Two identical weather files; one works, the other doesn't

I've been trying to model a detailed photovoltaic system using data for Arcata California, downloaded from www.nrel.gov/midc/hsu/ . I formatted the data to SAM CSV, and to test that the data worked, created a basic simulation that only specified the data file attached as FaultySamFile.csv), and left all other settings at default. I received the following error message:

exec fail(pvsamv1): could not determine number of records in CSV weather file
Simulation pvsamv1 failed.
SSC requires input 'hourly_energy', but was not found in the SAM UI or from previous simulations
Simulation singleowner failed.

I checked that my data file had the right number of lines, and then tried to debug my data file. I wound up copy/pasting the information into a new file (sorms-sam-final.csv), and to my shock, it worked perfectly. I use a text editor's compare tool to verify that both files were exactly the same.

My only thought is that during my initial debugging, I changed the file in some way that SAM did not recognize until I had created a new file.

I have a working weather file, so I can continue my simulations, but I am scratching my head as to why one file would cause SAM to crash, but an identical file works just fine.

Dear Andrew,

The two files are not quite identical: The "faulty" file uses CR (carriage return) line endings, and the "working" file uses LF (line feed) line endings. SAM will accept files with LF or CR/LF line endings, but not CR line endings.

You should be able to use a good text editor to make the line endings visible and convert them. If you are editing the files on a Mac, be sure to save them in the Windows (CR/LF) or Unix (LF) format.

Best regards,
Paul.

Excellent Paul! Thank you very much.

I used TextWrangler app to save the file with the UNIX LF format, I deleted the extra information (W/m^2) and worked smoothly. Thanks a lot.

Kind regards,

Jorge.