Elcometer Protovale 120, Operating Instructions Manual

Page 1: ...English Elcometer Protovale 120 Rebar Locator Operating Instructions D I S C O N T I N U E D ...

Page 2: ...otovale are registered trademarks of Elcometer Limited All other trademarks acknowledged Elcometer Limited England 2009 All rights reserved No part of this document may be reproduced transmitted transcribed stored in a retrieval system or otherwise or translated into any other language in any form or by means electronic mechanical magnetic optical manual or otherwise without the prior written perm...

Page 3: ...ge 1 About your Rebar Locator 2 2 Getting started 3 3 Using the instrument 6 4 Measuring depth of cover 12 5 Trouble shooting 16 6 Maintenance 16 7 Spare parts and accessories 17 8 Related equipment 17 D I S C O N T I N U E D ...

Page 4: ...ct With the purchase of this instrument you now have access to the worldwide service and support network of Elcometer For more information visit our website at www elcometer com 1 ABOUT YOUR REBAR LOCATOR The Elcometer Protovale 120 Rebar Locator is a handheld instrument for fast and accurate location and orientation of concrete reinforcement bars 1 1 WHAT THE BOX CONTAINS Elcometer Protovale 120 ...

Page 5: ...from the carrying case 2 Remove the battery compartment cover 3 Fit the batteries taking care to ensure correct polarity 4 Replace the battery compartment cover 5 Replace the instrument in the carrying case ensuring that the speaker output grille lines up with the hole in the case Note Remove the batteries from the instrument if it is to remain unused for a long period of time This will prevent da...

Page 6: ...Press the left hand switch down to the spring loaded BATT position If the meter needle is within or above the green diamond on the black scale the batteries are OK If the needle is below reading less than 70 on the black scale the batteries should be replaced see Fitting batteries on page 3 When the switch is released it returns to the central LOW position 2 5 DEPTH RANGE The other two positions o...

Page 7: ...ry control is turned slowly clockwise with the search head well clear of any metal a point is reached when the sound produced if AUDIO on is a steady ticking and the meter is close to the ZERO mark Further clockwise rotation will cause the meter to deflect to the right and the sound to increase in frequency through a buzz to a whine Maximum sensitivity is achieved when the sound is set to a low ti...

Page 8: ...p in stages through parallel bars crossed bars and finally the special case of welded fabric which responds differently Note that since the machine is not affected in any way by the concrete itself experience gained on bars measured in air will be just as applicable to bars in concrete In all cases start on the LOW range and only use HIGH if it is definitely necessary 3 1 SINGLE BARS Hold the sear...

Page 9: ...e search head scanned across the bars At maximum sensitivity a strong signal may well be produced everywhere but as the sensitivity is progressively reduced the signal will drop to a minimum when the search head is halfway between bars Unless the search head is very close to the bars further reduction in sensitivity will produce a null of silence between the bars and a maximum when the search head...

Page 10: ...ound the horizontal bars are clearly resolved regardless of whether the search head is also over a vertical bar or not Now turn the search head so the handle is vertical and scan horizontally This time the vertical bars and the spaces between them are clearly indicated whilst the horizontal bars are largely ignored Note that if the vertical bars are significantly different from the horizontal bars...

Page 11: ...erwise the machine may signal continuously As with the case of crossed bars little or no signal is given when the search head is in the centre of a space between four bars assuming that the sensitivity is reduced sufficiently A signal is certainly given when the search head is over a bar and aligned parallel to it but this is not the maximum signal If the search head is held with the handle vertic...

Page 12: ...search head is over a bar and the handle is at right angles to the bar a minimum or null signal occurs when the search head is in the centre of a space between bars at any orientation Maximum signal Medium signal Minimum signal D I S C O N T I N U E D ...

Page 13: ...rdless of the nature of the fabric structure and the orientation of the search head The recommended procedure therefore is to first map out these spaces If the aim was to find safe spots for drilling the object will then have been achieved Having found all the spaces the bars must now be between these spaces and so the bar locations are now determined Investigation of the behaviour of the signal a...

Page 14: ...ientation of the reinforcing bars 2 When the location and orientation of the reinforcing bars is known select the appropriate depth range The depth range will probably be the LOW position If in any doubt always try LOW range first 3 Hold the search head away from metal and bring the meter needle to the ZERO mark using the ZERO SET rotary control 4 Position the head on the concrete surface so that ...

Page 15: ...icate to the right of the true cover and therefore read low by up to about 5 mm Similarly a nearly exhausted battery which reads to the left of the diamond on BATT test will read to the left of the true cover ie high by up to 5 mm BAR SIZE The Elcometer Protovale 120 Rebar Locator is calibrated for a bar of 16 mm diameter and this calibration also adequately suits the adjacent sizes of 12 mm and 2...

Page 16: ...s signal must not be used for cover estimation Therefore not only is it important to ensure that the head is accurately over and parallel to the bar to be measured it must also be well away from transverse bars In general no reliance should be placed upon a cover measurement over welded mesh unless the spacing of bars parallel to the bar under measurement is significantly greater than the depth an...

Page 17: ...dings Location Description Effect upon cover reading Unconnected bars Welded mesh fabric A Correct correct correct B Not over bar very high high C Close parallel bars slightly low low D Not parallel to bar very high very low E Over transverse bar slightly low very low F Not parallel to bar very high very low G Close to transverse bar low low A B C D E F G D I S C O N T I N U E D ...

Page 18: ...n particular will ensure long term trouble free operation To prevent damage to the coil plug and socket keep the threads clean and free from mud and grit To prevent corrosion damage from leaking batteries make sure the unit is switched OFF after use and remove the batteries if the unit is to be stored unused for any period of time The instrument does not contain any user serviceable components In ...

Page 19: ...ay also benefit from the following Elcometer products Elcometer Adhesion and Bond Strength Testers Elcometer Concrete Crack Microscopes Elcometer Concrete Moisture Meters Elcometer Concrete Test Hammers Elcometer Concrete Covermeters For further information contact Elcometer your Elcometer supplier or visit www elcometer com Description Sales Part No 100 mm 4 Directional Search Coil for Rebar TW99...