Quick Start

Quick Start

Purpose To get Weather Display up and running with your weather Station equipment in the shortest possible time.

This Quick Start does not address all your questions — only those required to get a basic Weather Display setup in operation so that you can view the weather information collected by your weather station.

Minimum system requirements:

• Microsoft^® Windows 98 operating system
• An Intel 486 or higher CPU or AMD equivalent
• 32 MB RAM
• 6 MB hard drive space for initial setup, then approximately 10 MB additonal per month for data
• 800x600 screen resolution with 256 color depth
• A compatible weather station and serial (RS-232) cable with one free COM port on your computer

Downloading the file from the Internet

1. On the Weather Display Web site, click Version History.
2. To download the latest release, in the left navigation bar, click the Downloads.
3. Click Download next to Main Weather Display install file.
4. When prompted, click Save, and then specify a folder location where to save the Weather Display install program.
5. When the download completed, browse to the folder you specified in step 4, and then double-click the Weather Display .exe file.
6. Follow the instructions on your screen to complete the installation.
7. At the end of the installation wizard, click Finish. If you leave the Launch Weather Display check box selected, Weather Display launches with the new version.

Note If you are upgrading the software, your weather data is not modified or deleted. However, you should make regular backup of your data, especially before updating the software. Make sure you stop Weather Display before upgrading. In Weather Display, on the Exit menu, click Save and Exit. Make sure all of the Weather Display applications, such as RealTime FTP do not appear in the Windows task bar notifications area.

Language selection

Once the program has loaded, the first thing you want to do is to choose your language preference.

• On the Setup menu, click Language. English is the default language.

Weather Station Type selection

This information is being developed. Check back later.

COM port settings

Obviously, you have to connect your weather station to the computer that runs Weather Display. On the rear of most computers there is at least one serial port connectors. Connect an appropriate serial (RS-232) cable between the serial connector of your choice. If the connector is labeled on your computer, note its name, usually COM1 or COM2. It is not common for these to be labeled.

You then need to configure Weather Display to use the correct COM port corresponding to the connector you have used.

1. On the Setup menu, select COM Port Settings.
2. Select the the appropriate COM port, and then click OK. The Weather Display title bar now displays the COM port you selected.

Unfortunately, if you're not sure which COM port you're using, the trial-and-error method is the fastest for most people. Start with COM1. If that doesn't work, then change to COM2, then COM3, etc.

At the bottom of the window, below the time display, there are two small square boxes — Data Received, and Data Quality. When you start Weather Display, they should be red. When you have correctly selected your weather station and COM port, these two boxes will appear green. It might take up to 15 seconds or more before data is received. The upper (Data Received) box blinks each time data is received from your weather station. The lower (Data Quality) box should remain green. If the two boxes do not respond, verify your COM and station selections, and make sure your cables are tightly fastened on both ends.

COM port tips

COM2 is usually a 25-pin male plug, so you may need a 9-pin to 25-pin adaptor. Reset to use COM1. Make sure if a modem is on COM4, it uses a different IRQ setting.

Display settings

1. Click Control Panel, and then click Units & Other Settings.
2. Under Program Settings select the units you prefer for the various displays.
3. You can also select select the Internet options as well at this time if you want.
4. Select your preference for log files — this will probably be the same as Program Settings.
5. If you know the altitude of your weather site, enter it under Other Settings.
6. Leave the defaults as they are for any other settings at this time. Click OK.

Units

• Click Control Panel, and then click Units & Other Settings.

Selecting USA changes the date format from d/m/y to m/d/y. The units will be kept the next time the program loads.

If you have problems with the default colours, you will have to make some changes here. Go to the Setup menu and select "General and Colour/Misc./Tide setup". Then select "Set Program Colours". Click the button corresponding to the portion of the display you wish to change. You will be presented with the standard Windows colour selector. Make your choice and click OK twice to return to the main display.

If you wish to have WD start in the center of the screen, go to the Setup menu and select "General and Colour/Misc./Tide setup". Select "Start in center of screen ... ", and then select "Yes".

Rain Setup - data drawn from several sources

Weather Display stores its own rainfall totals separate from the weather station. So you need to set this up for the first time use. Click on setup, Offsets and rainfall to do this. Then select the amount for today's rain, yesterday's rain, monthly rain and yearly rainfall.

Note: for US units, the equivalent amount in inches is displayed. Click on Yes to set these amounts. If you are just increasing the amount, then that amount is added on straight away. Close the window down with the X in the top right hand corner when you have this set.

Humidity Setup

This information is being developed. Check back later.

Barometer Setup

For the barometer, Weather Display uses the raw pressure value from your weather station. You need to set a pressure offset. This number is in hpa. There is a conversion for US units (i.e inches) as well for your reference. Note the offset is absolute; e.g. if you want to adjust it, and you want the pressure to increase by 1 hpa, then the offset must be 1 hpa higher.

You need to set the offset until the pressure shown in weather display is what the Mean Sea Level Pressure is for your location at that point in time. You can get this information from a nearby Weather Service facility or airport. Some local newspapers might also have this information. You might need to fine tune over a period of time; your pressure reading needs to be similar to your nearest official weather station at the same time of day; ideally done in light winds/fine weather when there is a large high pressure covering in your area.