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Sky Quality Meter – Lens USB

SQM­LU 

User manual

Summary of Contents for SQM-LU

Page 1: ...Sky Quality Meter Lens USB SQM LU User manual...

Page 2: ......

Page 3: ...temperature 14 4 2 9 Manually set dark calibration time period 15 4 2 10 Manually set dark calibration temperature 16 4 2 11 Setting interval reporting parameters 17 4 2 11 1 Interval reporting period...

Page 4: ...e 9 Table 5 Dark calibration response 10 Table 6 Disarm calibration response 11 Table 7 Unit information request response 12 Table 8 Response for manual setting of light calibration offset 13 Table 9...

Page 5: ...e microcontroller The microcontroller responds to commands by sending data strings to the USB interface which are then relayed to the PC 1 1 Quick start 1 Your computer must have the FTDI VCP driver i...

Page 6: ...olute precision of each meter is believed to be 10 0 10 mag arcsec The difference in zeropoint between each calibrated SQM L is typically 10 0 10 mag sq arcsec Power requirement 18mA from the 5V USB c...

Page 7: ...mands can be sent to the SQM LU using a serial terminal emulator to the serial communications port that the device routes to When connecting the SQM LU to a PC where the FTDI device driver is loaded t...

Page 8: ...ts a sequence of characters as a command then executes those commands and usually provides a response of a sequence of characters 4 1 Commands Commands consist of a string of characters The first char...

Page 9: ...ller see bootloader Hexadecimal value 19 Intel Hex firmware upgrade initiation see bootloader P x Set period in seconds for interval reporting to EEPROM and RAM for booting and immediate use Firmware...

Page 10: ...10 21 0000022921Hz Frequency of sensor in Hz 23 33 0000000020c Period of sensor in counts counts occur at a rate of 460 8 kHz 14 7456MHz 32 35 46 0000000 000s Period of sensor in seconds with millisec...

Page 11: ...h millisecond resolution 28 34 039 4C Temperature in degrees C measured during light calibration Leading space for positive value Leading negative sign for negative value 36 47 00000008 71m Offset of...

Page 12: ...calibrated light source of approximately 13 5fc is supplied to the sensor The format of the response is Column Example value Description 0 z Indicates that a Calibration response is being returned 1...

Page 13: ...that the period is correct after entering the dark environment it could take a few minutes to collect an accurate dark period A dark period of only a few seconds is too small The format of the respon...

Page 14: ...e Description 0 z Calibration response is being returned 1 x All calibration modes 2 d Disarmed 3 L L Locked Wait for unlock before calibrating after Arm command firmware upgrades are disabled U Unloc...

Page 15: ...to from the SQM LU The protocol version is independent of the feature version 11 18 00000003 Model number 8 digits The model value identifies the specific hardware model that the firmware is tailored...

Page 16: ...ually sets the light calibration offset to the value specified in The units are magnitudes arcsecond 2 The format of the response is Column Example value Description 0 z Calibration response is being...

Page 17: ...e specified in The units are C Note The SQM LU records the temperature in a raw value with different resolution so the reply back may not be exactly the same as the value sent The format of the respon...

Page 18: ...x manually sets the light calibration offset to the value specified in The units are in seconds The format of the response is Column Example value Description 0 z Calibration response is being return...

Page 19: ...pecified in The units are C Note The SQM LU records the temperature in a raw value with different resolution so the reply back may not be exactly the same as the value sent The format of the response...

Page 20: ...A reading of 0 00m means that the light at the sensor has reached the upper brightness limit of the unit 10 21 0000022921Hz Frequency of sensor in Hz 23 33 0000000020c Period of sensor in counts coun...

Page 21: ...irmware clears resets the micro controller effectively copying the EEPROM values into RAM 4 2 11 1 Interval reporting period setting Executing the command P x note upper case P sets the period of the...

Page 22: ...erval period that was set into EEPROM 14 24 0000300360s Interval period that was set into RAM 26 37 00000017 60m Threshold value that was set into EEPROM 39 50 00000017 60m Threshold value that was se...

Page 23: ...e to keep the domes clean every so often and to make sure that the mounting plane is painted black to that it doesn t reflect light back to the inside of the dome and then back into the meter Source o...

Page 24: ...nual offset of 0 15 should be applied to all readings 6 3 Cover maintenance Keep the covering clean of dust water ice and bird droppings Revision 1 1 Page 22 Last modified Jun 18 2011 Illustration 4 E...

Page 25: ...FTDI interface has not been altered from its default There should be no reason to alter the FTDI chip settings The baud rate is defined by the VCP driver side when a terminal program connects to the S...

Page 26: ...03 PID_6001 Serial_Number 0000 PortName For Windows 98 and Windows ME look here for your device HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM Enum FTDIBUS VID_0403 PID_6001 Serial_Number 0000 PortName The Serial_Number i...

Page 27: ...Unihedron SQM LU Users manual Revision 1 1 Page 25 Last modified Jun 18 2011...

Page 28: ...mpany contact information Mailing address Unihedron 4 Lawrence Avenue Grimsby Ontario L3M 2L9 Canada Telephone 905 945 1197 Fax 905 945 6770 Website unihedron com Email info unihedron com Revision 1 1...

Page 29: ...he power has been removed This type of memory has a limited write erase cycle as well as a lifetime for data retention In the SQM LU the parameters in the micro controller can be written 1 million tim...

Page 30: ...al SQM LE product release 4 Interval report reading includes serial number at end SQM LE 11 3 Feature revision history Revision Description 9 Initial SQM LE product release 10 Power up default reset f...

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