CONTROL SOLUTIONS LogTag VFC400-USB Product User Manual Download

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www.vfcdataloggers.com

VFC400-USB

Vaccine temperature

monitoring Data

Logger

Product User Guide

Document Release Version: 2.0

Published 1. October, 2021

Control Solutions

Summary of Contents for LogTag VFC400-USB

Page 1: ...oggers com VFC400 USB Vaccine temperature monitoring Data Logger Product User Guide Document Release Version 2 0 Published 1 October 2021 Copyright Control Solutions 2018 2021 All rights reserved Control Solutions ...

Page 2: ...the Office 11 On site 11 Inserting the Batteries 12 Configuring the VFC400 USB for logging 13 Finalizing the configuration 21 Adding the Probes and the Power Supply 21 Display Overview 22 Powering the VFC400 USB 25 Low power operation 26 Audible Alarm 28 Real Time Clock 29 Manually adjusting the time zone 29 Starting the Logger 32 Push button start 32 Push Button Start with Start Delay 33 During R...

Page 3: ...lugging the VFC400 USB into a USB port 50 Accessing the files 52 Downloading the VFC400 USB to Control Solutions VTMC 53 Re deploying the VFC400 USB 53 Interpreting the Data 54 Data Evaluation Report 54 Data Evaluation Data List 57 Data Evaluation Day Summary 59 Resetting the Logger 61 Hibernating a VFC400 USB 62 Replacing the Batteries 63 Appendix 1 Accuracy and Resolution 64 Temperature Accuracy...

Page 4: ...of according to your local regulations Liability Control Solutions s standard warranty terms apply A copy can be requested by emailing support vfcdataloggers com In addition Control Solutions shall not be held liable l if the device was used beyond Control Solutions s stated limitations l for any claims due to the improper storage and use of the device l for any problems with refrigeration units l...

Page 5: ...nt refers to option settings dialogue boxes or actions to be taken in Control Solutions VTMC Text in this font describes features of the product This text describes certain aspects of the product where incorrect use of a feature may lead to inadvertent loss of data This text contains important information for the correct operation of your VFC400 USB This text contains information that explains som...

Page 6: ...9 days previous l The current time and battery status l Minimum and maximum temperatures since the start of the trip Alarm events can be triggered when a number of readings are outside pre set temperature thresholds and a day alarm indicator appears on the display Logged temperature data can be viewed on any PC by plugging the unit into a computer s USB port via a micro USB cable A PDF file is gen...

Page 7: ...e fastening of logger to fixtures l Micro USB socket with attached protective cap l Gold plated high quality temperature sensor sockets l Robust polycarbonate case IP51 l 2 user replaceable AAA batteries accessible via a compartment at the rear of the product Buttons l START CLEAR STOP button This is used to start the unit and clear active alarms It is also used to exit the statistics review ...

Page 8: ...utions VTMC In addition a red Alarm LED shows if an alarm event has occurred External Probes The VFC400 USB will accept external probes from the ST100 product range Power Supply The same USB socket that is used for communication is also used for providing power to the VFC400 USB using an external 5V USB power supply The AAA batteries maintain all functionality when USB power is not connected A lon...

Page 9: ...our computer s USB socket l one or two external probes of the ST100 series l a PC running Windows 7 SP1 or later and Control Solutions VTMC 3 installed if you wish to configure and download the logger l a PC with PDF reader software installed for viewing the generated PDF files Optional Items In addition to the above following items are useful accessories l a 5V 5W USB power supply if you wish to ...

Page 10: ...What You Need VFC400 USB User Guide 10 l one or two glycol temperature buffers which simulate environmental behavior of a vaccine vial ...

Page 11: ...ries into the unit 2 Download and install the latest version of Control Solutions VTMC 3 You can do this from the Control Solutions Software Download page 3 Configure the unit using Control Solutions VTMC software On site Once you have completed this process you can take the logger to the location where it will be installed 1 Connect external power if you use the VFC400 USB in a stationery applica...

Page 12: ...Insert the AAA batteries in the correct orientation as shown The polarity is marked inside the battery compartment The battery compartment is a good place to keep the surplus sensor socket covers You may wish to remove these now for each channel you want to use and add them to the compartment before closing it see Adding the Probes and the Power Supply 4 Replace the rear cover and the screw 5 Pres...

Page 13: ...onfigured ready to be started using one of a number of different profiles that are available You can check if your logger is already configured or not by briefly pressing the REVIEW MARK button The logger is already configured to start If your logger is configured to start it will show either if the logger was pre configured for a push button start or if the logger was pre configured for a Date Ti...

Page 14: ...rinting the PDF and l triggering alarms This is done using Control Solutions VTMC software which can also be used for downloading and analyzing data l Start the Control Solutions VTMC software l Remove the protective cap from the logger s USB socket and plug the Micro USB end of the cable into the socket Plug the other end of the cable into a USB socket on your computer and wait for the drivers to...

Page 15: ...d by a single probe plugged into the corresponding socket marked CH1 or CH2 or select Both for recording both probes VFC400 USB Start Options During configuration with Control Solutions VTMC you can decide when the VFC400 USB starts taking temperature readings Push button start The logger will start taking temperature readings as soon as you have pressed the START CLEAR STOP button see Starting th...

Page 16: ...d Date Time start The logger will start taking temperature readings at the date and time you enter during configuration local time You cannot combine a date time start with pre start readings or the start delay function Alarm Configuration Options The VFC400 USB can display an alarm if one or more of the configured alarm trigger conditions have been met This is indicated on the display by showing ...

Page 17: ...nels the controls for the other channel are not available The screen shows an example where l the upper primary alarm for channel 1 is triggered when the temperature is 8 C or above for an accumulative time of 10 hours l the lower primary alarm for channel 1 is triggered when the temperature is 2 C or below continuously for 1 hour Figure 2 Sample Alarm Configuration Settings for channel 1 of a VFC...

Page 18: ...ight passes next this marker will move to and so on Alarm Re triggering A note on alarm re triggering As soon as an alarm is triggered the corresponding delay time but not any others resets to zero and alarm processing starts again The alarm processing for all other alarm delays is not affected Therefore accumulative or consecutive alarms will re trigger if the alarm conditions are met again and t...

Page 19: ...file is also used for all temperature values shown on the display You cannot choose different temperature units for individual channels l Date and time format l Time zone and MKT values Following specifically influences the appearance of the PDF file l Scaling parameters for the chart l Showing or hiding grid lines l Showing or hiding alarm threshold lines l Generating the data list For detailed i...

Page 20: ...r Save on page 41 l Allowing a user to reset the trip s minimum and maximum values on the display during recording see Clearing the Min Max Values on page 42 Following parameters influence specific behavior of the VFC400 USB l Clearing and resetting alarms when the START CLEAR STOP button is pressed l Leaving the alarm turned on even if readings return to the normal temperature range again l Allow...

Page 21: ...0 USB logger as often as required Adding the Probes and the Power Supply Before the VFC400 USB can record temperature data you will need to connect an external probe The VFC400 USB accepts any ST100 probe including an STX50 extension Remove the small round socket protector for the channel you wish to use The battery compartment is a good place to keep any spare protectors Plug the probe s connecto...

Page 22: ...4 markers named last week to 4 weeks ago A marker is switched on if alarm event occurred during that week MIN MAX Temperature Data These two temperatures represent the minimum and maximum since the recording started or since the values were last manually cleared Main Temperature Value This shows the most recently recorded temperature while the VFC400 USB is recording Once the logger has stopped no...

Page 23: ...ton l If is shown the VFC400 USB is recording temperature at the sample interval defined l If the word STOPPED is shown the VFC400 USB has finished recording temperature data Time Value and Time Indicators The time value display is used to show one of the following l The current time l The time remaining until the logger starts recording for a delayed start l A duration for example of an alarm The...

Page 24: ...mperature on the display represents the minimum recorded temperature for the day displayed Above Below Threshold Arrows The up arrow is shown when the temperature displayed i e last recorded is above the primary upper temperature threshold The down arrow is shown when the temperature displayed is below the primary lower temperature threshold Temperature Units Depending on the selected temperature ...

Page 25: ...approximate remaining battery capacity If the batteries are full this symbol will be shown When the batteries are empty this symbol will be shown and the batteries require replacement Please always replace both batteries with fresh ones at the same time Replacing only one of the batteries with a partially charged battery will drain the internal backup battery It is possible to use rechargeable AAA...

Page 26: ...lash and the three tone sounder will sound In this case the logger will not be powered by the external supply but remain powered by the AAA batteries instead Please remove the supply and replace it with one of better quality Low power operation The VFC400 USB enters low power operation when no external power is supplied and the AAA batteries are empty In low power mode l the audible alarm will sou...

Page 27: ...e red alert indicator will blink if an alarm is triggered l A scheduled recording will still start At this time the batteries must be replaced or external power provided to activate the suspended functions After battery replacement the display may be blank To activate it simply press one of the buttons The internal secondary backup battery CR2032 LiMnO2 coin cell should be replaced immediately whe...

Page 28: ...onds for the first 24 hours then sound less frequently to preserve battery life3 until the alarm is cleared the unit stops or is re configured The three tone sounder will temporarily turn off when you are reviewing data 3 The interval at which the alarm sounds will increase to 8 seconds when the clock passes midnight for a second time i e the alarm will sound every 4 seconds between 24 and 48 hour...

Page 29: ...e to be changed together with the display clock Control Solutions VTMC can display the logged readings in a number of different time zones regardless of where it was configured Manually adjusting the time zone The clock shown on the display of the logger can be adjusted in 15 minute steps so it displays the time in the current local time zone This can be done directly on the unit using the buttons...

Page 30: ... l Internally the logger always retains its clock in UTC You cannot adjust the clock beyond the allowed time zone limit of 15 hours and 12 hours from UTC these are the same values you see as allowed time zone values in Control Solutions VTMC during configuration For example if 13 25 is the currently displayed time and the logger is configured with Hawaiian time zone 10h when in daylight saving the...

Page 31: ...y clock adjustment is made while recording data the day summary page will contain a mark for each day on which the time was adjusted Changes to the display clock do not affect the internal real time clock value so the logged data does not show time gaps ...

Page 32: ...ower symbol is shown when the unit is connected to a USB power supply Press the START CLEAR STOP button STARTING is briefly shown in addition to READY Then READY disappears Once READY disappears release the button within two seconds STARTING will now disappear and the symbol will be shown The VFC400 USB now records temperature data The logger will not start if l you release the button before READY...

Page 33: ...is shown in hours and minutes The time counts down and the VFC400 USB starts recording when it reaches 0 00 The timer can be cancelled and the logger reset to READY While STARTING and DELAY are shown press and hold the START CLEAR STOP button STOPPED will now show Release the button when STARTING disappears STOPPED and DELAY will both disappear and READY will show together with the current time an...

Page 34: ...nually reset At the bottom of the display you can see an alarm day summary where any days on which an alarm was recorded are highlighted Following are some sample display screens for channel 1 At 1 25 pm l Alarm events for channel 1 were recorded 6 18 19 27 days ago The following symbols show on the display o for the alarm that occurred 6 days ago o for the alarms that occurred 18 and 19 days ago ...

Page 35: ...s ago to 7 days ago o for the alarms that shifted from 18 and 19 days ago to 19 and 20 days ago o for the alarm that shifted from 27 to 28 days ago As a result of the day shifts the symbols for today and 3 weeks ago no longer show Switching Channels on the Display Apart from the power symbols battery status recording status and the current time the display only shows data that is associated with a...

Page 36: ...nnel The red LED however blinks as long as either channel has registered an active alarm and the buzzer will continue to operate The Auto Channel swap function is disabled l when the logger is stopped l when the logger s power save feature is enabled and it is powered by batteries or l during review Please see Reviewing Day Statistics on the Display for information about how the Channel button ope...

Page 37: ... 10 1 week and 3 days Day 11 1 week and 4 days Day 12 1 week and 5 days Day 13 1 week and 6 days Day 14 2 weeks Day 15 2 weeks and 1 day Day 16 2 weeks and 2 days Day 17 2 weeks and 3 days Day 18 2 weeks and 4 days Day 19 2 weeks and 5 days Day 20 2 weeks and 6 days Day 21 3 weeks Day 22 3 weeks and 1 day Day 23 3 weeks and 2 days Day 24 3 weeks and 3 days Day 25 3 weeks and 4 days Day 26 3 weeks ...

Page 38: ...x 2 seconds the cross will be replaced with the tick Release the button when the tick appears The normal recording display is shown The red LED will stop flashing as soon as none of the channels show an active alarm The alarm will not be cleared if you release the button before the appears In this example the paused function was activated and the paused symbol is shown on the display For more info...

Page 39: ...atize to the environment again before further readings are processed After a button press the display shows PAUSED next to the symbol PAUSED will turn off as soon as the last ignored reading has been recorded The option is set in the Advanced Settings tab during configuration with Control Solutions VTMC and is expressed in number of readings after the last button press Paused readings are speciall...

Page 40: ...sconnected This function is useful if the probe is permanently mounted but you wish to take the VFC400 USB to a computer for downloading its data Any values recorded during this time will not be taken into account when calculating statistics values or alarms If for example the temperature was above 10 C for 12 hours which would normally trigger an alarm event but the probe was disconnected for 3 h...

Page 41: ...ons as the logger uses less battery power when the display is not turned on Pressing any button will re activate the display Power save is enabled or disabled when configuring the VFC400 USB via Control Solutions VTMC in the Advanced Settings tab Note The display will turn off even if there is a pending alarm The Red Alert LED will still blink When the display turns on after a button press the aut...

Page 42: ...the buttons within 2 seconds The values will be reset and the dashes remain on screen The values will not be reset and the currently stored min max values will be retained if l you keep holding the button for more than 2 seconds after the dashes no longer blink or l you release the button within the initial 4 second period after the initial press In these cases the display keeps showing the normal...

Page 43: ... Today for the channel that was displayed at the time you started the review process Pressing the review button again shows the minimum value for Today for the same channel Each time the review button is pressed you will first see the MAX screen then the MIN screen for previous days for the same channel When the screen with the minimum for Day 29 has been reached the next press of the review butto...

Page 44: ... the same day s data today is being displayed l Today no temperature values were recorded below the lower alarm threshold and no alarm event was generated l The minimum temperature recorded today was 1 4 C Yesterday s data Pressing the button now displays yesterday s maximum statistic l The 1 marker flashes to indicate that yesterday s data is being displayed l Yesterday recordings above the upper...

Page 45: ...ay s maximum statistic from channel 2 l The 1 marker still flashes to indicate that yesterday s data is being displayed l Yesterday no recordings above the upper threshold were recorded and no duration value is shown l The maximum temperature recorded yesterday was 21 5 C Pressing the button now displays yesterday s minimum statistic from channel 2 l flashes as we are still looking at yesterday s ...

Page 46: ...he minimum statistic from two days ago l flashes as we are still looking at the data from 2 days ago l Yesterday no temperature values were recorded below the lower alarm threshold and no alarm event was generated l The minimum temperature recorded on the day before yesterday was 7 0 C Data from 6 days ago After pressing the button for a few times skipping days 3 to 5 the maximum statistic from si...

Page 47: ...pper threshold were recorded indicated by the upper alarm threshold marker l The duration was 5 hours 20 minutes l An alarm event was generated indicated by the symbol Neither duration from day 6 or day 7 alone would cause an alarm event however the combined duration is 11 hours 50 minutes which is more than the allowed 10 accumulative hours l The maximum temperature recorded seven days ago was 11...

Page 48: ... 9 1 week and 2 days Day 10 1 week and 3 days Day 11 1 week and 4 days Day 12 1 week and 5 days Day 13 1 week and 6 days Day 14 2 weeks Day 15 2 weeks and 1 day Day 16 2 weeks and 2 days Day 17 2 weeks and 3 days Day 18 2 weeks and 4 days Day 19 2 weeks and 5 days Day 20 2 weeks and 6 days Day 21 3 weeks Day 22 3 weeks and 1 day Day 23 3 weeks and 2 days Day 24 3 weeks and 3 days Day 25 3 weeks an...

Page 49: ... STOP button STOPPED is shown in addition to the symbol Keep holding the button until the symbol disappears then release the button within 2 seconds STOPPED is shown permanently on the display and the logger will no longer take readings The last recorded temperature is now no longer shown but minimum and maximum trip values remain The logger will not stop if you l release the button before the sym...

Page 50: ...of the operating system and will typically not require administrator privileges for your computer During driver installation you will see the familiar Windows notification Drivers that are installed may include the following l Mass Storage Device Driver l LogTag Mass Storage USB Device Driver These two devices are required so you can access the data files in the same way as a USB memory stick Thes...

Page 51: ...not taken The graph will display a gap and the data list will show followed by the symbol This does not apply when the logger is connected to a USB power supply macOS OSX and Linux Typically in these operating systems a new drive will be mounted from which you can open the PDF file You will not be able to configure the VFC400 USB using either of these operating systems unless you use virtualizatio...

Page 52: ... ltd extension containing the data for both channels To open the LTD file you need to install the free Control Solutions VTMC software l If you have selected CSV as one of the file types you will find two files with the csv extension one for each channel CSV files can be opened with a text editor or imported into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel To retain the logger generated files co...

Page 53: ...ch the way the data is displayed using the tabs at the bottom of the window upload them to LogTag Online or export the data to different file formats For more information about using Control Solutions VTMC please see the section about Analyzing Data in the Control Solutions VTMC User Guide Re deploying the VFC400 USB Once you have finished analyzing the data re deploy the logger to the installatio...

Page 54: ...two report pages each with a chart l a single list if configured containing a column for each channel and l two day summary pages one for each channel Data Evaluation Report Alarm Status This shows at a glance if the VFC400 USB recorded alarm conditions for this channel during the trip showing a red or if no alarms were recorded showing a green ...

Page 55: ...arted to record data when it finished how many readings were recorded and how long that took Logger Statistics Overview This section gives a brief overview of the temperature data collected during the trip It shows minimum and maximum values when these occurred and also shows average standard deviation and MKT values Upper and Lower Alarm Information These two sections summarize the alarm trigger ...

Page 56: ...t A gap is shown in the graph where the VFC400 USB was plugged in at the time it would otherwise have taken a reading The list shows instead of the reading Probe Disconnected A gap is shown in the graph where the VFC400 USB s probe was not plugged in at the time it took a reading The list shows instead of the reading Alarm Thresholds The alarm thresholds are shown with red and blue dashed lines fo...

Page 57: ...ile Information The information from the report page is repeated here Recorded Data list The Data list shows a single row for each recorded reading along with the date time and temperature values for each channel plus any special events that were recorded against this reading ...

Page 58: ...eature was enabled and any button was pressed during recording l A symbol will be shown where a reading could not be taken due to USB communication with a PC l A symbol will be shown when the min max readings of either channel were reset You will need to identify the channel that was reset in the chart Symbols are shown against the reading following the event Legend Shows the symbols for download ...

Page 59: ...y summary shows a single row for each day for which readings were recorded Each row contains the following information l Minimum and maximum for the day l Whether or not an alarm was recorded for that day l If the minimum and maximum temperatures were above or below the thresholds l How long temperatures were outside the specifications even if no alarm was recorded l If the logger was inspected in...

Page 60: ...e Data VFC400 USB User Guide 60 If the clock was adjusted on one of the days a special marker will be displayed for that day Page information The current page number and the total number of pages appear on every page ...

Page 61: ... this process to work the logger must be STOPPED Press and hold the START CLEAR STOP button The READY symbol will turn on When the STOPPED symbol turns off release the button within 2 seconds The logger is now ready to be started again If the button is released while STOPPED is still or you wait until the READY symbol disappears the display shows STOPPED again and the logger remains stopped This m...

Page 62: ...tions VTMC by clicking Hibernate from the LogTag menu Initially the display shows SLP on the display until you remove the logger from the USB port A hibernated logger has no active display however a button press will wake the logger up briefly The display will show l the text NOT READY and l the battery capacity of the AAA batteries if the batteries have been removed the empty symbol will be shown...

Page 63: ...63 Replacing the Batteries When the display shows that the battery is almost empty new batteries should be fitted Open the case as described in Inserting the Batteries on page 12 Remove the old batteries and complete the remainder of the procedure ...

Page 64: ...The following graph shows the typical rated temperature accuracy of a VFC400 USB for either channel Figure 6 Rated Temperature Accuracy Chart Temperature Resolution The following graph shows the typical rated native temperature resolution of a VFC400 USB for either channel Figure 7 Rated Temperature Resolution Chart ...

Page 65: ...ice displays an alert and the software reports an alarm event has taken place Alarm Activation Delay This value is used for consecutive and accumulative alarms and defines the number of recorded values that need to be alarm readings for the trigger condition to be met Alarm Event Single occurrence of an alarm Alarm Range Temperature humidity range that is outside the Non Alarm range Alarm Reading ...

Page 66: ...threshold for the total of time defined but readings may not necessarily be sequential D Delay Value Number of logs that have to be in an alarm range to trigger an alarm event Direction Whether an alarm is a lower or upper alarm I Inspection Pressing the Mark button on a logging device Inspection Event Pressing the Mark button on a logging device Instant Alarm One single temperature or humidity re...

Page 67: ...shold closest to the non alarm range in a multi alarm device S Secondary Alarm The alarm threshold second closest to the non alarm range Single Event Alarm Temperature or Humidity readings are above or below the configured threshold for the time defined without interruption T Tertiary Alarm The alarm threshold third closest to the non alarm range Trip Readings taken sequentially from starting a un...

Page 68: ...Appendix 2 Glossary VFC400 USB User Guide 68 Upper Alarm Threshold If a recorded temperature or humidity value is equal to or above this value it is regarded to be an alarm reading ...

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