User Manual

Global Water Instrumentation
15
installed so t hat there is nothing alongsi de of it all the way down to it s base for at
least 4-6 feet in all directions, the further the better. This includes t he mast it is
mounted on, s olar panels , walls, tower s , et c. Locations near s our c es of electrical
noise may also limit the performance, especially radio fr equenc ies in the VHF band.
The antenna is pr ov ided with 16 feet of cable. If the ant enna needs to be located
further away , additional cable can be added up to 50 feet or more. Another
important installation cons ider ation is providin g enough s olar power to keep the
system operational which also requires an open and unobstructed view of t he s k y.
The output from the charging system c an be c onnected dir ec tly to the batter y
terminals, or to the Charger input terminals at the lower r ight corner of the controller
board. This c har ger input is protect ed from high current surges by a self-resetting
fuse. S lightly more power is delivered t o the battery when the char ger is connec ted
directly to the battery, but any pr otection is assumed t o be pr ov ided by the charge
controller. If no charge controller is us ed, the charger input will lim it high charging
currents , but may also reduce the cur r ent available for charging the battery.
Make all necessar y c onnec tions, including t he antenna, bef or e c onnecting the
battery . The antenna connects to t he N-Type connector on the bott om of t he
instrumentation enclosu r e. Make the batter y connection last by plugging the battery
cable into the c ontroller board. Chec k that the red wire connects to the positive side
of the bat tery and the black wire is c onnec ted to the negative ter minal. While the
connector is pr otected from rever s e c onnec tion, check that it is aligned correctly
before pluggin g it into the controller.
A test button is provided at the top right c or ner of the controller f or initiating a
transmis s ion on dem and. Once all connections ar e made, press the test button for
one second and the unit will become operat ional. This is indicated by the activity of
several LED’s on the controller and r adio m odem. The operat ion of these LED’s is
described in the s ec tion on Troubleshooting. If possible, being in contact with
someone who can check that valid data is being transmitt ed is rec om mended.
Transmit several times, paying attention to the sensor data and battery voltage.