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CHAPTER 2

Maintaining and servicing the RTU

9

5.6 volts but over 5.2 volts)—this is called the 

misery

 state. In this 

state, an addSDI RTU reduces its activities to a minimum. The 
radio unit is switched off, the sensor sampling ceases, and no data 
is stored in the internal memory. Only the internal real-time clock is 
maintained and the power management functions are performed.

If the battery level drops below 5.2 volts, the system switches off 
completely, effectively decoupling itself from the battery in order 
to protect it. In this case the LED tool stays permanently off. An 
addSDI RTU in such a situation will restart only after connecting it 
to an external power supply (even a solar panel under low light 
conditions).

Note: New addSDI RTUs are delivered with their internal batteries 

unformatted, meaning they are completely discharged, and 
you should install them only on sunny days. The battery will 
be fully charged after two consecutive sunny days, but you 
should get an LED light-up after several minutes of charging 
in the sunlight.

Configuring an addSDI RTU in the addVANTAGE software

To configure the addSDI RTU with an A840 Telemetry Gateway 
and the addVANTAGE Pro software, check the 

Base Station, 

Telemetry Gateway A840 and Wireless Modem A440 User Guide

.

Maintaining and servicing the RTU

The A725 unit needs virtually no maintenance. It is waterproof and 
designed to withstand harsh environmental conditions (-30 to 
+70 °C, or -22 to 158 °F), high RH values, water, and other noncor-
rosive liquids. It conforms to the European protection class IP65. 
This applies also to the connectors, as long as they are mated. 
Don’t let unmated connectors on either the addSDI RTU or the 
sensors be exposed to the environment for extended periods of 
time.

The RTU battery

The internal NiMH rechargeable battery pack supplies 6.2 volts. 
The internal electronics manage the battery charging/discharging 
process, ensuring it a long life. This approach, coupled with a 
remarkably low average consumption, allows an addSDI RTU to 

Summary of Contents for A725 addSDI

Page 1: ...A725 addSDI User Manual SMART WIRELESS SOLUTIONS...

Page 2: ...sing from the use of any information in this publica tion or any error or omission in such information or any incorrect use of the product Document Release 1 0 Dezember 2006 Copyright 2003 2006 by Adc...

Page 3: ...nnector __________________________________________________ 15 SDI 12 Sensor Connections______________________________________________ 16 Self powered Sensor ___________________________________________...

Page 4: ...CHAPTER 2...

Page 5: ...e capable of operating SDI 12 compatible sensors The frequency of operation is in the 432 to 470 MHz range mak ing it compliant to most radio communication regulations in the world The output power is...

Page 6: ...tuted for something specific as indicated in the expla nation Italics can also be used to emphasize words as words or letters as letters Bold Indicates special emphasis of the text Also indicates men...

Page 7: ...metry Gateway A840 and Wireless Modem A440 User Guide Opening the packages The addSDI RTU package contains the A725 RTU an antenna and a pipe clamp If ordered the following items come in separate pack...

Page 8: ...affected Installing the RTU The following restrictions apply In general the typical line of sight distance over which the RTU can communicate is 1 km 6 miles This is valid if both the RTU and its part...

Page 9: ...f the unit connects to at least one station or a base station it will light up the LED for about 4 seconds b Keep observing the LED tool and after another several seconds the LED will blink one or mor...

Page 10: ...configure the device in the software Serial number of each RTU Type and address of SDI 12 sensors connected to each RTU WARNING The SDI 12 sensor addresses must be set prior to attaching the sensors t...

Page 11: ...e fully charged after two consecutive sunny days but you should get an LED light up after several minutes of charging in the sunlight Configuring an addSDI RTU in the addVANTAGE software To configure...

Page 12: ...ent the battery loses its capacity noted in the software with repeated Battery low messages it must be replaced Make sure though that the problem is really due to the battery and not to a defective or...

Page 13: ...so 1 Open the lid by unscrewing the four screws in the corners of the addSDI RTU then remove the lid as shown in Figure 3 Figure 3 Removing the addSDI Lid 2 The battery pack is connected to the electr...

Page 14: ...vided together with your battery as rubber gaskets tend to stiffen and might not reseal properly Place the rounded side of the gasket into the groove and have the flat side showing 7 Insert the batter...

Page 15: ...chitecture the unit may not communicate properly with the SDI 12 sensors and or with the remote measuring station or function with the addVANTAGE software WARNING Tampering with parameters for the add...

Page 16: ...tery removed Communication over a serial connection with 19200 baud Figure 6 illustrates the connections available at the POWER con nector Figure 6 A725 POWER Connector Top View WARNING The serial lin...

Page 17: ...the wiring as shown in Figure 9 Figure 9 A725 Connection with External Battery and Power Supply The SDI Connector The SDI connector is used to connect the addSWITCH A725 to an SDI 12 Sensor bus See F...

Page 18: ...peak current draw upon start up This is of particular importance when connecting more than one sensor to the SDI 12 bus while one sensor might still operate flawlessly with your RTU two might draw too...

Page 19: ...tion the RTU powers the SDI 12 sensor The sensor must be capable of working with a supply voltage as low as 5 6V WARNING Check the minimum supply voltage of your sensor BEFORE installing it This infor...

Page 20: ...with identical addresses are connected to the same bus communication with these sensors is not possible Note The factory default address of most SDI 12 sensors is usually 0 Please use an appropriate...

Page 21: ...the system follow these steps to configure the device and set the default parameters Note To configure the A725 RTU you must use the A720SC adapter cable mentioned above available from your Adcon deal...

Page 22: ...s ID the node executes the command on a remote device if such an ID exists Not naming any ID implies that the command is addressed locally Note Not all the commands can be executed remotely Command is...

Page 23: ...the command was successfully executed or not If this value is 0 the command was successfully executed If this value is other than 0 the command failed The number may further indicate the error type S...

Page 24: ...12 12 1998 22 10 10 0 FREQ CAUTION Do not change the frequency of your device without reason apart from the fact that it might not communicate in the network anymore you might also violate the applica...

Page 25: ...y set to 42 RETURNS The instant RSSI value and the programmed threshold REMARKS GET SET REMOTE No EXAMPLE RSSI 50 15535 RSSI 0 RSSI 15535 RSSI 34 50 0 Note The values of the RSSI threshold have no uni...

Page 26: ...t for the A725 RTU The sensors firmware is responsible for calculations of avaraged values etc RETURNS The interval and rate REMARKS GET SET The default interval is 900 15 minutes and rate is 15 15 sa...

Page 27: ...data of the local device RETURNS A data block Note The addSDI does not support analog sensors REMARKS GET only If the date time parameter is not included the latest data is returned If the date time p...

Page 28: ...he digibyte is depicted in Figure 15 Figure 14 Frame 39 description Figure 15 The Digibyte The remote version is limited to a single frame An example of such a command is given below 9999 DATA 9999 13...

Page 29: ...ult is the standard A D subsystem of the A725 ID 0 RETURNS A data block see also DATA on page 25 Note The analog inputs are disabled on the A725 REMARKS GET only The command needs a certain delay to e...

Page 30: ...type slot sam ples po err_level The formats for the above parameters are as follows rf_in and rf_out as a decimal date as dd mm yyyy time as hh mm ss ver as x x clk stack and cop as decimal they repr...

Page 31: ...ith the PMP command type is used to represent the device type the following types are currently assigned 0 for A730MD 1 for A720 2 for A730SD 3 for A720B 4 for A733 5 for A723 6 for A440 7 for A733GSM...

Page 32: ...nd only when a key is pressed This command returns no message REMOTE No EXAMPLE RX 15535 RX 0 TX DESCRIPTION Switches the unit to transmit mode for tuning purposes PARAMETERS None sends an unmodulated...

Page 33: ...ults will be listed A list of heard stations with their RF levels will be updated in the memory and will be available whenever the BLST command is issued EXAMPLE B 15535 B 0 234 BA 0 7851 BA 0 BLST DE...

Page 34: ...ement method with M followed by a number default M0 or you can choose continuous measurement by choosing R followed by a number In addition you can set up to 24 bits in the value index map by adding a...

Page 35: ...the command was issued without arguments the GET variant a A The presence of the SDI 12 BUS a absent A active w W Wait State of the system w not waiting W waiting for an SDI 12 sensor m M Measurement...

Page 36: ...answer indicates 1 sensor found at address 0 method 0 and index mask is 0xfffff all 20 indices 0 19 Note Every 1 in the index mask binary corresponds to a selected index e g 0x3 corresponds to index 0...

Page 37: ...the date hh mm ss is the time si is the size of the frame variable for the SDI frames ft is the frame type 60 rfin is the RFin RSSI value rfout is the RFout RSSI value db is the digibyte value batt is...

Page 38: ...SDI available is the number of SDI 12 sensor values effectively returned The difference between the SDI count and SDI available indicates missing sensors down or damaged Usually these two values are...

Page 39: ...his param eter is set to 30 seconds by default A larger value may lead to higher power consumption This should be used in cases an SDI 12 sensor needs large time values to return a sensor result If yo...

Page 40: ...erform a command on a non existent device 11 device already exists 12 reserved 13 no more space for descriptors too many devices 14 no more records for the specified device 15 temporary communication...

Page 41: ...CHAPTER 3 Returned errors list 39 36 receiver busy for example just executing a polling series 37 time stamp of a frame is too far in the future 38 general modem error...

Page 42: ...art J Table 2 shows the main operational parameters of the A725 Table 2 Operational Parameters Parameter Min Typ Max Unit Common Supply 5 0 6 2 10 0 V Operating Temperature 30 70 C Relative Humidity 1...

Page 43: ...r 25 kHz version 44 dBm Occupied Bandwidth 12 5 kHz version 8 5 kHz Occupied Bandwidth 25 kHz version 15 kHz Operating Current incl onboard microcontroller 50 mA SDI 12 Sensor Supply Voltaged 5 5 6 0...

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