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6.7 Battery charging
6.7.1
Before the start of operation of the weather station, as well as at low battery charge, it is necessary
to fully charge the battery. The battery installed in the weather station is charged from 3 power sources:
—
solar panel
—
USB connector
—
12V external power connector
6.7.2
A solar battery is used to maintain the autonomy of a weather station. The USB and external
power connectors are designed to effectively charge the weather station's built-in rechargeable battery. To
do this, it must be connected to a 5 V power source (USB PC or charger) or 12 V power source.
6.7.3
Full charge of the batteries lasts about 12 hours. When the battery is deep discharged,
the precharging mode can extend the full charge time to 20 hours.
6.7.4
The battery status can be viewed either in the "Sokol meteo V1.7" configurator in the
"Status" tab or on the server of sokolmeteo. com (field "Upow"). A battery is considered fully charged
if its voltage is about 4.1 V. The battery is discharged if its voltage is lower than 3.5 V.
6.8 RS-485 interface
6.8.1 To connect the station to the PC via RS-485 you need an interface converter, for example,
USB˂-˃RS-485, 12V 2A DC power source (or in the ranges specified on the stickers: 8-25VDC). You
will also need external power supply cables and MODBUS included with the product.
6.10.2 The station shall be started in the following order:
—
switch off the station (turn the key to OFF position), disconnect all power supplies (if
connected). Wait 2 minutes;
—
Connect a 12V source via external power supply cable. Layout of the power connector is
presented in Table 9.
Table 9 - Power connector pinout
Number
Colors
Line
1
B
r
own
+12
2
B
l
u
e
GN
D
The station will start, the LED will start flashing at a rate of 3 times per second. You can leave
the key in the OFF position (it disconnects the battery from the station). If the station is used at low
temperatures (from 0 and below) and there are problems with power outages, you can connect the
accumulators (key 12 in Fig. 5 in the ON position) as an uninterruptible power source.
6.10.3 Connect the MODBUS cable to the RS-485 connector (see Fig. 5), send a read request to
the station ("communication" with the station is in the request-response format). The firmware is
designed in such a way that readings will be updated every 15 seconds via the wind speed and
direction measurement channels and every 5 seconds via other measurement channels.
Table 10 - Pinouting of MODBUS 3pin connector
Number
Colors
Line
1
Yel
l
ow a
n
d g
r
ee
n
А
2
B
r
own
в
3
B
l
u
e
GND