Xylem H-424MS User Manual

Model

H-424MS

Spread Spectrum

SDI-12 Radio Bridge

Owner's Manual

Version 1.1

(for system revision “C” or higher)

75 West 100 South, Logan, Utah 84321 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Web: http://www.waterlog.com E-mail: [e-mail]

D E S I G N A N A L Y S I S A S S O C I A T E S , I N C .

75 West 100 South, Logan, Utah 84321 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Web: http://www.waterlog.com E-mail: [e-mail]

D E S I G N A N A L Y S I S A S S O C I A T E S , I N C .

User Agreement/

W

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1. NATURE OF THE PRODUCT

This agreement accompanies an interface module comprising firmware, circuitry and other electronic
equipment in an enclosed housing, and packaged together with written instructional materials. The
packaged electronic circuitry and instructional materials herein are collectively referred to as the
“PRODUCT.” The PRODUCT is made available from DESIGN ANALYSIS ASSOCIATES, INC., of
75 West 100 South, Logan, Utah 84321 (hereinafter referred to as “DESIGN ANALYSIS”), and contains
information and embodies technology that is confidential and proprietary to DESIGN ANALYSIS, and
the availability and use of the PRODUCT is extended to you, the USER, solely on the basis of the terms
of agreement which follow.

2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS BY USER

Opening the package which encloses the accompanying PRODUCT indicates your acceptance of the
terms and conditions of this agreement and constitutes an acknowledgment by you of the confidential and
proprietary nature of the rights of DESIGN ANALYSIS in the PRODUCT.

3. DUTIES OF YOU, THE USER

In consideration for the access to and use of the PRODUCT extended to you by DESIGN ANALYSIS
and to protect the confidential and proprietary information of DESIGN ANALYSIS, USER agrees as
follows:

LOG® Warranty

(a) USER agrees that they will not remove from the exterior of the housing of the PRODUCT any

safety warnings or notices of proprietary interest placed thereon by DESIGN ANALYSIS.

(b) USER agrees that they shall not disassemble or otherwise reverse engineer the PRODUCT.

(c) USER agrees to treat the PRODUCT with the same degree of care as USER exercises in relation to

their own confidential and proprietary information.

4. TERM

USER may enjoy these rights only as long as their possession of the PRODUCT shall continue to be
rightful. These rights will cease if the PRODUCT is returned to DESIGN ANALYSIS under the terms of
any redemption offer, warranty, or money-back guarantee, or if USER transfers the PRODUCT to
another party on terms inconsistent with this agreement.

5. LIMITED WARRANTY
(b) What is Covered

DESIGN ANALYSIS warrants that for a period of twelve months from the time of purchase the
functions to be performed by the PRODUCT will be substantially in compliance with USER
documentation. DESIGN ANALYSIS also warrants that the PRODUCT will be free from
defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE YEAR from the date of purchase.

(b) What USER Must Do

If the product fails to satisfy the above warranty, USER must notify DESIGN ANALYSIS in
writing within the applicable period specified above and reasonably cooperate with the directions
they received from DESIGN ANALYSIS.

H-4271

User Agreement/W

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LOG® Warranty W-1

(c) What DESIGN ANALYSIS Will Do

DESIGN ANALYSIS will repair the PRODUCT or will endeavor to provide a replacement of
same within a reasonable period of time. In the event that DESIGN ANALYSIS is unable to
make the necessary repairs or replacement within a reasonable period of time, the original
purchase price will be refunded upon the return of the PRODUCT to DESIGN ANALYSIS.

(d) Limitations

(i) THE ENTIRE REMEDY FOR BREACH OF THIS LIMITED WARRANTY SHALL

BE LIMITED TO REPLACEMENT OF THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT OR
REFUNDING OF THE PURCHASE PRICE, AS SET FORTH ABOVE. IN NO
EVENT WILL THE LIABILITY OF DESIGN ANALYSIS TO USER OR TO ANY
OTHER PARTY EXCEED THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE OF THE PRODUCT,
REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE CLAIM.

(ii) EXCEPT FOR THE EXPRESS WARRANTIES ABOVE, DESIGN ANALYSIS

SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,
WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

(iii) UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL DESIGN ANALYSIS BE LIABLE FOR

SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, OR ANY OTHER
DAMAGES OR CLAIMS ARISING FROM THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT, THIS
INCLUDES LOSS OF PROFITS OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES,
EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT
WILL DESIGN ANALYSIS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIMS, LIABILITY, OR
DAMAGES ARISING FROM MODIFICATION MADE THEREIN, OTHER THAN
BY DESIGN ANALYSIS.

(iv) THIS LIMITED WARRANTY GIVES USER SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. USER

MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED
WARRANTY LASTS OR THE EXCLUSION OF INCIDENTAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THOSE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS
MAY NOT APPLY.

6. GOVERNING LAW

This Agreement and its validity and interpretation shall be governed by the laws of the State of Utah,
notwithstanding any choice of law rules of Utah or any other state or jurisdiction.

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LOG® Warranty

H-4271

1.1 Introduction

Chapter 1

Operation

The W
use and works with any SDI-12 data recorder. The radio link provides transparent, SDI-12
compliant communication between your data recorder and one or more remote sites. All SDI-12
commands are supported, including manufacturer specific extended commands.

Two or more H-424MS modules are required; one connected to the data recorder (master) and
one located at each remote site (slaves). Each remote site can have multiple SDI-12 sensors.
The master and slave H-424MS modules are identical, a user accessible circuit board jumper
determines whether the H-424MS operates as a master or slave.

The radio link uses modern frequency hopping spread spectrum telemetry radios. Spread
spectrum technology is highly secure and has good interference immunity. The radio operates in
the license-free, 900 Mhz ISM Band eliminating the need for any FCC licensing.

The radio system has an optional power-save feature which allows operation with less than 2mA
of average standby battery current.

1.2 Operation

Each H-424MS contains a small microprocessor and a spread spectrum telemetry radio. The
microprocessor buffers commands and data between the SDI-12 port and the radio. All SDI-12
compliant commands will work, including manufacturer specific extended commands. Note
however, your data logger must support SDI-12 compliant “retries” to work with the H-424MS.
Most data loggers support retries while logging but certain models do not provide retries for
transparent commands. Transparent SDI-12 commands will not work with these data loggers.

ATER

LOG® H-424MS is a spread spectrum SDI-12 radio bridge. The radio link is easy to

A circuit board jumper selects either full power or power-save operation. When jumpered for
full power operation, each H-424MS draws approximately 100mA continuous. The full power
mode has the advantage of providing completely transparent SDI-12 communication with no
waiting for the remote sites to power-up.

Unfortunately, for power save operation the SDI-12 protocol has no handshake mechanism for
delaying the timing of the sensor response. This makes it difficult to implement a radio link
which has remote stations operating in a low power sleep mode. When operated in the power
save mode, the H-424MS radio link uses the wakeup scheme described in the next section.

H-424MS

Operation 1-1

Normally the H-424MS operates as a transparent SDI-12 to SDI-12 bridge. However, in order to
wake the remote end of the link from sleep the master H-424MS can be addressed itself as a
“sensor”. The H-424MS comes from the factory with its address set to “0". When the master H­424MS detects address 0 it responds as a SDI-12 sensor and does not pass the command to the
remote site(s). Issuing the “0M!” command causes the H-424MS to perform a wakeup sequence
to the remote sites. The timing is controlled by two timers; a Wakeup and an Inactivity timer.
The settings of these programable timers is stored in EEPROM within the H-424MS;

Power Save Operating Sequence

1. The data recorder first issues a “0M!” command to the master H-424MS module.

2. The master H-424MS responds to the command as a pseudo “sensor”, and reports the
measurement will take a fixed period of time to complete. The reported time is
determined by the Wakeup Interval time setting + 1 seconds.

3. The master H-424MS transmits wakeup nulls every 40usec during the “measurement”.

4. Remote H-424MS modules periodically wake up and check for inbound messages. The
wake up is initiated by a low power circuit controlled by the Wakeup Interval setting.

5. If an inbound message is detected while awake, the remote module remains awake for a
period set by the Inactivity Timer.

6. At the completion of the “0M!” command, both the master and slave H-424MS modules
are awake and can service a SDI-12 command. At this point the data logger issues
measurement or other commands to the actual remote sensors.

7. If no additional commands are sent by the data logger, both master and remote modules
resume their low power sleep mode after their respective Inactivity Timers run down.

1.3 Setting the Jumpers

The H-424MS circuit board has three push-on jumpers which must be properly set. Each jumper
is a 3-pin stake-pin header with two possible positions. The jumpers can be accessed by opening
the front cover of the enclosure.

Jumper Function Options Description

J2 Mode Master/Slave Selects either Master or Slave operation
J3 Power Save On/Off Enables or disables the power save feature
J6 Loopback Test On/Off Enables or disables the loopback test mode

All H-424MS's in the installation MUST have the same power-save jumper selection. Leave the
Loopback Test jumper in the OFF position for normal operation.

1-2 Operation

H-424MS

1.4 Programming Your Data Recorder

You must prepare your data recorder to receive and record SDI-12 data from the sensors
attached to the data recorder. Since data recorders differ widely, refer to your recorder
manufacturer's directions.

If you are not using the H-424MS power save feature (power save jumpers are set to OFF), no
additional programming of the data recorder is needed. The SDI-12 radio link will operate
transparent to the data recorder’s operation. Do not set the address of any remote sensor to “0".

If you are using the H-424MS power save feature (power save jumpers set to ON), you will need
to program your data recorder to collect one data value from the local H-424MS with a “0M!”
command. The H-424MS's address can be changed if necessary (see Chapter 2). The dummy data
value collected can be discarded. The data recorder must make this “measurement” BEFORE
attempting to access any sensor located on the remote end of the radio bridge. The purpose of this
pseudo measurement is to allow built-in time to wake the remote sites from sleep. The H-424MS
will send a normal service request at the completion of the “measurement”.

Your data logger allows you to select which SDI-12 addresses which will be logged, but certain
models do not allow the address sequence to be specified. Often the logger will start at the lowest
selected address and automatically sequence to increasing addresses. You must change the
address of your sensors or of the H-424MS such that the H-424MS's “pseudo” sensor is always
accessed first. The H-424MS comes from the factory with its address set to “0" which will work
for most installations.

1.5 Programming the H-424MS Power Save Settings

When the power save option is not selected, the radios are continually powered, normally in a
receive mode drawing 135mA. In order to reduce the power draw use the power save mode. If
the power save option is selected, the radios are normally turned off, reducing the standby power
draw to 0.5mA. Periodically the slave H-424MS wakes up from the low power mode, turns the
radio on and listens for messages from the master. The Wake Interval value determines how
often this occurs. The default Wake Interval is 15 seconds. The slave listens for 170ms, if no
messages are found it returns to the sleep condition. The Wake Interval setting determines the
average current draw, for this example the slave draws 0.5mA for 15 seconds and 135mA for
170ms. A shorter Wake Interval setting allows faster completion of the “0M!” command at the
cost of higher average current drain.

The master H-424MS remains in the 0.5mA low power mode until the data logger issues a break.
After receiving the “0M!” command the radio is turned on, requiring 135mA. If no SDI-12
activity is detected over a period of time controlled by the Inactivity Timer setting, the radio is
turned off and the master resumes it’s 0.5mA low power mode. The default Inactivity Timer is 30
seconds.

H-424MS

Operation 1-3