Rain Bird WS-PRO, Installation, Maintenance And Troubleshooting Manual

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CAUTION ! Connect a volt/ohm meter
to the phone line only in extreme cases.
It is recommended to use FCC approved
equipment only - while measuring
current on a telephone line.
USE NO MSP-1 , pipe surge arrestor
on the telephone communication wires.
If an MSP-1 pipe surge arrestor is used
in the line, the Weather Station will
usually answer and then hang up right
away. The MSP-1 is for low voltage
applications and the telephone line is
excited to well over the 50 volt limit of
the MSP-1 surge arrestor so will shunt
the line to earth ground.
•
Test the phone modem, at the
weather station by dialing out to the
weather station. It is working and is
O.K. if you can hear a dial tone and
the dialing. This also verifies the
communication path and most
modem settings.
•
If telephone line appears to be O.K. -
then change the phone modem at the
weather station, to a known “Good”
phone modem and try again.
•
If the station still does not answer,
then have the telephone company
check the phone line again, even if
it is the fourth time they have been
out.
COMPUTER MODEM AND
COMMUNICATION
TROUBLESHOOTING:
Weather Software will not commun-
icate with the weather station.
•
Verify all the wiring, etc., at the
computer, to the modem, and to the
field.
•
Be sure the software is configured to
the correct communication port
according to the type of MAXI
software being used for the system;
i.e., MAXI 5, NIMBUS or CIRRUS.
If you arrive at weather through
MAXI then the serial port is
configured through the MAXI
software.
•
A data line monitor may be
necessary to test the output from the
computer and to verify that the serial
port is working O.K. Most times
output can be verified, however,
with RAD Short Haul Modem or a
phone modem. A data line monitor
RS-232 Mini-Tester (available at
Radio Shack) is a device that
connects into the line with the serial
port and by using lights will show
the status of all the data lines.
•
It is important here to check the
communication serial port of the
computer and verify that it is
functioning correctly, just as is
required when troubleshooting
MAXI or MAXICOM.
TESTING THE SHORT HAUL
MODEM
For the older weather stations, which
used the RAD SH-6A Short Haul
Modems and the current “PRO” weather
stations, which use the RAD SRM-5A
Short Haul Modems - both of these
modems can be tested in the same
manner.