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TideMaster - Operating Manual 

 

 

 

Document ID 

MANUAL-1094978189-1 | issue 1.1 

Date: 

July 2021 

 

This confidential document was prepared by the staff of Valeport Limited, the Company, and is the property 
of the Company, which also owns the copyright therein. All rights conferred by the law of the copyright and 
by virtue of international copyright conventions are reserved to the Company. This document must not be 
copied, reprinted or reproduced in any material form, either wholly or in part, and the contents of this 
document, and any method or technique available there from, must not be disclosed to any other person 
whatsoever without the prior written consent of the Company. 

© 2021 Valeport Ltd 

Valeport Ltd 
St Peter's Quay 
Totnes TQ9 5EW 
United Kingdom 

Phone: 

email:  

Web: 

+44 1803 869292 
[email protected] 
www.valeport.co.uk 

 

As part of our policy of continuous development, we reserve the right to alter, without prior notice, all 
specifications, designs, prices and conditions of supply for all our equipment 

 

 

Summary of Contents for TideMaster

Page 1: ...t be copied reprinted or reproduced in any material form either wholly or in part and the contents of this document and any method or technique available there from must not be disclosed to any other...

Page 2: ...evelling 9 2 3 4 Wiring 9 2 3 4 1 Junction box 9 2 4 Calibration 10 2 4 1 Pressure Sensor 10 2 4 2 VRS 20 Radar Level Sensor 10 3 Powering the Unit 11 3 1 Alkaline Battery Warning 11 3 2 To Turn the T...

Page 3: ...or Calibration 36 8 Data Display in TideMaster Express 37 8 1 Real Time Data 37 8 1 1 File Period 37 8 1 2 Daily File Location 37 8 1 3 Backup File Location 37 8 1 4 Remote Data File Location 37 8 1 5...

Page 4: ...g Information 51 10 1 Tide Pressure 51 10 2 Tide Radar 51 10 3 WindSONIC 52 10 4 METPAK II 52 10 5 MaxiMet 52 10 6 miniCT 53 10 7 3m Y Lead RS232 53 11 Declaration of Conformity TideMaster 54 11 1 UKC...

Page 5: ...o Sounder system and a range of hydrographic processing software The logger is powered by 4 C type cells which together with the SD memory allows operation for over 1 year of sampling at a 15 minutes...

Page 6: ...AL 1094978189 1 issue 1 1 2021 Valeport Ltd Page 2 1 2 Features TideMaster shown below with optional OLED control display panel Non Display model is identical other than the absence of the display and...

Page 7: ...with 20m cable Other pressure ranges and cable lengths are available Accuracy 0 1 Full Scale Calibration Held within logging unit Dimensions 18mm diameter x 80mm VRS 20 Radar Level Sensor Type Pulsed...

Page 8: ...nomous sampling External Power 9 28 V DC Memory 512 MB SD card memory allowing for effectively unlimited storage Sampling Raw data sampled at 8Hz and logged as average over burst 6 pre programmed burs...

Page 9: ...e supplied screw NB This can only be done before mounting the bracket to the wall For removal of the bar it can be pushed up from the bottom of the housing until it can be reached at the top and remov...

Page 10: ...unting requirements for the VRS 20 are a sturdy stable surface or boom that does not experience any significant vertical movement The surface does not necessarily need to be level as the VRS 20 mounti...

Page 11: ...Section 2 Installation Page 7 2021 Valeport Ltd 2 3 1 Boom Mounting The radar is supplied with a stainless steel clamp as pictured for attaching to railings scaffold poles...

Page 12: ...om constructed from standard scaffolding parts and attached to existing railing structure 2 3 2 Direct Mounting The clamp can be removed and the stainless steel adaptor plate fitted directly to a moun...

Page 13: ...request The cable is glanded into the VRS 20 at the sensor end and issued as unterminated cable at the other end This is to allow easy routing of the cable through walls bulkheads etc 2 3 4 1Junction...

Page 14: ...um for the particular site The exact calibration is affected by transducer offset water density and gravity The transducer is temperature compensated but this compensation does rely on the temperature...

Page 15: ...ast set mode The start of a data collection burst is denoted by a single flash The end of the burst is denoted by five flashes in quick succession The burst modes sample at fixed intervals and so it m...

Page 16: ...the control panel to reset the clock Dry the top of the housing to ensure no water enters the battery compartment during the process Undo the thumbscrews on the top of the housing They are fitted wit...

Page 17: ...wer and prevents the unit from entering sleep mode It is recommended that unless externally powered Bluetooth connections are terminated when not required 3 5 1 Scenario A Druck Pressure Transducer Fi...

Page 18: ...seconds per 30 minutes 182 days 3 5 4 Scenario D Druck Pressure Transducer Fitted Bluetooth On Every burst Display Period 5s Gill Windsonic Fitted Mode Pattern Battery Life B1 30 seconds per 1 minute...

Page 19: ...splays and extract and view logged data from logging instruments Additional Features of TideMaster Express Support for up to 10 station tide gauge network Support for multiple serial inputs Cable Blue...

Page 20: ...ected to the PC via a serial cable Before Bluetooth communications can be established it is necessary to pair the TideMaster with the PC to be communicated with A TideMaster can be paired with multipl...

Page 21: ...pt the TideMaster and Navigate to Bluetooth menu Select pairing option Communications Bluetooth Pairing Using TideMaster Express Connect with the TideMaster via cable See Section 6 2 1 Select the Pair...

Page 22: ...be assigned two COM port numbers the important one is the outgoing COM port as you will need to select this port when connecting to the instrument Now your TideMaster is successfully paired you will...

Page 23: ...ns available and the inputs required Navigation through the menus is achieved using a combination of the four buttons on the front of the TideMaster Button Functions Power Button Turns unit on and off...

Page 24: ...Factor Enter Value Site Cal Enter Low Value Enter Low Tide Value Take Pressure reading Enter High Value Enter High Tide Value Take Pressure reading Calculate Cal Output Units dBar Metres Feet Disabled...

Page 25: ...niCT sensor 074 1 Enables miniCT sensor 6 2 2 Sampling Set Up The sampling set up of the instrument can be configured in this menu Default burst modes can be selected or a custom sampling mode can be...

Page 26: ...p 9600 19200 38400 57600 115200 Bluetooth Setup Enable Bluetooth Disable Bluetooth Pair with Device Code 0 Telemetry Setup Set Station ID Set Delay 6 2 5 Reset option The reset option is used for a so...

Page 27: ...th the PC Defaults to 57600 baud Radio Valeport offer a Radio Telemetry Module allowing medium range wireless communications between a PC and TideMaster See Radio Telemetry manual 0741808a for details...

Page 28: ...data according to the sampling scenario you have set Change Baud Rate Having established communications at a particular baud rate you may wish to change this to suit your particular requirements For e...

Page 29: ...ster has a number of predefined sampling patterns and the option for a user defined sampling pattern The TideMaster has a very accurate real time clock This can be synchronised to the PC clock at set...

Page 30: ...ay will come on for at the end of a burst Real time output can be transmitted in a number of formats The choice of format does not affect the logged data which is always stored in the same format Tide...

Page 31: ...t transducer position with respect to datum In order to determine this secondary calibration some on site measurements will need to be taken to establish the relationship between decibars and depth wi...

Page 32: ...Pascal therefore 1 dBar 104 Pascal and Density Acceleration due to Gravity 1 is the Gain Factor 7 1 2 1 Gain Factor Fresh Water Using a standard density of 994 kg m3 pure water at 15 C and a gravity f...

Page 33: ...set should be entered as a positive value To check the operation of the unit with these user input values select cal check to view data from the transducer in both pressure dBar and Depth m ft formats...

Page 34: ...t is possible to mimic a tidal cycle by raising the transducer by a known amount This is described below as the moving transducer method Site Calibrations can be carried out using either of two method...

Page 35: ...thod Install and fix the transducer in the desired position and connect it to the TideMaster Run the TideMaster Express program on the PC Connect the TideMaster to the PC having previously selected th...

Page 36: ...tion option Select Site Calibration and required output units Low Calibration At the lowest expected tide Enter the Low Tide Height either read from a calibrated Tide Board or staffing gauge relative...

Page 37: ...either order and repeated if necessary It is possible to disconnect from the TideMaster and return later to carry out the second part of the calibration Once you are happy with the collected pressure...

Page 38: ...relative to a known datum Press the Get Reading button TideMaster will sample pressure readings for 30s and record the high height pressure relationship Move the transducer up by a known distance i e...

Page 39: ...is factory calibrated and the calibration is held within the radar sensor This calibration is independent of environmental conditions To transform this range to a tide height the offset between the R...

Page 40: ...ollow either the moving or fixed transducer method entering Low High values using the appropriate menu option when prompted When you are happy with the values entered use the Calculate Calibration opt...

Page 41: ...ter Express will monitor its last used serial port and log any data received on that port This data will be logged and backed up The File menu provides access to configuration of file periods and loca...

Page 42: ...her analysis or manipulation A confirmation window will appear to show that the process is complete 8 3 Data Display TideMaster Express Simple A numerical display large characters of the latest readin...

Page 43: ...Display will immediately indicate the last received reading for that parameter 8 3 2 Scroll Display This display type gives a sequential list of data points from all available parameters When opened...

Page 44: ...be quickly shown of any logged data file without adding it the Sensor List The Y axis of the graph will auto scale for each parameter to cover the range of data currently being displayed The resolutio...

Page 45: ...ing a numerical indication of the magnitude and bearing This display will appear when Wind Rose Display is selected from the Display Type menu and will be updated as new data is received The display m...

Page 46: ...ch will show the data for a full calendar day from midnight to midnight or 24 Hour Band which shows a moving graph of data for a full 24 hour period centred on the current time i e 12 hours before and...

Page 47: ...sure 10s interval Radar B1 Burst sampling pattern of 30 seconds 1 minute B2 Burst sampling pattern of 40 seconds 6 minutes B3 Burst sampling pattern of 40 seconds 10 minutes B4 Burst sampling pattern...

Page 48: ...t Firmware version 0741705A5 File Creation Date 23 01 2013 14 27 23 Battery Level 5 7 TideMaster S N 3 Station ID 01 Site info Valeport test site Calibrated 18 07 2012 Mode B1 Pressure units m output...

Page 49: ...Level 5 7 TideMaster S N 3 Station ID 01 Site info Valeport test site Calibrated 18 07 2012 Mode B1 Pressure units m output format TIDEMASTER User Pressure cal Gain 1 234000 Offset 1 000000 Vale Pres...

Page 50: ...units m output format TIDEMASTER Radar Min limit 0 500 Max Limit 2 000 Datum 2 000 Pre amble 4 Wind speed units Knots Air Pressure units mBar Air Temperature units C Time stamp TAB Depth TAB Depth SD...

Page 51: ...2013 14 33 36 Battery Level 5 7 TideMaster S N 3 Station ID 01 Site info Valeport test site Calibrated 18 07 2012 Mode B1 Pressure units m output format TIDEMASTER Radar Min limit 0 500 Max Limit 20...

Page 52: ...chars ID Station ID Date ddmmyyyy Time hhmmss Tide Height tt ttt Tide height stdev h hhh Tide height units D 0 1 2 dBar Metres Feet Battery voltage vv v Status hh checksum of the above CL cr lf end of...

Page 53: ...20 11 2009 09 30 00 P dBar 3 472 D m 3 136 CR LF Where ID 01 Station ID 1 10 TIME 20 11 2009 09 28 00 Time Date DD MM YYY hh mm ss P dBar 3 487 Tide Height in Decibars D m 3 152 Tide Height in Metres...

Page 54: ...e ID 01 TIME 20 11 2009 09 36 00 TIDE HEIGHT 3 073 ID 01 TIME 20 11 2009 09 37 00 TIDE HEIGHT 3 064 ID 01 TIME 20 11 2009 09 38 00 TIDE HEIGHT 3 052 ID 01 TIME 20 11 2009 09 39 00 TIDE HEIGHT 3 042 ID...

Page 55: ...dified UTS UTS6JC10E6P A V B GND C SIG D SIG E N C F Screen 10 2 Tide Radar END 1 0745518 PCB Into Radar Junction Box END 2 0745518 PCB Out of Radar Junction Box END 3 UTS6JC10E7S TideMaster END 4 D T...

Page 56: ...ONNECTOR PIN CONNECTOR PIN J5 8 way Push fit Block Pin 1 is nearest edge of board adjacent to earth post 8 6 WAY UTS UTS6JC10E6P A V Supply to Gill 7 B GND Supply to Gill 4 C RS232 Out to Gill 3 D RS2...

Page 57: ...pply to MiniCT 3 C RS232 Out to MiniCT 2 D RS232 In from MiniCT 1 E MiniCT 232 Gnd F Screen 10 7 3m Y Lead RS232 END 1 7 Way UTS Connector red ring END 2 9 WAY D TYPE END 3 BANANA PLUGS FUNCTION CONNE...

Page 58: ...horised by Valeport Ltd could void the CE compliance of the product and negate your authority to operate it This product has demonstrated CE compliance under conditions that include the use of shielde...

Page 59: ...Section 11 Declaration of Conformity TideMaster Page 55 2021 Valeport Ltd 11 2 EU CE Certificate...

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