CA3 datalogging data logging weirdness need help

[retrocycler]

Hi there,
Pursuing data in search of a solution for my e-braking problem/question https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=107765&sid=1d80c7f6ff70318ca6a83e828f393716, today I managed to get out on the bike with a laptop, collecting serial data from the Cycle Analyst v.3 (CA3) using a macbook. Testing the setup, I was able to confirm - looking right at the macbook screen output - that live data was coming into the laptop. For example, I goosed the throttle, and could observe the throttle values change. We then started a new session, set the command to log the data (unix command "screen -L /dev/ etc."), and went for a ride.
Upon return I looked at the file which now contains about 1100 rows of data, which is about right for a 15+ minute ride recording at 1Hz. But the 1100 rows of data show almost no activity! There is a slight drop in the Ah value, a slight drop in V, but not much else changes. At one point in the data (row 806), there is an abrupt change in those two values, as well as a change in the "Deg" value, and what looks like a glitch in the D value. It is a mystery to me, because in those 15 minutes, I did all sorts of things with the throttle and brakes, working to repeat and record data on a problem I'm having with e-braking, but none of that activity is reflected in the appropriate values (e.g. "throttle-out").

If anyone with experience in these things could look at my file and suggest what might be going on, I'd really appreciate it!

I attach both an excel file I made with the data (shows headers), and the original file that came out of the CA3 (renamed as a .txt)

 

[retrocycler]

I did some more testing, and I think I figured it out.
The problem is that despite setting it to never fall asleep, the macbook does fall asleep when you close it. But it takes a bit of time to fall asleep (it's doing some housekeeping I guess), and during that time, the data logging does continue. Thus, I was fooled into thinking I could datalog with the laptop closed, because it would do it for a little while... I would test that before taking a short ride with it. But even a short ride takes quite a bit more time than my initial <laptop-closed> test, and thus by the time I got to the road, doing my test-ride e-braking stuff, the laptop would have fallen asleep.
It fools you, because when I got back from riding, opened the laptop, there would be the screen, still capturing data and logging it. Without my realizing it, though, it had really been asleep for most of the ride.

I finally got a good data log by riding with the macbook left open - it fit that way into the Surly pannier no problem. I didn't like to do it that way, it thus being more vulnerable, but I was at a loss to do it any other way.

 

[kauaicycler]

I did some more testing, and I think I figured it out.
The problem is that despite setting it to never fall asleep, the macbook does fall asleep when you close it. But it takes a bit of time to fall asleep (it's doing some housekeeping I guess), and during that time, the data logging does continue. Thus, I was fooled into thinking I could datalog with the laptop closed, because it would do it for a little while... I would test that before taking a short ride with it. But even a short ride takes quite a bit more time than my initial <laptop-closed> test, and thus by the time I got to the road, doing my test-ride e-braking stuff, the laptop would have fallen asleep.
It fools you, because when I got back from riding, opened the laptop, there would be the screen, still capturing data and logging it. Without my realizing it, though, it had really been asleep for most of the ride.

I finally got a good data log by riding with the macbook left open - it fit that way into the Surly pannier no problem. I didn't like to do it that way, it thus being more vulnerable, but I was at a loss to do it any other way.

There are mac apps to keep your computer awake when the lid is closed. Be careful though as the laptop isn't designed to be used with the lid closed. Watch for heat build up. I think the one I used was called insomniac.