VAISALA WXT520 WEATHER MODULE VERSION 4.1x with CompactFLASH COMMAND SET

See ASIMET MODULE OPERATIONS document for instructions on how to hook up the comms link to your PC and RS-485 adapter.
Refer to Latest Version Information for reference info on latest firmware version numbers.

CFLASH NOTE 1 - Firmware Ver 4.xx has been tested using SanDisk CompactFLASH cards (256 MB and 64MB) with SanDisk CompactFLASH PC Card (PCMCIA) Adapters on WHOI VO80053 Rev C/D CPU boards.

CFLASH NOTE 2 - CompactFLASH cards MUST be formatted using the I command choice in the FOK command menu. CompactFLASH cards may be read on a PC and will contain 2 files: a .INF user-defined Info file, and a .DAT Data file. Processing of the new .DAT file is identical to processing the data files from older PCMCIA-based loggers, since the data file record format is unchanged.

NOTE: Parameter Units
Reference the Vaisala WXT520 Weather Transmitter manual for details. Current parameter setup is:

• Wind speeds in m/s
• Wind direction in degrees
• Temperature in C
• Relative Humidity in percent
• Barometric pressure in mbar
• Rain accumulation in mm
• Rain duration in sec
• Rain intensity in mm/hr
• Hail accumulation in hits/cm²
• Hail duration in sec
• Hail intensity in hits/cm²hr
• Rain peak intensity in mm/hr
• Hail peak intensity in hits/cm²hr

NOTE: this module uses the WXT520IF/GILWND45 type of sensor front-end. Reference the WXT520 Front-End Board (GILWND45) Command Set document.

Note: commands sent are indicated in BOLD, responses in normal text. <crlf> represents ASCII carriage return and line feed; <crlfetx> represents ASCII carriage return, line feed, ETX (03h).

Command Description

• A     Address acknowledge
  • returns address of module, terminated by <crlfetx>

  • example:
    #VWX01A VWX01<crlfetx>

  • NOTE: VWX01 is the default address of the WXT520 module; it may be changed by the 'U' command but any failure of EEPROM will result in the use of the default address. In the event of EEPROM failure, a message is sent to the RS- 232 console port on startup. In addition, use of defaults is reported in the 'L' command.

  ---

• C     Output processed data
  • outputs WXT520 data, as follows:
    Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Wind Max, Wind Min, Compass Direction, TiltX, TiltY, Temperature, RH, Pressure, Rain Amount, Rain Duration, Rain Intensity, Hail Amount, Hail Duration, Hail Intensity, Rain Peak, Hail Peak

  • example:
    #VWX01C 0.00 175.00 0.2 0.0 14.7 -24.8 4.8 21.40 62.70 1019.70 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0<crlfetx>

  ---

• D     Set RT clock date/time: 'YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS'
  • on module startup, the date and time are initialized from the battery-backed RTC on the DS87C530 chip. The 'D' command accepts a fixed format string of exactly 19 characters representing date and time. For example, sending the following command:
    • #VWX01D2009/08/18 10:35:15
    will set the date to 18 Aug 2009 at 10:35:15 AM.

  • the module returns <crlfetx> in acknowledgement.

  • the time will be set at the instant that the last digit is sent; thus you may enter the module address, command and first 16 characters of the date and time, and finally enter the 19th character in sync with your reference clock. The current date and time may be determined using the 'L' command.

  ---

• FOK   Menu-driven CompactFLASH command operations
  • command:    #VWX01FOK

  • Upon FOK command entry, and between each command, you will see a prompt:

            Enter Flash Cmnd, ? or H for Help:

  • a request for Help returns this message followed by another prompt:

    
        Flash Help (All commands end with Enter)
    
        C - Read card Capacity
        D - Read the card Directory
        E[I,D] - Erase the contents of the Info or Data files
        F[W,R] - Write or Read the Info File
        H{?} - Display this menu
        I - Format & Initialize the card file structures
        P - Read the next write & read sector Pointers
        R{H,A}{SEC} - Read the next card sector (see P command above)
                 optional {H,A} -> Hex ASCII or printable ASCII
    	     optional {SEC} -> specific sector number
        S - Read the CF status (reg 7 and the ERRORs (reg 1), disp as HEX-ASCII
        W{nnn} - Write 512 byte Test Msg to the Data file
                 optional {nnn} -> 1-3 digits of additional sectors to write
        Q - Quit Flash operations
    
        Enter Flash Cmnd, ? or H for Help:
        

  • description of FOK Menu Commands:
    • C - displays card capacity info

    • D - displays a card directory (similar to a DOS "dir" command output):

      Volume in drive is WXT520CF
      Directory of CF:
      2009/08/24  19:10                   35 WXT520.INF
      2009/08/25  16:42               523904 WXT520.DAT
                     2 File(s)         523939 bytes
                                    256179584 bytes free
             

    • EI - erases the contents of the INFO file, and sets its size to 0
    • ED - erases the contents of the DATA file, and sets its size to 0

    • FR - reads the free-format ASCII contents of the INFO file
    • FW - prompts for up to 600 characters of user info; CTRL-C terminates entry into the INFO file

    • I - formats & initializes the CFLASH card for use in the logger. A series of prompts guides you through the process. This must be done before the logger will recognize the card and use it for data storage.

    • P - reads the next write and read sector pointers. In particular, the next write sector pointer always indicates the last sector of data on the card. This is useful with the XMODE command.

        
      Flash Write Pointer @ 1345
      Flash Read Pointer @ 258
             

      The write sector pointer is always restored to the currently available sector for new data whenever the logger is powered up. The read pointer is reset to the INFO file sector on power up.

    • R - read command allows a number of options, the most useful being the RH and RH{SEC} options. For example, to see what's in the last DATA sector, use the P command above to find the current write sector, then use that in the RH{SEC} command to see the values. So, for the value of the Flash Write Pointer above, send RH1345 to see the 512 bytes of that sector:

       
      Reading Flash @ 1345
      
      000  10 29 19 04 07 00 64 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .)....d.........
      010  00 00 0D F2 09 AC 00 00 08 F0 AD 2E 00 00 00 00 ................
      020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 D4 31 38 ............0.18
      030  31 9C 32 00 07 5B CD 15 00 01 00 00 00 00 A5 A5 1.2..[..........
      040  10 2A 19 04 07 00 65 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .*....e.........
      050  00 00 0D F2 09 AB 00 00 08 F5 AC F9 00 00 00 00 ................
      060  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 D4 31 38 ............0.18
      070  31 9C 32 00 07 5B CD 15 00 01 00 00 00 00 A5 A5 1.2..[..........
      .
      .
      .
      1B0  31 9C 32 00 07 5B CD 15 00 01 00 00 00 00 A5 A5 1.2..[..........
      1C0  10 28 19 04 07 00 63 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .(....c.........
      1D0  00 00 0D F2 09 AA 00 00 08 D3 AD 6A 00 00 00 00 ...........j....
      1E0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 D4 31 38 ............0.18
      1F0  31 9C 32 00 07 5B CD 15 00 01 00 00 00 00 A5 A5 1.2..[..........
            

      If you want to read subsequent contiguous sectors, just do an RH at the next prompt, and the next sector in sequence will display (1346 in this example).   See Record Format to decode the HEX dump.

    • S - CF status info - internal WHOI use only

    • W{nnn} - writes test data to the current write sector in the DATA file. Used only for test. If you use this function, you should ED to erase the DATA file before deploying the logger, unless you wish to incur the wrath of your data processing guru!

    • Q - quit Flash ops and return to logger command mode

  • New CFLASH Card Prep - when installing a CFLASH card for the first time, it must be initialized for use in the logger. The "I" command, Format & Initialize card file structures is used to prepare the CFLASH card for use. You will be prompted for a Volume name, an INFO File name, and a DATA file name. The 3 character suffix of the INFO file is always .INF and the 3 character suffix of the DATA file is always .DAT Once formatting is complete, you can get a directory with a "D" command, or write user info into the INFO file with the "FW" command, then read the INFO file back with the "FR" command.

  ---

• H     Help
  • #VWX01H - a multiple line response with text similar to the first line of each command description in this document as the help line, with each line terminated <crlf> and final line terminated <crlfetx>, as follows:

        Firmware VOSWXT520 V4.12cf
        Module clock 2.4576 Mhz
        A - Address acknowledge
        C - Output processed data
        D - Set RT clock date/time: 'YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS'
        F - Compact FLASH card access - password 'OK'
        H - Display Help message
        I - Report ID information
        L - Report ID, serial #, cal info
        P - Enter polled test mode
        R - Output raw data
        T - Enter test mode
        U - Update EEPROM constants - password 'OK'
        XMODE - XMODEM Dump Compact FLASH card via RS232 console
    		

  • Note: 'FOK' and 'XMODE' are not present unless a CompactFLASH card is installed.

  ---

• I     Report ID information
  • #VWX01I - displays the text information stored in EEPROM, with headers as follows, each line terminated in crlf:

        MODADR: ( 5 bytes text)         module address
        MODMFG: (16 bytes text)         module manufacturer
        MODMOD: (16 bytes text)         model number
        MODSER: ( 8 bytes text)         serial number
        MODDAT: ( 8 bytes text)         manufacture date
        SENMFG: (16 bytes text)         sensor manufacturer
        SENMOD: (16 bytes text)         model number
        SENSER: ( 8 bytes text)         serial number
        SENDAT: ( 8 bytes text)         manufacture date
        SFTMFG: (16 bytes text)         program origin
        SFTNAM: (16 bytes text)         program name
        SFTREV: ( 8 bytes text)         serial number
        SFTDAT: ( 8 bytes text)         revision date
        CALFAC: (16 bytes text)         calibration facility
        CALPER: (16 bytes text)         calibration technician
        CALDAT: ( 8 bytes text)         calibration date
        DATFRM: (64 bytes text)         calibrated data output format
        DATDES: (64 bytes text)         calibrated data description
        DATUNI: (64 bytes text)         calibrated data units
        RAWFRM: (64 bytes text)         raw data output format
        RAWDES: (64 bytes text)         raw data description
        RAWUNI: (64 bytes text)         raw data units
    		

  • the last scan sent is terminated by <crlfetx>.

  • NOTE: this information resides in EEPROM. Most items are completed at time of manufacturing test, but may be modified using the 'U'pdate command. Only module address is necessary for correct module operation.

  ---

• L     Report ID, serial #, cal info, etc.
  • the 'L' command provides miscellaneous status information about the module in a multi-line response. The number of lines in the response may vary depending upon the EEPROM and FLASH card status. Normally, after an initial <crlf>, these lines of info are provided, as follows:
    #VWX01L

        module id from EEPROM<crlf>
        module serial number from EEPROM<crlf>
        firmware name and version from program EPROM<crlf>
        crystal frequency from EPROM
        setup date from EEPROM<crlf>
        current date and time<crlf>
        Compact Flash Card present - Compact Flash card status<crlf>
           Volume and Directory info (multiple lines)<crlf>
            
        - example normal response (with CompactFLASH card):
       VWX01
       001
       VOSWXT520 v4.12cf
       27AUG16
       2016/08/28  11:10:32
       Compact Flash Card present - Compact Flash OK!
       Volume in drive is WXT520
       Directory of CF:
       2016/08/26  10:03                    0 WXT520.INF
       2016/08/28  11:09               521160 WXT520.DAT
                     2 File(s)         521160 bytes
                                    256182328 bytes free
    		

  • the last line is terminated by <crlfetx>.

  • NOTE 1: if a FLASH card is installed, a message will indicate this and either OK or NOT LOGGING status

  • NOTE 2: if no FLASH card present, the last two lines will be replaced by "No CompactFLASH card installed" message.

  ---

• P     Enter polled test mode
  • responds with individual scans of RAW data, formatted in 4 lines, WXT Wind data, TCM2 data, WXT RH,T,Pres data, WXT Rain/Hail data. Upon receipt of any character except ESC, another scan of VWX data is sent. For example:
    #VWX01P

     
       0R1,Dm=094D,Sn=0.0M,Sm=0.1M,Sx=0.1M
       TCM2,  14.7 -24.8   2.0
       0R2,Ta=21.6C,Ua=61.8P,Pa=1020.0H
       0R3,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Rp=0.0M,Hp=0.0M
    		

  • the command terminates on receipt of an ASCII ESC (1Bh) character. The last scan sent is terminated by <crlfetx>.

  ---

• R     Output raw value
  • outputs raw data return from WXT520IF most recent data return (usually WXT Wind)

  • example:
    #VWX01R 0R1,Dm=027D,Sn=0.0M,Sm=0.1M,Sx=0.2M <crlfetx>

  ---

• T     Enter test mode
  • responds with individual scans of RAW data, formatted in 4 lines, WXT Wind data, TCM2 data, WXT RH,T,Pres data, WXT Rain/Hail data.

    example:
    #VWX01T

    0R1,Dm=068D,Sn=0.0M,Sm=0.1M,Sx=0.2M
    TCM2,  14.7 -24.8   2.0
    0R2,Ta=21.6C,Ua=61.8P,Pa=1020.0H
    0R3,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Rp=0.0M,Hp=0.0M
    
    0R1,Dm=056D,Sn=0.0M,Sm=0.1M,Sx=0.2M
    TCM2,  14.7 -24.8   2.0
    0R2,Ta=21.6C,Ua=61.8P,Pa=1020.0H
    0R3,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Rp=0.0M,Hp=0.0M
    
    0R1,Dm=056D,Sn=0.0M,Sm=0.1M,Sx=0.2M
    TCM2,  14.7 -24.8   2.0
    0R2,Ta=21.6C,Ua=61.7P,Pa=1020.0H
    0R3,Rc=0.00M,Rd=0s,Ri=0.0M,Hc=0.0M,Hd=0s,Hi=0.0M,Rp=0.0M,Hp=0.0M
    
        .
        .		

  • the command terminates on receipt of an ASCII ESC (1Bh) character. The last scan sent is terminated by <crlfetx>.

  ---

• UOK   Update EEPROM contents
  • command:    #VWX01UOK

  • enters the update mode after confirmation of 'OK' password. New EEPROM values may be entered in this mode.

  • upon initial entry, you must send the letters OK after the command or the command is ignored, e.g. #VWX01UOK. Upon receipt of the correct password, a set of prompts will be issued to allow entry of new module address, module manufacturer's info, sensor info, software info, calibration facility info, raw and calibrated output format info, VOSHPS calibration constants, display entire info area, and exit with or without update.

  • the '0' choice for 'Exit without update' leaves the module RAM and EEPROM in its original state. The VOSHPS cal constants are handled separately, as these constants reside in VOSHPS EEPROM on the sensor front-end board.

  • the '8' choice for 'Enter VOSHPS cal constants' passes commands through the VWX C51 logger board to the VOSHPS sensor front-end board vis RS-485. There are some startup delays while the VOSHPS is powered up, as well as some half-duplex comms delays. After selecting '8' from the menu, it will take several seconds to get the 'OK' prompt from the VOSHPS (if it fails to respond, try again after the menu re-displays). At the OK prompt, you may read existing or write new cal constants only. Unrecognized commands will result in a 'Bad command' response. If you get stuck, enter 'Q' to quit VOSHPS update without making any changes. For complete details on the VOSHPS EEPROM Update command, see the document "VOSHPS Front-End Module Command Set".

  • all responses to prompts must be terminated with <cr> (Enter)
    The final response from the module upon exit is <crlfetx>

  • NOTE 1: Upon completion, the newly updated module address will not take effect until the next reset or power-up.

  ---

• XMODE   XMODEM Dump CompactFLASH card via console
  • command:    #VWX01XMODE

  • XMODE command only works in RS232 mode and only if CompactFLASH card is installed

  • CompactFLASH cards will take a VERY LONG TIME to read this way (almost 300K per day) - the preferred method of reading a large .DAT data file is to remove the CFLASH card from the module and read it on a PC. Two files will be recognized by the PC, a .INF INFO file which can contain up to 600 characters of user information, and a .DAT DATA file which contains the logger data records. See the FOK command above.

  • This command is somewhat rudimentary; if you must dump data this way, use the L command to display the current directory and file sizes on the CFLASH card. You can then estimate where to start dumping data, based on one 202 byte record per minute (or 12120 bytes per hour), and a CFLASH sector size of 512 bytes. Or use the FOK command to look at the HEX values of particular sectors to decide where to start the dump.

  • Command dumps data from the requested starting sector for up to 2048 512-byte sectors (i.e. a maximum of 1 MB of data). Sector 322 is the first sector of the data file on the CFLASH card.

  • On command entry, requests: Start sector # (322 is first, 0 aborts) -> followed by: Number of sectors (1 to 2048, default is 512) ->
    • i.e. to get first week of data (168 records -> 1 week), enter 322 as the start sector, and 168 for the number of sectors.
    • add 168 to your start sector number to find the start of subsequent week-long portions of data; i.e. if you entered 322 to start at the first sector on the FLASH card, subsequent weeks of data start at sector 490, 658, etc...

  • Typical example - the following description assumes PCPLUS for terminal software, but any terminal program capable of XMODEM transfer should work.
    • On entry, module will first prompt for start sector:
      Start sector # (322 is first, 0 aborts) ->
      Enter a valid sector # (see discussion above)

    • followed by a prompt for number of sectors:
      Number of sectors (1 to 2048, default is 512) ->
      Enter a valid sector count (see discussion above)

    • Next, you'll be prompted:
      Set terminal speed for 38400 then hit any key

    • After setting speed and hitting a key, you will see:
      XMODEM Send Function
      Waiting for start...

    • Start a transfer (PgDn in PCPLUS) - on completion, you will see something like:
      Sent 160 blocks - done
      Restore terminal speed to 9600 then hit any key
      NOTE:"blocks" here are XMODEM blocks of 128 bytes each

    • After resetting speed to 9600 baud and hitting a key, module will send a "\r\n"

    • Ignore occasional gibberish when changing baud rates!

  • Note: Only the .DAT data file portion of the CompactFLASH card is dumped via XMODEM; See CompactFLASH VWX Record Format.

Revision history:

• Original Release - V4.0 (first instruments with Compact FLASH card capability)
  adapted from vhrh4cmd.html
• Update 19 Jan 2017 for new CFLASH data format