• WeatherCatBackups[created by the app
• WeatherCatBackups[manual backups, usually dated]
• WeatherCatData[this diretory conaitns the historical data grouped by year:
  • Location1
    • 2015
    • 2016
    • ...
    • 2021
      
      • 1_WeatherCatData.cat
      • 1_WeatherCatData.cat.hrs
      • 2_WeatherCatData.cat
      • ...Daily Data

Does your "*" mean you deleted all those files and directories?!

Do you have "Rapid Fire Mode" enabled in the WU prefs?
What "Update Rate" are you using?

[Denver]

I renamed the two weathercat directories in the lib directory, just to see if I could cause Weathercat to generate new directories and then recognize the new settings in preferences for Weather Underground.  The refresh rate is rapid fire 2.5 seconds. 

The issue is that WeatherCat acts like it is still seeing the previous configuration options at my old location before I moved. 

For CWOP, I had no issue after updating the configuration in WeatherCat preferences to reflect the new location and station ID after my move.  In that case, WeatherCat is doing what it should and uploading data to CWOP just fine.

Denver

[elagache]

Dear Denver, X-Air, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

. . . .
How can I get WeatherCat to forget about the old Wunderground station, and simply use the new station that is now configured in the WeatherCat preferences under the Online/Wunderground tab.

It is never easy...

Actually it is relatively easy in this case.  Weather Underground historical uploads is an option on the WeatherCat preference pane on the subject.  To prevent WeatherCat from attempting to make historical uploads, simply uncheck that option.  You can get more information on this and other Weather Underground options on page 95 of the current manual.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Denver]

Well, I wish it were...  I had checked "Log Historical Uploads", because that is the only way I could see any activity related to Wunderground in the WC log.   If I uncheck that option, then nothing shows up in the WC log, even though I have "Log Sent Data" checked.    My weather station and WeatherCat were working perfectly before moving (2000 miles).   Now I have set the station up in the new location, and received new station IDs from CWOP and Wunderground.  CWOP works fine, but Wunderground does not even show up in the WC log unless I check "Log Historical Uploads (I was trying various options, just to try and see some activity).  So when I uncheck that option, there is no mention of Wunderground in the logs, and no indication of data being sent to Wunderground.   Is there some way that I can delete all files associated with WC, and just start fresh with a new installation of the software, and manually adding the configuration parameters again in the WC preference pane?

[Denver]

Here is what the log looks like, with the configuration for Wunderground as shown in the previous image.

[xairbusdriver]

Rather than "deleting" files, I'd suggest simply moving them. Just know there are dozens of them. I'm sure you put a lot of work into setting all the Pref entries. Those plist files can be viewed with even TextEdit.

If you don't see a "Modified:" date/time change when you make a change to a Pref, you might want to just move that plist file, Quit and Restart WC, and make sure that a new plist file is created.
 • If not, that's a WC problem and the Dev will want to know.
 • If it did, you can now set it up the way you want.

There is a serious and bad habit, at least in the Mac world, of having people put things in the "Trash" or "delete" them. The "Trash" is absolutely not a place to store things for later re-use. Deleting something before you can confirm it is somehow broken is simply a way to create work for the user.

plist files are created by an app and placed in the correct path. Simply moving them to a different path will prevent the app from knowing where they are. But the user can still see the data and restore it to the correct path if it is actually still usable.

[rant]Sorry for climbing on my soapbox, this is one of my 'pet peeves' in the way some offer "support".[/rant]

[xairbusdriver]

Your log in Reply #5 shows CWOP info which you said is OK.

My own data is updated to WU every 5 minutes. But even with my WC prefs set to "Enable Historical Uploads", "Log Historical Uploads" and "Log Sent Data" in the Wunderground PWS prefs. I only see current Data (every 60 seconds) in Console, it is basically the same data as seen in the Data Viewer/Editor.
At the WU site the data is at 5 minute intervals, I assume that the displayed data is the last item; "Log Sent Data". Of course, the last data at their site is at least 24 minutes old...

I assume you are searching/typing "wu" or "wunderground" in the Console search box.

Mar  3 18:08:03 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: Wunderground:  dateutc=2021-03-04+00%3A08%3A03&winddir=180&windspeedmph=0.0&windgustmph=0.0&windgustdir=180&windgustmph_10m=0.0&windgustdir_10m=180&humidity=51&dewptf=38.77&tempf=56.70&rainin=0.00&dailyrainin=0.01&baromin=30.072&solarradiation=1570&UV=16.0&softwaretype=WeatherCatV3.12B34&action=updateraw

CWOP:

Mar  3 18:08:31 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: CWOP: Starting connection...
Mar  3 18:08:31 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: CWOP: Trying to connect to cwop.aprs.net.
Mar  3 18:08:31 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: CWOP: Connecting to cwop.aprs.net.
Mar  3 18:08:36 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: CWOP: Sending data to cwop.aprs.net. Success.
Mar  3 18:08:36 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: CWOP: Finished.
Mar  3 18:08:36 Jamess-Mac-SSD-mini WeatherCat[29308]: CWOP: Next transmission in 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

[Denver]

Good point on "moving" the files instead of deleting.

I stopped WC, created a temporary directory and moved the two existing WC directories there.  Then I restarted WC, confirmed that WC generated two new WC directories WeatherCatBackups and WeatherCatData, and WC did not modify the timestamp of the files in the renamed directories.  I then looked at the Pref pane in the WC client, and all of my WC pref settings for WU and CWOP were preserved.  It is almost like WC has another place where this data is stored (not in the plist files in the WeatherCatData directory).  Or this data is cached somewhere somehow, not sure.  Once again, I confirmed that CWOP was running and uploading data as expected, but there was nothing about WU anywhere in the log/console.   

The strange thing is when I enable the WU option "Log Historical Uploads", the date of the uploads WC is looking for (according to the log) is October 18, 2020, which is about the time that I stopped WC and took down the weather station prior to making the move.    Perhaps there is a WC bug that prevents the proper starting of the WU service if the previous Pref setting for WU was set for Enable Historical Upload.  Possibly, WC is trying to upload that historical data before it will start properly.   The fact that I changed the name of the Station ID might have something to do with it.  When I took the station down before moving, I removed the battery and boxed it up until just a day or two ago, so it hasn't been recording any data since I made the move in October.

[xairbusdriver]

It is almost like WC has another place where this data is stored (not in the plist files in the WeatherCatData directory).  Or this data is cached somewhere somehow, not sure.

I’ve had similar thoughts about other apps! I’m hoping the Dev will see your thread/posts or another user can offer you some real help or suggestions. I think your discoveries will lead to a solution. It may be another quirk of Big Sur. Stu has already created one work-around for that OS!

[Denver]

I hope that a developer is paying attention.    I don't know what else to do, have taken what seem like reasonable steps to troubleshoot and resolve this.   Maybe I will just give up on Wunderground for now, or perhaps buy a cheap PC to receive the data from the Davis weather station, and look for a different software platform for uploading to the Internet.  Not sure.

[Denver]

It appears that there are other Weathercat files that may need to be deleted.  Haven't tried deleting these yet...

~/Library/WeatherCatData
▪~/Library/WeatherCatBackups
▪~/Library/Application Support/WeatherCatCustomWeb
▪~/Library/Application Support/WeatherCatMedia
▪~/Library/Application Support/WeatherCatTemp
▪~/Library/Application Support/WCWeb
▪~/Library/Preferences/com.trixology.weathercat.plist
▪~/Documents/WeatherCatExports
▪~/Documents/WeatherCatReports
▪(where ~ is your home directory). Not all of these folders may be present depending on your WeatherCat configuration.

[Denver]

The saga continues...

I renamed all of the files listed above, ran a fresh copy of the WC application, and configured the WC preferences by duplicating what had been in preferences previously (it had been working for 8 years, before my move mentioned in the original post).   Then I unplugged the Davis VAntage Vue console from the computer, and plugged it back in.  Finally, I restarted the WC application.   

And now, WC displays the following message in the console log "Weather data not ready..."

Here's what I am seeing

[Denver]

.

[elagache]

Dear Denver, X-Air, and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Well, I wish it were...  I had checked "Log Historical Uploads", because that is the only way I could see any activity related to Wunderground in the WC log.   If I uncheck that option, then nothing shows up in the WC log, even though I have "Log Sent Data" checked.   
. . . . .

Unfortunately, you are looking in the wrong place for confirmation that Weather Underground uploads are working.  With rapid-fire on, logging every upload would spam the log files.  Instead, statistics are kept on the upload progress.  You'll find that information on the WeatherCat Statius window described on page 65 of the current manual.

I renamed all of the files listed above, ran a fresh copy of the WC application, and configured the WC preferences by duplicating what had been in preferences previously (it had been working for 8 years, before my move mentioned in the original post).   Then I unplugged the Davis VAntage Vue console from the computer, and plugged it back in.  Finally, I restarted the WC application.   

And now, WC displays the following message in the console log "Weather data not ready..."

Here's what I am seeing

Unfortunately, in all your attempts to move things around you have either corrupted some preference files, disrupted your station driver, or both.  Try installing the Silicon Labs driver once more and see if that solves your problem.  Instructions on how to do this can be found on the WeatherCat Wiki:

https://wiki.trixology.com/index.php?title=Obtaining_the_latest_drivers_for_use_with_Davis_data_loggers

If your computer is still running macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) then you will need to use the legacy driver that is also included in the distribution.  If you have upgraded to a newer version of macOS, you might need to go through the security validation procedure described in the Wiki article.

Sorry that you have had such difficulty, but WeatherCat is a sophisticated piece of software which should be handled with care.

Edouard