FS-8700-123 MetOne Particle Counter Driver Manual
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FieldServer Technologies
1991 Tarob Court Milpitas California 95035 USA
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: www.fieldserver.com
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: (408) 262 2299
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: (408) 262 2269
Toll Free
: (888) 509 1970
1
METONE PARTICLE COUNTER SERIAL DESCRIPTION
The MetOne Particle Counter Serial driver allows the FieldServer to transfer data to and from devices over RS-232
or RS-485 using MetOne Particle Counter Serial protocol.
This driver is based on a specification called “Standard Protocol FX (enhanced)” ENG110 Revision A dated 1999 by
Pacific Scientific Instruments. This protocol provides an interface to Particle Counters manufactured by HACH Ultra
Analytics and labeled as METONE products. Pacific Scientific Instruments is a former name of Hach.
The primary purpose of the driver is to obtain the current particle counts but it does allow for limited control and
configuration of some counter parameters. The Server side of the driver is intended to support FieldServer’s
Quality Assurance program and is not intended to provide complete emulation of a MetOne Counter.
When configured as a Client the driver can start/stop a unit from sampling change its mode set and get sample and
hold times startup or standby a unit and retrieve its current sample value. Whenever the driver stores a sample
value it will also store a timestamp of when the record was obtained.
In the configuration of the FieldServer each device is identified by specifying its device number then the sub-device
code or port number and finally by a device type. The device type will be used to interpret the status byte obtained
from the device.
For each configured node each time the FieldServer sends a message to the device it will select the device (and the
select the sub-device or port if specified) and then the message will be sent. If the most recent message sent was
sent to the device the driver will do the selection to ensure the correct device response.
When the current record is read from a device then the driver will store the data extracted from the response in a
range of consecutive Data Array elements so that these values can be served to another protocol. Even though the
record data contains a time stamp the driver will make its own time stamp for new data. If there is no current
record the driver will not update the data.
If the response is invalid in any way – invalid characters or invalid checksum the driver will ignore the message and
not store any data.
Max Nodes Supported
FieldServer
mode
Nodes Comments
Client
1
There can only be one Client node per FieldServer port. The driver can poll any number
of Server nodes provided that they comply with the vendors numbering requirements
Server
Driver as a Server is not documented or supported. Used only for QA purposes.
2
DRIVER SCOPE OF SUPPLY
2.1
Supplied by FieldServer Technologies for this driver
FieldServer Technologies PART # Description
FS-8917-16
RJ45 to terminal connector cable.
FS-8917-02
RJ45 to DB9F connector adapter
