DS3 – User's Manual
Contents
1. 16 52 Extracting Data utendo Ane nte Be LR at ken WERE LR FRU d et Merve PUE tru 16 NECI Ee 17 6 1 Choosing the Location ere er PR eR PER RR EUER EHE ea esra 17 EE d EE 17 7 Radio Network sote 19 ME 19 7 2 Radio Link Quality eder Lit E reed tee Poe Eole oec din Dag Ecke oaa eines 19 7 3 Placing the Devices once ndr tee eee oe EH EY Do de teo eee re ERE peo Pad she ee 20 8 IET CIR ED R J 21 8 1 Replacing thie batteriess ient reete ete te xe eee xe Pe pev e ede ae desire tudin 21 MEET e N Na 21 9 Solving ISSUES 22 9 1 The device does not start ec testari e a Eege 22 M Sensorscope 9 2 The red LED blinks at boot 9 3 Asensor board is not detected 9 4 The GPRS board cannot connect to the servers 9 5 The microSD card is not recognized by Windows DS3 User s Manual Page 3 M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 4 1 Introduction The DS3 data acquisition system is part of a series of products sold by Sensorscope SARL Thanks to its modular core built around daughter boards the DS3 offers a great flexibility to the user who can at any time change the set of connected sensors and thus adapt the system to his2. Please note that if GPRS coverage is not available at the location of installation the master station and its slave stations will not work at all In the case of a slave station the quality of the radio network to the master station must be good enough to ensure the proper operation of the device It is possible to get a real time feedback of that quality by pushing the status button of the DS3 refer to Section 3 6 for more details Similarly to the case of a master station it is of high importance for the slave station to be able to communicate properly with the master station and its associated network If that is not the case no data will be gathered 6 2 Waterproofness Once your device is installed in the field please make sure that the case is tightly closed and that no cable batteries or solar panel prevent it from being properly closed Ensure as well that the cable glands are tightly screwed on the cables of the sensors It is of very high importance to make sure that the waterproofness is ensured otherwise humidity or even water may penetrate into the case causing short circuits that could permanently damage the device The case is IP66 and thus protects the electronic parts from the bad weather but only if it is properly closed A Please check the waterproofness of the case before leaving the field M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 18 M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 19 7 Radio Network I
3. Refer to Section 4 for a specific description of how the board you would like to use operates Mounting guides SOT 3 oo nooooon Batteries and solar panel Communication board connectors connector Figure 5 Mounting guides are available on the mother board to insert the communication board To connect the board first unplug the batteries and the solar panel from the mother board refer to Figure 5 Vertically insert the communication board in the upper part of the case and connect it to the mother board using the communication board connector see Figure 4 and Figure 5 The board should easily fit in the case If that is not the case do not force the insertion and try to move it slightly until the connectors are in front of each other Once the board connected plug the batteries and the solar panel into the mother board Some communication boards must be configured in order to operate properly This is the case of the GPRS board Please refer to Section 4 before continuing in order to perform this configuration 3 4 Connecting the radio antenna If the radio antenna is not already fitted screw it to the antenna connector next to the cables glands on the DS3 device see Figure 2 Once tighly screwed a small space 1 to 2 mm is left between the antenna and the B Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 11 case Do not worry about it it is normal and this space does not jeopardize the radio communication or the waterproofnes
4. code you received in the package This process is described in the Climaps documentation Once the tests are done it is recommended to turn the device off using the power switch until it is installed in the field A Take the time to check that your device is properly operating before installing it in the field B Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 13 4 Communication Boards 4 1 GPRS Communication Board The GPRS communication board requires a small configuration in order to operate properly Status LEDs SIM card on the back connector pomo Programmation connector y deinde Mother board connector Figure 7 A GPRS communication board The status LEDs are located on the upper edge on the back of the board so that one can see them blinking when the case is closed 4 1 1 SIM Card The first step is to get a SIM card compatible with one the cellular networks available at the installation location Any standard SIM card not micro or nano is suitable if it provides data transfer Once a SIM card is acquired remove the PIN code with a mobile phone and insert it in the connector of the board see Figure 7 It is a push push connector You push to insert the card and you push again to free it from the connector A If you do not remove the PIN code of the SIM card the card cannot be used by the device Please note that the DS3 device is subject to the same network quality as a standard mobile phone If y
5. card is operational x not disabled by the network operator and that it is not protected by a PIN code Cannot initiate a GPRS session If you have configured the GPRS parameters yourself 4 please make sure they are correct This error may also occur when the mobile network is overloaded 567 Cannot connect to Sensorscope servers This may happen if the server is temporarily S unavailable 8 The SIM card could not be detected Please check that you have correctly inserted the SIM card into the connector of the GPRS board e Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 16 5 Local Data Backup The GPRS communication board features a microSD card reader so that local data backup at the master station is possible if you ever need it This is an added functionality to the basic operation of the system Even with local data backup enabled data is still sent to the Sensorscope servers by the master station 5 1 Installation If a microSD card is inserted in the connector see Figure 7 on page 13 it is automatically used to back up data from the master station and its associated slave stations If you check the status of the device the microSD card LED blinks once to indicate that local data backup is enabled refer to Section 3 6 The disk space required for local backup varies a lot according to the size of the network of slave stations associated to the master station and to the type of sensors actually connected to them In the typica
6. needs without reprogramming anything It features as well a radio communication system used to create groups of measurement points composed of multiple DS3 devices monitoring large areas The DS3 device is highly energy efficient and is thus simply powered by four NiMH AA batteries charged through a solar panel located inside the lid of the case making the device easy to move and to set up It is energy autonomous and can operate even during day with low sunshine This manual will help you getting your DS3 up and running You will learn how the system operates and how to set it up before installing it in the field Throughout this document are warnings in red boxes Please make sure to pay attention to these warnings Ignoring them may lead to malfunction or even to permanent damages to the device e Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 5 2 System Overview 2 1 Master or Slave Station A DS3 device may be set up as a master or a slave station This notion of master slave is very important to manage the operation of the system A master station operates autonomously and can manage a whole network of slave stations It can retrieve the current time to send it to its network in order to timestamp the gathered data It sends the set set of data gathered by itself and its network to the Internet to allow for a remote access A slave station depends on a master station to operate Without a radio link to a master station a slave station do
7. on a lot of factors The main one is of course the distance between the two stations The higher the distance between two station the less likely a radio link will exist between them However many other factors have to be taken into account such as the height of the device the higher the device the more likely a link will exist or the presence of obstacles in the environmment An important notion is the quality of radio links Intuitively it is similar to the quality reported by a mobile phone The higher the quality and the better the communication On the contrary if the quality is poor there will be frequent interruptions during communications The quality of a radio link is measured in dBm A quality of 40 dBm is way better than a quality of 80 dBm Radio link qualities are sent by the stations and can be monitored on Climaps The quality reported by the network quality LED during a status report see Section 3 6 is based on this measurement in dBm M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 20 The number of blinks is computed as follows Blinks Quality Meaning The quality is excellent The device should be able to 3 Above 85 dBm communicate with the network and transfer its data without any problem The quality is average The radio communication should work but 2 Between 85 and 93 dBm changes in the environment e g a car parked close to the devices could result in communication issues The quality is bad Commu
8. Sensorscope S rl EPFL Innovation Park Bat D CH 1015 Lausanne S ensorsco p e 41 216 917 001 contact sensorscope ch www sensorscope ch DS3 Data Acquisition System User s Manual Le Se ID 1528 1 m Updated on August 3 2014 M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 2 Table of Contents VUE de M 4 2 System Overview cccccccccsssccsrescssssesssceeeeesnesesensceneeesseseesseceeescesssceseceeeecessseeeseceeeseessssesesseseesessees 5 2 1 X Masteror Slave Station ertet ted er Ee seus Cod Ya Tete Y esse eR pha gir Een 5 MERDA CECI ge EHE M 5 2 3 Flexibility EEN 5 2 4 Radio COMMUNICATIONS acd sessed te rrt e Roe OY Reads suo saueudav ones EERSTEN 6 2 5 Accessing Aen RE 6 3 Preparing the Device EE 8 3 1 Description of the Mother Board te terr D a tr e 8 3 2 Gonnecting Sensors PME R ee 8 3 3 Connecting the communication board nennen nennen 9 3 4 GConnectingthe radio antenna eege eege eege Geld 10 3 5 Eowerpotue DEVICE ss 11 3 0 Checking the Status s oed rere trii aer uit O a SERE En a E tea eti eius 11 37 Testing the Device PEE 12 A Communication Boards ccccccssceessssessssseessesseeesesseessessseesssseaesecscesssscseeesscssesesscesessssceeaesseseeeess 13 4 1 GPRS Communication Board 13 5 Local Data Backup 16 D Joetallatton 2 L
9. al memory is corrupted This can only be solved by a technician Contact your vendor to solve this issue 3 The radio chip is faulty The radio chip does not operate properly and cannot be used to communicate with other devices Contact your vendor to solve this issue 9 3 Asensor board is not detected If the blue LED of a sensor board blinks for fifteen seconds and then turns off without staying still for four seconds then the board could not be detected by the mother board In this case the sensor connected to this sensor board will not be used by the device Most often this is caused by the sensor being wrongly connected to the sensor board If the board cannot detect the sensor it does not respond to the mother board Make sure that the sensor is properly connected to the board and that the wires are sufficiently stripped Please also make sure that the sensor connected to the board matches the sticker on that board 9 4 The GPRS board cannot connect to the servers When the board cannot connect it displays an error code by blinking the red LED Please refer to Section 4 1 3 to find what is happening and how to solve the problem M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 23 9 5 The microSD card is not recognized by Windows The format of the data stored on the card is proprietary and cannot be directly read by Windows which offers to format the card Do not accept and refer to Section 5 2 for a detailed explanation on how to ext
10. d at least one GPRS connection must have occurred Three blinks indicate that the quality is very good one blink indicates that the quality is very poor and should be improved If the LED blinks once together with the error LED blue and red at the same time there is no connection available This is a serious issue that must absolutely be fixed for the device to operate properly e The microSD card LED bottom right indicates whether a microSD card has been detected If the LED blinks once a card has been detected and is being used for local backup refer to Section 5 for more details If the LED blinks once together with the error LED blue and red at the same time no card were detected 3 7 Testing the Device If the status reported by the device is good it is ready to be used To check that you device is properly operating connect to Climaps and check that the data reported match with testing conditions such as the temperature if your device is equipped with a temperature sensor You can do some tests yourself as well for instance by blowing on a wind sensor or by moving a solar radiation sensor near a window Please note that the first chunk of data is transmitted only during the second connection of the master station to the servers approximately 15 mn after the starting up for a GPRS communication board Please note as well that to access the data sent by your device you must have previously activated it using the activation
11. es absolutely nothing It will not retrieve the current time and will not gather any data A A slave station cannot operate without a master station If you install a single station at a given location it has to be a master station Only additional points if at a reasonable communication range from the master station may be covered by slave stations The operation of radio communications is described in Section 7 2 2 Data Gathering Unless otherwise indicated all sensors are sampled precisely every minute 8 00 8 01 8 02 The date used for timestamping is retrieved by the master station for instance through the cellular network when a GPRS communication board is used and then sent to all the slave stations connected to this master station This date is exactly the same same for all stations in the world thus certifying that data is gathered simultaneously by all stations being geographically close to each other or not Gathered data is sent from slave stations to the master station which then stores them in an internal memory until being sent to Sensorscope s servers The transmission delay to the servers is around fifteen minutes A given point of data will thus be available on Climaps around fifteen minutes after the measurement 2 3 Flexibility The DS3 device has been designed to offer a great flexibility to the user The device itself is mainly comprised of a mother board that provides only the basic radio communicati
12. glands A short push on this button when the station is turned on generates a report of the device status thanks to the five LEDs located in the lower part of the mother board Battery level Network quality blue LED blue LED PA UNO QI Error red LED Sensor boards MicroSD card blue LED blue LED Figure 6 The five status LEDs on the mother board The status is given by the successive blinks of the LEDs M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 12 e The sensor boards LED bottom left blinks as many times as the number of sensors boards connected to the mother board If two sensor boards were detected the LED blinks two times If no board were detected the LED blinks once together with the error LED blue and red at the same time e The battery level LED top left blinks one to three times to reflect the battery level Three blinks indicate that the batteries are sufficiently charged one blink indicates that the battery level is low If the LED blinks once together with the error LED blue and red at the same time the batteries are almost depleted It is recommended to replace them in this case refer to Section 8 1 e The network quality LED top right blinks one to three times to reflect the quality of the radio connection For a slave station the quality of the radio network is reported For a GPRS master station firmware gt v3 2 0 the quality of the connection to the GPRS network is reporte
13. hop network The DS3 device inside the intersection of the two circles acts as a relay for the device outside of the communication range of the master station In this example all the DS3 devices belong to the same network and send their data to the master station The possibilities of the Sensorscope technology are presented in Figure 1 While in the case of the Wi Fi network an additional access point should be installed to cover the computer on the right a single master station is enough for the Sensorscope network The creation of the multi hop network is automatic and does not require any programmation or configuration from the user It is enough for the devices to be close enough for the network to be created without any action on the user s side 2 5 Accessing the Data Data gathered by DS3 devices are sent by the master station to Climaps through the Internet How this transmission is performed depends on the type of communication board installed in the master station With a GPRS communication board data is transmitted through the cellular network thanks to the GPRS technology M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 7 Once this data stored on the servers it can be access using the Climaps web application using any Internet enabled device such as a computer or a smartphone You are the only user who can access the data transmitted by your devices in addition to the users to whom you explicitely give the right Using the website
14. is described in its own manual which can be downloaded from Climaps Q Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 8 3 Preparing the Device Before installing the device in the field it must be properly prepared and tested To do this please make sure you have e Across shaped screwdriver of size 2 screws of the case e Another cross shaped screwdriver of type Phillips 1 screws of the sensor boards e AMY15 wrench or an adjustable wrench 3 1 Description of the Mother Board Communication board Batteries and solar panel connector Sensor board connectors connectors ET COMM jic la Power switch Programmation connector Status LEDs Radio antenna connector Figure 2 General overview of the DS3 mother board outside of its case 3 2 Connecting Sensors If it still present first remove the shrink wrap over the lid of the case and then unscrew the four screws around the lid Once opened remove the second shrink wrap covering the solar panel and lift it up to access the mother board B Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 9 Make sure that the power switch on the bottom left is off see Figure 2 and then gently insert the sensor board in one the available connectors All three connectors are similar so you can use any of them However connectors are generally used from the left to the right Once the board is connected screw the two screws on the sensor board in order to secure it to the main board M
15. l case of a master station and ten slave stations all equipped with ten sensors a 2 GB microSD card can store around five years of data The available disk space can be looked up on Climaps 5 2 Extracting Data The device uses a proprietary format to store data and the card does not need to be formatted beforehand on a computer to be used To extract data written by a DS3 device you must use a specific application named Backup Extractor which can be downloaded from the Sensorscope website The data format being proprietary the card will not be recognized by Windows which will ask you whether you would like to format it You must ignore this warning and must not accept to format the card Should you format the card all backed up data would be definitely lost A Do not let Windows format your microSD card While extracting data the application generates a text file for each station with data backed up on the card Each line of these files provides a single value reported by a sensor together with the timestamp of the data This timestamp is an epoch time elapsed seconds since Janury 1 1970 The slot number of the sensor is provided as well 0 for slot 1 1 for slot 2 and 2 for slot 3 e Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 17 6 Installation 6 1 Choosing the Location The DS3 is a sensing device but it is as well a communicating and energy autonomous device The installation location must thus e Provide
16. milarly sensors have to be maintained in order to provide correct data For example a tipping bucket rain gauge with leaves blocking the water will no longer provide correct data It is important to maintain the hardware to make sure it is fully operational e Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 22 9 Solving Issues 9 1 The device does not start First make sure that the batteries are properly connected to the mother board see Figure 2 If that is the case check that the batteries are sufficiently charged for the device to operate and replace them if needed refer to Section 8 1 to do this If the device still does not work turn it off with the switch on the mother board remove all daughter boards sensor and communication boards and then try to switch it on again If that solves the issue a daughter board may be the culprit In this case try to connect them one by one to find the faulty one 9 2 The red LED blinks at boot If the red LED blinks instead of the usual boot sequence see Section 3 5 it is an error code and the number of blinks provides the code this code is repeated every two seconds Error Code Meaning Batteries are depleted This happens when there is enough energy for the device to 4 boot but not enough to operate properly Replace the batteries or charge them to solve this issue You can as well leave the device in the direct sunshine and wait for the solar panel to charge the batteries 2 Intern
17. n order to optimally use the radio communication capabilities of the Sensorscope system it is important to master some concepts linked to the multi hop techonology 7 1 Topology As explained in Section 2 4 the Sensorscope multi hop technology offers a large flexibility in the placement of the devices on the contrary to a traditional radio network in which all devices must be located in the same communication range LN Vo wi cp D be oL zam fg Gu cel 5 1 Master station N ly uud Figure 8 Example of a multi hop Sensorscope network In Figure 8 plain lines represent the communication links between the stations If there is a link between two stations then they are able to communicate with each other and exchange data When station f wants to send its data it sends it to station c which in turn sends it to the master station a Since the data gathered by f require two transmission to arrive at the master station f gt c a f is said to be at a two hop distance In the same figure stations a b c d e and f are all connected together and form a network capable of sending data to the server Station g is however not connected to the others and does not belong to the network Furthermore since g is a slave station it can t get the current time and does not gather any data no matter how many sensors are connected to it 7 2 Radio Link Quality The existence of links such as the ones in Figure 8 depends
18. nication may work but with frequent 1 Less than 93 dBm interruptions The slightest modification in the environment may disconnect the device 7 3 Placing the Devices While the location of the devices is generally dictated by the data to be gathered it is possible to optimize the location of the devices by minimizing the maximum number of hops in the network tc Io pn ud AN uel edh Master station e SE P ly cel mut at Master station Figure 9 A line network optimized to minimize the number of hops in the bottom example For instance in Figure 9 the maximum number of hops in the top network is four e gt d gt c gt b gt a while it is only two in the bottom network e gt d gt c In both cases the devices are located at the same places but the communication board has been inserted into station c instead of station a such that its location is central in the network This reduces the probabilities of communication issues and makes the network more robust If station b fails only station a will be disconnected from the network In the top network stations c d and e would have been disconnected Following this advice station c would have been a better master station in Figure 8 As a general advice it is recommended to avoid having a large number of devices depending on a single station to communicate with the master station Whenever possible multiple routes must exist to the master sta
19. on feature Other functionalities are provided by daughter boards which can be installed on the main board using the dedicated connectors There are two types of connectors e Three connectors for sensors that can be used to connect sensor boards For each sensor to be used the corresponding sensor board must first be installed on the mother board The sampling of the sensor is performed by the sensor board Without a sensor board you cannot connect sensors to the DS3 device e A communication connector which can be used to turn your device into a master station If for instance you connect a GPRS communication board your DS3 will automatically be configured as a GPRS master station If you don t install a communication board your DS3 will be a slave station M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 6 This flexibility allows you to modify your device at will according to how your needs change over time If you decide at some point to move a slave station far from its master station you can turn it into a master station by simply connecting a communication board If you have to connect a new sensor on a station in the field you just have to install the corresponding sensor board before connecting the sensor These modifications do not have to be planned while purchasing your system and do not require any programming or configuration of your device If you want to install many sensors and three connectors are not enough for your applicati
20. on you just have to install multiple DS3 devices which will automatically communicate together through their radio chip without further configuration 2 4 Radio Communications A key feature of the DS3 device is its ability to perform multi hop communications which makes it possible to install some of the slave stations outside of the communication area of the master station In most radio networks a device acts as an access point such as a Wi Fi access point for instance and all other devices must be placed within its communication range If that range is 200 meters at most then all other devices must be located within 200 meters from the access point If a larger area is to be covered other access points must be installed Thanks to the multi hop technology developed by Sensorscope slave stations form a chain of repeaters to forward data up to the master station which can then transmist everything to Climaps through the Internet Thus with a single master station a large area can be covered by a set of slave stations Communication P Communication ab range 4 gt m range ps 1 lt gt ad 1 e a 58s x Wi Fi Qe i teba GR i access point 1 y Master station i Wi Fi Network Sensorscope Network Figure 1 On the left a traditional radio network The computer on the right is outside of the communication range of the Wi Fi access point and cannot communicate with it On the right a Sensorscope multi
21. other board connector Programmation connector Terminal Status LED Figure 3 General overview of a sensor board Some of the details may change depending on the actual type of sensor board such as the size of the terminal or the sticker If not already done strip the wires of the sensor and tin them Tinning is not mandatory but is recommended to ensure a good connection to the sensor board Loosen the cable gland in front of the board push the wire through the hole and connect the wires to the terminal following the indications on the sticker voir Figure 3 Once done tighten the cable gland to ensure the waterproofness of the case A Be careful A sensor incorrectly connected to the sensor board may create short circuits and permanently damage the device Repeat the same operation for each sensor to be connected to the device 3 3 Connecting the communication board If you want to turn your device into a master station you have to connect the communication board you want to use Otherwise your device will be a slave station refer to Section 2 1 for more details Q Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 10 Status LEDs SIM card on the back connector MicroSD card Programmation connector connector Mother board connector Figure 4 A typical communication board The communication board shown in Figure 4 is a GPRS communication board Each type of communication board has a specific operation
22. ou want to avoid connection issues with your device and thus data transfer issues make sure to use a SIM card from an operator whose network quality is as good as possible at the installation location You can do this using the quality reported by a mobile phone connected to the network you would like to use for example Please also note that GPRS communication is not synonymous with 3G and 4G A GPRS network is usually available when a 3G network is available Only the quality of the GPRS network also referred to as EDGE is relevant when looking at signal strengths The amount of data sent by a master station depends on the number of slave stations associated to it and on the number of installed sensors Furthermore many mobile operators charge data by chunks of 10 Kb If a master station transfers only 2 Kb of data 10 Kb are nevertheless charged Considering a master station with ten slave station all equipped with three sensors a 100 Mb month plan should be enough e Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 14 4 1 2 Configuration Connection to the GPRS network requires the use of a GPRS access point which depends on the chosen network operator Three parameters must be known to use this access point Its name a login and a password These parameters are provided by the network operator and must be sent to the GPRS communication board in order to connect to the GPRS network All GPRS communication boards are preconfigured for opera
23. ract the data
24. s of the case This antenna is used for radio communication between stations and is not used by the communication board Even if you do not need the radio communication feature e g a single master station the antenna must be connected to prevent the connector from being oxidized A Without the antenna radio communication between stations does not work 3 5 Powering the Device To power the device move the power switch to the on position The five status LEDs four blue LEDs and one red LED at the center blinks three times to indicate that the device is starting If the three blinks do not occur please refer to Section 9 in order to determine what is happening After a short internal self tests the communication with the different daughter boards is established While doing this the blue LED of each daughter board blinks slowly approximately one blink per second Once communication is established with a daughter board the LED of that board stays on for four seconds before being switched off If the LED continues to blink and is switched off after approximately fifteen seconds without staying on this means that the board has not been recognized Please refer to Section 9 to solve it It is very important to check that everything goes well each time the device is powered most notably once the the device is installed in the field 3 6 Checking the Status The case is equipped with an external button located below the cable
25. the data However the first connection occurs a few seconds after the power up This connection is required to retrieve the current time to timestamp the data as described in Section 2 2 Until the first connection no data is gathered by the device or by the slave station connected to it It is thus of prime importance to make sure that the GPRS board is able to connect to the servers A No data is gathered if the GPRS board cannot connect to the servers While connecting to the servers the green status LED of the GPRS board blinks slowly approximately once per second This indicates that a connection is ongoing This operation can last for a few minutes the first time after powering the device Once the connection is established the green LED blinks faster Once the communication is over the blinking stops until the next connection If a connection cannot be established the red status LED of the GPRS board blinks a given number of times to provide the code of the error that occurred For instance three blinks indicate that the error 3 has occurred e Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 15 The GPRS error codes are as follows Error code Description The GPRS chip does not seem to work Please check the battery level If it is too low the 1 2 GPRS board cannot operate properly If you keep getting this error the device may be damaged and may need to be fixed Cannot register to the mobile network Please check that the SIM
26. the required measurements e Provide enough solar power e Provide a good quality communication The first criterion depends on your needs and may or may not be flexible Measuring the temperature in a greenhouse does not generally require a strict placement of the device On the contrary a soil moisture measurement often requires the device to be placed at a very specific location In any case you should make sure that the exposure and communication criteria are as optimal as possible 6 1 1 Exposure to Solar Radiation If possible the front face of the case should be directed to the South to maximize the amount of energy provided by the solar panel In the case of a master station two or three hours a day of direct exposure to the sun is enough to ensure the autonomy of the device A slave station requires only one or two hours a day The batteries in the stations 4x NiMh 2000mAH are sufficient to power the station for several weeks in the event of zero direct sunlight In a greenhouse the solar radiation is lesser but is sufficient if the daily exposure is longer If the chosen location does not fit this criterion an external powering solution could be used Please contact your vendor for more information 6 1 2 Communication In the case of a GPRS master station you must ensure that the coverage of the GPRS network is good enough at the location of installation You can use a simple mobile phone to do this as explained in Section 4 1
27. tion In Figure 8 station e has two routes to the master station and can communicate either with d or f Station c is still a weak point If it fails three stations d e and f will be disconnected from the network M Sensorscope DS3 User s Manual Page 21 8 Maintainance 8 1 Replacing the batteries If batteries are damaged or depleted you can easily replace them It is recommended to replace them every year Charge discharge cycles decrease the capacity of the batteries and after some time the lifetime of the device will be affected as well especially during periods of low sunshine such as the winter You must use NiMH AA 1 2 V batteries with a capacity of at least 2000 mAh They can be easily found in electrical good stores Please do not use non rechargeable AA batteries While they share the same format they can t be charged and would not stand the incoming solar power A Never use non rechargeable AA batteries They could explode and cause serious injuries 8 2 Cleaning It is important to make sure that the transparent cover of the case is not covered by elements e g leaves snow which could prevent the solar panel from being exposed to the sunshine It is recommended to regularly check the case once the device installed and to clean the cover if needed A solar panel badly exposed to the sunshine will not provide enough energy to the batteries Once the batteries depleted the device stops logging data Si
28. tion with all Swiss operators Swisscom Orange Suisse and Sunrise as well as all virtual operators such as M Budget If you use a SIM card provided by one of these operators no further configuration is required Otherwise configuration is done by sending a text message to the SIM card to be used in the DS3 device before turning it on The contents of the text message must follow this template SensorScope GPRS NAME LOGIN PASSWORD The text in red must be replaced by the parameters provided by the network operator For instance for Swisscom the name of the access point is gprs swisscom ch the login and password being empty strings of characters The text message would be SensorScope GPRS gprs swisscom ch Please note that although login and password are empty strings the charcters must be present in the text Once the text message sent to the SIM card it will be received and processed during the first connection of the device to the GPRS network If you make a mistake first erase the wrong text message from the SIM card using a mobile phone and then send the correct message It is important to note that the device uses the first available configuration text message on the SIM card If you send a second text message it will be silently ignored while the first message will be present on the SIM card 4 1 3 Status Once the device turned on the GPRS communication board connects to Sensorscope server every 15 mn to send
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