EasyAG® Profile Probes Revision: 3/09 C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 0 2 - 2 0 0 9 C a m p b e l l S c i e n t i f i c , I n c . EasyAG® and EnviroSMART™ are trademarks of Sentek Pty. Ltd.
Warranty and Assistance The EasyAG® SOIL WATER CONTENT PROFILE PROBES are warranted by CAMPBELL SCIENTIFIC, INC. to be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service for twelve (12) months from date of shipment unless specified otherwise. Batteries have no warranty. CAMPBELL SCIENTIFIC, INC.'s obligation under this warranty is limited to repairing or replacing (at CAMPBELL SCIENTIFIC, INC.'s option) defective products.
EasyAG® Table of Contents PDF viewers note: These page numbers refer to the printed version of this document. Use the Adobe Acrobat® bookmarks tab for links to specific sections. 1. General .........................................................................1 2. Absolute Data...............................................................1 3. Relative Data ................................................................1 4. Measurements..............................................................1 4.
EasyAG® Table of Contents A.2 Configuration Testing ......................................................................... A-5 B. Tube Installation...................................................... B-1 B.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... B-1 B.1.1 Soil Suitability ........................................................................... B-1 B.1.2 Sledgehammer Technique..........................................................
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 1. General EasyAG® probes measure a profile of volumetric soil water content. EasyAG 50 probe measures at 10, 20, 30, and 50 cm. EasyAG 80 probe measures at 10, 30, 50, and 80 cm. TriSCAN versions of these probes also measure soil salinity. Irrigation scheduling, waste water treatment, and other applications requiring continuous monitoring of water or water and ion movement in a soil profile may benefit from EasyAG technology.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 4.1 Water Content Sensor output is a dimensionless frequency (raw count) that is converted via a normalization equation and then a default or user-defined calibration equation into volumetric soil water content. The measurement unit is volumetric water content (Vol %) or millimetres of water per 100 mm of soil. Acceptable data range for scaled frequencies is >0 to 1.0. Water content measurements using the default calibration range from 0 to 53%. 4.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes VIC can be related directly to a site-specific soil EC through the use of Sentek’s Benchmarking Procedure. The accuracy of any such relationships is dependent upon the accuracy and competency with which this procedure is performed. In Sentek’s own field testing, strong relationships (r2=0.9) have been achieved. Refer to the benchmarking section of the Sentek TriSCAN manual. Precise temperature effects on salinity data output are currently unknown.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 6.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 7. Installation Several configurations are possible when using the EnviroSMARTTM / EasyAG® Probes with Campbell Scientific dataloggers.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 8.2 Cable Installation Securely tighten the gland nut through which the cable passes into the probe cap. Inject a small amount of silicon sealant into the sensor end of the cable to ensure that water or water vapor will not pass into the probe. 9. Datalogger Programming Example program corresponds to setup example in Appendix A. Sample CR1000 Program Shaded portions of program can be omitted if TriSCAN sensors are not used.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes ‘Program Control Variables Dim X ‘Definition of DataTables DataTable (ES1_SF,1,-1) Sample (1,ES1_ID,FP2) Sample (8,ES1_SF(1),FP2) Sample (8,ES1_VIC(1),FP2) Totalize (1,Rain_mm,FP2,False) Sample (1,Irrig_mm,FP2) EndTable DataTable (ES1_WC,1,-1) Sample (8,ES1_WC(1),FP2) EndTable ‘Program BeginProg ‘Set Probe ID ES1_ID = 101 ‘Set Scan Interval Scan (30,Sec,3,0) ‘Preload Inactive Sensor Error (covers all missing sensors) For X = 1 to 8 step 1 ES1_SF(X) = -1000 ES1_VIC(
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes ‘Load Measurement Failure Errors If ES1_SF(1) = NAN Then ES1_SF(1) = -99999 ‘If probe fails (NAN at first sensor) For X = 1 to 8 step 1 ‘Load -99999 to all sensors If ES1_SF(1) < -9999 Then ES1_SF(X) = -99999 ES1_WC(X) = -99999 ES1_VIC(X) = -99999 Else ‘...OR... If ES1_SF(X) < -999 Then ‘If a WC sensor fails (indicated by -1000) ES1_WC(X) = -99999 ‘Load NAN for water content Else ‘...OR...
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes Sample CR10X Program Shaded portions of program can be omitted if TriSCAN sensors are not used. ;CR10X Datalogger ;Program Author: Campbell Scientific, Inc. ;Date: 04-12-06 ;Description: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Program measures 1 EnviroSMART / TriSCAN probe with 8 sensors or 1 EasyAG TriSCAN probe with 4 sensors. -1000 is loaded as the "measurement" for non-existant sensors.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 3: Z=F x 10^n (P30) 1: -1000 F 2: 0 n, Exponent of 10 3: 17 -- Z Loc [ ES1_VIC_1 ] 4: End (P95) ;Measure water content scaled frequencies (SF) 5: Beginning of Loop (P87) 1: 0 Delay 2: 5 Loop Count ;See Appendix D for other SDI-12 commands 6: SDI-12 Recorder (P105) 1: 0 SDI-12 Address 2: 0 Start Measurement (aM0!) 3: 7 Port 4: 1 Loc [ ES1_SF_1 ] 5: 1.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes ;Load measurement failure errors 13: If (X<=>F) (P89) 1: 1 X Loc [ ES1_SF_1 ] 2: 1 = 3: 0 F 4: 30 Then Do 14: Z=F x 10^n (P30) 1: -99999 F 2: 0 n, Exponent of 10 3: 1 Z Loc [ ES1_SF_1 ] ;Measurement of 0 at 1st sensor ;indicates an inactive probe.
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 24: Else (P94) ;Otherwise, calculate water content for ;the sensor 25: Z=X-Y (P35) 1: 1 -- X Loc [ ES1_SF_1 ] 2: 29 Y Loc [ C ] 3: 9 -- Z Loc [ ES1_WC_1 ] 26: Z=X/Y (P38) 1: 9 -- X Loc [ ES1_WC_1 ] 2: 30 Y Loc [ A ] 3: 9 -- Z Loc [ ES1_WC_1 ] 27: Z=1/X (P42) 1: 32 2: 34 X Loc [ B ] Z Loc [ RecipB ] 28: Z=X^Y (P47) 1: 9 -- X Loc [ ES1_WC_1 ] 2: 34 Y Loc [ RecipB ] 3: 9 -- Z Loc [ ES1_WC_1 ] 29: End (P95) 30: End (P95) ;End If ;End If 31: End (P95) ;Next Loop
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 35: Set Active Storage Area (P80) 1: 1 Final Storage Area 1 2: 101 Array ID 36: Real Time (P77) ;Midnight = 0000 required by Irrimax Software 1: 1110 Year,Day,Hour/Minute (midnight = 0000) 37: Sample (P70) 1: 8 Reps 2: 1 Loc [ ES1_SF_1 ] 38: Sample (P70) 1: 8 Reps 2: 17 Loc [ ES1_VIC_1 ] 39: Totalize (P72) 1: 1 Reps 2: 25 Loc [ Rain_mm ] 40: Sample (P70) 1: 1 Reps 2: 26 Loc [ Irrig_mm ] ;Output Water Content Data to Storage 41: Do (P86) 1: 10 Set Output Flag High
EasyAG® Soil Water Content Profile Probes 9 ES1_WC_1 1 3 5 10 ES1_WC_2 1 1 0 11 ES1_WC_3 1 1 0 12 ES1_WC_4 1 1 0 13 ES1_WC_5 1 1 0 14 ES1_WC_6 1 1 0 15 ES1_WC_7 1 1 0 16 ES1_WC_8 1 1 0 17 ES1_VIC_1 5 2 3 18 ES1_VIC_2 1 1 0 19 ES1_VIC_3 1 1 0 20 ES1_VIC_4 1 1 0 21 ES1_VIC_5 1 1 0 22 ES1_VIC_6 1 1 0 23 ES1_VIC_7 1 1 0 24 ES1_VIC_8 1 1 0 25 Rain_mm 1 1 1 26 Irrig_mm 1 1 1 27 _________ 0 0 0 28 _________ 0 0 0 29 C 110 30 A 110 31 _________ 0 0 0 32 B 110 33 _________ 0 0 0 34 RecipB 1 1 1 10.
Appendix A. Normalization and Function Test Normalization is the setting of the range over which the electronics is effective. This range is bounded by the two extremes of air and water. A.1 Normalization Connect +12 Volts DC and ground to the green connector at the top of the probe as shown in Figure A-1. FIGURE A-1. SDI-12 Interface Power Connection Connect the Intelligent Probe Utility Cable (P/N SEN06020) to the TTL port near the top of the probe at the location indicated in Figure A-2. FIGURE A-2.
Appendix A. Normalization and Function Test Start the IPConfig Utility (Intelligent Probe Utility Software, P/N SEN06025) on the PC by clicking on the IPConfig Utility icon (shown in Figure A-3). FIGURE A-3. IPConfig Utility Icon Click “Connect” in the upper right area of the IPConfig window. The software will connect to the probe and set up a configuration window. A.1.1 Water Content Only FIGURE A-4.
Appendix A. Normalization and Function Test 1. Click on “Auto-detect Sensors” in the lower left corner. Wait until all sensors are auto-detected. If the number of sensors detected does not correspond with the number of sensors on the probe, check to ensure that each sensor is addressed sequentially, beginning with address 1 on the top sensor. 2. Enter the depth of each sensor in the “Depth” column. Each depth will be a multiple of 10. 3. Enter “1.000000;1.000000;0.
Appendix A. Normalization and Function Test A.1.2 TriSCAN Normalization When normalizing TriSCAN sensors for water content, follow the procedure in A.1.1 using distilled or deionized water in step 5. As illustrated in Figure A-5, the same procedure is followed when normalizing TriSCAN sensors for salinity. FIGURE A-5.
Appendix A. Normalization and Function Test A.2 Configuration Testing FIGURE A-6. IPConfig Configuration Test Window Test the configuration by going to the “Configuration Test” tab as shown in Figure A-6. Again, with the probe in the access tube, hold the probe in the air, then press “Query All Sensors.” Press “Stop Sensor Querying” when values appear in the window. Raw counts should be close to the values shown in the example above.
Appendix A. Normalization and Function Test This is a blank page.
Appendix B. Tube Installation B.1 Introduction B.1.1 Soil Suitability EasyAGTM may be installed into a range of soil types ranging in texture from light sand to heavy clay. It is unsuitable for installation into stony ground where the average stone size is greater than 10 mm. Larger stones may damage the plastic cutting tip of the probe and divert the direction of the insertion.
Appendix B. Tube Installation Small air gaps of 1 – 2 mm between the soil and the access tube near the surface may be closed with light finger pressure without causing major errors in the soil moisture detection. A significant air gap of greater than 2 mm between the soil and the access tube near the surface may be corrected by carefully pushing a spade into the soil adjacent to the probe and gently levering the soil against the tube.
Appendix B.
Appendix B. Tube Installation Put the soil sampler polyguide in place. The stabilization brace is now ready for insertion of the AMS soil sampler. Refer below from Step 5: Preparing the hole as for raised soil bed installation. Option B. Raised Soil Bed Insert each of the four long stabilization brace pins into the holes in the stabilization brace and tighten the wing nuts with light finger pressure. Place the assembled stabilization brace on the ground directly above the required position of the probe.
Appendix B. Tube Installation The stabilization brace should be firm to the ground without causing significant soil compression. WARNING Do not compress the soil such that normal water infiltration into the soil is likely to be inhibited. This is particularly important on clay soils. Insert the soil sampler polyguide. Step 2 - Augering the hole Insert the soil auger and force downward in a single smooth action by hand until the resistance becomes too great.
Appendix B. Tube Installation WARNING Do not compress the soil such that normal water infiltration is inhibited. Turn the auger one single complete rotation. Carefully lift the AMS soil sampler directly out of the ground. If you experience difficulties at this point, remove the soil sampler in stages, or obtain extra assistance to avoid back injury. To remove the soil collected in the soil sampler, simply beat on its side with the hand or foot.
Appendix B. Tube Installation Step 3 - Assembling the EasyAGTM probe Attach the cutting tip to the base of the probe with firm pressure. No glue is required. Step 4 - Inserting the access tube Insert the assembled complete probe into the stabilization brace and push it into the ground in a single gentle movement as far as it will go. Do not cause undue inflection of the access tube, as this will destroy the integrity of the installation.
Appendix B. Tube Installation As the probe enters the prepared hole in the soil, it shaves off a residue that is eventually stored in the cutting tip at the base of the hole. Remove the lid of the top cap and extract the electronics. Place this safely to one side on a clean, dry surface such as a tarpaulin.
Appendix B. Tube Installation Insert the EasyAGTM dolly into the top cap and position it on top of the internal access tube. Continue inserting the probe using a sledgehammer until there is a 2.5 cm (1 inch) gap between the base of the top cap and the edge of the stabilization brace tube guide. NOTE A 2.5 cm clearance height is important.
Appendix B. Tube Installation Remove all of the stabilization brace wing nuts. Lift both sections of the stabilization brace to clear the threads of the stabilization brace pins. Separate the two halves of the stabilization brace and remove them. Continue inserting the probe into the ground with gentle blows of the sledgehammer using the EasyAGTM dolly until the base of the top cap is level with the ground. This will place the top sensor at 10 cm (3.9 inches) below the ground surface.
Appendix B. Tube Installation Remove the EasyAGTM dolly, thread a Fair RiteTM bead onto a loop in the cable but do not tighten it into place yet (refer to final installation photo for this). Push the cable through the cable gland and attach the wiring according to the diagram in Section 4. Step 5 - Inserting the Electronics Reinstall the sensor circuitry and attach the connector or attach wiring as required. Tighten the cable gland and seal around the inside threaded section with silicone glue.
Appendix B. Tube Installation WARNING Ensure that the sealing gasket is in good condition and is positioned correctly. Remove the stabilization brace pins by turning them and pulling upward. Tighten the Fair RiteTM bead into place. B.4 Removing Access Tubes Removal of access tubes is a relatively easy process in sandy soils. It may be done with the electronics in place. Simply excavate a little soil from near the surface, grab the probe access tube or top cap, give a couple of twists, and pull upward.
Appendix B. Tube Installation WARNING Caution is required here such that the top cap and access tube are not damaged. As no glue is used in the connection of the cutting tip to the probe access tube, the cutting tip section can be removed for easy cleaning using one of the long stabilization brace pins. In heavy soils, the cutting tip may not be recoverable without digging to the full depth. If this is likely to be the case, the cutting tip may be glued into place prior to installation.
Appendix B. Tube Installation This is a blank page.
Appendix C. Site Selection Site selection is a critical process for all soil water sensors. A properly selected site will reflect changes in soil moisture and plant water use trends over a larger area. This area may be an entire field, sub-section of a field, a crop variety, a planting, a soil type, etc. Putting a sensor in a ‘dry zone’ or under the influence of a malfunctioning sprinkler will invalidate data to some degree. Site selection is carried out by identifying macro-zones and micro-zones.
This is a blank page.
Appendix D. SDI-12 Commands The SDI-12 EasyAG probe interface communicates with Campbell Scientific dataloggers by way of SDI-12 protocol. A complete treatment of SDI-12 communications for the EasyAG is available from Sentek or Campbell Scientific in the EnviroSMART & EasyAG SDI-12 Probe Interface Manual. Commonly used commands are listed below. Refer to Edlog and CRBasic help for information on how to use these commands while programming Campbell Scientific dataloggers.
This is a blank page.
Campbell Scientific Companies Campbell Scientific, Inc. (CSI) 815 West 1800 North Logan, Utah 84321 UNITED STATES www.campbellsci.com • info@campbellsci.com Campbell Scientific Africa Pty. Ltd. (CSAf) PO Box 2450 Somerset West 7129 SOUTH AFRICA www.csafrica.co.za • cleroux@csafrica.co.za Campbell Scientific Australia Pty. Ltd. (CSA) PO Box 444 Thuringowa Central QLD 4812 AUSTRALIA www.campbellsci.com.au • info@campbellsci.com.au Campbell Scientific do Brazil Ltda.
