Bringing the Benefits of Real-Time Data Collection to the World
Sutron Corporation, 22400 Davis Drive, Sterling, Virginia 20164-4444
8
4. Setup and Operation
Introduction
This section will familiarize you with the steps and commands needed to alter the setup of the ACCUBAR
®
.
If you will use the ACCUBAR
®
sensor at address 0 (the factory default) and can accept the output in units
of mB (hPa), you will not need to use these commands. Typically, you will need to issue some of the
commands, so we recommend you learn how to do so. Learning to issue commands also helps if you need
to troubleshoot a sensor.
Users of the analog version (5600-0120
-2
) of the ACCUBAR
®
will not need to use these commands if the
output range of 600 to 1100 mB is acceptable. Users of the analog version will, however, probably wish to
customize the output range to suit their application. To customize the output range, analog users will need
to know how to issue commands.
To issue commands to the ACCUBAR
®
via SDI-12, you will need to connect it to a data recorder, such as a
Sutron 8210, 8310, 9210, or Xpert which is capable of issuing standard and extended SDI-12 commands.
Follow the instructions in Sections 2 and 3 in order to make these connections.
To issue commands to the ACCUBAR
®
via RS-232, you will need to connect it to an RS-232 terminal or to
a computer running terminal emulation (communications) software. Follow the instructions in Section 3 in
order to make these connections
Nomenclature
All commands have three components: the
device address
, the
command body
, and the
command
termination
.
The
device address
is a single character and is the first character of a command. In the examples that
follow, it is usually the number 0 (the default address as shipped from the factory).
The
command body
and the responses are shown as a combination of upper and lower case letters. The
upper case letters are the fixed portions of the command and the lower case letters are the variables or
values. In the specific examples, you will see that the lower case letters are replaced with actual numbers.
All commands are shown with an exclamation point (!) as the
command terminator
. This command
terminator works with both the SDI-12 and RS-232 interfaces. With RS-232, you have the additional
option of terminating the command with a carriage return <CR> and/or line feed <LF> in place of the
exclamation point.
Setting the Address
If you are using the ACCUBAR
®
connected with other SDI-12 devices, you will need to change the
ACCUBAR
®
address. Otherwise, skip this section. The address simply lets multiple devices share the
same wiring. When the data recorder needs data from a particular sensor, it requests data using an address.
Only the device with the matching address will reply. For convenience in setting up the unit when only one
sensor is connected, the ACCUBAR
®
supports wildcard addresses of asterisk (*) and question mark (?).
The default address is 0. There are two ways to set the address: switches and command.
