Strange graph issues

[patc50]

Hi there - newbi here and just set up my Watson W8681 Solar.  It all connects fine and the data is read from the base station but the graphs show strange readouts.  For example, the outdoor temperature graphs shows fluctuations from (say) 8 degrees C to 2 degrees C every couple of minutes resulting in a very exaggerated zig-zag graph.  Whilst the outside temperature obviously varies, the graph should be much, much smoother.  I have the same problem with some other graphs as well.  An example print from the outside temperature chart is attached.

Upon hooking up the base station to my old Windows machine running Cumulus, there are no such fluctuations as per the WeatherCat software.

Any info appreciated.

Cheers

[WCDev]

Welcome to the forum.

First try a restart of WeatherCat - if it's still the same after a restart, open the Live Data View from the Tools menu and check the data there for a few minutes - is it bouncing up and down or stable? Secondly check the data viewer/editor from the Tools menu - is the data there stable or varying up and down?

If the data looks stable everywhere apart from the graphs, it might be some weird preferences issue - try a clean install by removing all WeatherCat's files (see the wiki for a list of files to remove under 'Moving WeatherCat from one machine to another': http://wiki.trixology.com/index.php/Installation_And_Requirements), downloading it again and run that - does the problem still reoccur?

[patc50]

Thanks for the info.

Okay, I've run the Live Data View and checked the External Temp value.  It remained constant for the 10/15 minutes or so that I watched.  However, the '1hour Delta' value started at -44.2, quickly changed to 1.2, changed to 0 and stayed there for a while, then changed to 1.1 and now it is -29.5.  I don't know what this value relates to?  The status is 'Valid' for all items.

On looking at the graph produced for the last 12 hours or so it still shows the very, very zig-zag fluctuation pattern as before.  However, for the time I've had the base station plugged in to the computer and running WeatherCat, it seems to be stable.

Most odd!  I've not tried a clean install yet but may try that soon.

Cheers

[WCDev]

Hi,
If the data is fine when running live, then it may be an issue with the data in the logger. If you open Tools->Station Hardware Options and set the data-logger interval there (5 minutes say), that'll reset the logger to a known state.

[Edit: The one hour delta value is the difference between the reading now and the data 1 hour ago].

[patc50]

Okay, thanks for that.  I've reset the logger as suggested so I will wait to see what happens - will let you know ....... and thanks for your help.

Cheers

[WCDev]

Hi,
Just looked up your station - looks like it's a WH3080; that's going to be the problem.

The station driver in WeatherCat currently only works with the 1080 variants - it doesn't understand the illumination/UV info from your station, that's probably going to mess up the data from the logger.

Sorry about that, but not much we can do about it at the moment until we get a 3080 in and come up with a station driver for it.

[patc50]

Ah, okay, that probably explains it.  My station is a W-8681 Solar so if the 1080 driver doesn't support it then I'm likely to have problems.

As I know you are constantly improving WeatherCat I will keep and eye on your web site for any updates and driver info.

Thanks for your help - appreciated.