Page 1-4
Chapter 1 General Description
1.2 Recording Options
The Recorder can be ordered with one of two storage mediums: a standard PC compatible Floppy disk drive or a
CompactFlash™ drive. The optional
Companion
Software
supports both media types.
1.2.1 Floppy Disk Drive
The Floppy disk drive uses PC compatible 3½ inch (89mm) floppy disks. These disks store 1.44 Megabytes of
data which translates to approximately 700,000 data samples (each sample is 16 bits). The disks are magnetic
media and the drives are mechanical. This limits their use in harsh environments where vibration or temperature
is a problem, but they are convenient as they are very inexpensive and can simply be plugged into any IBM
compatible PC.
IMPORTANT:
Please format all floppy disks in the Recorder prior to use. Because floppy disks are
volatile, do not use disks for more than 2-3 months. Also, use a floppy cleaning disk
every 4 months to clean the heads.
1.2.2 CompactFlash™ Drive
The CompactFlash™ card is a small solid state memory card containing Flash memory. The Recorder supports
memory cards up to 512 Megabytes. The cards require an adapter for use with your PC. Typical adapters use
the USB port and are inexpensive. The use of Sandisk Industrial CompactFlash™ cards is recommended and
is fully supported.
1.3 Recorder Options
Additional functions and capabilities can be added to the Recorder and are described in the following sections.
1.3.1 Digital Input and Output
This option provides three or six mechanical form C (Normally Open, Common, Normally Closed contacts)
relay outputs capable of switching 250 Vac as well as three isolated digital control inputs, or three or six solid
state open collector type contacts able to switch 30 Vdc at 0.5 Amps. The relay outputs can be programmed
to respond to alarm events while the digital inputs can be used to trigger events such as changing recording
speeds or stopping and starting recording.
1.3.2 Communications Interface
There are two communications options available:
1. An isolated RS232/RS485 interface using the Modbus protocol with the Recorder acting as a slave device
in a Modbus RTU or Modbus ASCII environment.
2. An 802.3 compatible Ethernet option with RJ45 four wire connection.
Artisan Scientific - Quality Instrumentation ... Guaranteed | (888) 88-SOURCE | www.artisan-scientific.com
