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Appendix B. Controlling the COM110 Power Supply
B-5
CAUTION
If power is limited and the turn-on time has to be kept very
short, it is critical to ensure that the PC and the datalogger
clocks are not allowed to drift apart, otherwise the PC may try
to call when the COM110 is turned off. Clock synchronisation
can be achieved automatically, during data collection. Please
refer to the PC software manual for details on how to do this.
The COM110 can also be used with instruction P97 (Initiate Telecommunications)
to make an outgoing call, either to return data to a remote computer or in the event
of an alarm. Instruction 97 is normally controlled by a program flag (referred to as
the Interrupt Disable Flag when programming P97) which is set low to make P97
initiate communications and call out. The process of setting this flag is normally
controlled by some program control logic before P97 is executed.
To ensure that the COM110 is powered on for the outgoing call, an extra P91
instruction should be included before P97 to set the power control port high if the
interrupt disable flag has been set low. P97 will automatically set the flag high at
the end of a successful call, which the P91 will detect at the next scan and turn the
COM110 off.
It is always best to design a power supply that has plenty of spare capacity to cope
with the power demands of the entire measurement system. If the power supply is
inadequate or faulty and the battery voltage is likely to drop to very low levels you
need to add extra code, as shown above to ensure the COM110 is not turned on
when the battery voltage is low. In particular it should be disabled before the level
where the logger is likely to shutdown (below 9.6 V for the CR510/10X, higher
voltages for the CR23X or CR5000 - see their manuals).
If the voltage falls below this level while the COM110 is already turned on, since
the datalogger program will stop running, there will be no mechanism to turn the
power off. This will cause the battery to discharge sooner rather than later. If
using 12V lead acid batteries, a threshold of 11.5 Volts is advised, below which
the COM110 should not be turned on, as below this level the majority of the
capacity of the battery will have been used.