Weatherlink.com problems & issues
Upload device: Be aware that data is uploaded to weatherlink.com in different formats according to the upload device type. Thus, legacy uploaders such as WeatherlinkIP-type loggers, Weatherlink software and Vantage Connect devices use an older binary format, while Weatherlink Live (and also EM stations) uses a completely different upload API. This is not something that the user needs to worry about in detail, but note that symptoms of a given issue and its resolution may be different between legacy uploaders and Weatherlink Live devices. There’s not space here to list all the potential differences but please bear in mind that the notes below may need to be interpreted according to the type of upload device .
In general, weatherlink.com runs very robustly and reliably but the following issues may occasionally be encountered:
All or part of weatherlink.com offline:
Data presentations aren’t exactly as expected
For example, measurement units are incorrect or the map location marker is in the wrong place. This usually just requires reviewing the account settings online and adjusting as required. For incorrect map positioning the answer is typically that the lat/long settings have not been entered correctly. NB location shortcuts are usually available, eg in the UK entering the postcode is sufficient to set the marker correctly;
Remember that the Bulletin display is under your control. You can set the tiles for display or omission from the listing to the right and then individual tiles can be reordered using drag and drop and, within limits, resized as required.
Sensor readings missing completely on new accounts
Your weatherlink.com station needs to be told which additional sensors you have – it does not necessarily have any way of discovering this from the data it sees uploaded. For example, if you have a standard VP2 station with a solar sensor fitted but you cannot see the solar data online then you need to be sure to set the station type as VP2 Plus.
With all the different station types and upload devices that weatherlink.com now supports it’s not possible to summarise here briefly all the different configuration settings to check. But if readings for a given sensor appear to be missing completely then it’s likely that the sensor has not been configured correctly in the settings, either locally or in weatherlink.com – check through all the device configuration settings for your specific station or upload device type.
Incorrect sensor readings
Occasionally (and it’s usually noticed soon after setting up a new account), you may find that sensor readings on weatherlink.com do not agree with those on eg a local console. The classic example here is rainfall readings, though it could also apply to other sensors. There are two types of cause and fix for this sort of issue:
Increment not correctly set on weatherlink.com: Rain gauges, for example, can be either 0.01” or 0.2mm increment. Weatherlink.com will not necessarily know the increment automatically and you may need to manually set the correct increment on weatherlink.com as well as in local console and/or software;
The wrong ISS has been selected during set-up: There are many different types of ISS and it is obviously important to select the one that exactly matches your hardware. This is most often a cause of problems with cabled ISS units where there is no regional identifier (eg EU or UK) to help choose the correct item. So, for example 6322C is a different ISS from 6322CM – 6322C is assumed to have a 0.01” rain gauge, while 6322CM (which is widely supplied outside the US as standard for cabled VP2 stations) is assumed to have a 0.2mm rain gauge. Therefore if 6322C has been wrongly selected at set-up when the device should have been 6322CM then rainfall readings will be wrong on weatherlink.com. Unfortunately, this is not an easy error to correct. The ISS setting can certainly be changed, but all rain readings at weatherlink.com received up to the change will continue to be wrong and there’s no easy way of fixing this. The best solution is to hope that this issue is discovered early enough that the existing station can be deleted (via Davis Support) and a new station created with the correct settings.
Certain aspects of sensor readings missing on new accounts
You may notice that while a given sensor maybe giving some readings, you are not necessarily seeing a complete set of readings. For example, you are seeing wind speed and direction readings but maybe not 2-minute or 10-minute mean speed readings. Or you can see daily/monthly/yearly rainfall but the figure for 24 hour rainfall is missing.
The cause for this scenario is an old VP2 console with firmware that has not been updated. To see all available readings, the console firmware must be at v1.90 or later (ie providing support for LOOP2 data). Depending on the age of the console it is often possible to update the firmware and to cure this problem – for further details see the topic on Updating console firmware.
Ongoing upload issues
It is obviously possible for there to be a failure of data uploads from whichever station device is performing the uploads. With cell-based upload devices like Connect and Enviromonitor this may be a failure of power at the 2G/3G gateway device (although there should have been some email warning that such a failure was imminent) or potentially some other reason. Especially in more rural locations where the mobile signal may be provided by a single mast it is not uncommon for the mast to be out of action temporarily either for planned maintenance or with a fault. In these circumstances and if there is no obvious fault with the Connect or EM gateway itself it’s usually worth waiting a day or two before contacting support – the fault will often correct itself during this time.
With logger-based uploads (eg WeatherlinkIP or USB loggers) the underlying fault may be loss of local Internet connectivity or some issue to do with console/logger/local PC -troubleshooting advice will be found under the relevant type of logger/device.
Part of Bulletin not displaying correctly
For example, the wind rose or barometer graph is not displaying. The key here is to remember that two distinct types of data are being uploaded to weatherlink.com: Current conditions data (which provides most of the real-time readings for the Bulletin) and archive data. Graphics like the wind rose and pressure chart are actually sourced from the archive data so in this scenario it is likely that current conditions data is being uploaded correctly but archive data is not. This fault is usually only seen with logger-based stations and troubleshooting should be the same as for failure of local archive data.
Problems configuring uploads from Weatherlink for Windows to weatherlink.com
Uploads to weatherlink.com from Weatherlink for Windows software work in a slightly different way from other upload devices in that you first need to acquire a virtual DID and keycode by registering an account at weatherlink.com and then going through the Add Device procedure. The specific steps required are:
- Register an account at weatherlink.com if you don’t already have one. It is simple and free to register a basic account. You can add multiple upload devices to a single account so there is no need to register a new account to add a second or more devices. Ensure you’re logged on to your account.
- Select the Add Devices button on top menu bar.
- Click the Install button in the ‘Data Logger’ panel and follow through the steps, clicking the Next button when ready. You should end up with two pieces of information: a DID (Device ID) and a keycode.
- The DID and keycode are then entered into the Weatherlink for Windows settings via the Settings | Weatherlink Network menu option (almost the bottom item on the Settings menu). It can be worth using copy & paste to copy the DID into the settings in Weatherlink for Windows to avoid any transcription errors (eg confusing ‘O’ and ‘0’ which is a common error – the DID must be exactly correct for it to work).
However, in certain situations this Weatherlink Network menu option may be greyed out, which can happen for one of two reasons:
- A station must be configured in Weatherlink for Windows and actively receiving data from a local logger. You must get to this stage before the Weatherlink Network option becomes available.
- If you have a network logger, most obviously a WeatherlinkIP logger but it could be a third-party logger like the WiFi Logger or a Meteobridge passthrough, then the menu will remain greyed out (presumably because Weatherlink thinks that if you already have an IP logger able to upload directly to weatherlink.com then you won’t also need to upload from the Weatherlink program). There is more than one way to work around this problem but probably the simplest is to set the station temporarily as if it were connected to a serial logger. In other words, select the Serial radio button in the Communications Port menu option. This should un-grey the Weatherlink Network menu and enable the upload settings to be entered and activated. Once this is done then the communications port option can be returned to the IP logger option.h3. Subscription queries
Your Davis dealer should be able to help with these. NB Only specialist Davis dealers will typically offer subscription products – you may need to find a reputable dealer in your own country or territory; Prodata offers this service in the UK. Upgrade requests for the Pro tier are currently dealt with direct from Davis.
Other account-related issues
For example, passwords or other changes required: Only Davis themselves (ie and not dealers or service centres) have the ability to look inside or to edit accounts. If you have this type of issue then you will need to contact Davis direct .
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