La Crosse Technology WS-2510 Operating Instructions Manual
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La Crosse Technology WS-2510 Operating Instructions Manual

Pc radio weather station operating and evaluation software for ms windows 95/98/2000/nt/me/xp
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PC Radio Weather Station
Operating and evaluation software for
MS Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP

Operating instructions

Elektronik AG · PF 1000
D-26787 Leer · Phone +49 (0)491/6008-88 Fax +49 (0)491/6008-244
1

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  • Page 1: Operating Instructions

    PC Radio Weather Station Operating and evaluation software for MS Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP Operating instructions Elektronik AG · PF 1000 D-26787 Leer · Phone +49 (0)491/6008-88 Fax +49 (0)491/6008-244...
  • Page 2 2nd English edition 11/2002 Documentation © 2002 ELV Electronics Limited All rights reserved. This handbook must not be reproduced in any form, even in excerpts, or duplicated or processed using electronic, mechanical or chemical procedures without written permission of the publisher.

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    Contents Foreword ... 6 Explanation of terms ... 7 Chapter 1 Introduction General ... 10 System requirements ... 12 Installation ... 12 Main window ... 13 Control ... 15 Chapter 2 Starting operation Preparations ... 18 Preparation of the radio interface ... 19 Starting operation of the sensors ...
  • Page 5 Toolbar ... 41 Status bar ... 41 Chapter 5 The ”Weather display” menu always in the foreground ... 43 without headline ... 43 Outdoor sensor ... 43 Rain display ... 43 Delete overall rainfall quantity ... 43 Chapter 6 The ”Interface” menu Read out now ...

  • Page 6: Foreword

    Foreword Observing the weather is not only of global significance: it can also be of interest at a local level. This is the case whether we talk about a simple display of current weather data, a long-term observation and analysis of recorded weather data or even a reaction to data exceeding or falling below specific values.

  • Page 7: Explanation Of Terms

    Explanation of terms For clarity you will find below brief explanations of a number of terms typical to Windows, which are also used in this handbook. Left mouse button The left mouse button can be used to select the desired element on the screen or to call up a particular function.
  • Page 8 To allow particularly easy operation of the program, the buttons are always positioned on the right-hand side or along the bottom edge. When entering and selecting data, you should be aware of the function of the following buttons. This button is used to close the current window. Input and settings are then saved.

  • Page 9: Chapter 1 Introduction

    Chapter 1 Introduction...

  • Page 10: General

    This software supports the touch-screen radio weather station WS-2510 and the PC radio interface WS-2510 PC. To simplify the matter, both devices are described in the instructions as “PC radio interface/weather station”. Any differences will be indicated accordingly.
  • Page 11 - Selectable units: km/h, m/s, mph, knots - Storage of the maximum wind strength with direction (incl. variation) and time/ date of incidence - Wind variation in the weather display Display of rainfall in mm, l/m - Storage and display of the maximum amount per hour and per day - Storage and display of the total rainfall since last deletion - In weather display choose between full display/last hour/last day Display of the absolute or relative (height-corrected) air pressure in:...

  • Page 12: System Requirements

    Please read these instructions carefully from start to finish before initial start-up to avoid functional breakdown and faulty operation. Keep the instructions available for future reference. Pay particular attention to the installation and calibration instructions for the sensors. The radio interface may not be used outdoors! System requirements In principle the operating and evaluation software can be used on any PC with MS Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP.

  • Page 13: Main Window

    Main window The main window of the operating and evaluation software consists of a menu bar (1), a toolbar (2), a status bar (3), one or more diagrams for the graphical representation of individual measurement (4), and if necessary the graphical weather display (5).
  • Page 14 Menus: File Use this menu to call up, divide up or merge the weather data files, to print out the various diagrams, to allocate sensor names, to define the specifications for the display of single values and to export the measurements. In addition, you also have the option of quitting the program.

  • Page 15: Control

    Control The operating and evaluation software can be controlled by means of the mouse and keyboard. The “Enter” and “Esc” keys have a particular importance when entering information and making selections. Function Enter Cancel For rapidly calling up the most important functions, the main window provides numerous function keys and key combinations.

  • Page 17: Chapter 2 Starting Operation

    Chapter 2 Starting operation...

  • Page 18: Preparations

    Preparations This section describes the steps you must take and the settings you must make in order to start the operation of the sensors and the weather station as well as the operating and evaluation software. The outdoor sensors for wind and brightness measurement, for recording rain- fall and for outdoor temperature/humidity measurement are equipped with a solar cell and a lithium backup battery to provide power during the hours of darkness and periods of bad weather.

  • Page 19: Preparation Of The Radio Interface

    WS-2510 will search for all sensor transmitters for a period of 6 minutes at 07:30 and the WS-2510 PC interface at 08:00 and 18:00. During this period, newly-added sensors will also be accepted by the system.

  • Page 20: Starting Operation Of The Sensors

    Starting operation of the sensors The weather station sensor design consists of two groups of sensors. For operation of the WS-2510 PC it is essential that the indoor radio sensor has an integrated air pressure sensor. This sensor transmits a fixed data telegram which stipulates that the temperature and humidity are always displayed on the display area for the indoor values.

  • Page 21: Brightness Sensor

    S 2500 H Brightness sensor The brightness sensor detects the brightness at the current location in a range between 0 and 200 klux. It is supplied by an integral solar cell and also has a fixed address. It must be placed on the earth spike provided, which should be pushed into the ground.

  • Page 22: Rainfall Measuring System

    Radio rainfall measuring system The radio rainfall measuring system is also powered by so- lar energy and has an address that cannot be changed by the user. In this case the alignment of the solar cell is directly towards the south.

  • Page 23: Addressing The Sensors

    Addressing the radio sensors The outdoor sensor concept allows the simultaneous use of up to 8 tempera- ture/humidity sensors with no air pressure, the data from which appear in the Sensor Jumper addressing can be self-generated by means of coding bridges on the conduc- tor side of the sensor board.

  • Page 24: Outdoor Sensor

    Outdoor radio sensor with solar energy supply The outdoor radio sensor enables the transmission of temperature and humid- ity at the sensor location. This sensor, too, can be addressed as desired. All outdoor sensors with solar cells are set at the factory to sensor 1. Individual addressing is, however, also possible.

  • Page 25: Starting Operation Of The Software And Initialising The Interface

    Starting operation of the software and initialising the interface 1. Connecting the interface First the interface must be connected to the relevant COM port/to a port on the ELV RS 232 multiplexer. The standard connection to the PC is via the first serial interface (COM 1).
  • Page 26 The following table gives details, for a number of different interval times, of the connection between interval time and possible recording period: Interval (minutes) Please note! The storage in the radio interface works as a recording loop, i.e. when the stor- age space is full, the oldest data will be overwritten (erased).
  • Page 27 Then the desired/all received sensors are shown as charts on the program’s display. For detailed program settings, please read the chapters relating to the individu- al program menus.
  • Page 28 Chapter 3 “File” menu...

  • Page 29: Chapter 3 The "File" Menu Selecting, Dividing, Adding A Weather Data File

    Weather data file: Selecting, dividing, adding Select This function is for opening saved weather data files and for saving new files in which the radio interface data will be saved. In this way you can, for example, create a separate weather data file for each month, containing data that can be represented at any time in graphical and tabular form.
  • Page 30 Append This option allows you to add an already-saved file to the current file. Both files are displayed in an interrelated form the next time the sensor display is called...

  • Page 31: Exporting

    Export When this function is called up, a window opens, allowing you to select the data collection period to be exported and the sensor data to be exported. Selection of the pre-set time periods means that the work requires only a small amount of time.

  • Page 32: Printing

    Printing In order for the development of the weather data to be analysed over a longer period independently of the PC, it is recommended that the corresponding trends are printed out. It is advisable, for example, to take a monthly printout of the necessary measurements.

  • Page 33: Preferences

    Specifications In the “Specifications” menu, you can select the appropriate unit of measurement as well as make other settings for all sensors, after you have selected your desired tab. The units that you may set are °C and °F for the temperature sensors, km/h, m/s, knots and mph for the wind speed sensors, l/m rainfall sensors and hPa, mmHg and inHg for the air pressure.

  • Page 34: Maximum Change

    The effect of the representation of the mean, above without a sliding mean and below with a smoothing factor of 20 Maximum change This input field is also available for each of the temperature/humidity sensors, for the air pressure sensor and for the rain sensor. Here, you can set the maximum possible change between two measurement transmissions, in which case any greater changes will be rejected as invalid.

  • Page 35: Setting The Absolute Height

    The new calibration factor is derived from the following simple calculation: New calibration factor = The old calibration factor (e.g. the current valid value) can be found in the ”Rain- fall per rocker” input field. If necessary you can also enter the new calibration value in this input field.
  • Page 36 Chapter 4 “Display” menu...

  • Page 37: Select Display Period

    General From this menu you can select the sensors that are to be displayed, the weather display, and whether the symbol and status bars are shown or hidden. Select display period After selecting the corresponding sensor, the window for the display period appears.

  • Page 38: Temperature/Humidity

    The display possibilities for the measurements. Here, a full image representation for temperature and air humidity are shown with a split display window, with the min/max value display for temperature and humidity shown in the top right. The minimum and maximum values obtained during the display period are always shown in the top part of the tabular representation, together with the date and time of the occurrence of the extreme values.

  • Page 39: Rainfall

    Rainfall The measurement window for portraying the rainfall. The portrayal takes the form of a clear column chart (evaluation in hours starting from half past the hour). Here, too, the values table can be opened using the mouse. Instead of the minimum/maximum values, you can read off the hourly and daily rainfall values in the top part of this window.

  • Page 40: Weather Display

    not required can also be deactivated via this window, or all sensors can be selected or deselected simultaneously, or you can use the “Reset” button after making a selection in order to return the settings to as they were when the window was opened.

  • Page 41: Toolbar

    Toolbar With this function you can show or hide the toolbar and the buttons as you choose. For rapid calling-up of all functions with the mouse, the toolbar should generally always be activated. By hiding the toolbar you can, however, increase the size of the diagram.
  • Page 42 Chapter 5 “Weather display” menu...

  • Page 43: Chapter 5 The "Weather Display" Menu

    The “Weather display” menu allows the weather display to be configured. Always in the foreground If the weather display window is always to be shown in the foreground, you can select the following options. After you have selected this, a tick will appear in front of the menu item and the weather display will remain in the foreground, even when the program is running in the background or if other programs are in use.
  • Page 44 Chapter 6 “Interface” menu...

  • Page 45: Read Out Now

    This menu allows you to configure, manually read off and query the status of the radio interface. Read off now All data records stored in the radio interface are read off and stored in the current weather data file. After the transmission, the storage of the radio interface is deleted.

  • Page 46: Properties

    The adjustment of the properties is only possible on the PC Interface WS-2510 PC. The base station WS-2510 is working with a fixed interval time (15 min.). The adjustment of the sensor version and the addresses for the sensors is made directly at the base station of the WS-2510.

  • Page 47: Interface

    Setting the interval time The indoor storage of the interface can save 1,024 data records, and the max- imum storage time depends on the time interval set. Please note! The storage in the radio interface works as a recording loop, i.e. when the stor- age space is full, the oldest data will be overwritten (erased).

  • Page 48: Rs232 Multiplexer

    RS232 multiplexer Like the radio interface, many other devices also work via the serial RS232 interface together with the computer. Since most computers, however, only have 2 or even only 1 serial interfaces, it is advisable to use the ELV RS232 multiple- xer, which will allow up to 6 outdoor devices to be operated via a COM port.
  • Page 50 Chapter 7 ”View” menu...

  • Page 51: Time Period

    Period Upon selection of this menu item, the “display period” window opens. Here, the time period to be displayed can be selected from the available weather file. In the top part of the window, under “available weather data”, you can see for what time period weather data for the corresponding sensor are available.

  • Page 52: Extend Time Period

    Zoom in period This function reduces the size of the section of the graphical representation and the values table shown (the zoom function). Adapt all periods If more than one chart window is being shown where the scales on the time axes differ, the scales are automatically adapted to match that of the time axis in the window that is currently open.

  • Page 53: Chapter 8 The "Window" Menu Overlapping

    “Window” menu Cascade If several measurement windows are being displayed, these are shown overlapping on the screen. Tile vertically If up to 3 measurement windows are to be shown at once, they will be arranged adjacent to each other. Further measurement windows will then be displayed on top of one another.

  • Page 54: Chapter 9 The "Help" Menu Help Topics, Help, Info

    Chapter 9 “Help” menu Help topics Via this menu item you will reach a list of online help topics, from where you can directly access individual sections of the online help. Also from here, you can use an wide-reaching search function that allows you to search precisely for individual words and concepts after a word list has been automatically created.

  • Page 55: Chapter 10 Buttons

    Toolbar The following buttons on the toolbar allow the following functions to be called up quickly and simply using the mouse: Print: Info: Read off weather data: reads off weather data immediately from the interface Time period back: Set time points: Time forward: Extend time period: Shorten time period:...

  • Page 56: Appendix A Battery Change

    A description of how to change the batteries can be found in the operating instructions of the WS-2510 PC radio interface/the WS-2510 weather station. Other system components do not require a battery change, as they are powered by solar cells.

  • Page 57: Appendix B Technical Terms

    Appendix B Technical terms Air pressure history - Storage and graphical representation of the air pressure trend for the past 72 hours. From this, conclusions can be drawn on general weather trends. The graphical display can be seen in the weather display. Weather trends - forecast display featuring weather symbols, shown in the weather display, and calculated from the speed at which the air pressure rises or falls.
  • Page 58 pressure fronts and can find out more about the path of the fronts. However, as the weather station always displays the relative air pressure at its location, a correction factor must be defined, which makes it possible to display the difference between absolute and relative air pressure. This is achieved (as with this weather station) by entering the accurately known local air pressure (either as notified by the local meteorological office or by calculation: absolute air pressure ±0.11 hPa per metre of the measuring location above/below mean...

  • Page 59: Appendix C Rectifying Faults

    Appendix C Rectifying faults If data from a sensor are not received for about 36 hours, these figures will be missing from the display. The radio interface searches for all sensor transmitters for six minutes at regular intervals, in case the synchronisation between sensor and radio interface is disrupted due to a lengthy radio interference, as the trans- mission takes place within only a very small time window.
  • Page 60 No further attempts at reception will be made, in order to conserve battery power. At 07:30 (WS-2510)/08:00 and 18:00 (WS-2510 PC), the receiver starts a renewed synchronisation of its own accord, during which sensors from which data have not been received for 36 hours are deactivated.

  • Page 61: Appendix D Range, Repeater, Maintenance And Care

    Appendix D Range, repeater, maintenance and care The free field range, i.e. the range of the line of sight contact between the trans- mitter and the receiver is 300 ft under optimum conditions. Walls and even reinforced concrete can be penetrated, which does, however, reduce the range. A reduced range can occur due to the following reasons: - High frequency interference of all kinds - Built structures of all types or vegetation...

  • Page 62: Appendix E Technical Data

    Appendix E Technical data The following list provides an overview of the weather station’s technical data. Measuring interval for outdoor sensors ... 3 min. Measuring interval for indoor sensors ... 3 min. Transmission frequency ... 433.92 MHz Free field range ... max. 100 m Indoor temperature range: ...

  • Page 63: Appendix F Data Format Of Weather Data

    Appendix F Data format of weather data The following information consists of excerpts from the C++ source program, and aims to clarify the data structure of the weather data file. The weather data file is a sequential file in which all received data are stored consecutively in a data record of constant size (WSPC_DATA).
  • Page 64 struct WSPC_WIND short staerke; short richtung; unsigned char breite; unsigned char flag; // structure for recording data from the wind sensor struct WSPC_RAIN short zaehler; unsigned char flag; // structure for recording data from the rain sensor struct WSPC_BRIGHTNESS_PYR wert; unsigned char flag;...
  • Page 65 Activation of data transfer In its normal mode, the PC radio interface is inactive and does not react to V24 signals. • For the interface to be supplied with power, DTR must be set (+12 V) and RTS deleted (-12 V). •...
  • Page 66 Data formats Data transfer: 19,200 Baud, Even Parity, 8 Bit, 2 Stop Data frames for commands from the PC to the PC radio interface <SOH> <Comm> [Para] <Test> <EOT> <SOH> is the start symbol of the data transfer <Comm> is the command for the interface [Para] are any parameters that may arise.
  • Page 67 Description of the commands and responses Activate communication <SOH> ‘0’ (-total) <EOT> This exists for the purpose of establishing communication with the interface. Response from the interface: (1 byte) <ACK> Request time and date <SOH> ‘1’ (-total) <EOT> Request for the time and date at the interface. Response from the interface: (5 byte) (hr) (min) (second) (day) (month/day of the week/flag) 1 byte : Hour in BCD...
  • Page 68 This command serves to raise the ring pointer to the first data record saved in the interface. Response from the interface: (1 byte) <ACK> Request data record <SOH> ‘4’ (-total) <EOT> Response from the interface: (36 byte) 1. no data available: <DLE>...
  • Page 69 Data record The data record consists of 32 bytes, where every byte consists of two digits. Subsequently, bits 0-3 will be described as “L” and bits 4-7 as “H”. Temperature/humidity sensor 1-8 The temperatures are transferred in BCD format as 3 digits, with the highest bit corresponding to the sign.
  • Page 70 L10 Humidity 4 % b H10 Humidity 4 in % L11 Temp 5 in °C H11 Temp 5 in °C L12 Temp 5 in °C H12 Humidity 5 in % L13 Humidity 5 in % H13 Temp 6 in °C L14 Temp 6 in °C H14 Temp 6 in °C L15 Humidity 6 in %...

  • Page 71: Rain Sensor

    Rain sensor For the rain sensor, rocker strokes are counted and the status of the current 7 bit binary counter is transmitted. In order to obtain a rainfall quantity, the current status should be subtracted from that of the previous counter and the difference should be multiplied by 300 ml.
  • Page 72 L27 Temp Int in °C b H27 Temp Int in °C b L28 Humidity Int in % H28 Humidity Int in % Brightness sensor The brightness is transferred as a 3-digit BCD value (0-999) and a 2-bit factor (*1, *10, *100, *1000) in lux. This yields a range of values from 0 to 200,000 lux. L29 Brightn.
  • Page 73 Rain sensor status Wind sensor status Brightness sensor status Pyranometer status Indoor sensor status Interval time in min. – B : Indoor sensor address (0-7) Version number – B : Rain sensor address (0-7) : — – B : Wind sensor address (0-7) : —- –...
  • Page 74 [V wind/rain] Wind and rain sensor addresses. [V brightn./pyrano] [V indoor/version] Response from the interface: (1 byte) <ACK> format_wdat format_interf – B : Rain sensor address (0-7) : free – B : Wind sensor address (0-7) : always 1 Brightness sensor and pyranometer address –...

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