Re: Hydreon double tips

apenwith · Post by **apenwith** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 4:41 pm

Hi
I am sure Steve will correct me if I'm wrong but it seems the DTR line is held high which is linked to the positive of the capacitor.
I think the answer must be that the voltage on the relay return line rises and falls relatively slowly for some reason when the relay moves and windows usb polling sees several levels of the voltage changes. My guess is that the capacitor speeds up the voltage change.
I'm sure an eletronics wiz will shoot me down - but as before - if it works !
Regards
Alan

pete_c · Post by **pete_c** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 5:14 pm

Alan,

The picture didn't appear to be indicating an electrolytic capacitor; None the less I went to my parts bin and grabbed the smallest electrolytic capacitor I could find. (16uF/16V). Will try hooking up positive (+) side to the DTR side of the relay and negative (-) side to the DSR.

That said the whole HB dual counter thing adding a capacitor would be easy as the RG-11 is just hooked up to some terminals on the serial 9097.

I'm saying this but won't get to it for a bit yet as I am just getting ready to mount 2nd Hydreon RG-11 outside and I will probably need to go to hardware store to pick up a bracket.

apenwith · Post by **apenwith** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 6:44 pm

Hi Pete-c
Just to clarify - it was totally a shot in the dark to try the capacitor as I happened to have one. Have you checked the debug.log to see if you are getting multiple ON/OFF's. It seems you are using the hobby boards dual counter - I don't know if the same 'theory' would apply as I am using a USB to RS232 adapter. I don't see any problem with trying but it is at your own risk - I am no expert.
Regards
Alan

duke · Post by **duke** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 7:21 pm

I emailed Micheal earlier, the guy who has the site with connection detail.

Reply:

Hi Mark

the small capacitor was left over from an existing project, it helped to
reduce relay switch bounce

you should have no problems with the rain sensor it's not needed,
I'm currently on holiday, should be back at my station approximately 2 weeks
time, I hope my system is running okay, every time I go away something
always happens on the server lol

the rain sensor is perfect for detecting very light rain
if you have any problems give me a shout

Mick

Duke

pete_c · Post by **pete_c** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 7:23 pm

Hello Alan,

Just finished running some 4 conductor / 22 guage cable outside for the Hydreon RG-11 #2 that will connect to Cumulus; so I should be in "test" mode by end of day. I'll test wire / not solder the RS-232 capacitor.

The HB dual counter just has an incremental counter on it. I can look at the logs/messages of it counting but not much else. The 1-Wire Maxim viewer has more granular details in hex but a bit more difficult to decypher. The counts are via an HTML page and a refresh; that said I could look at the time stamps.

Connectivity is as follows for the 1-Wire
Hydreon RG-11 (relay) ==> Hobby board 1-wire Dual counter (DQ & Ground) ==> Maxim 9097 Serial 1-Wire Device ==> Quatech 4 serial port to IP device == > Computer (W2003)
12VDC/5VDC coming from a nearby Temp08

Great "stuff" you are doing here.

Cheers,

Pete

bruce45 · Post by **bruce45** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 9:44 pm

would this have the same effect on the fo as a replacement to to normal tip bucket or is it just using rs232 interface?

waiting for mine to arrive but both thr rg11 and tip bucket would only be about 4 meters apart same height so maybe can provide a bit more data.

as they are both fo stations im runing them on two laptops. question for steve is there any way to run them together on one?

pete_c · Post by **pete_c** » Fri 22 Jun 2012 11:27 pm

It would provided the same data as a tipping bucket. The RS-232 connections just go to the relay which is NO and the COM; closing and opening with standard rain bucket values of .01 or even more granular values depending on how you set the dip switches.

Post by **steve** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 7:16 am

bruce45 wrote:question for steve is there any way to run them together on one?

You can't reliably run two Fine Offset stations on one PC as Cumulus can't tell the difference between them.

bruce45 · Post by **bruce45** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 8:52 am

thanks Steve that was what i thought. on one laptop i have a rs232 port would it maybe worth giving it a go and try to connect direct to that rather than using a usb to rs232 convertor?

Post by **steve** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 9:41 am

bruce45 wrote: on one laptop i have a rs232 port would it maybe worth giving it a go and try to connect direct to that rather than using a usb to rs232 convertor?

Yes, it would be interesting to see the results from a direct connection.

bruce45 · Post by **bruce45** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 10:20 am

from what i can find out most usb to rs232 convertors have a few chips in them. it could be a combination of the relay operating and the interface to usb that could be making the double tips. there is no direct wiring for usd to rs232 as the protacol is totaly different. once my rg11 arrives i will try it both on the rs232 port and direct replacement for the tip bucket connected to the fo transmitter. should be interesting to see the results. not to certain about how accurate the rain count would be but time will tell.

duke · Post by **duke** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 10:56 am

from what i can find out most usb to rs232 convertors have a few chips in them.

I never knew that, just assumed it was a wiring / speed thing

.

Upon shining a torch into the molded translucent RS232 plug, it is obvious there is a PCB in there and a few components.

My RS232 / USB adapter came with a disc and drivers. Has any one installed drivers or just plugged it in?

Duke

apenwith · Post by **apenwith** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 11:13 am

Hi
Whether the USB/Serial adapter just needs plugging in probably depends on the Windows version. It uses FTDI drivers.
Regards
Alan

bruce45 · Post by **bruce45** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 11:16 am

this is just one of many ways the you can convert usb to rs232 but dose seem to be the most common

usb-rs232-converter.gif

bruce45 · Post by **bruce45** » Sat 23 Jun 2012 11:35 am

just a thought would it be any use connecting my unused fo tip bucket rain gauge to the rs232 port to compare the results?