Average Soil Temps Creeping?

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1

I expect this is a question that only Brian can answer. I’ve been watching the various soil tags in preparation for bringing my soil station online in the next week or so. As expected most of the tags are at default values since I’ve not had a station before.

This is not the case with some of the month average tags

$avtempjannowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempfebnowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempmarnowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempaprnowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempmaynowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempjunnowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempjulnowsoil = '45.6';	
$avtempaugnowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempsepnowsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempoctnowsoil = '32.0';	
$avtempnovnowsoil = '32.0';	
$avtempdecnowsoil = '32.0';	

$avtempjansoil = '50.0';	
$avtempfebsoil = '48.6';	
$avtempmarsoil = '48.1';	
$avtempaprsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempmaysoil = '49.5';	
$avtempjunsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempjulsoil = '46.2';	
$avtempaugsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempsepsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempoctsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempnovsoil = '50.0';	
$avtempdecsoil = '50.0';

As I’ve watched, several (in particular May and July) are changing by a little each day. I’m wondering if this will affect their accuracy once I go operational and more importantly, is something else NOT getting updated as it should when this is happening?

Thanks. - Jim

2

Brian,

The soil station has been online now for a few days and I need to know how I can reset the average soil temps. As mentioned in the previous post some of the other months are changing even though I never had a soil station before, but more importantly this month is incorrect. I’ve had soil temps in the mid to high 60s but the average is showing around 50 for some reason.

$maxsoiltemp = '68';	
$minsoiltemp = '65';	

$avtempsepnowsoil = '51.9';	// Average soil temperature for september from your data, this year
$avtempsepsoil = '50.2';	// Average soil temperature for september from your data

I’ve done a lot of forum searching and I think I’ve been through all the places to set that I have the soil station, but maybe I’ve missed something?

Another thing that I’ve noticed is that I’m getting the record high temps for sensors 2-4, but the lows are not changing.

$recordhighsoil2 = '70.0';	// Record high soil temp sensor # 2
$recordlowsoil2 = '32.0';	// Record low soil temp 2
$recordhighsoil3 = '68.0';	// Record high soil temp sensor # 3
$recordlowsoil3 = '32.0';	// Record low soil temp 3
$recordhighsoil4 = '67.0';	// Record high soil temp sensor # 4
$recordlowsoil4 = '32.0';	// Record low soil temp 4

Thanks. - Jim

3

for recordlowsoil4, etc
the problem will simply be that the soil temperature has not gone below the default value yet
so reset those all time records

for the avtempjannowsoil type
the average is month to date…hence why it changes…

4

Brian,

Thanks for the explanation. I’ll go to work on re-setting the records now.

I guess beginning next month I’ll see better soil temp averages.

Thanks again. - Jim

5

the question is, should they be month to date or not?

6

Brian,

Yes, I think month to date would be correct. I think that since this is my first month and I started on the 11th, perhaps the default values for the 1st-10th might be getting averaged in? Or something else?

I’m sure next month will be better, I just thought that maybe I could do something to fix this month’s average.

Now why some of the other months are changing is another mystery.

  • Jim
7

the other months are also month to date
which they probably should not be

8

Brian,

If that is why the other month’s values are changing, then probably not. Whatever makes sense to you to make the numbers right is certainly fine with me. Not sure what others might think though.

Thanks for looking at this. - Jim

9

only the current month should be month to date
as it is now, past months are also month to date
which it should not be
I will fix that

10

done that now, latest .zip update

11

Thank you Brian, that is outstanding. I’ll download that right now.

Thanks. - Jim

12

Brian,

I’ll have to watch those other months so see if the values have stopped changing.

Could you tell me how I can reset those averages to default values?

Thanks. - Jim

13

Brian,

I can confirm that your fix for the “creep” has worked. :smiley:

If I can learn how to fix the highlighted values below, everything will be perfect. If this is going to be hard and take a bunch of programming, let’s leave it be. It’s only soil and I don’t think future users will have the problem now that the “creep” is gone.

$avtempjannowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempfebnowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempmarnowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempaprnowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempmaynowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempjunnowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempjulnowsoil = ‘43.3’; (This should fix itself next July)
$avtempaugnowsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempsepnowsoil = ‘53.8’; - This should be in the 60’s
$avtempoctnowsoil = ‘32.0’;
$avtempnovnowsoil = ‘32.0’;
$avtempdecnowsoil = ‘32.0’;

$avtempjansoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempfebsoil = ‘48.4’;
$avtempmarsoil = ‘48.0’;
$avtempaprsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempmaysoil = ‘49.1’;
$avtempjunsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempjulsoil = ‘45.7’;
$avtempaugsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempsepsoil = ‘50.5’; - Should be in the 60’s
$avtempoctsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempnovsoil = ‘50.0’;
$avtempdecsoil = ‘50.0’;

Thanks for your continued support and a great program.

  • Jim
14

try a new .zip update, ready now

15

Brian,

You are great, it reset those other months to default, so now the averages will be good when we get to them.

Thanks for taking a look at this, I really appreciate your time.

  • Jim
16

Brian,

I hate to bother you again about soil station issues, but it appears that the “all-time” average soil temps aren’t being updated correctly.

$avtempsepnowsoil = '56.5';	// Average soil temperature for september from your data, this year
$avtempsepsoil = '51.2';	// Average soil temperature for september from your data


$avtempoctnowsoil = '59.6';	// Average soil temperature for october from your data, this year
$avtempoctsoil = '50.1';	// Average soil temperature for october from your data

When you get a minute could you take another look at this, and also is there a way to reset or recalculate any of these values? Converting the vantagelog.txt file to datafile doesn’t seem to accomplish that. Or maybe there’s a different way and I haven’t discovered it yet?

The station went online until Sep 11th and I’m using build 40 running 24/7.

Thanks. - Jim