Getting to Know your Tools
The LF2000 and LF2200 receivers both help you locate sondes (transmitters)
the same way, using a series of screens that guide you through the steps
necessary for an accurate locate. The LF2200 additionally does line tracing,
where buried lines are energized by an external line exciter. Line tracing will be
covered later in this document.
The best place to practice is above ground where you can see how
the receiver responds to the location and position of the transmitter
or line. You may be surprised at what you see. Better to be
surprised when you have plenty of time to learn and nothing is at
stake!
Do your practicing in a place where you have plenty of room to move around;
inside in a large room, or outside on the ground.
Turn on the receiver by clicking the rocker switch
in any direction and hold it there for a second. The
friendly Prototek logo screen greets you, with our
phone number, which you should not hesitate to
call if you’re having problems. The unit performs
a brief self-test, checking circuit boards and signal
processing. If you have problems, this information
can be valuable to Prototek for troubleshooting.
Notice the arrows - the one pointing down shows
where to push to turn the unit OFF, the one pointing
right indicates that a push on the right side of the
switch will take you to the next screen.
You must return to this screen
to turn the unit off
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Troubleshooting
Two things to always check before you start a locate, and again
if you have trouble:
* Make sure the batteries in both your transmitter and receiver are fresh. If
in doubt, throw them out! A weak transmitter battery reduces its range,
while weak batteries in a receiver can make it act brain-damaged, as well as
reducing the range.
* Always test your transmitter and receiver above ground, for operation and
range, before sending the transmitter down the line. Every time.
The transmitter isn’t where my receiver said it was; it’s several feet off
to one side.
The most common source of errors in precise sonde locating is failure to
follow all of the locating steps in the operating instructions. It’s easy to
think when you find a peak signal that your job is done. The LF Series
receivers will show you a sonde image on the Sonde screen at many
different places, but only one of them is the actual location of the sonde.
Pay particular attention to the Crossing screen on the LF receiver, where you
walk in a circle around the peak signal to locate the crossing nulls and from
there mark a line through the sonde. If you haven’t established that line,
you can’t accurately determine the location of the sonde or its depth.
The signal from my transmitter suddenly quit. I was following it fine,
then it disappeared.
Aside from checking batteries, determine whether it is possible that the
pipe material changed at some point, or you reached a steel tank. 512 Hz
equipment will penetrate cast iron, but not steel, ductile iron or other metal.
(Using a 16 Hz sonde with the LF2200 will overcome this problem.)
A sudden loss of signal may also mean you have encountered a null, which
is a normal part of locating. If the signal drop-off is at a particular spot, and
the signal returns when you move a little ways away, then it is a null.
Check our web site for updated troubleshooting information!
www.prototek.net/Service-Tshoot.html
and don’t hesitate to call us with questions:
800-541-9123
“It’s best to shoot trouble before it shoots you.”
This next part only applies to the LF2200
The LF2000 doesn’t have a menu because it only does one thing, so this next
part doesn’t apply to it. LF2000 users please skip to “Sonde Locating.”
The menu shows you all of the choices you have for
locating with the LF2200. The screen you see won’t
show all of these choices at the same time; it can
only display 10 lines at a time. One of the menu
choices will be highlighted (black bar), in this case
the choice for locating a 512 Hz sonde. Pushing the
thumb switch forward and back (up and down arrow
directions) scrolls the highlight through each menu
choice. The menu itself will scroll to reveal choices
that are off the screen.
Pushing the button in the direction of the right arrow
activates that choice, taking you to the next screen
in most cases. A full description of each menu
choice is on the next page.
