meteohub.de

I've dealt with the VP2 USB-datalogger occasionally (e.g. once a week, max) dropping its synchronization with the computer for several years now, and typically I either unplug the USB cable for a moment to reset the sync, or reboot the computer and everything goes back to normal.

Historically this wasn't a major issue because any missed data could be extracted later from the datalogger, but now that I'm using a Meteohub it's becoming a big problem, and lately it seems the sync-loss problems are becoming more frequent, with dropped connections for the past three nights. I've got the Meteohub automatically rebooting nightly to resynchronize things, but I still lose big chunks of valuable data.

I've seen many forum posts both here and on other software and station sites mentioning the "problem with the USB VantagePro" but I've never actually been able to find a discussion of exactly what the problem is, or how to resolve the problem in the simplest fashion. Can anyone point me toward such a reference?

A second item (actually two related items) -- I have the Meteohub set to email me any time it does not receive data for more than 30 minutes. However, looking at the email timestamps compared to the time of sync failure, the emails seem to come anywhere from an hour to over four hours after the sensor actually fails, rather than 30 minutes. It's possible that all this lag is due to my ISP having a slow mail queue, but a timestamp on the message itself (e.g. '21:40 -- no data for 30 minutes' ) would be helpful.

Related, it would be nice to have an option where instead of (or in addition to) emailing me to inform me there is a connection issue, that the Meteohub could reset the USB interface itself, which always fixes the problem for me when I do it manually.

sevenless wrote:I've seen many forum posts both here and on other software and station sites mentioning the "problem with the USB VantagePro" but I've never actually been able to find a discussion of exactly what the problem is, or how to resolve the problem in the simplest fashion. Can anyone point me toward such a reference?

Have you seen this:
http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/index. ... #msg270213

When Meteohub does not receive any data it should restart the data logging process. Could you please post the "meteohub log" so we can have a look if meteohub gets aware of the connection problem.

I could try to implement a reset of the usb driver when connection does not come up again by restarting the data logger. As vantage USB is just handles like a regular RS232 device (no usb hid communication as the more recent usb weather stations) a drop in connectivity does no report low level usb errors where the software can act on and give specific usb restart commands.

What are you doing to cure a loss of connection? Does a restart of the NSLU2 cure the problem or do you have to pull the usb plug or have to do something with the vantage?

I added code to 2.7a that unloads and loads the cp2101 kernel module that handles the usb-serial converter in the usb vantage when restarting data logging after time out.

Please report if this solves the problem.

Thanks for that link skyewright, that's the first sensible explanation I've seen of what might be going on with the VP2.

Boris -- when I discover that the Meteohub hasn't been receiving data (either because it emails me or I notice on WU that my station isn't been sending new rapid-fire data), there are two options work to fix it:

1. I can leave the Meteohub running and unplug the USB cable for a moment. Doing that and then going to the Sensors page gives an error that port 5557 is inaccessible (or whatever port exactly it is), and then after about a minute (I assume this is once the interface module is finished reloading), everything starts functioning properly again and data is received.

2. I can reboot the Meteohub via the Maintenance tab, and everything starts working properly once the restart is complete. In that case no USB or power cables are ever unplugged, and nothing is completely shut down... just a standard hot restart.

I've also tried to stop and restart the data logging process on the Maintenance tab, but that does not work -- apparently that the cp2101 module needs to be restarted to re-synchronize everything.

Here's what turns up in my alarm log: There is nothing notable in the meteohub log regarding the sensors that coincides with that time period.

I'll try the 2.7a code for a few weeks with the current plugged-in setup and report back... otherwise the link skywright provided gives a few suggestions for remedies on the VP2 end of things.

Cheers!

@sevenless: Is v2.7a/b working with your usb vantage? I have one user who reports problems in getting data from a usb vantage in combination with 2.7b.

Yes, I upgraded to 2.7b and it is still logging data properly just like prior versions.

I did have one weird series of error messages in my meteohub log:
However, that might have been related to the fresh installation on a new USB stick, and I haven't seen it after any reboot since the first boot-up.

yes, this is related to the fresh install, as wmr-928 is the default.

For what it's worth - a while ago I was having all kinds or problems with the Davis Vantage Pro 2 USB interface - it was completely unreliable and finally got Davis to change out the USB version back to the serial version.... It's work great since then using other software... I just moved over to the Meteohub and had to buy the Serial to USB adapter - it is working well so far and I haven't had any problems except once with losing a sync between the too..... My guess is that the problem may be with the Davis rather than the Meteohub...