Finding a few basic needles in a mass of haystacks

[Sigurd]

The amount of information available about Cumulus is quite astonishing, and I congratulate the authors. But to a newby to Cumulus it is somewhat overwhelming.
I have for nearly 20 years used the Davis Vantage Pro 2 to monitor village data but for a variety of reasons am now considering switching to Cumulus. I have set Cumulus up so that is working and displaying data on my PC - a Windows 11 machine. I obviously will need some time looking for information but I could do with some basic information to get going. So three questions to start off with. I was unable to find an answer to these during an initial trawl through the documentation.
1. Is there a tutorial of sorts for total newbys to Cumulus and if so, where?
2. How do I start Cumulus running? Using Start - Cumulus.exe then when the DOS window starts, open a browser page and copy the local host URL to it and access that. Works but not exactly a user friendly instruction to pass on to someone who I need to ask to look at it.
3. How do I setup Cumulus so that data on the Vantage Pro data logger is transferred to Cumulus and then how do I access it? I have setup a serial FTP transfer between the VP and Cumulus which I assume works as Cumulus displays the information I can see on the VP, but what about downloading data in the data logger. Also re historic data in the WLK Vantage files. Can they be converted and added to Cumulus? (Sorry, that's a 4th question!).
I know I need to spend time on the documentation but a few et me started prompts would be appreciated.

[PaulMy]

Hi,and welcome to Cumulus.

The amount of information available about Cumulus is quite astonishing, and I congratulate the authors. But to a newby to Cumulus it is somewhat overwhelming.
I have for nearly 20 years used the Davis Vantage Pro 2 to monitor village data but for a variety of reasons am now considering switching to Cumulus. I have set Cumulus up so that is working and displaying data on my PC - a Windows 11 machine. I obviously will need some time looking for information but I could do with some basic information to get going. So three
questions to start off with. I was unable to find an answer to these during an initial trawl through the documentation.

1. Is there a tutorial of sorts for total newbys to Cumulus and if so, where?

The Wiki has loads of information, but unfortunately much of it relies on user input and may become out of date https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/Main_Page

2. How do I start Cumulus running? Using Start - Cumulus.exe then when the DOS window starts, open a browser page and copy the local host URL to it and access that. Works but not exactly a user friendly instruction to pass on to someone who I need to ask to look at it.

An easy first time way is to use your File Explorer and go to your CumulusMX program folder, right click on the CumulusMX.exe program file and select Run as Administrator. For the first time running you may need to accept the security popup.
This will bring up a black dos-type screen and displaying its startup process

Code: Select all

Cumulus MX v.3.28.6 build 3283
Working Dir: C:\KomokaWeather\CumulusMXwll\
Delaying start for 10 seconds
Start-up delay complete, continuing...

Cumulus running at: http://localhost:8998/
                    http://10.0.0.75:8998/

  Open the admin interface by entering one of the above URLs into a web browser.

Opening station type 11 - Davis WLL
Last update: 2024-03-21T14:45:00
Opening outdoor AirLink
21/03/24 2:52:08 PM
Type Ctrl-C to terminate
Downloading Historic Data from WL.com from: 2024-03-21T14:45:00 to: 2024-03-21T14:52:08
 - processed 100%
Connecting real time FTP
Normal running

You will note that its says "Cumulus running at: and two url's The first one can be used if you are viewing it on the PC that CumulusMX is installed, and the second one can be used on any device on your local home network. Entering the URL in a new browser will then bring up the local Dashboard.

If this is a first time install and no CumulusMX settings created yet, then there will be an additional step and a message to enter the URL in a browser with /wizard.html added like http://localhost:8998/wizard.html and that will bring up the local Dashboard to the settings pages. The wizard will take you thropugh all the basic needed setting options. When the first time wizrad entries are done yoiu will need to stop CumulusMX (pressing Ctr-C in that dos-like screen as indicated) and then restart CumulusMX so that this time it can start with the necessary settings. After this first time settings process you can always return to the settings to make changes as needed or to your preference.

You may also add a shortcut on your desktop to re start CumulusMX.exe program

3. How do I setup Cumulus so that data on the Vantage Pro data logger is transferred to Cumulus and then how do I access it? I have setup a serial FTP transfer between the VP and Cumulus which I assume works as Cumulus displays the information I can see on the VP, but what about downloading data in the data logger.

The first time wizard settings will include selecting the station type (i.e. Davis VP2), the method of connection between the console/logger andf CumulusMX (i.e. serial or IP), etc. If set up correctly a restart of CumulusMX at any time after you may have stopped will download the historical data from your logger so that CumulusMX will continue on from the point of where it was stopped, no loss of station data.

Also re historic data in the WLK Vantage files. Can they be converted and added to Cumulus? (Sorry, that's a 4th question!).

Yes, there is a uitility that can convert WLK files to CumulusMX files https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/Software# ... _Converter
If you are using the NEW CumulusMX Version 4 then first we will need to ask the author, Mark, to confirm the convertor will work with CumulusMX version4 as it was originally designed for the previous versions of Cumulus. If this is not the case then you can start with CumulusMX version 3, and later when the program is running with the WLK imported files then you can update to version 4. A significant change to version 4 from the previous versions is that the naming of data files has changed.

I know I need to spend time on the documentation but a few et me started prompts would be appreciated.

Hey, we all need to start somewhere, and a helpful hand can make it much easier and a lot of helping hands here.

Enjoy,
Paul

[Sigurd]

Thanks Paul, for both the welcome and the very helpful and comprehensive reply. Getting a little late in the day now (UK) so will spend some time on it tomorrow.

[water01]

Paul isn't quite correct about the Wiki being a bit out of date, I write a piece on how to use the Configuration Wizard to get you started with CumulusMX https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/First_Run_of_MX

[Sigurd]

Thank you both.

I have managed to get the VP2 to connect to Cumulus. On booting my PC this screen displays, but it is effectively dead - no data. See image Screen on booting.
If I then run Cumulus Mx I get the Dos routine (image DOS screen) and running the URLs (either) displays image (URL version). That shows live data from VP so obviously communicating. The DOS routine also shows that archive data was downloaded butthat I assume refer to Cumulus data not my archived VP data. I need to spend some time on that now that I have your pointers.

[freddie]

Yes, you need the "DOS routine" running as that is what the display reads its data from. If it's not running then the display does not have any data to use for display. This, along with other differences from Cumulus 1, is explained in the wiki.

[PaulMy]

Hi,
Great that you have it running but before continuing too far a suggestion on where you have CumulusMX installed. You have it in C:\Users\imcan\Downloads\Cumulus\CumulusMX and it is recommended to install it directly in a drive like C:\CumulusMX
https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/MX_on_Win ... MX_before?

It would be quite easy to change it by just creating a new folder such as C:\CumulusMX and then with CumulusMX stopped copy the full content of your existing install (all files and folders) to the new C:\CumulusMX folder. Restart using this new path to CumulusMX.exe and all should continue as before.

That shows live data from VP so obviously communicating. The DOS routine also shows that archive data was downloaded butthat I assume refer to Cumulus data not my archived VP data. I need to spend some time on that now that I have your pointers.

Since this is a new install of CumulusMX the first data loaded into CumulusMX is when you first ran it. There is a way to have CumulusMX go back further to download data from your logger.

Enjoy,
Paul

[Sigurd]

As part of the problem I am having with VP & Weatherlink is that the data downloads from the data logger, some 500 pages of them, appear to go ahead but don't appear on my PC.
Rather than go into great detail at this stage as the answer may simply be no, a basic question. Can Cumulus access the records in the VP data logger?

[freddie]

Yes, CMX requests data from the logger as a part of its normal operation. So if you have switched off CMX overnight, it will read data from the logger for the time period it was switched off. Note that the logger holds a fixed number of data record, so the period of data contained in the logger will be dependent on your logging interval. If you have a 10 minute logging interval then the period will cover something like 3 weeks.