[Bldg-sim] bin weather file

[Nick Caton]

Figure I'd throw in my two cents:

Weatheranalytics.com is something I've also grown comfortable recommending when you need actual data for a specific location and a specific period.  Great for calibration, meaningful daylight savings studies, etc...  The system they've put together is really pretty amazing for what it accomplishes, interpolating weather data for any point on the globe between available weatherstations/resources.  Their telephone/email response time has always been very prompt and helpful in my experience and is a big reason I continue to utilize this service.  In cases where the weather data produced seems awry, I found this these guys super-eager to help review, educate me as necessary, and otherwise make things right without charging any extra fees or turning unresponsive.

I have zero affiliations with this service, by the way.  Just relating my positive experiences.

For their fee, they generate a zip file that includes the requested weather data in a series of formats (bin,csv,epw,tm2,tm3), alongside a small text file serving as a reference for the header nomenclature.  The .bin file provided should be DOE2/eQuest compatible, but I have and continue to convert the .epw file they provide into a .bin.

I regularly convert the .epw using the free eQ_WthProc software, found here:  http://doe2.com/index_Wth.html.  The reason I pursue this extra effort is this process has the benefit of producing some easily navigable and well-formatted visual graphs of the data's DB/WB/Windspeed/Solar (Direct & Horz) over the year, making it a breeze to check whether anything is awry.  These animated/interactive visuals (play with the zooming features!) double as effective marketing/report/communicative material for whenever I need to reference the actual weather to explain a result/behavior.

If you are interested in trying eQ_WthProc, make a point to read what the doe2.com webpage says carefully regarding the ".ini reset" procedure - the program as it is currently available requires you do take this extra step to get it installed and working correctly.

Of course, I will use freely available .bin TMY data wherever I can get it and it's appropriate for the model =).  Hope this helps!

~Nick


[cid:489575314 at 22072009-0ABB]

NICK CATON, P.E.
SENIOR ENGINEER

Smith & Boucher Engineers
25501 west valley parkway, suite 200
olathe, ks 66061
direct 913.344.0036
fax 913.345.0617
www.smithboucher.com

From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Keeney
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 2:53 PM
To: Joe Huang
Cc: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] bin weather file

Thank you Joe and Andrew,

I've got it working.  Thanks again.
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 2:59 PM, Joe Huang <yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com<mailto:yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>> wrote:
*.bin is the file format used by DOE-2.1E and DOE-2.2, which is the underlying simulation engine for eQUEST.
It's a surprisingly small binary file of only 148K, because the data have been "packed", i.e., the numbers have been combined numerically to be "unpacked" when read by DOE-2. This was done to minimize computer storage which was a consideration when DOE-2 was first designed in the early 80's.  The downsides to these packed files are: (1) some loss of precision, and (2) you need special programs to convert the files into something humanly readable. Perhaps none of this is relevant to most users, who just need a *.bin weather file for their specific location and have no interest in looking at the weather data itself, but I throw out these two sentences just to explain what they are.

There is no recognizable depository of *.bin files, but there are plenty of them floating around in various places. For example, the eQUEST web site ( www.doe2.com/index_Wth.html<http://www.doe2.com/index_Wth.html> ) has a number of standard weather data sets, almost entirely for the US, California, and Canada.   I've also got NREL's new TMY3 weather files in *.bin format for 1020 US locations on my company website (www.whiteboxtechnologies.com/weather_data.html<http://www.whiteboxtechnologies.com/weather_data.html> ).
The eQUEST web site also has a utility program (eQ_WthProc) that allows users to convert EPW files to bin files.

If you don't find a *.bin file meeting your needs from the above, it's also possible to create a *.bin file from raw weather data.  <caution - advertising follows :-) >   I have been offering a service to create weather files in *.bin (or other commonly used formats) for any location available in the National Climatic Data Center's (NCDC) massive Integrated Surface Hourly (ISH) archive that contains historical weather records for around 8,000 international locations (1,500 in the US, 600 in Canada) going back to 1980.  Those interested can e-mail for details.

Joe



Joe Huang

White Box Technologies, Inc.

346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 108D

Moraga CA 94556

yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com<mailto:yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>

www.whiteboxtechnologies.com<http://www.whiteboxtechnologies.com>

(o) (925)388-0265<tel:%28925%29388-0265>

(c) (510)928-2683<tel:%28510%29928-2683>

"building energy simulations at your fingertips"

On 3/7/2012 11:01 AM, Patrick Keeney wrote:
Hey All,

Quick question....how do I get a .bin weather file.  I'm not familiar with this file type.

I've tried converting to a .bin in the Ecotect "Convert Weather Data" tab, but it won't switch whatever file you have to a .bin.

Any help would be great.  Thanks.

--
Patrick J Keeney
MArch-MSSD Candidate
410-299-5627<tel:410-299-5627>



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--
Patrick J Keeney
MArch-MSSD Candidate
410-299-5627
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