Horizon Renewable Energy Monitor User Manual And Software Reference Manual

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Horizon

Renewable Energy Monitor

User Manual

And

Software Reference Guide

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Introducing the Horizon
Renewable Energy Monitor

The Renewable Energy Monitor is an

educational evaluation monitoring device with

PC measurement software for graphical display

of performance characteristics on its own 2 line

LCD screen or your Windows computer. It has a

2 line LCD screen for viewing measurements that

you cycle through just by pushing a button.

And the Renewable Energy Monitor is battery

operated and comes with a USB port so it can

also be used with or without a computer –

indoors or outdoors – where you can make direct

solar and wind measurements.

And its power is in its simplicity!

Horizon developed the Renewable Energy

Monitor to allow you to avoid using the

multimeters confusing setup and cumbersome

computations in order to provide an immediate,

graphical way for recording data directly with no

formulas and nothing to calculate. Numerous

experiments and evaluation activities for

hydrogen fuel cells, miniature wind turbine kits,

and solar panels are now quantiable in real time

for voltage, current, power, joules, resistance,

and even wind turbine RPM speed – all viewable

and recordable at the same time!

The Renewable Energy Monitor is fully

compatible with any of Horizon’s educational kits.

Screens

Just push the Select button to cycle

through the following screens:

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Switches

There are only two switches to operate:

• Battery – OFF - Computer

• Select

Set it to Battery when you want to make your

measurements outside or without using a

computer, or set it to Computer when it’s

plugged into your computer using the supplied

USB cable. And set it to OFF when it’s not in

use.

Push the Select button to cycle through the

four main LCD screens. You can even hold

the Select button to “freeze” the display if the

numbers are changing too fast.

USB Connection

A USB “type B” connector on the back of the unit

allows connection to a Windows PC computer

(MAC computers are not supported at this time).

Power for the Renewable Energy Monitor is

supplied by the PC via the USB cable.

Battery Requirements

The Renewable Energy Monitor uses a

standard 9 volt radio battery that is easily

replaced when necessary. The LCD screen will

indicate when

Units of Measurements

The Renewable Energy Monitor measures

standard electrical units like voltage, current,

power, energy and resistance. It also

measures the RPM speed of the WindPitch

wind turbine.

Voltage is measured in volts or millivolts

(mV). A millivolts is 1/1000 of a volt but when

seen on the LCD screen it can provide a

more accurate measure of the voltage. For

example…

1.23 volts = 1230 mV

10.456 volts = 10456 mV

Current is measured in amps or milliamps

(mA). A milliamp is 1/1000 of an amp. For

example…

0.003 amps = 3 mA

1.256 amps = 1256 mA

Power is measured in watts or milliwatts

(mW). A milliwatt is 1/1000 of a watt. For

example…

0.034 watts = 34 mW

2.987 watts = 2987 mW

Energy is measured in Joules. Energy is

basically power x time and one Joule is equal

to one watt-second. For example.

21 Joules = 21 watt-seconds or the amount of

power used in 21 seconds.

RPM is a measure of the rotational speed

of the wind turbines blades. RPM is used

in experiments to show how the above

parameters are affected by higher or lower

RPM rates.

indicate when the

battery is low and

needs replacement.

Be sure to set the

switch to OFF t o

extend the battery life

when not in use.

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Input and Output Terminals

There are two sets of Input and Output

terminals. The Input terminals are on the

left side and the Output terminals are on the

right side of the unit. The Red terminal is +

or positive while the Black terminal is – or

negative. You must observe the correct polarity

when hooking up batteries, solar panels, wind

turbines or fuel cells to the terminals.

Specications

The Renewable Energy Monitor will measure

electrical parameters up to the following limits:

Voltage: 0 - 28 VDC

Current: 0 - 1 amp DC

Power: 0 - 28 watts

Resistance: 0 - 999 ohms

Energy: 0 - 65535 Joules

RPM: 200 - 2500

Note: very low and very high RPM speeds

cannot be accurately measured. Even though

the wind turbine may be spinning the electronic

circuitry is only capable of measuring a certain

range of RPM speeds. Low voltage outputs

from the WindPitch wind turbine may also affect

RPM accuracy.

Common Equations

The Renewable Energy Monitor uses the

following common equations internally to

measure and compute voltage, current,

resistance and power.

V = I * R where V = voltage

I = current

R = Resistance

P = V * I where P = power

V = voltage

I = current

J = P * T where J = Joules

T = time in sec

Operating Tips

Electrical Fundamentals – Refer to the REES

Experiment Manual for an explanation of the

fundamental electrical parameters such as

voltage, current, power, resistance and more.

Measuring Resistance – A voltage must be

applied across the Input terminals in order to

measure the resistance attached to the Output

terminals.

Also, the resistance will vary depending on the

voltage and current produced in the circuit. The

Renewable Energy Monitor uses Ohm’s Law

to compute resistance, so any small variations

in voltage and current will affect the resistance

reading.

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Software

Software for Windows PCs (XP, Vista and

Windows 7) is provided to expand the

operational capabilities of the Renewable

Energy Monitor. MACs are currently not

supported. Connect the USB cable between

the Monitor and your computer for vivid

graphical displays of data.

Installing the Software

Insert the supplied CDROM disc into your

computer and follow the directions in order to

load the software.

Running the Software

Tip: Always attach the USB cable between

the Renewable Energy Monitor and the

computer BEFORE you click on the REM

icon to start the software. Then click on the

Connect icon once the software is visible on

your computer.

After the software is installed

on your computer a Desktop

icon like the one here is

displayed. Double-click the

icon to launch the software.

Connecting

Once the software is displayed on your

computer screen, click the Connect icon on

the bottom-right of the screen. It will turn from

red to green to show that it is connected to the

Renewable Energy Monitor.

Tip: Nothing will happen unless you

click the Connect icon and the number

below it represents the com port attached

to the Renewable Energy Monitor. Refer

to the “More Details” section for a further

explanation.

Plot Area

The plot area displays the line plots of voltage,

current, power, resistance and RPM – all at the

same time. This data is updated ve (5) times

a second from the Renewable Energy Monitor

so it always represents the latest information

coming from your experiments.

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Color-Coded Plotting Lines

Each data plot is in a different color in order to

make it easy to see what is being measured.

Green - Voltage in volts

Blue - Current in amps

Red - Power in watts

Black - Resistance in ohms

Pink - RPM x 100

Adjusting the Plot Scale

and – control the time scale. Clicking the reverse

arrow icon (bottom-left) clears the screen and

allows a fresh plot of data to be displayed.

Meters and LED On-Off buttons

Four vertical meters display the voltage, current,

power and resistance along with corresponding

numbers at the bottom. Clicking any of the LED

buttons at the bottom of each meter turns the

corresponding plot line ON or OFF. The LEDs are

color coded to match the plot lines to make it easier

to understand.

You can change the plot

scale to match the incoming

data from the Renewable

Energy Monitor by using the

Plot Scale icon. The vertical

+ and – control the vertical

scale while the horizontal +

Joules and RPM Display

Joules is a measure of energy (power x

time). It is equivalent to a watt-second

or the number of watts generated in one

second and shows how much energy the

experiment is generating.

RPM is displayed as RPM x 100 in order to

better t in the plot area. For example an

RPM reading of 1436 is shown as 14.36.

Screen Snapshots

You can capture

a snapshot of the

screen at anytime

by clicking the top

Screen Capture

icon. Then click the

Screen View icon

below it to see what

you captured.

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Data Recording and Playback

The built in recording feature is like recording

a TV show for later playback except that you’re

using data coming from the Renewable Energy

Monitor instead. The Recording and Playback

controls are shown here.

The top three controls are…

Record Play – Pause Stop

Recording Data

Click the (round) Record icon to start recording

data. The icon will change to a brighter red

color.

Stop Recording

Click the (square) Stop icon when you’re done

recording. The Stop icon will momentarily

change color from white to green – then back to

white again. The red Recording icon will also

turn off and the plot will go back to real time.

Play and Pause

Click the (triangle) Play icon to begin

replaying the recorded data. The Play

icon will change from white to green during

playback.

You can Pause the playback by clicking again

on the (triangle) Play icon. It will change from

a green triangle to a green double line. Click

the Pause icon again to resume playback.

Recording Counter

The Recording Counter indicates the number

of data samples that are (or have been)

recorded for later playback. It can range from

1 to 999.

The Trash Icon

Click the Trash icon to erase all the recorded

data. This will also reset the time on the plot

area back to 0.0 minutes. You can push the

Trash icon anytime; just make sure you really

want to erase all the recorded data.

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Sample Rate

You can control the rate at which you sample

data by clicking the + or – icons on the Sample

Rate indicator.

The default is ALL which means that all

data from the Renewable Energy Monitor is

recorded. Clicking the minus icon will slow

the sample rate to the following:

Zooming

While plotting data in real time or replaying

data after recording, you can zoom in on

a portion of the data at anytime. Simply

position the mouse cursor over the area

you want to zoom in to and click the left

mouse button. Then release the left

mouse button to execute the zoom feature.

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More Details ……………..

This section gives you more in depth

information on important topics of interest

(and possible confusion).

The Stop and Trash Icons

The Trash and Stop icons are the most

important controls for plotting.

If plotting seems to stop or not do what you

want it to do, it may be because the Stop

icon was not clicked. Make sure to click

the Stop icon after each recording.

The Trash icon not only erases all the

recorded data, it also controls the time

scale on the plot area. Click the Trash icon

to reset the (horizontal) time scale to start

at 0.0 minutes again. When in doubt, click

both of them to get back to normal plotting.

The Recycle Icon

Click the Recycle

icon to set the plot

scales back to

default settings.

The Connect Icon

Before any plots can occur, the graphic software

must connect with the Renewable Energy

Monitor that is transmitting data.

Normally the number just below the Connect icon

is the right com port number; however, sometime

you must select a different number to make the

plotting work.

the correct Comm port on your PC by going to

Control Panel -> System -> Hardware Manager

-> Device Manager then click on Comm port.

Since you are using a USB connection rather than

the traditional RS-232 connection, the Comm port

number is not dependent on hardware so much,

but rather on software settings in the Control

Panel of the Windows operating system.

To do so, first select the

correct Comm port number.

Click on the arrow next

to the number to see if

a higher number Comm

port is displayed. If so,

it’s probably the one to

use. When in doubt, nd

When correct, the Connect

icon will show that the

connection is made. If the

Comm port is still not correct

an error message will be

displayed, which is usually

due to the Comm port already

in use by another Windows

application.

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Screen Capture and View Icons

An important feature of the software is its ability to

capture a snapshot of the screen at anytime. This

way you can save important images including plots

and meter data for later review.

All the snapshots are saved to the computers hard

disk. Just look under C:/Desktop/ Documents/

Horizon where you will find a listing similar to this.

Each snapshot is labeled REM along with the date

and time it was captured, so it should be easy to

locate using the Search function.

For example, to take a snapshot of

the entire scree click the top Screen

Capture icon – the one with the

camera.

To view the captured snapshot, click

the Screen View icon – the one with

the magnifying glass.

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Renewable Energy
Monitor Excel ® Interface
Addendum

In addition to its already powerful real

time graphical plotting and data logging

software, the latest version of Horizon’s

Renewable Energy Monitor comes with

the ability to transfer the logged data to an

Excel ® spreadsheet.

Here’s how it works….

By using the software’s Recording and

Playback features, each time a new

Record – Stop or Record –Play sequence

is performed, an Excel ® compatible CSV

(comma separated variable) le t is written

to the hard disk. The le name begins with

the letters REM and contains the date and

time the recording was begun.

Example:

REM_05_31_11_at_15_44_03

By simply importing this le into your Excel

® spreadsheet you can do further analysis

on the recorded data including plotting the

variables in any order or style that suits

your application.

The CSV files can be found on your hard

disk in the same folder as the captured

screen .jpg les. Just look under

C:/Desktop/ Documents/Horizon/le

Example

1. To start a Recording, click the red REC

button. It will change from dull to bright red

indicating that data is being recorded.

2. At the same time a new CSV text le is

opened and the incoming voltage, current,

power, resistance, RPM and Joule data are

saved in the le.

3. To end the recording, click the triangular

Play or square Stop button. The REC

button will turn dull red again and the Play

or Stop button will turn green. This will

also close the CSV text le where it can be

imported into Excel ®.

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4. To locate the CSV text file go to

C:/Desktop/ Documents/Horizon folder

where you will find the file mixed in with

other previously saved screen capture

images. If your folders are set to view files

as icons you should see something like

this.

5. The file with the Excel ® logo is the

one(s) you want to use to import into Excel

®.

6. To import the file into Excel ® you can 1)

simply double-click on it or 2) launch Excel

® manually, find the folder and open the file

normally. The data should look something

like this →

7. You can then proceed to manipulate

the data in anyway you choose including

generating plots directly from it.

Refer to Horizon’s

Renewable Energy Monitor User

Manual and Software

Reference Guide

for a complete description of all

the software features.

The new Excel ®feature is

available in software version

1.10 and above.

FCJJ-24_REM_UM_V1.2_EN