Desert Star Acoustic Release Control System, Manual

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When aligning and preparing to push the sonar transducer end-cap back in it’s place, make sure the
holes around the edges of the sonar transducer end-cap aligned to the the threads for the screws in
the main housing of the ARC station. Pay close attention to the proper alignment in order to avoid
twisting the sonar transducer end-cap once it is inserted in it’s place. Excessive twisting of the sonar
transducer end-cap once it is snapped in to the main housing, may damage the O-ring causing the
subsequent water leak into the ARC station main body.
Make sure that no wires get jammed between the the rubber O-ring and the main housing of the
ARC station.
STEP 9:
Once the sonar transducer end-cap is snapped in its place, re-insert the screws. Make sure to
tighten the screws in the star-shaped pattern to ensure equal pressure applied to all sides of the
sonar transducer end-cap. Tighten the screws to a snug fit.
Do not over tighten the screws.
Acoustic Release System Manual Part 2
4. Battery Life Expectancy
As discussed earlier, there is two options for powering an ARC unit.
● Option #1 Alkaline batteries only, will provide at least 130 days or ~ 4 months.
● Option #2 Alkaline plus Lithium batteries will provide at least 520 days or ~ 17 months.
This is the timeframe between the initial ARC deployment and the first retrieval of ARC unit back to
the surface. After a 130 days or 520 days of uninterrupted presence under the water - depending on
the type of your batteries - a new set of batteries MUST be installed.
If you are planning to execute multiple deployments and retrieval of the same ARC unit with the
same battery (without installing new batteries) it is very important to take the following factors into
consideration…
The battery energy consumed by an ARC unit consist of two parts: It takes energy to communicate
with the surface, listen, process, execute and respond back to the commands send from the STM
surface station, It also takes energy to execute the release from the anchor energizing the release
mechanism.