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Spectrum FIELDSCOUT TDR 100, Product Manual, Page: 12 / 20

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Spectrum FIELDSCOUT TDR 100 Product Manual Download Page 12

12 

Meter Settings  

With  the  TDR100,  the Meter  Settings  screen  in  the  Field 
Scout  software  is  mainly  used  to  enter  the  set  points  for 
the  Relative  Water  Content  mode.    The  meter  name  and 
measurement  units  are  also  entered  here.    The  fields  are 
described below. 
 
Meter  Name: The name given the meter will be the title 
on the first line of the downloaded text file. 
 
Units: When operating the meter in Relative Water Con-
tent mode, the LCD can display the rod length options in 
English or metric units.  The meter will calculate and dis-
play  the  water  deficit  (see  Relative  Water  Content  p.  10) 
in the same unit system. 
 

Summary of Contents for FIELDSCOUT TDR 100

Page 1: ...ter PRODUCT MANUAL Item 6440FS ES Equipements Scientifiques SA Département Bio tests Industries 127 rue de Buzenval BP 26 92380 Garches Tél 01 47 95 99 90 Fax 01 47 01 16 22 e mail bio es france com Site Web www es france com ...

Page 2: ...endix 1 Soil Specific Calibration 16 Appendix 2 Checking VWC Readings 18 Appendix 3 Troubleshooting 19 This manual will familiarize you with the features and operation of your new Field ScoutTM TDR Soil Moisture Meter Please read this manual thoroughly before using your instrument For customer support or to place an order call Spectrum Technologies Inc at 800 248 8873 or 815 436 4440 between 7 30 ...

Page 3: ...domain reflec tometry is a proven technology for quickly and accurately determining volumetric water content VWC in soil The Field Scout probe allows the user to easily and rapid ly take many measurements The user can quickly transi tion between taking VWC readings in standard and high clay mode Through the software the user can program relative water content modes for multiple sites General overv...

Page 4: ...eter is turned on it will display the battery status for 3 seconds The screen will then display the most recently used MODE screen Volumetric or Relative water content or measurement period The data screens for the Water Content Modes are explained on pages 8 and 10 The Peri od mode is used for doing soil specific calibrations and is explained on page 14 ON Battery at 85 Firmware V5 0 Stndrd VWC 2...

Page 5: ...e water con tent VWC or RWC readings the rod length setting must be correct In the VWC modes the currently selected rod length appears in the lower left corner of the LCD screen The options are Turf 1 5 Short 3 0 Medium 4 7 and Long 7 9 rods Press the MODE button until the LCD displays the rod length options screen Pressing the DELETE CLR AVG button will allow you to toggle be tween the three choi...

Page 6: ...red by TDR is an average over the length of the waveguide Electronics in the TDR 300 generate and sense the return of a high energy signal that travels down and back through the soil along the waveguide composed of the two replaceable stainless steel rods The sampling vol ume is an elliptical cylinder that extends approximately 3 cm out from the rods The high frequency signal infor mation is then ...

Page 7: ...the chances the rods will be bent or broken Likewise it is best to avoid areas with rocks or other material that can cause the rods to deflect or bend Stndrd VWC 25 5 PL L N 06 A 23 4 The TDR meter can be set to one of two VWC modes Standard or High Clay The Standard mode will be appro priate for most mineral soils The High Clay mode will be more accurate for soils with higher clay contents 27 In ...

Page 8: ...a negative RWC or an RWC greater than 100 If the volumetric water contents for field capacity and permanent wilting point are the wet and dry set points respec tively the RWC value will be equivalent to Plant Available Water PAW A general rule of thumb is to recommend irri gation when the soil has reached 50 of the PAW Also included on the first line is the Water Deficit The Water Deficit is the a...

Page 9: ...e tested and click the Port Test button Click the Test Port Now button If the message Connection OK is displayed another device such as a modem is probably connected to that port If the message No Connection is displayed this port may be the one connected to your serial cable and you can proceed to the next step 3 Place a paperclip on the end of the serial pin so that it touches both the tip of th...

Page 10: ...d to the meter s serial port The meter s con figuration can be modified by clicking on the Meter Set tings button see Meter Settings p 12 The Com Port Meter Type and Clear Meter Settings buttons are ex plained in the Main Toolbar section p 11 Changing the batteries The battery compartment is accessed by removing the me ter s face plate The meter runs on 4 AAA batteries When installing new batterie...

Page 11: ...entify ing the Correct Com Port p 14 for instructions on how to determine which port to select Meter Type Select the TDR option from the list of available Field Scout meters Meter Settings Click this button to configure the me ter and data logger Refer to Meter Settings p 12 for more details Download and Clear Memory These functions are not active with the TDR 100 ...

Page 12: ...s are also entered here The fields are described below Meter Name The name given the meter will be the title on the first line of the downloaded text file Units When operating the meter in Relative Water Con tent mode the LCD can display the rod length options in English or metric units The meter will calculate and dis play the water deficit see Relative Water Content p 10 in the same unit system ...

Page 13: ...om of the screen select which VWC calibration Standard or High Clay should be used for each RWC mode Each of these modes can be given a descriptive name of 5 characters These names can be used to identi fy a certain field or soil type Finally for an RWC mode to be available it must be ena bled by checking the Enable Display box If this box is not checked that RWC mode will not appear on the LCD du...

Page 14: ...e meters can be used interchangeably The calibration procedure is as follows 1 Use the MODE button to put meter in Calibration mode see p 5 Hit the READ button 2 Hold the meter so the rods are in the air Press the READ button and wait until the meter indicates it is ready 3 Immerse the rods completely in distilled or de ionized water The container should have a minimum diameter of 3 inches Press t...

Page 15: ...lay 16 character 2 line LCD Weight 1 5 lbs 0 68 kg Probe Head Dimensions 3 1 x 3 x 1 7 8cm x 7 5cm x 2 5cm Rod Dimensions Length 1 5 3 8cm 3 7 6cm 4 7 12cm or 7 9 20cm Diameter 0 2 0 5cm Spacing 1 3 3 3cm Specifications The meter s LCD screen will display the data in one of three modes see Meter Operation p 4 1 Volumetric water content in Standard or High Clay mode see p 8 2 Relative water content...

Page 16: ... gradually wetting a known volume soil with the addition of known increments of water In most cases however the calibra tion will be done with gravimetric sampling This proce dure is briefly described below In the field establish a number of sites to sample Each site should be wetted to a different soil moisture content by adding varying amounts of water At each site a Field Scout TDR reading is t...

Page 17: ...he gravimetric water content and soil bulk density VWC GWC ρb ρw Where GWC is the gravimetric water content and ρb is the bulk density GWC 100 Mwet Mdry Mdry ρb Mdry Vtot The final step is to plot the calculated the measured period values with the readings obtained from Field Scout TDR meter Regression analysis can then be performed on this data to develop an equation to convert from period to VWC...

Page 18: ...gs can be taken in three standard environ ments air distilled water and playground sand saturated with distilled water It is important that any troubleshooting be done with distilled wa ter Readings taken in tap water can differ greatly from the expected re sults observed in distilled water When readings are taken in water and saturated sand the container should have a diameter of at least 3 inche...

Page 19: ...getting VWC values near 0 for all measurements even in very wet soil Most likely a circuit component in the display is damaged and must be repaired Contact Spectrum Technologies or your dis tributor to obtain a Return Goods Authorization RGA num ber 3 Unable to bring up the Meter Settings screen Generally this indicates that the PC is not able to communicate with the meter Check the following The ...

Page 20: ...warranted to be free from defects in material or workmanship for one year from the date of purchase During the warranty period Spectrum will at its option either repair or replace products that prove to be defective This warranty does not cover damage due to improper installation or use lightning negligence accident or unauthorized modifications or to incidental or conse quential damages beyond th...

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