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| Author | Topic:Strange years in data files | 296 Views |
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Strange years in data files
5 June 2012 at 11:53am
Hi,
I installed 32 decagon dataloggers and ECHO EC-5 soil moisture probes in a tropical forest in Panama in April, 2011. I acknowledge that this is a very humid environment, and we have done what we can to try to keep the loggers dry and free from fungus. From time to time we take errant loggers back to the lab, dry them out, and then put them back in the field, and they seem OK.
I have noticed something strange that affects some of the datafiles, however. For some of our datafiles, the year will change from 2011 or 2012 (which is reasonable, and indeed when we were logging the data), to either some decade in the past (2000) or the future (2042), then it will switch back after a few months or so. We are puzzled, but we suspect that this is due to the humid climate. The soil moisture values that are logged during these "past" and "future" decades seem reasonable, based on the other values from different loggers.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
Thanks for any insight you could share.
Jennifer
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Re: Strange years in data files
20 June 2012 at 4:25pm
Hi Jennifer,
The EM50 datalogger does not have a backup clock so whenever the logger loses power it will lose its date and time. We recommend that you connect to your datalogger everytime that you change the batteries so that it will re-sync to the correct date and time.
The EM50 starts from a random date when the clock is reset, so those dates from 2042 were probably just what the processor landed on when it received power again. Please inspect your battery holders on loggers that display this to insure that the batteries are held firmly in place and that there is no rust or corrosion that might cause problems.
I have seen dates become scrambled, but then begin working again at the correct date in some areas that experience a high thunderstorm activity. These are usually transients of just a few readings.
I hope this helps...
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