September
2017
Sentinel V SC and RT Operation Manual
Page 58
EAR-Controlled Technology Subject to Restrictions Contained on the Cover Page.
Figure 12.
Recommended Computer Power Options Setting for Real-Time Serial Data Output
Serial Output Baud Rate – Using higher baud rates will allow for faster pinging. However, higher baud
rates are more susceptible to noise and results in poor communications. Therefore, it is highly recom-
mended when using cables 25m and longer that you use RS422 communications (instead of RS232 com-
munications) or use a baud rate of 9600 or lower.
It may not be possible to use RS232 communications with long cables (>50m) and therefore
you should test your communications setup with the actual cable you intend to use before
you deploy.
The serial port type, RS232 or RS422, is determined at the time of purchase. If you are not
sure which type of serial port you have or if you wish to change from RS232 to RS422 then
please contact our Field Service department at [email protected].
Serial Output Timing – Enabling the serial output will add time to the completion of an ensemble. De-
pending on the time between pings (ensembles) it may not be possible for the ADCP to output the serial
data string before it is supposed to start the next ping. If this condition occurs, then the ADCP will skip
the ping that was to occur and will start the next ping at the interval timing that you have requested.
If you setup the ADCP to have a ping rate of 2hz and greater with a number of depth cells
(bins) greater than 50 then it is possible that the ADCP will not be able to respond to the
touch sensor. This occurs because the ADCP is not able to sense that the touch sensor
interrupt has been enabled. In order to recover from this condition it will be required for you
to remove the power from the instrument completely for a period of 60 seconds. Once you
connect the power you will need to “press” the touch sensor within 15-30 seconds so that
the touch sensor will be latched and the ADCP will allow you to establish communications
through the ReadyV deployment software and stop the deployment.
Power Consumption – Enabling the serial output will increase the ADCP’s power consumption. This
additional power is included in the planning software ReadyV. It is not possible to exactly determine the
effect of certain setups and therefore TRDI recommends that you include a 10% safety for deployments
that have ping rates of less than 1 second.
Data Recorder and Serial Communications – The Sentinel V will always have the recorder card en-
abled whether you have serial communications enabled or disabled. If the recorder card fills up during
your serial port operations, the Sentinel V will continue to operate and send out serial data. If you stop the
deployment (through ReadyV) and the recorder card is full, you will not be able start data collection with-
out first deleting the data file (you can elect to download the data first or not).
