Trimble REF TEK Colt Broadband Seismometer, 117400-**-UG Series, REF TEK Colt 117400-60, REF TEK Colt 117400-120 User Manual

REF TEK Colt™ Broadband

Seismometer User Guide

117400-XX-UG

Rev A

11/30/2018

This is the product user guide for the 117400-60 and 117400-120 Colt compact broadband
seismometer.

Trimble Inc.
5217 Tennyson Pkwy
Suite 400
Plano, Texas 75024
Support: 1-888-879-2207
Email: [e-mail]
www.trimble.com/infrastructure

Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018

Rev

Date

Reason for Change

Pages

A

2018-11-30

Initial release

All

0.1

2018-10-26

Engineering Review

All

117400-XX-UG

Revision History

Legal Notices

Corporate Office

Trimble, Inc.
935 Stewart Drive
Sunnyvale CA 94085
USA
www.trimble.com

Copyrights and Trademarks

© 2018, Trimble, Inc. All rights reserved.
Trimble, and Globe & Triangle logo are trademarks of Trimble, Inc., registered in the United States and in
other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Product warranty information

For applicable product warranty information, please contact support.

Trimble Inc
5217 Tennyson Pkwy, Suite 400
Plano, Texas 75024
USA

Voice: 1-888-879-2207
Fax: [phone]
EMAIL: [e-mail]
WWW: http://www.reftek.com

Supply the indicated information at time of contact.

Description of Problem
Type of Instrument
Model Number
Part Number
Serial Number

Trimble Inc. i

Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018

Notation

Description

ASCII

Indicates the entry conforms to the American Standard Code for Information Interchange definition of
character (text) information.

Binary

Indicates the entry is a raw, numeric value.

Hex

Indicates hexadecimal notation. This is used with both ASCII characters (0 – 9, A – F) and numeric values.

BCD

Indicates the entry is a numeric value where each four bits represents a decimal digit.

FPn

Indicates the entry is the ASCII representation of a floating-point number with n places following the
decimal point.

<n>

Indicates a single 8-bit byte. When the contents are numeric, it indicates a hexadecimal numeric value;
i.e. <84> represents hexadecimal 84 (132 decimal). When the contents are capital letters, it represents a
named ASCII control character; i.e. <SP> represents a space character, <CR> represents a carriage
return character and <LF> represents a line feed character.

MSB

Most Significant Byte of a multi-byte value.

MSbit

Most Significant Bit of a binary number.

LSB

Least Significant Byte of a multi-byte value.

LSbit

Least Significant Bit (bit 0) of a binary number.

YYYY

Year as a 4-digit number

DDD

Day of year

HH

Hour of day in 24-hour format

MM

Minutes of hour

SS

Seconds of minute

TTT

Thousandths of a second (milliseconds)

IIII

Unit ID number

n, ns

nano, nanosecond; 10-9 = 0.000000001

u, us

micro, microsecond; 10-6 = 0.000001

m, ms

milli, millisecond; 10-3 = 0.001

K, KHz

kilo, kilohertz; 103 = 1,000

M, MHz

mega, megahertz; 106 = 1,000,000

G, GHz

giga, gigahertz; 109 = 1,000,000,000

Kb, KB

kilobit, kilobyte; 210 = 1,024

Mb, MB

megabit, megabyte; 220 = 1,048,576

Gb, GB

gigabit, gigabyte; 230 = 1,073,741,824

WARNING

This alert warns of a potential hazard which, if not avoided, could result in
severe injury or even death.

CAUTION

This alert warns of a potential hazard or unsafe practice that could result in
minor injury or property damage or irretrievable data loss.

117400-XX-UG

Notation Conventions

The following notation conventions are used throughout REF TEK documentation:

NOTE: This is a note.

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Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018
117400-XX-UG

REF TEK Support and update notifications

As a valued user of REF TEK equipment we would like to provide the best support possible by keeping you
up to date with our product updates.

If you would like to be notified of any REF TEK product updates please spend a couple of minutes to
register with the REF TEK customer support team.

To register enter your company information through the Register link on our website at
http://support.reftek.com

Our support team will send you a unique Username and Password allowing secured access to all product
documentation and software sold to your company.

Once we register your contact we will only send necessary notifications via email. The same notifications
will be shown on our website’s http://support.reftek.com notifications page.

Support Phone: [phone]

Support Email: [e-mail]

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Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018
117400-XX-UG

Table of Contents

1 General Description ........................................................................................................ 6

1.1 Overview of the REF TEK Colt broadband seismometer ................................................................. 6

1.2 Sensor Operation .................................................................................................................................. 6

1.2.1 Sensor Topology ......................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Specifications ........................................................................................................................................ 8

1.4 Installation, Leveling and Orientation ............................................................................................... 8

1.4.1 Leveling and Orientation Controls ........................................................................................... 9

2 REF TEK Colt Pre-Installation ...................................................................................... 10

2.1 REF TEK Colt Box Contents ................................................................................................................10

2.2 Checklist for working environment .................................................................................................10

2.3 Site Preparation ..................................................................................................................................10

2.4 Unpack the REF TEK Colt ...................................................................................................................11

3 Installation ..................................................................................................................... 13

3.1 Installation of the Colt .......................................................................................................................13

3.2 Powering up the REF TEK Colt ..........................................................................................................14

4 Checking Mass Position Voltage using a handheld device ...................................... 16

4.1 Use the Control menu to check the REF TEK Colt ..........................................................................16

4.2 Aux Channels .......................................................................................................................................16

4.2.1 Check the Mass Position Voltages .........................................................................................16

4.2.2 User Initiated Centering Operation .......................................................................................17

4.2.3 Use the Monitor function ........................................................................................................17

5 Checking Mass Position Voltage with RTCC .............................................................. 18

5.1 RTCC Status/Control Screen ..............................................................................................................18

5.1.1 To update the DAS status on the current screen .................................................................18

5.1.2 Auxiliary Channels ....................................................................................................................19

5.2 RT_Display Example ............................................................................................................................20

6 Connector Pinout .......................................................................................................... 21

7 General Description1 .................................................................................................... 22

7.1 UVW/XYZ Output Mode ....................................................................................................................22

7.2 Mass Position Centering ....................................................................................................................22

8 Calibration ..................................................................................................................... 23

8.1 Example: Sine Wave Calibration .......................................................................................................24

8.2 Example: Step pulse Calibration of the REF TEK Colt...................................................................24

9 Feedback System .......................................................................................................... 26

10 REF TEK Colt Transfer Functions ............................................................................... 27

10.1 Transfer Function for the 120 second REF TEK Colt (P/N 117400-120) ...................................27

10.2 Transfer Function for the 60 second REF TEK Colt (P/N 117400-60) .......................................28

10.3 REF TEK Colt Response Characteristics..........................................................................................29

10.3.1 Amplitude and Phase Characteristics for the 120s Colt ...................................................29

10.3.2 Amplitude and Phase Characteristics for the 60s Colt .....................................................30

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11 Packing and Transportation ...................................................................................... 31

11.1 Warranty Statement .........................................................................................................................31

11.2 Warranty/Non-Warranty Service ...................................................................................................31

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1 General Description

1.1 Overview of the REF TEK Colt broadband seismometer

The REF TEK Colt™ is a force-balance feedback broadband sensor which features low
self-noise and a high dynamic range. The REF TEK Colt incorporates the following built­in functionality: automatic mass unlock after power up, automatic mass lock after loss of
power, analog mass position outputs, sensor calibration input, mass re-center upon user
command for remote mass centering, and lock/unlock upon user command. The REF
TEK Colt also incorporates built-in surge, lightning, and overvoltage protection on all
input/output pins.

The easy to use REF TEK Colt housing includes three adjustable leveling feet (each with a
locking nut), a bubble level, and several tools for easy alignment to North-South.

1.2 Sensor Operation

The REF TEK Colt uses a symmetrical axis topology as shown in Figure 1-1. With the
symmetrical topology, the REF TEK Colt uses three identical mechanical elements

mounted symmetrically onto the base of the unit. The REF TEK Colt’s analog output

signals are Z, Y, X orthogonal axis outputs. The Z output is the vertical output. The Y
axis output of the REF TEK Colt seismometer is the North-South output and the X axis is
the East-West output.

During normal operation the REF TEK Colt outputs are ZYX broadband sensor outputs.
During Mass Centering, Mass Unlocking, or Mass Locking the REF TEK Colt outputs are
switched into a short period ZYX output mode. During Calibration, while the Cal enable
signal is pulled low, the main signal outputs are switched to output the UWV signals
directly.

The REF TEK Colt has an internal super-capacitor which allows it to automatically lock its
masses anytime power is removed. When power is applied to the REF TEK Colt, it waits
two minutes for its internal mass lock super-capacitor to be fully charged. After the two
minute waiting period, the REF TEK Colt seismometer automatically unlocks its masses.
After the masses are automatically unlocked, the REF TEK Colt will automatically begin a
mass re-center cycle. This means that power can simply be applied to the REF TEK Colt
and after a few minutes it will have automatically unlocked itself, centered its masses
and be fully operational and outputting ZYX broadband seismometer signals.

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Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018























































































W

V

U

Z

Y

X

222

3- 30

1 1 2-

6

1

117400-XX-UG

Upon loss of power (including cable disconnection), the REF TEK Colt will automatically
lock the masses using power supplied by its internal super-capacitor. It is
recommended that the user manually lock the masses before powering off the unit
when moving or transporting the Colt seismometer.

1.2.1 Sensor Topology

The geometry of REF TEK Colt’s output coordinate system is shown below in Figure 1-1.
The conversion formula used to convert from the seismometers symmetrical (UVW)
orientation to its standard orthogonal (ZYX) output is show in Figure 1-2.

Figure 1-1 REF TEK Colt sensor topology

Figure 1-2 REF TEK Colt symmetrical to orthogonal output conversion formula

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Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018

Sensor Type

3 component Symmetrical

Feedback

Force balance with capacitive displacement transducer

Frequency Response

60s: 0.0167Hz (60 sec) - 80Hz (See Section 10)
120s: 0.0083Hz (120 sec) - 80Hz (See Section 10)

Sensitivity

2000 V/m/s (Differential output)

Output Signal

±20 V (Differential output)

Dynamic Range

Greater than >155 dB (1-10 Hz)

Output Impedance

Less than 100Ω

Calibration

Coil resistance 750Ω, sensitivity 10 m/s²/A

Leveling

Integrated bubble level
Adjustable leveling feet with locknuts (3)
Mass Position

Remote monitoring using 3 independent voltage outputs

Mass Locking

Automatic lock/unlock and upon user command

Distortion

Total distortion less than -60dB

Cross Axis Coupling

Less than 1%

Mechanical Zero

No need for adjustment in ± 20° C

Power-Fail Protection

Yes

Signal Overload Protection

Yes

Auto-recovery time

From Power Fail: ~10 Minutes
From Signal Overload: ~10 Minutes

Power Input

9 to 18 VDC

Operating Temperature

-25°C to +55°C

Power Consumption

<0.7 Watts

Water Tight Integrity

IP 67

Case

Aluminum, Powder Coated

Dimensions

Diameter 150 mm x Height 258 cm

Weight

5.5 kg

Connector

PT07A14-19S

117400-XX-UG

1.3 Specifications

1.4 Installation, Leveling and Orientation

Leveling of the REF TEK Colt is accomplished by using the three adjustable leveling feet
at the base of the unit. Once leveled, each leveling foot includes a locknut that should
be locked to keep the unit from moving. Before leveling the unit, the unit should be
orientated to point North. The REF TEK Colt includes two removable North-South
pointers that can be installed into the base of the unit during orientation. Additionally,
the handle is aligned in the North-South direction. The thermal cover bag also has the
letter “N” embroidered onto it for easy reference of the North orientation.

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Bubble Level

North Orientation

Marker

Orientation Pin

Connector

Leveling Foot

117400-XX-UG

Figure 1-3 REF TEK Colt Orientation and Leveling

1.4.1 Leveling and Orientation Controls

See Figure 1-3 for reference.

Orientation

The orientation pins are used to orientate the seismometer in the North and South
direction. In addition, the handle on top of the unit is aligned North-South and can be
used to align the seismometer in the correct orientation.

Bubble Level

The Bubble Level is used to level the seismometer as adjustments are made to the
leveling feet.

Adjustable Feet

Three Adjustable Feet are provided to level the seismometer. Use the Locknut Ring to
lock each adjustable foot after the instrument is level.

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Rev A REF TEK Colt™ Broadband Seismometer User Guide 11/30/2018

Item

Description

Part Number/Comment

1

REF TEK Colt Seismometer

117400-120 or 117400-60

1

Thermal Cover Blanket

Pre-installed on unit

1

Calibration sheet

Paper inside clear plastic sleeve

1

North and South Orientation Pins

Inside clear plastic sleeve

1

Connection Cable (Optional)

117440-00 for connection to 130S-01 (optional)

117400-XX-UG

2 REF TEK Colt Pre-Installation

The standard frequency response of the REF TEK Colt seismometer is either 0.0167 (60
sec) to 80 Hz (P/N 117400-60) or 0.00833 (120 sec) to 80 Hz (P/N 117400-120) so the
working environment should meet the requirements for accurate observation of short,
mid and long period seismic waves.

The seismometer needs to be placed in a location protected from the environment. Use
the following checklist to help determine and prepare the location before installation.

2.1 REF TEK Colt Box Contents

NOTE: Keep all packing material and instructions for shipping the
seismometer.

2.2 Checklist for working environment

 The mounting surface should be clean (no loose material), close to level and well connected

to the bedrock.

 The seismometer should be sheltered from wind and not exposed to direct sunlight.
 The location for the seismometer should be thermally stable. A thermal insulated cover

(outside of the seismometer) can be used to attenuate temperature variation.

 For better results, human activity around the seismometer should be minimized.
 Magnetic sources should not be placed nearby because it may cause noise and interfere

with the normal observation of the seismometer.

 Place the seismometer in a secure location.

2.3 Site Preparation

Prepare and clean the mounting surface so that it is free from any loose materials.

For best results, the installation site should protect the seismometer from temperature
extremes, vibrations from other equipment, and isolated from air currents.

The REF TEK Colt seismometer should be installed so that it is aligned and orientated
North to South. To facilitate this, it is recommended that the user mark a permanent (or
semi-permanent) scribe line onto the mounting surface before installing the REF TEK

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