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Dynamax Inc 

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3.0  INTELIMET ADVANTAGE 6 AND SENSOR INSTALLATION  

 

InteliMet  Advantage  6  weather  station  is  completely  integrated  system  with  data  collection/ 
processing  and  storage  unit  along  with  basic  meteorological  sensors.  IMET_MP2_Main.CR2 
program  supplied  with  the  system  can  read  all  the  basic  weather  sensors  (solar  radiation,  air 
temperature, RH, Wind speed, wind direction, rain gauge, optional soil temp. and soil moisture), 
process  data  according  to  the  applied  algorithms  and  constants,  compute  ETP  and  store  in  data 
loggers memory for retrieval at a later time. InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station custom stations 
will be assembled and programmed with a custom program before the units are shipped from our 
factory. So, all the assembly and programming of the weather station is performed at our factory. 
This leaves the end-user with only installation of the weather station at the required site. 

 

This  chapter  discusses  basics  of  installation  on  a  steel  pipe  mast  (standard),  system  mounting, 
sensor  wiring  and  solar  panel  installation.  A  separate  manual  is  provided  for  optional  tripod 
installation.  Selecting  an  appropriate  site  for  installation  of  weather  station  is  critical  to  obtain 
accurate meteorological data. The site should be away from urban and natural obstructions such as 
buildings and trees, or sprinkler irrigation. This chapter explains steps involved in  

 

 

Pole installation 

 

InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station installation 

 

Solar panel installation 

 

Sensor installation 

 

Refer to the following chapters for software setup, programming and data retrieval. 

 

InteliMet  Advantage  6  stations  components  and  wiring  is  shown  in  the  diagram  below.

Summary of Contents for InteliMet Advantage 6

Page 1: ...InteliMet Advantage 6 Weather Station User Manual v 1 1 ...

Page 2: ...license either express or implied is granted under any patent right copyright or other intellectual property right of DYNAMAX relating to this product or process There are no implied warranties of merchantability or of fitness for a particular purpose given with the sale of any goods DYNAMAX Inc shall not be liable for consequential incidental or special charges InteliMet Advantage 6 Dynagage Dyna...

Page 3: ...an Bavel BSEE Sai P Gonuguntla MSEE Yunpeng Ji BSEE Programs and algorithms Copyright Dynamax Inc 2011 Portions of the manual are courtesy of Campbell Scientific Inc and are subject to Copyright 1998 Campbell Scientific Inc Portions of the manual are courtesy of Gill Instruments and are subject to Copyright Gill Instruments 2010 Trademarks used are property of their respective owners ...

Page 4: ...nd Tripod Installation 19 3 2 1 Single Pole Installation 20 3 2 2 Solar Panel Installation 23 3 2 3 Install InteliMet Advantage 6 Enclosure 24 3 3 Sensor Installation 25 3 3 1 MaxiMet GMX600 25 3 3 2 Solar Radiation PYR P 29 3 3 3 Soil Temperature sensor 109 30 3 3 4 Soil Moisture Sensor SM300 30 4 0 Lascano VanBavel ETP Program 31 4 1 Application of ETP Information with Sap Flow 32 4 2 ET Program...

Page 5: ...ata Collection 48 6 0 DATA FORMAT VIEW AND GRAPHS 49 6 1 File Format 49 6 2 Data Format 50 6 3 Open Data Using View 51 6 4 Open Data Using EXCEL 53 Appendix A LASCANO VAN BAVEL ITERATIVE ET ALGORITHM 54 Appendix B REFERENCES 56 Appendix C DATA SHEETS 57 ...

Page 6: ...program for reading weather sensors Lascano Van Bavel Evapotranspiration ETP for computing ETP in mm hr Crop growth models and Crop Water Index can be developed with this information for grower applications of irrigation pest control and performing the optimum harvest Many other crop manager decisions can benefit from the hourly weather records and current information Standard evapotranspiration m...

Page 7: ...ishandling The white InteliMet Advantage 6 enclosure contains the CR200 logger and battery Sensor cables with sensors installed on the end exit from the bottom of the system enclosure 6 RS232 interface cable tucked inside the enclosure Each sensor lead is labeled identifying the sensor type and constants if any InteliMet Advantage 6 software CD ROM is supplied with each system unless otherwise ord...

Page 8: ... 1 1 4 in reducer 11 SCH 40 Aluminum Pipe x 36 12 4ft Vertical Pipe Reducer 2 1 13 4ft Copper Ground Rod Clamp 14 10 X 8 Enclosure with Hardware 15 IMET 12V 2 9Ahr Battery 16 AC Power Transformer 17 Lightning Rod 18 10W Solar Panel with Mounts Optional 1 PC400 or LoggerNet Advanced data logger support software 2 CM6 2m Tripod with collapsible leveling collars and ground stakes 3 GSM F1 2 GSM Cell ...

Page 9: ... 9 16 Socket wrench and 7 16 deep well socket Level 12 24 5 64 Allen wrench Straight bit screwdrivers small medium Magnetic compass Volt Ohm meter Wire ties and tabs Conduit and associated tools as required for optional sensors 6 ladder Lock and key for enclosure Installation supplies needed 2 metal pipe 6 long threaded on one end for 2 in pipe thread Concrete quick set mix to secure the vertical ...

Page 10: ...modems provide efficient and low cost serial communication to remote installations for long distances of up to 40 Miles 9600 baud rate The CR206 operates at 915 Mhz in the USA and CR216 operates ate 2 4 Ghz in most other countries RFMX modems allow point to point and point to multi point configurations between central PC and multiple data loggers connected to it RFMX modems can be setup using PC40...

Page 11: ...gerNet Comprehensive networking options with scheduling automatic data retrieval and pakbus protocol networks All communication links are supported RF Tel MODEM LANs etc Each InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station is supplied with PC200w software in a CD along with CR200 programs to read sensors and calculate ETP For the procedure to connect program and download data refer to chapter 5 In this manu...

Page 12: ...k on pc200w_3 2 exe to launch the installation The installation panels will guide you through the process Once the installation is complete the PC200 software will be installed in the specified directory A PC200w icon will be placed on the desktop to give easy access to the software application Open My computer and navigate to the directory where software is installed Verify that all the required ...

Page 13: ...C CampbellSci PC200 This can be changed by specifying a different path location on the hard drive Location of working directory will not affect the operation of PC200 This directory stores temporary files Following is a typical list of files in working directory when working directory and PC200 executables are stored in different locations ...

Page 14: ...ontaining IMET_MP2_Main CR2 and IMET_MP2_tst CR2 programs to your PC on to the directory C Dynamax Imet These are READ ONLY files Any changes to these files are not allowed you can make changes in the CRBasic editor or other text editor and save the modified program with a new file name In addition if the InteliMet Advantage 6 system shipped is a custom set of sensors with additional soil moisture...

Page 15: ...all the assembly and programming of the weather station is performed at our factory This leaves the end user with only installation of the weather station at the required site This chapter discusses basics of installation on a steel pipe mast standard system mounting sensor wiring and solar panel installation A separate manual is provided for optional tripod installation Selecting an appropriate s...

Page 16: ...Intelimet Advantage 6 15 ...

Page 17: ...same The wind speed and direction can then be calculated from the differences in the times of flight on each axis This calculation is independent of factors such as temperature The compass point and polarity of U and V if the wind components along the U and V axis are blowing in the direction of the respective arrows MaxiMet can output the following wind readings depending on use of a Compass or G...

Page 18: ...ense the difference in the earth s field from the system s magnetic field then an on board microprocessor electronically subtracts out the system s magnetic fields reporting highly accurate compass readings Wind direction data is corrected for the orientation of the sensor The output of the wind direction is relative to magnetic North The MaxiMet compass is calibrated at Gill Instruments before th...

Page 19: ...speed using GPS speed and GPS heading When GPS Speed is available and GPS Speed transitions are below 4m s Corrected Wind Speed shall be computed as the True Wind Direction using GPS speed and Compass heading An integrated optical rain gauge that automatically senses water hitting its outside surface and provides measurements based on the size and number of drops Algorithms interpret this data and...

Page 20: ...nnect to the InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station Set the logger internal clock with the PC time date Click on the Set Data logger Clk 11 Download IMET_MP2_tst CR2 to logger InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station starts measuring sensors every 10s and store the collected data and calculations to memory every minute Monitor sensor output and calculated ET data If the sensors data and ETP output are...

Page 21: ...en though the unit can be installed in many different terrains with some professional help Prepare an area of 10 diameter for installing tripod with little disturbance to the ground surface or vegetation Dig a posthole of 6 8 in diameter and four ft deep with a shovel or with a posthole digger Mix two bags of quick set concrete mix and pour into the hole Insert the 2 pipe in the pit and fix the po...

Page 22: ...d the MaxiMet support tube into 1 1 4 side of 1 1 1 4 reducer as shown Before installing the GMX600 disconnect the cable from the data logger Run the cable through the designated hole in the support tube as shown Then connect the cable connector to the GMX600 Turn the connector clock wise until you hear a click Secure the GMX600 with 3 X M5 screws ...

Page 23: ...at least 2 in inside diameter or a wooden post with 4 or greater size O D Then drill three holes in the lower of the 1 pipe supplied as the mast along the same line in the center With mounting bolts you then attach the mast to the post or pipe and align the assembly vertically Then pour the concrete and fix the position until the concrete has set If the post is wooden a grounding wire should be ru...

Page 24: ...close to the mounting pole using a fence post driver or sledgehammer In hard soils use water to prime the soil and hole to make driving the rod easier Loosen bolt that attached clamp to the ground rod Draw Ground wire Green from the InteliMet Advantage 6 enclosure and insert it between the rod and the clamp Tighten the clamp bolt 3 2 2 Solar Panel Installation Solar panel without regulator model M...

Page 25: ...f the enclosure through cable glands each marked outside the enclosure or on the cable itself So it is not necessary for an end user to make any wiring inside the enclosure All the connectors are accessible out of the box Position the enclosure on the north side of the mast or tower northern hemisphere Secure enclosure as shown in the figure using U bolts and mounting brackets Route the 12AWG wire...

Page 26: ...to international standards The MaxiMet uses the Gill WindSonic wind speed and direction sensor The WindSonic measures the times taken for an ultrasonic pulse of sound to travel from the North N transducer to the South S transducer and compares it with the time for a pulse to travel from S to N transducer Likewise times are compared between West W and East E and E and W transducer If for example a ...

Page 27: ...on can be output o True wind wind speed and or direction information corrected by GPS for any direction misalignment of the north marker and or for any motion of the station E g vehicle or vessel A Met Spec Multi Plate Radiation Shield is used The special shield plate geometry with its double louvre design provides excellent response time performance of quick ambient temperature changes while stil...

Page 28: ...rected for the orientation of the sensor The output of the wind direction is relative to magnetic North The MaxiMet compass is calibrated at Gill Instruments before the unit is delivered Prior to installing MaxiMet it is suggested that for best accuracy a declination figure should be entered Use of the Compass Corrected Wind direction readings allows the unit be installed such that accurate positi...

Page 29: ...ons are above 5m s Corrected Wind Speed shall be computed as the True Wind speed using GPS speed and GPS heading When GPS Speed is available and GPS Speed transitions are below 4m s Corrected Wind Speed shall be computed as the True Wind Direction using GPS speed and Compass heading ...

Page 30: ...base of the sensor in the leveling plate and tighten the mounting screw from the bottom Mount the leveling plate on the mounting plate stand and loosely attach using the three inner screws through the top holes with about 4 turns each Now adjust the three Allen hex socket leveling screws such that the bubble is in the center showing the sensor and leveling plate are horizontal Tighten the three in...

Page 31: ...ctric constant of the medium changes with water content The change in dielectric constant is measured in mV DC voltage Weather station reads the DC voltage and converts to volumetric soil content in Soil moisture sensor SM300 is wired to the InteliMet Advantage weather station Select the location for installing the SM300 sensor usually close to the sprinkler fall area or under the drip nozzle Push...

Page 32: ...Intelimet Advantage 6 31 ...

Page 33: ...and trees it is essential to compare their hourly pattern within that of the concurrent evaporation demand A general comparison can also be made of daily totals as an indication of water stress or other influences that cause the plant to use less water than expected For example the weather data may give a value of 10 3 mm day for ETp and from stem flow gauges the total water used by a tree on 10 m...

Page 34: ...ion covers the basics of Evapotranspiration algorithms and the ET algorithm implemented in IMET_MP2_Main CR2 ET program contains two constants that are always set for the installation site and two constants that could be modified for various situations Only persons thoroughly familiar with ETP modeling should modify parameters lev and zot Normally the last two constants are altered to account for ...

Page 35: ...age solar radiation W m2 hta Hourly average of air temperature degC hrh Hourly average or relative humidity hpr Average Barometric Pressure MBar hws Hourly average of wind speed M s Calculated variables Notation Description Units had Air Density Kg m3 hum Ambient Humidity Kg m3 has Aerodynamic resistance S m skl Sky long wave radiation W m2 htc Surface temperature DegC rnt Net radiation balance W ...

Page 36: ... T e n Calculatio Po Dew a a 2 273 1500 4 2 2 237 269 17 08241 0 70 0 2 273 8 67 5 1 0 1 0 16 0 ln 16 0 ln 2 273 323 1 2 1013 1548 1 lg hta hdp hdp e hum hta E skl hws when hws zot zom ras or hws zot zom ras hdp e hum abp had n calculatio ET for orithm a RCM htc hta has had ras lev ras hum htc e ras hta has had htc hta skl htc E hgr root htc htc htc htc 2 273 16 303 2 273 323 1 2 273 16 303 2 273 ...

Page 37: ... and operate we recommend the user to modify the site specific constants variables to meet the geography of the location where the station is setup compile the program and send the new program to logger These site specific variables are Parameter Constant notation in program Description Units Default Values zom C_ZOM Height of measurement M 2 0 zot C_ZOT Roughness parameter for heat and vapor prof...

Page 38: ...d make changes if necessary Const INT_SCAN Const INT_STORE Const C_ZOM Const C_ZOT Const C_LEV Const C_HAS The following site specific parameters must be modified to meet the geographical location at which the station is setup to collect data Timing loop parameters are options as the industry standard is to collect data every hour Const C_ZOM Const C_ZOT Const C_LEV Const C_HAS ...

Page 39: ...e name ImetSiteA cr2 so that the original program is not modified Now the new program ImetSiteA cr2 is ready to send to logger Example 1 InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station is setup on top of a tower whose height is 10m Roughness parameter of the location of the installation is found to be 0 001m and the specific air heat capacity is 1002 0 J KgC Modify the program IMET_MP2_Main CR2 and send to ...

Page 40: ...ocation of the installation is found to be 0 004m and the specific air heat capacity is 1002 0 J KgC The station is located in a research site and the project requires sensor data to be read every 60 seconds and store to logger every 15 minutes Modify the program IMET_MP2_Main CR2 and send to logger so that the InteliMet Advantage 6 weather station can calculate ET using the Lascano VanBavel RCM a...

Page 41: ... new settings INT_SCAN 60 INT_STORE 15 C_ZOM 5 C_ZOT 0 004 C_LEV 2440000 C_HAS 1002 0 Enter these values in program as shown below Save the program as a different name ImetEx2 Cr2 New program is ready for sending to logger for data collection and ET computation with the revised parameters ...

Page 42: ... constants for those sensors Please refer to the documentation supplied with the custom sensors for constants and programming An example of how to change the constants for soil moisture sensor SM300 is explained below Soil moisture sensor SM300 measures soil moisture by volume in the sample The sensor measures voltage output that is proportional to the dielectric constant of the soil This voltage ...

Page 43: ...or these constants corresponding to the type of soil mineral organic in the program Save the program and compile Example shown above is for mineral soil For custom sensors added to CR200 refer to the application notes supplied with the system sensor manual ...

Page 44: ...y step EZSetup wizard that will guide through adding stations and connecting to logger If the station is already added in the list proceed with connect to logger in section 5 2 2 EzSetup wizard is shown in the screen below Click Next to start the wizard and complete setup process Select the data logger as CR200 assign Imet or any name of your choice as the Name of the data logger and enter followi...

Page 45: ...s station Imet to the station list for connection and data retrieval in future 5 If Test Communication is selected in the previous window PC200 software tries to connect to the specified logger on the COM port assigned in the setup wizard If the Communication test is unsuccessful software responds with Communication test Failed message and reverts back to the communication test window At this poin...

Page 46: ...gger at a later time 9 Click Next to complete the wizard and then Finish to close the Ezsetup wizard and revert back to PC200 main window as shown below Choose stay connected to keep the communication and close the Ezsetup wizard Notice that a new station Imet is added in the station list along with the station parameters entered while in the setup wizard 10 In the PC200 Setup Connect Tab notice D...

Page 47: ...rticular station To change or edit a station s settings simply click Edit button while the station is selected To connect to a logger for setting up program or data retrieval simply select the station name and click on Connect button If the connection is successful Connect button changes to Disconnect and Connection time is displayed at the bottom right corner indicating software is currently conn...

Page 48: ...wnload the program with required long term averaging interval later Any unwanted signals variables in Monitor window can be removed simply by selecting the cell and click Delete button 2 Once in the Add menu to select a range of values select the starting label click on the beginning for example TCAir_C and then a SHIFT Click on the ending of the range for example RG_mm and then click the Paste bu...

Page 49: ...s We recommend using a csv format such that the downloaded data files can be viewed easily using any spreadsheet application such as Excel 3 In the what to collect options choose New data from logger option to collect only new data since the last retrieval and appends to specified file name Choose All data from logger collect and dump all the data present in the logger and overwrite the specified ...

Page 50: ... saved in Imet_OutTable csv 6 1 File Format As explained in the previous chapter section Data Collection InteliMet Advantage 6 data files can be saved with the csv dat txt prn extensions Comma separated csv is the recommended file format as it allows the files to be viewed using any of the spreadsheet applications such as Excel Here is a list of some of the key differences among the file formats c...

Page 51: ...ge interval along with calculated Dew Point in degC calculated Surface temperature in degC using iterative RCM algorithm calculated ETP using Lascano VanBavel recursive algorithm Custom sensors such as quantum sensor soil moisture and soil temperature also are stored in the output table Below is the sequence of variables in the output file from standard program Output Table Format Time Stamp Recor...

Page 52: ...map file Click on the VIEW button on the PC200 main toolbar to launch VIEW utility 1 Click on File Menu and browse down to Imet_OutTable csv 2 Now the output table is displayed in the VIEW window in csv format Click on View Menu and then Expand tabs to see the data in the column format shown below Format of the data was discussed earlier Column header shows the variable name associated with the va...

Page 53: ...Example shown here is for ETP in Blue and Global radiation in Red To select multiple columns click on the second column with mouse while holding down the shift key Once the required columns are selected click on the tool bar button show graph 2Y axes to display the chart of the selected data ...

Page 54: ... displayed in excel window 2 In excel it is much simpler to plot required columns and there is no limitation on the number of columns that can be displayed in a chart Ideally all the variables saved in the OutTable can be displayed in the same chart using multiple axes option Select column columns for charting along with the Time stamp for X axis Click on chart wizard button follow steps in the wi...

Page 55: ...y average solar radiation W m2 hta Hourly average of air temperature degC hrh Hourly average or relative humidity hpr Average Barometric Pressure MBar hws Hourly average of wind speed M s Calculated variables Notation Description Units had Air Density Kg m3 hum Ambient Humidity Kg m3 has Aerodynamic resistance S m skl Sky long wave radiation W m2 htc Surface temperature DegC rnt Net radiation bala...

Page 56: ... T e n Calculatio Po Dew a a 2 273 1500 4 2 2 237 269 17 08241 0 70 0 2 273 8 67 5 1 0 1 0 16 0 ln 16 0 ln 2 273 323 1 2 1013 1548 1 lg hta hdp hdp e hum hta E skl hws when hws zot zom ras or hws zot zom ras hdp e hum abp had n calculatio ET for orithm a RCM htc hta has had ras lev ras hum htc e ras hta has had htc hta skl htc E hgr root htc htc htc htc 2 273 16 303 2 273 323 1 2 273 16 303 2 273 ...

Page 57: ...d calculate daily crop water use Agronomy Journal 1992 821 832 Penman H L Natural evaporation from open water bare soil and grass Proc Roy Soc London A193 120 145 1948 Van Bavel C H M Potential evaporation The combination concept and its experimental verification Water Resources Research 2 445 467 1966 Kimball B A S B Idso and J K Aase A model of thermal radiation from partly cloudy overcast skies...

Page 58: ...Intelimet Advantage 6 57 Appendix C DATA SHEETS ...

Page 59: ...in a cement footing The crossbar system installed 6 ft high is light and strong We supply all the unique parts and let you save money on a costly tripod or tower 1 in x 3 ft long pole and cross arm give flexibility and is easy to mount on any 2 pipe or tower with pipe adapters and mounting hardware supplied by Dynamax Dynamax proprietary software records data from the innovative Gill MaxiMet GMX60...

Page 60: ... 0 1 F Units of measure C F K Accuracy 0 3 C 20 C Rain Gage Measurement type Optical Range 0 150 mm hr Precipitation Resolution 0 2 mm Accuracy 2 Sampling Rate 1 Hz Units mm hr mm total mm 24 hr in hr in total in 24 hr Heating Yes Environmental Protection class IP66 EMC BS EN 61326 2013 FCC CFR47 parts 15 109 Operating Temperature 40 C to 70 C Solar Radiation Absolute Accuracy 5 Spectral Range 380...

Page 61: ...N Height above sea level m Sunrise sunset Position of the sun Twilight 4PMBS PPO MSL pressure AngMF PG 5JMU Temperature humidity pressure A combined instrument mounted inside three double louvered naturally aspirated radiation shields with no moving parts The results are high performance across each measurement over long periods of time Wind Wind speed and direction measurements are provided via a...

Page 62: ...solution 1 Accuracy 2 20 C 10 90 RH Sampling Rate 1 Hz Units Rh g m3 g Kg DEW POINT Range 40 C to 70 C Resolution 0 1 Accuracy 0 3 C 20 C Units C F K Sampling Rate 1 Hz ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IP Rating 66 Operational Temperature Range 40 C to 70 C EMC Standard BS EN 61326 2013 FCC CFR47 parts 15 109 CE Marking YES RoHS compliant YES Weight 0 8 Kg Origin UK PRESSURE Range 300 to 1100 Resolution 0...

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