User Manual for AML Oceanographic Base
X
2
11
1.
Ensure the pre-deployment procedures have been completed.
2.
With the instrument out of water,
plug the red shorting plug into the connector and
wait for the instrument status indicator to turn solid green. The red shorting plug must
remain installed while the instrument is in use. There are two LEDs on the instrument,
the patterns and colours for these LEDs are listed on the instrument shackle. The
instrument will go to sleep after 5 minutes of inactivity, and be awoken by selecting
Wake
on the Status tab.
3.
Start SeaCast and set it to
Wireless
. It will automatically use your adaptor to find every
wireless instrument nearby. Wireless connection can be made the default mode in the
Settings menu. (Refer to the SeaCast manual for complete instructions).
4.
If required, wait until a GPS lock is acquired. Under nominal conditions, this may take 1-
5 minutes outside.
5.
Prior to conducting a cast, choose the preferred sampling mode in SeaCast. Log file
names are created automatically. This configures the instrument to either log by depth,
time, SV reading, etc., and sets the sampling rate.
6.
With the instrument in air (NOT submerged), use the
ZERO
command to zero the
barometric pressure offset
(P•Xchange only).
7.
Securely attach the lowering cable to the instrument shackle bar.
8.
Lower the instrument until it is just submerged. Keep the instrument at this depth for 2
minutes prior to beginning the cast. This allows the sensors time to wet and the pressure
case to shed heat.
9.
The instrument uses readings from either the SV, Cx, or CT sensor to determine of it’s
in water. If the instrument determines that it is in water the instrument status indicator
will begin to flash green and the instrument will begin to automatically log data.
10.
Leave SeaCast running and perform a cast. When the instrument is fully submerged the
WiFi connection will be lost and the signal broadcast will be terminated, which SeaCast
will acknowledge. Once the instrument returns to the surface and is removed completely
from the water it will reactivate the signal and SeaCast will detect and reconnect with it
automatically.
11.
Note that with Base•X
2
in the typical, vertical orientation, the downcast data is usually
more accurate than the upcast data since the downcast measurements are not
contaminated by the thermal shedding from the pressure case.
12.
Upon reconnection, the cast file will be downloaded automatically and appear in the
Cast
Folder
. The file can also be opened directly from the instrument using the
Choose cast
file
dropdown menu under the
View Data
tab. Complete details are found in the SeaCast
user manual.
a.
Note: If conducting a test cast in the lab where the WiFi connection is not lost,
the test data may not download automatically. Should this occur, select
‘reconnect’ in the SSID dropdown box on the front panel
. Once reconnected, the
file will automatically download.
b.
If the latest cast file does not download automatically, it may be because the
‘automatically download cast files’ option is not turn on. Navigate through the
Settings
menu in SeaCast to ensure that this option is set to ‘on’ (locat
ed in the
Preferences
tab).
Monitoring Real Time Data
Real time data may be monitored (or logged) through either the WiFi connection or Serial cable.
If using the WiFi connection, the connector-end of the instrument must remain out of the water
to maintain signal.