Wet Labs ac-9 Plus User’s Guide

Absorption and Attenuation

Meter with Data Handling

WET Labs, Inc.

ac-9 Plus

User’s Guide

PO Box 518
Philomath, OR 97370
541 929-5650
www.wetlabs.com

ac-9 Plus User’s Guide (ac-9plus) Revision J 11 April 2006

Attention!

Return Policy for Instruments with Anti-fouling Treatment

WET Labs cannot accept instruments for servicing or repair that are treated with
anti-fouling compound(s). This includes but is not limited to tri-butyl tin (TBT),
marine anti-fouling paint, ablative coatings, etc.

Please ensure any anti-fouling treatment has been removed prior to returning
instruments to WET Labs for service or repair.

ac-9 Plus User’s Guide (ac-9plus) Revision J 11 April 2006

ac-9 Plus Warranty

This unit is guaranteed against defects in materials and workmanship for one
year from the original date of purchase. Warranty is void if the factory determines
the unit was subjected to abuse or neglect beyond the normal wear and tear of
field deployment, or in the event the pressure housing has been opened by the
customer.

To return the instrument, contact WET Labs for a Return Merchandise
Authorization (RMA) and ship in the original container. WET Labs is not
responsible for damage to instruments during the return shipment to the factory.
WET Labs will supply all replacement parts and labor and pay for return via 3rd
day air shipping in honoring this warranty.

Shipping Requirements for Warranty and Out-of-warranty Instruments

1. Please retain the original shipping material. We design the shipping container to
meet stringent shipping and insurance requirements, and to keep your meter
functional.

2. To avoid additional repackaging charges, use the original box (or WET Labs­approved container) with its custom-cut packing foam and anti-static bag to return
the instrument.

• If using alternative container, use at least 2 in. of foam (NOT bubble wrap or
Styrofoam “peanuts”) to fully surround the instrument.

• Minimum repacking charge for ac meters: $240.00.

3. Clearly mark the RMA number on the outside of your shipping container and on
all packing lists.

4. Return instruments using 3rd day air shipping or better: do not ship via ground.

ac-9 Plus User’s Guide (ac-9plus) Revision J 11 April 2006

Table of Contents

1.

Overview and Setup................................................................. 1

1.1 Installing Software............................................................................................. 2

1.2 Bench Testing .................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Air Tracking....................................................................................................... 4

1.4 Cleaning............................................................................................................. 5

1.5 System Requirements......................................................................................... 6

1.6 Operating the Meter ............................................................................................ 7

2.

Instrument Description ........................................................... 13

2.1 Instrument Overview ....................................................................................... 13

2.2 Optics............................................................................................................... 15

2.3 Electronics........................................................................................................ 17

2.4 Pressure Housing Material............................................................................... 17

2.5 Signal Processing............................................................................................. 17

3. Calibration and Characterization ............................................... 19

3.1 Temperature Correction................................................................................... 19

3.2 Precision........................................................................................................... 19

3.3 Absolute Calibration ........................................................................................ 20

3.4 Linearity and Dynamic Range ......................................................................... 20

3.5 Air Calibration and Tracking........................................................................... 20

4. Specifications............................................................................ 23

4.1 Connectors ....................................................................................................... 23

4.2 Power Requirements ........................................................................................ 26

Appendix A:

Pressure Sensor Use and Care .............................. 27

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1. Overview and Setup

An enhanced ac-9, or ac-9 Plus, provides additional capability that includes the simultaneous
collection, storage, and merging of digital data from an ac-9, a CTD and other optical
instruments in both profile and moored modes. Additionally, data from any one of the
instruments may be viewed in real-time while data is being collected and stored for all three. Set
up and use of the Plus requires an IBM-compatible PC running Windows 95 or later, and the
WET Labs-provided WET Labs Host program. The ac-9 Plus supports a growing number of
CTD instruments and a number of optical meters. Contact WET Labs for the current list of
supported meters.

The ac-9 Plus is delivered in a sturdy wooden shipping container with the following components:

• ac-9 Plus, with one absorption flow tube and one attenuation flow tube

• four flow sleeves

• four protective black plastic caps

• dummy plug with lock collar

• this manual

• WETView software

• WETView User’s Guide

• ac-9 Protocol document

• WET Labs Host software

• WETLabs Host User’s Guide

• instrument-specific calibration information

• ten-foot test cable

• double “Y” de-bubbler tubing

• stainless steel intake screens

Familiarize yourself with the ac-9 Plus: remove the black plastic flow tubes by grasping the
flow tube sleeves and sliding them away from the ends of the flow tube (toward the middle
of the flow tube). You only have to slide the collars about ½-in. to unlock the flow tube from
its fixed position. The flow tube will lift out, exposing the transmitter and detector windows
on the lower and upper flanges respectively. Observe the flow tubes. The attenuation tube is
different from the absorption tube. Its flow chamber is plastic and the two sleeves on the tube
are identical. This tube installs on the ‘c’ side of the instrument (the side with the identical
looking windows). The ‘c’ tube has no “up or down” orientation. The absorption tube is lined
with a quartz tube and one of the two sleeves is flat on top (the lip present on all the other
sleeves is missing). This tube installs on the ‘a’ side of the instrument, which can be
identified by the ‘a’ detector on the upper flange and is the only window, which is clearly
different from the other three. The flat flow tube sleeve goes on this detector.

You may want to mark the tubes and their orientation with tape or marking pen before using
the instrument at sea so that there is no confusion on reinstalling the tubes after cleaning the
optics. Reinstall the flow tubes before bench testing your instrument. If you have removed
the plastic caps from the stainless nozzles, replace them at this time.

ac-9 Plus User’s Guide (ac-9plus) Revision J 11 April 2006 1

1.1 Installing Software

1.1.1 Install WETView

WETView is used to view data during air and water tracking procedures on the ac-9 Plus.
It runs on PC-compatible computers with at least 16 Mb of memory and 3 Mb free hard
disk space.

1. Place the WETView floppy disk in the floppy disk drive.

2. Open the floppy and double-click on the SETUP.EXE icon. Setup will guide you

through the rest of the installation process.
When installed, the following files should be on the hard disk: WETVIEW.EXE,
WETVIEW.UIR, AC9XXX.DEV, AIRXXYYY.CAL. The DEV and CAL files are the
calibration files for your particular instrument.

1.1.2 Install WET Labs Host Software

WET Labs Host allows configuration of the ac-9 Plus and instruments connected to it as
well as displaying and retrieving data they produce. It runs on PC-compatible computers
with at least 16 Mb of memory and 3 Mb free hard disk space.

1. Place the WET Labs Host CD in the appropriate drive.

2. Copy the .EXE files into a working directory for the AC9 plus. No installation is

required for these programs.

1.2 Bench Testing

The ac-9 Plus is designed to use the WET Labs Host software by default. However, the most
straightforward method of performing pre-deployment checks is to use WETView.

The following items are needed to bench test the ac-9 Plus:

• A clean, solid lab table or work bench

• The ac-9 Plus with 10-foot test cable (or sea cable)

• A 12–15 volt power supply (the ac-9 Plus requires 10–18 VDC)

• A PC with WETView and WET Labs Host installed.

1. Connect the test cable to the proper COMM port of the computer. Connect the power
leads to a 12–15 volt power supply. The black lead is the V+ lead. Before connecting the
cable to the instrument, use a multi-meter to check the input power.

2. With the power supply turned on, connect the ground probe to pin 1 on the pigtail
connector (the large pin as you are looking into the connector). Connect the hot probe to
pin 4 (the pin directly opposite from pin 1). You should measure 12–15 volts across these
two pins.

3. Turn the power supply off.

4. Connect the pigtail to the ac-9 Plus and apply power.

5. Run WET Labs Host. Select the proper COMM port and baud rate for the host port from
the Comm_Ports pull-down menu: go to Logger Port/Configure Logger Port. Make

2 ac-9 Plus User’s Guide (ac-9plus) Revision J 11 April 2006

sure that communication is established with the AC9+ (the red fields on the “Configure
Host Port” window will turn white).

6. Select Modes/Advanced User from the pull-down menu (see below):

• Select the Logger Control tab.

• Select Run Only Serial 1 from the Mode of Operation pull-down in the center of

the tab.

• Check the Start Sample When Powered box at the right-center of the tab.

• Make sure the Delay Before Start under the Sampling Parameters column (left-

center) is 10 seconds.

• Press Send Setup and wait for the ac-9+ to clear the setting flags (yellow to gray).

7. Select COM_Ports/Logger Port/
Configure Logger Port from the pull­down menu. Deselect the COMM port
(No Port Selected) in the resulting
window. Minimize WL Host. Power
down the AC9+, wait a few seconds
and power it back up (cycle the power).

8. Run WETView. When the interface is displayed, you will need to provide a .DEV file
name. Click on the <O> button in the center top of the screen or choose Open Device
File from the File menu at the top left of the screen. The program will ask you to choose
the proper COMM port. Select the appropriate COMM port.

Note

WETView supports COMM1 through COMM4 only.

9. Click on the center button or <F1> to start displaying data. After 5–10 seconds, tabular
data should be displayed on the right side of the screen. A real time graph will begin to
develop, depending on the graph parameters set at the time. Refer to the WETView
User’s Guide for details of running the WETView software.

ac-9 Plus User’s Guide (ac-9plus) Revision J 11 April 2006 3

10. After a short time, again click on the center button that will stop the data collection and
ask for a file name to apply to the data if you should want to archive it. Press ESC if you
do not want to save the data. To quit the program, choose QUIT from the FILE menu. At
this point you have successfully completed a bench test of the instrument.

11. To reset the AC9+ communication with the WL Host:

a. Start the WET Labs Host program.

Go to Configure Logger Port and in
the resulting window, set the baud
rate to 9600 (BEFORE powering up
the AC9+).

b. Go to the Logger Control tab and power on the AC9+. When the status information

appears on the left side of the WET Labs Host tabs (counting down a delay time),
immediately press Stop on the Logger Control tab several times. If the ac-9+ is not
stopped before the delay time is finished, repeat the process (power down, power up,
click Stop a few times, wait for Standing By count to appear in the status area).

c. Once the AC9+ is successfully communicating with the WET Labs Host in Stand By,

change the Logger Control tab Mode of Operation back to Status and uncheck the
Start Sample When Powered box.

d. Press Send Setup and wait for the setting flags to clear (yellow to gray).

1.3 Air Tracking

We provide an air calibration (.CAL) file similar to the device (.DEV) file and can be applied
in WETView in the same manner. The .DEV file provides the clean water offsets so that
when measuring clean, fresh water, the instrument’s output should be very nearly 0.0 for all
channels. The .CAL file provides the offsets that provide 0.0 values when the instrument is
clean and dry and measuring air values. This is a useful tracking tool for catching instrument
drift, filter aging and improper cleaning.

When you installed WETView, the latest air .CAL file should have been transferred to your
WETVIEW directory. The name of the file takes the form:

AIRXXYYY.CAL where XX is the calibration number; YYY is the instrument number.

When a DEV file is opened in WETView, it will display *.DEV in the dialog box, which will
list all the DEV files on the default drive. If you change the *.DEV to *.CAL, the available
CAL files will be displayed. Select the latest CAL file and start collecting data. Make sure
the black plastic caps are installed on the flow tube nozzles so no ambient light can enter the
flow tubes. If the instrument is clean and dry, the values displayed in WETView should be
very close to 0.0 (within 0.005–0.01). If the values are within this range, the instrument is
clean and ready to deploy. If the values are outside this range, the first step is to re-clean the
instrument and then reapply the .CAL file offsets.

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