DAVIS WeatherLink, Software User'S Manual

Page 1: ...W E A T H E R L I N K Software User s Guide For Windows 0 Version 4 0 0 Product 7862...

Page 2: ...the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to wh...

Page 3: ...W E A T H E R L I N K Software User s Guide For Windows 0 Version 4 0 0 0...

Page 4: ...odem Connection 6 Typical Phone Modem Installation 6 Phone Modem Installation Instructions 6 A Few Notes About Phone Modem Connections 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION AND SETUP Installing the Software 9 Runni...

Page 5: ...o Fax 32 Reports Menu 34 Printing Reports 34 NOAA Setup 34 NOAA This Month 35 NOAA Summarize Month 36 NOAA This Year 39 NOAA Summarize Year 39 Yearly Rainfall 44 Degree Days 45 Temp Hum Hours 46 Soil...

Page 6: ...es 72 Plot Menu 73 Colors Menu 75 Using the Strip Charts 76 Open Strip Chart Window 77 Add Variable 77 Remove Variable 77 Change Axis Information 77 Change Plot Span 77 View Historical Data 78 Place t...

Page 7: ...rature Humidity Index 96 Wind Chill 96 Dew Point 96 Rainfall 97 Degree Days 97 Chilling Requirement 97 Soil Temperature Hours 98 Temperature Humidity Hours 98 Air Density 98 Equilibrium Moisture Conte...

Page 8: ...TABLE OF CONTENTS v TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE Communications Problems 103 Program Problems 103 AutoFax Troubleshooting 105 Changing Windows Communications Driver 106...

Page 9: ...TABLE OF CONTENTS vi...

Page 10: ...e end and a red plastic cap at the other The loopback connector can be used to deter mine what serial ports are available for the WeatherLink and for troubleshoot ing communications problems WeatherLi...

Page 11: ...INTRODUCTION Optional Accessories 2...

Page 12: ...cessary for the data files depends on the archive inter val Database files containing data stored at a 30 minute archive interval require approximately 36K of disk space per month of data The file siz...

Page 13: ...e Telephone Modem Adapter The Telephone Modem Adapter 7870 provides the connection between the WeatherLink and the modem DIRECT CONNECTION The instructions below explain how to make a typical direct c...

Page 14: ...e power is applied can damage or lock up the WeatherLink 4 Restore power to the weather station by reattaching the power adapter and battery The weather station should beep three times The third beep...

Page 15: ...r computer Make a note of the COM port and IRQ used by the modem You will need this information when entering serial port settings for the station see Serial Port on page 20 2 At the station console s...

Page 16: ...WeatherLink into the jack marked WEATHERLINK on the bottom of the console 7 Connect the Telephone Modem Adapter to the external modem Do not attempt to use the DB25 adapter and a gender changer to at...

Page 17: ...to a phone modem station an On Line icon appears in the toolbar This icon indicates that you are on line and may be used to hang up a remote connection To hang up choose the On Line icon from the too...

Page 18: ...icate which station you d like to open ADDING A STATION In order to interact with your station you must add a station which entails naming the station configuring the software to work with that statio...

Page 19: ...e whether or not you want to be walked through the configuration procedure You may of course choose No and set up the station by choosing all of the necessary commands from the menus A Walkthrough com...

Page 20: ...g the time unless you are creat ing a brand new station so you may safely clear the archive memory Set Archive Interval see Set Archive Interval on page 24 Select the interval at which you want data s...

Page 21: ...our modem In order to use this procedure you will need the loopback connector the short cable with a phone jack on one end and a red plastic tip on the other supplied with your Weatherlink software pa...

Page 22: ...ble The software may only display and plot data for which your weather station has a sensor For exam ple if you have a Weather Wizard III you may not plot view or print barometric pressure information...

Page 23: ...s commands relating to station files and stations Each command is explained separately below Note that the contents of the File menu may change depending on what window is currently active For example...

Page 24: ...tes a directory for that station using the first eight characters in the station name not including punctuation and spaces and prompts you to indicate whether you want to enter the walk through proced...

Page 25: ...software deletes the station and all related files Download Downloading allows you to transfer weather data from the WeatherLink s archive memory to the database stored on your computer s hard disk Fo...

Page 26: ...set up your station to clear the archive memory after download see Clear archive memory after download on page 20 the software clears the archive memory View Log Information about the automatic downlo...

Page 27: ...hang up a modem connection choose Hang Up from the File menu or choose the On Line icon from the toolbar Note The On Line icon only appears in the toolbar when you are connected to a remote station E...

Page 28: ...cters of the station name as the name of the directory into which it saves this station s data base and configuration files and the first three characters as the file exten sion for that station s dat...

Page 29: ...clearing after each download allows you to download data into multiple databases if more than one person uses a single weather station for example To clear data in the archive memory after each downl...

Page 30: ...auses Enter a w to force the modem to wait for a dial tone before dialing the next digit Modem String Enter the desired modem initialization string in the text box The default modem initialization str...

Page 31: ...l U The Choose Units dialog box appears CHOOSE UNITS 2 Select the desired units of measure Temperature Fahrenheit F or Celsius C Wind chill dew point degree days and temperature humidity index are all...

Page 32: ...ox appears The time and date currently dis played by the station console appear at the top of the dialog box The software automatically enters the time and date displayed by the computer into the text...

Page 33: ...nterval dialog box appears SET ARCHIVE INTERVAL 2 Select the desired archive interval and choose OK The software warns you that it is about to clear the archive memory 3 To continue choose OK The soft...

Page 34: ...ose Set Rain Cal from the Setup menu The software prompts you to confirm that you wish to change the rainfall cali bration number SET RAIN CAL 2 Choose Yes The software sets the rainfall calibration n...

Page 35: ...adjusted reading and saves that calibration number to the console and the station s configuration file Set Hum Cal If you need to calibrate your outside humidity reading you must set the calibra tion...

Page 36: ...calibration number to the console and the station s configuration file Set Total Rain You may want to enter a total rainfall amount to reflect any rainfall which occurred before you obtained your stat...

Page 37: ...contents of the text box Dew Point Turn on the dew point alarm by selecting the check box Clear the alarm by de selecting the check box Barometer Select the desired change per hour which will trigger...

Page 38: ...ecting the appropriate check box You may quickly select all high low registers and rainfall totals by choosing Check All You may quickly de select all high low registers and rainfall totals by choosin...

Page 39: ...ear dialog box appears AUTO CLEAR 2 Indicate which high low registers and or rainfall totals you wish cleared automatically by selecting the appropriate check box You may quickly select all high low r...

Page 40: ...station to the Auto Download List double click on the station name or select the station from the Station Names list and choose Add The station name will be moved to the Auto Download List You may se...

Page 41: ...Clear Offset Time To force the software to automatically download a specific number of min utes after the selected hour s enter the number of minutes here For example In the illustration above the sof...

Page 42: ...he fax Modem Initialization String Enter the desired modem initialization string in the text box The default modem initialization string should work in almost all cases Before chang ing the modem stri...

Page 43: ...the software choose Print from the File menu click on the Print icon in the Toolbar or press Ctrl P NOAA Setup The software will automatically generate reports similar to Monthly and Yearly NOAA Nati...

Page 44: ...rature for each month of the year into the appropriate text box Normal Precipitation Enter the normal mean precipitation for each month of the year into the appropriate text box Cooling Degree Day Bas...

Page 45: ...up on page 34 1 Choose NOAA Summarize Month from the Reports menu The Choose Month dialog box appears CHOOSE MONTH 2 Select a month from the list 3 Enter the desired file name into the Export File tex...

Page 46: ...ation and a total for the month Day Each row in the report shows information for a single day The date for each row appears at the left of the row Mean Temp The mean temperature for the day At the bot...

Page 47: ...gh Wind Speed Time The high wind speed for the day and the time at which it occurred At the bottom of the column the highest wind speed recorded during the month and the day on which it occurred is di...

Page 48: ...eports using the information in your database and NOAA Setup information see NOAA Setup on page 34 1 Choose NOAA Summarize Year from the Reports menu The Choose Year dialog box appears CHOOSE YEAR 2 S...

Page 49: ...otal average for the year YR MO Each row in the report shows information for a single month The month and year appear at the left of the row Mean Max The average of daily maximum temperatures for the...

Page 50: ...splayed Low Date The lowest temperature for the month and the date on which it occurred At the bottom of the column the lowest temperature recorded during the year and the month in which it occurred i...

Page 51: ...d from normal for the year is displayed Note For values other than 0 to appear here you need to first setup your NOAA report See NOAA Setup on page 34 for details Max Obs Day Date The highest rainfall...

Page 52: ...rt shows information for a single month The month and year appear at the left of the row Avg The average wind speed for the month At the bottom of the column the average wind speed for the year is dis...

Page 53: ...n database 1 Choose Yearly Rainfall from the Reports menu click on the Yearly Rain icon in the tool bar or press Ctrl R The software opens the Yearly Rainfall window Note The first time you open the r...

Page 54: ...nite number of plants pests etc See Degree Days on page 97 for a description of degree days 1 Choose PC Degree Days from the Reports menu or press Ctrl G The PC Degree Days list box appears PC DEGREE...

Page 55: ...name of the crop pest for which you want temp hum hours cal culated into the text box Start Date Enter the date from which you want temp hum hours calculated into the text box Temp Threshold Enter the...

Page 56: ...d Days Occurred The report shows the number of days on which temp hum hours occurred Total for prior 3 days The report shows the number of temp hum hours which occurred on each of the past 3 days Deve...

Page 57: ...the Reports menu The Soil Temp Hours dialog box appears SOIL TEMP HOURS 2 Enter the following information Start Date Enter the starting date for which you want soil temperature hours calcu lated into...

Page 58: ...MP HOURS REPORT The soil temperature hours report contains the following information Total The total number of soil temperature hours which occurred during the selected period of time Start Date End D...

Page 59: ...Enter the following information Start Date Enter the starting date for which you want chilling requirement calculated into the text box End Date Enter the ending date for which you want chilling requ...

Page 60: ...ct the appropriate time zone from the drop down list Use the time zone selection to adjust the calculated sunrise sunset times to the desired time zone Note that the software uses the longitude and la...

Page 61: ...hether the daylight savings time setting is on or off Date Each row in the report shows the sunrise and sunset times for a single day The date for each row appears at the left of the row Twilight Time...

Page 62: ...Daylight Hours The report shows the total hours of daylight for each day in the report WINDOWS MENU The commands in the Windows menu allow you open and use many of the software s most important featur...

Page 63: ...If you download highs and lows it takes a bit longer to open the bulletin window If you do not download highs and lows the highs and lows shown in the bulletin window will only reflect the highs and...

Page 64: ...Ctrl P Set your printer options in the Print dialog box for best results be sure to choose landscape mode and then choose OK To close the bulletin choose Close from the File menu double click on the C...

Page 65: ...o plot data choose Plot from the Windows menu click on the Plot icon in the tool bar or press Ctrl Q The Plot window appears For complete instructions on using the Plot win dow see Using the Plot Wind...

Page 66: ...the Strip Chart icon in the toolbar or press Ctrl S The software automatically downloads data from the open station in order to fill out the entire strip chart After downloading the Strip Chart window...

Page 67: ...letin SUMMARY WINDOW To start the summary choose Summary from the Windows menu or press Ctrl Y The software prompts you to indicate whether you want to download highs and lows Choose Yes or No to cont...

Page 68: ...is active a Browse menu appears in the menu bar The Browse menu contains commands which enable you to view edit print export and copy database information Choose Date You may quickly view the records...

Page 69: ...note double click on the area just to the left of a record s date or select the desired record and choose Make a Note from the Browse menu or press Ctrl N The Note Pad appears NOTE PAD 2 Enter the des...

Page 70: ...ntering the desired data into the appropriate text box Note that you cannot edit temperature humidity index data directly because it is calculated on the fly see Temperature Humidity Index on page 96...

Page 71: ...ords You may copy all record information for a specific group of records to Windows clipboard from which you may paste the information into most Windows pro grams 1 To copy records to the clipboard ch...

Page 72: ...e records you want exported CHOOSE RECORDS TO EXPORT 2 Select the desired days months or years you may choose more than one and choose OK The software prompts you to enter an export file name 3 Enter...

Page 73: ...s from the Edit menu The software prompts you to select the records you want deleted CHOOSE RECORDS TO DELETE 2 Select the desired days months or years you may choose more than one and choose OK The s...

Page 74: ...to the main menu bar and some new commands Open Plot Save Plot Open Plot Template and Save Plot Template are added to the File menu The use of the Plot menu Colors menu and the Open and Save commands...

Page 75: ...m the Add Remove sub menu in the Plot menu to add or remove variables A variable which is already plotted will have a check mark before its name in the menu Keyboard If you have only one variable plot...

Page 76: ...one span at a time If the span is one year this action moves the plot one month at a time Click the scroll bar to move the plot one plot span at a time Drag the scroll box to quickly find a specific...

Page 77: ...in the Plot menu A pop up list appears containing the name and color of the variables on this plot Select the desired variable from the pop up list AXIS INFO POP UP LIST Choose Line Bar A line plot s...

Page 78: ...e Lock Axis icon for the desired axis or choose the desired locking option from the Options sub menu in the Plot menu Locking the axis will cause subsequent plot spans when you scroll through plot spa...

Page 79: ...le plot span CLICK AND DRAG TO SELECT Zoom In Out To zoom in one plot span for example to go from a plot span of a Week to a plot span of 3 Days click on the Zoom In icon press F3 or choose Zoom In fr...

Page 80: ...the date and choose Remove To remove all but the original date from the Plot Dates list choose Clear 3 If you want to select custom colors for overlaid dates select the desired date in the Plot Dates...

Page 81: ...ble you are plotting by choosing a new variable from the variables box or Add Remove sub menu or by pressing the up down arrow keys To remove the previous years data choose Last Year from the Plot men...

Page 82: ...the desired date from the list and choose OK Span Sub Menu To change the plot span of the plot select the desired plot span from the Span sub menu Options Sub Menu The commands in the Options sub menu...

Page 83: ...appears beside the menu command To turn this option on or off choose Hide Variable Box from the Options sub menu Clear Plot To clear all variables from the plot giving you a blank plot to work with c...

Page 84: ...u make a change to a plot color and don t choose Make Default the program will prompt you to save those color changes before you close the Plot window Note The strip chart window and the plot window u...

Page 85: ...ver you open the strip chart window the software automatically downloads data Thereafter as long as the strip chart is in auto update mode the software will download and update the strip charts at eac...

Page 86: ...t menu to open the sub menu Then choose the variable you want removed from the selected strip chart from the sub menu Note that any variables already plot ted on the selected strip chart have check ma...

Page 87: ...to auto update mode choose Auto Update from the Strip Chart menu If necessary the software will download any data in the archive memory before entering auto update mode The strip charts will automati...

Page 88: ...Auto Update from the Options sub menu When the strip charts are in auto update mode a check mark appears beside the command name When you change the auto update status to place the strip charts into...

Page 89: ...Strip Chart menu or press F3 To zoom out one plot span for example to go from a plot span of 3 Days to a plot span of a Week choose Zoom Out from the Strip Chart menu or press F4 Colors Menu You may c...

Page 90: ...you want to create the rainfall database Choose Yes to create the database note that depending on the size of your main weather database and the speed of your computer this can take some time YEARLY...

Page 91: ...ick on any line in the rainfall database or select the desired line and press Enter or choose Edit from the Rain menu The Edit dia log box appears Change the data in any of the text boxes and choose O...

Page 92: ...ear at the top of the box and the rainfall amounts for each month into the appropriate text box When finished choose OK to save ADD Deleting Data To delete an entire year s worth data from the rainfal...

Page 93: ...degree day reporting feature to track the development of crops and or pests For infor mation on degree days see Degree Days on page 97 In order to use degree days you must determine the developmental...

Page 94: ...n for each degree day total Name Enter the name of the crop pest etc into the text box Start Date Enter the starting date for degree day calculations into the text box Base Temp Enter the base develop...

Page 95: ...e and the lowest temperature for a given day to calculate the average temperature for that day Note however that if the high temperature is above the upper threshold the software uses the upper thresh...

Page 96: ...es the total degree days since the start date and displays the number of accumulated degree days and the degree days left until the development total is reached DEGREE DAYS CALCULATED 5 After entering...

Page 97: ...l double click on the desired total or select it from the list and choose Open The Degree Day Definition dialog box for that total appears At the bottom of the dialog box the name of the data file for...

Page 98: ...o PC Degree Day Report The software allows you to create reports on some or all of your degree day totals The report is opened into Windows Notepad from which you may copy or print the report informat...

Page 99: ...calculates and displays degree days information Depending on which format you chose long short the report shows you some or all of the following information for each degree day total Start Date Base T...

Page 100: ...longest archive inter val which suits your purpose In addition make sure to download data before your archive memory fills or you will have gaps in your database Database The database is the permanent...

Page 101: ...ter the automatic download time This feature allows the software to automatically download data from a station if you launch the software a little later than the automatic download time For example if...

Page 102: ...barometric pressure normally while the software reads atmospheric pressure from the station and the calibra tion number from the station configuration file in order to determine the baromet ric press...

Page 103: ...se files you should be able to read the database files normally Database Files The software stores downloaded data in monthly files Whenever you download the software saves database files into the ope...

Page 104: ...the register at the time of the archive gets written into archive memory Barometric Pressure The Weatherlink samples the barometric pressure at the time of the archive and writes that value into the a...

Page 105: ...storage to the WeatherLink and database temperature humidity index THI is a very special case It is not stored in archive memory or in the data base rather it is calculated on the fly as necessary for...

Page 106: ...rature remains one degree above the base develop mental threshold for 24 hours One degree day is also the amount of heat which accumulates when the temperature remains 24 above the base threshold for...

Page 107: ...orma tion contact your local agricultural agent or university agricultural extension Air Density Air Density the weight of 1 cubic foot of air is an extremely valuable tool for rac ing enthusiasts bec...

Page 108: ...7 and 10 S7 60 Tells modem to wait a maximum of 60 seconds for remote modem to answer and issue a data carrier The software can perform some troubleshooting of modem problems in the form of error mess...

Page 109: ...rectory d When the software loads it will automatically download data from the station in the station directory specified Station Directory c When the software loads it will automatically clear data f...

Page 110: ...ed font LEAP YEAR CORRECTION The weather stations which work with the WeatherLink software do not read Feb ruary 29 Leap Day Therefore you will need to correct your database during a leap year The mos...

Page 111: ...or both Note For information on using File Manager or Windows Explorer consult your Windows documen tation Comprehensive Backup Drag the entire subdirectory folder named after your database to the de...

Page 112: ...u do not hear one or more of these beeps contact Davis Instruments at 510 732 7814 If you hear all three beeps see Finding the Correct Serial Port on page 12 for instructions on checking you standard...

Page 113: ...ated so they appear in each consecutive day For example a midnight record would appear at the end of the data for November 22 and at the start of the data for November 23 Using the record editor see E...

Page 114: ...ot free one of those COM ports and reconfigure the modem to use it If you have installed a modem using Windows 95 s Modem Installation Wiz ard and it has automatically assigned it a COM port of 5 or h...

Page 115: ...t working install the WFXCOMM DRV driver as explained below Note This driver works with other 16 bit serial port applications It is an improved communications driver written by someone other than Micr...

Page 116: ...nrise Sunset Report F7 NOAA This Month F8 NOAA This Year Strip Chart Window Ctrl M Make Default Ctrl P Print Strip Chart F1 Context Sensitive Help F3 Zoom In F4 Zoom Out Plot Window Ctrl D Choose Date...