Decagon Devices EC-10, User Manual

Page 1: ...EC 20 EC 10 EC 5 Soil Moisture Sensors User s Manual Version 10 ...

Page 2: ...Decagon Devices Inc 2365 NE Hopkins Court Pullman WA 99163 USA Trademarks ECH2O is a registered trademark of Decagon Devices Inc All rights reserved 2001 2010 Decagon Devices Inc All rights reserved ...

Page 3: ... EC 20 EC 10 EC 5 4 The EC 10 and EC 20 4 The EC 5 4 Sensor Features 5 Wiring Diagrams 5 3 5mm Plug Wiring 5 Wiring to Non Decagon Dataloggers 6 Extended cable lengths 7 3 Installing the Sensors 8 Procedure 8 Orientation 10 Removing the Sensor 10 4 Collecting Data 11 Datalogger Requirements 11 Connecting to a Datalogger 12 Sample Program 12 SCWin Short Cut Directions 14 Calibration 15 ...

Page 4: ...EC 20 EC 10 and EC 5 User s Manual Table of Contents ii Sensor Calibration Values 16 Troubleshooting 20 Declaration of Conformity 21 Index 23 ...

Page 5: ...ns Measurement Time 10ms milliseconds Accuracy EC 10 and EC 20 04 m3 m3 4 0 5 dS m With soil specific calibration 02 m3 m3 2 EC 5 at least 0 03 m3 m3 all soils up to 8 dS m With soil specific calibration 02 m3 m3 2 Resolution EC 10 and EC 20 0 002m3 m3 EC 5 0 001 m3 m3 VWC in mineral soils 0 25 in growing media Power Requirements EC 10 EC 20 2 5VDC 2mA to 5VDC 7mA EC 5 2 5VDC 3 6VDC 10mA Output 10...

Page 6: ... length 5m standard custom lengths or extension cables are available Connector types 3 5 mm plug or stripped and tinned lead wires Datalogger Compatibility not exclusive Decagon Em5b Em50 and radio enabled versions Campbell Scientific CR10X 21X 23X CR1000 CR3000 etc Contact Information To contact Decagon for questions or customer support E mail us at support decagon com sales decagon com Fax us at...

Page 7: ...overed hereby which is not manufactured by Seller shall be covered only by the warranty of its manufacturer Seller shall not be liable to Buyer for loss damage or injuries to persons including death or to property or things of whatsoever kind including but not without limitation loss of anticipated profits occa sioned by or arising out of the installation operation use misuse nonuse repair or repl...

Page 8: ... 20 have a very low power requirement and high resolution This gives you the ability to make as many measurements as you want even hourly over a long period of time like a growing season for exam ple with minimal battery usage The EC 5 The EC 5 varies from its EC 10 and EC 20 cousins Although the principles of measurement are the same its two prong design and higher measurement frequency allows th...

Page 9: ...EC 5 5 Sensor Features Fig 1 EC 20 diagram Fig 2 EC 5 diagram Wiring Diagrams 3 5mm Plug Wiring The EC 20 EC 10 and EC 5 come with a 3 5mm ste reo plug connector This allows for rapid connection directly to Decagon s Em50 and Em5 logger and the Circuitry Sensor ...

Page 10: ...g the sensor to non Decagon dataloggers First you can clip off the plug on the sen sor cable strip and tin the wires and wire it directly into the datalogger This has the advantage of creating a direct connection with no chance of the sensor becom ing un plugged however it then cannot be used in the future with a Decagon Em50 or Em5 logger The other choice is to obtain an adapter cable from Decago...

Page 11: ... For most applications you will want to seal the connec tions from the elements to maintain a good connection and to prevent corrosion It is imperative that these connections are checked before the sensor is buried Please see the Decagon web site www decagon com for an application note detailing some preferred meth ods for waterproofing these connections However if possible Decagon recommends that...

Page 12: ...eadings Because the EC 5 has gaps between its prongs it is also important to consider the size of the media you are inserting the sensor into It is possible to get sticks bark roots or other material stuck between the sensor prongs which will adversely affect readings Finally be careful when inserting the sensors into dense soil as the prongs will break if exces sive sideways force is used when pu...

Page 13: ...e shovel again into the soil a few inches away from the sensor and gently force soil toward the sensor to provide good contact between the sensor and the soil For deeper installation exca vate down to the level you wish to measure then install the sensor as described For the EC 5 1 The EC 5 sensor was designed for easy installation into the soil After digging a hole to the desired depth push the p...

Page 14: ... to match the bulk density of the surrounding soil Be careful not to bend the black overmolding connecting the sensor to the cable Orientation The sensor can be oriented in any direction However orienting the flat side perpendicular to the surface of the soil will minimize effects on downward water move ment Removing the Sensor When removing the sensor from the soil do not pull it out of the soil ...

Page 15: ... of 2 to 3 6 volts The sensors produce an output voltage that depends on the dielectric constant of the medium sur rounding the sensor and ranges between 10 and 50 of the excitation voltage Any datalogger which can pro duce a 2 5 to 5V 2 5 to 3 6V for EC 5 excitation with approximately 10 millisecond duration and read a volt level signal with 12 bit or better resolution should be compatible with t...

Page 16: ...e datalogger as shown with the supply wire connected to the excitation the analog out wire to an analog input and the bare ground wire to ground Fig 5 Datalogger configuration Sample Program The following program is an example that can be used with Campbell Scientific s CR10X datalogger and our EC 20 EC 10 EC 5 sensors at a 2500mV excitation CR10X Example ECH2O Datalogger Program for CR10X Wiring ...

Page 17: ...to volumetric water content VWC m3 m3 EC 20 VWC 0 00069 mV 0 29 EC 10 VWC 0 00093 mV 0 376 EC 5 VWC 0 00119 mV 0 400 The multiplier and offset in this example are for the EC 5 1 Excite Delay SE P4 1 1 Reps 2 5 2500 mV Slow Range 3 1 SE Channel 4 1 Excite all reps w Exchan 1 5 1 Delay 0 01 sec units 6 2500 mV Excitation 7 1 Loc Probe_VWC 8 00119 Multiplier 9 4 Offset Table 2 Program 02 0 0000 Execu...

Page 18: ...hould be in C Program Files Campbellsci SCWin Place the following files from the unzipped EchoCSI zip folder into the folder with SCWin exe AM1632Z MUX AM416Z MUX EC10 SCS EC101632 SCS EC10416 SCS EC20 SCS EC201632 SCS EC20416 SCS EC5 SCS EC5632 SCS EC5416 SCS SCWIN DECAGON CNT SCWIN DECAGON HLP Note If you are not able to find this directory path search for the folder that contains SCWIN exe and ...

Page 19: ... soil mois ture sensors a If they don t appear check to make sure you have pasted the files above into the correct location Calibration Decagon s ECH2O Utility ECH2O Utility Mobile and DataTrac automatically apply factory calibrations to the sensors output data However this general calibration may not be applicable for all sensors and all soil types While the factory calibrations for the EC 5 is a...

Page 20: ... of the sensors read by the ECH2O Check and Decagon loggers must be multiplied by 0 61 AND the 2500 mV slope to give the right value Sensor Calibration Values Following is a list of the both the millivolt and RAW calibration values for the EC 20 EC 10 and EC 5 where is the volumetric water content mV is the milli volt output of the sensor and where x is the RAW sen sor output EC 20 mV m3 m3 0 0006...

Page 21: ...3 x 10 6 Raw2 x 10 3 Raw where RAW is the output from the Decagon data logger using 3V excitation If you are using a non Decagon data logger dielectric permittivity is given by 1 x 10 9 mV3 x 10 6 mV2 x 10 3 mV Mineral Soils According to our tests a single calibration equation will generally suffice for all mineral soil types with electrical conductivities from 0 1 dS m to 10 dS m Volumetric water...

Page 22: ...near equations are easier to deal with especially since mineral soil typically saturates at 40 50 VWC Potting soil The following equations can be used to convert EC 5 output to water content in potting soil We tested several types of potting soil Sunshine mix Miracle Grow Pot ting Mix and Custom Nursery soil at several salinities and found that VWC is given by ø 1 3 10 3 Raw 0 696 3 for a Decagon ...

Page 23: ...10 4 Raw 0 183 5 for a Decagon datalogger or ø 2 63 10 6 mV2 5 07 x 10 4 mV 0 0394 6 for a datalogger with 2500 mV excitation NOTE These calibration constants only apply to 2500mV excitations use of these numbers with any other excitation voltage will result in erroneous read ings ...

Page 24: ...e form of incorrect or erroneous readings Before contact ing Decagon about the sensor do the following Check to make sure the connections to the data logger are both correct and secure Ensure that your datalogger s batteries are not dead or weakened If you encounter problems that aren t due to the datalog ger please contact Decagon at 509 332 2756 and at support decagon com ...

Page 25: ... Type of Equipment ECH2O soil moisture sensor Model Number EC 10 EC 20 EC 5 Year of First Manufacture 2001 This is to certify that the EC 10 EC 20 and EC 5 ECH2O soil moisture sensor manufactured by Decagon Devices Inc a corporation based in Pullman Washing ton USA meets or exceeds the standards for CE compli ance as per the Council Directives noted above All instruments are built at the factory a...

Page 26: ...EC 20 EC 10 and EC 5 User s Manual Declaration of Conformity 22 ...

Page 27: ...EC 20 16 for EC 5 16 for mineral soil 17 for potting soil 18 for rockwool 18 Contact information 2 D Datalogger 2 connecting to 12 requirements 11 sample program 12 Declaration of conformity 21 Dielectric Permittivity 17 E EC 10 4 EC 20 4 EC 5 4 calibration 16 E mail address 2 Extension cables 7 ...

Page 28: ...ps 8 M Measurement range 2 Mineral soil calibration 17 O Orientation of sensor 10 P Plug wiring configuration 5 Potting soil 18 Power requirements 1 Program 12 R Range 2 Removing the sensor 10 Rockwool 18 S Seller s liability 3 Sensor calibration 15 installation instructions 8 ...

Page 29: ...20 EC 10 and EC 5 User s Manual Index 25 orientation 10 specifications 1 Sensor orientation 10 Short Cut directions 14 Specifications 1 T Troubleshooting 20 W Warranty 3 Wiring diagram 5 Wiring diagrams 5 ...

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