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Cognisys Sabre Owner's Manual

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Owner's Manual
Revision 1.2
Copyright 2017 Cognisys, Inc.
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Summary of Contents for Cognisys Sabre

  • Page 1 Owner’s Manual Revision 1.2 Copyright 2017 Cognisys, Inc.

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    ............................. 12 AMERA CONNECTION 2.10 ..........................12 BEAM CONNECTION BASIC USE ..............................13 Physical Setup ............................13 ..............................14 ............................. 14 ANUAL SABRE SOFTWARE ............................16 ..............................16 NSTALLATION ..........................16 INDOWS NSTALLATION OS X I ............................17 NSTALLATION ............................ 17...
  • Page 3 I/O M ..............................24 5.2.1 Normal ..............................24 5.2.2 Dual-Beam ............................. 24 5.2.3 A->B ............................... 25 5.2.4 B->A ............................... 25 5.2.5 Bulb ................................ 25 5.2.6 A | B ............................... 26 ................................26 NITS ..............................26 AMPLE ..............................26 ENSITIVITY ..............................27 ILTER % ..............................
  • Page 4 ............................34 HUTDOWN OLTAGE ............................34 OFTWARE ERSION ID ............................... 34 ARDWARE ..........................34 TART MEASURE ..............................35 ............................35 ISTANCE INDOW ............................35 ATTERY ERCENT DC V ..............................35 OLTAGE TROUBLESHOOTING ............................ 36 CONNECTOR PIN-OUTS..........................37 10.1 / DC P .............................
  • Page 5 Table of Figures Figure 1 – Sabre Sensor ..........................9 Figure 2 - Connection Diagram ........................10 Figure 3 - Shutter Timing Diagram ......................30...

  • Page 6: Safety Instructions

    The electrical hazard symbol precedes an electric shock hazard CAUTION or WARNING statement. CAUTION: Only use the AD/DC power adapter (cube) that was included with your Sabre. Use of other power adapters or non-Cognisys equipment may damage the sensor and/or attached equipment.

  • Page 7: Getting Started

    Not big on reading manuals? (We worked hard on this you know!) We have a few real world walk-throughs on our website, including some of the more difficult subjects to photograph: https://www.cognisys-inc.com/products/sabre/sabre.php You can always come back to the technical details if you get stuck.

  • Page 8: Cleaning And Care

    The nice thing is that in our application, the speed of light is constant. So if you can measure how long it takes to get from the Sabre and back to it, you’ll know the distance (since distance is: speed × time). The tricky bit is trying to measure something that fast – but we have that covered! To maintain the accuracy, over a hundred measurements are used for every “sample”...

  • Page 9: The Sabre Sensor

    2.3 The Sabre Sensor Figure 1 – Sabre Sensor Sabre has the following connectors/openings/buttons from top to bottom: 1. Laser Transmitter Opening (left) 2. Laser Receiver Opening (right) 3. Power On/Off 4. Mode Indicators 5. Set distance – Manual mode 6.

  • Page 10: Connection Diagram

    “over-charging” the battery – it will automatically stop charging when fully charged. Sabre will charge its battery while either on or off. If it is on, you will see the power indicator fade in/out while charging. You can then continue to operate off of the DC power or...

  • Page 11: Battery Charging

    Simply plug in the included 12V DC power adapter into the interface cable to begin charging. Sabre can be charged with power on or off. If Sabre is on, the power LED (above the power button) will show the current state of charging: on –...

  • Page 12: Led Indicators

    3.5mm cable end into the included 3.5mm/2.1mm cable, and then the other end to your camera. If you have a RCA shutter cable for one of your other Cognisys products we have adapters available to use these shutter cables as well. Just keep in mind when using an RCA shutter cable you will not have the ½...

  • Page 13: Basic Use

    3. Basic Use In this section we’ll go into the basics of using Sabre. For these modes you use the buttons on the sensor to adjust any settings. No programs or apps required! 3.1 Physical Setup Because Sabre transmits a beam of invisible light, it is best to position the sensor so that it will receive the maximum amount of reflected light.

  • Page 14: Auto Mode

    “Manual Mode” requires that you set the maximum distance you would like to detect. This could be the ground, a tree, or a bird feeder. Simply point Sabre at the object and press the “Set” button. It will take a measurement and set that as the maximum distance. If you weren’t already in “Manual Mode”, the mode indicator LEDs will change to “Manual”.
  • Page 15 that shows up between 0m and 0.95m is what you want to photograph. That only leaves 5cm of movement – along with the 2.5cm of measurement accuracy – so your down-range background had best not move more than 2.5cm, or one inch. If it’s windy out your tree trunk could easily move that far.

  • Page 16: Sabre Software

    4.1 Installation Whether you use Windows or OS X, you will need Oracle’s Java installed for the Sabre app to properly load. You can download it here: http://java.com/download Cognisys also offers applications (apps) for Android and iOS for a small fee. These apps are compatible with most phones and tablets on the market.

  • Page 17: Os X Installation

    4.3 OS X Installation The Sabre app requires Java 1.8 or later from Oracle. This version of Java requires that your OS X version be 10.7.3 (Lion) or above. It has not been tested with older versions of Java or earlier versions of OS X and is not supported.

  • Page 18: Control Buttons

    Pressing this button will permanently save the settings to the sensor. Note: As you change settings in the app, the settings will be sent to Sabre – they just won’t be saved between power-cycles. Be sure to press the “Save Config” to permanently save them if desired.

  • Page 19: Shutter

    Note: You can also load the default settings directly from the sensor. With Sabre turned off, press and hold the power button until the red power LED goes out (about five seconds). Release the button. The factory defaults will be loaded.

  • Page 21: Wifi

    This is to prevent loss of communication immediately upon changing these values. For details about these settings, see section 6. 4.8 Global On the “Global” tab you will see some information about your Sabre and other settings that affect the operation of Sabre. For details, see section 7.

  • Page 22: Measure

    4.9 Measure The “Measure” tab lets you use Sabre as a laser range finder. It will update the screen with the latest measurement (not an average). It will also indicate when it detects an object.

  • Page 23: Auto/Manual/User Settings

    Also, it’s easy to load the factory defaults if things get really messed up. To load the defaults, make sure Sabre is turned off. Press and hold the power button until you see the power LED go out. Release the button and done! To adjust these settings, you’ll have to use your computer/tablet/phone running the Sabre app.

  • Page 24: Window

    10 ms, so it will increase to 20 ms). 5.1.4 Timelapse Looking for a simple intervalometer while out in the field? Sabre can do that too! It won’t use any range-finding features for this mode. You just need to set the shutter output settings for their on and off times, and then press the “Start”...

  • Page 25: A->B

    In "Bulb" mode, the half-press and full-press outputs will stay active until an object is detected. Once detected, the auxiliary output (4-pin connector) is used to fire the flash(es). Immediately after the flash is fired to expose the image, Sabre closes the camera shutter...

  • Page 26: A | B

    For distances, this lets you choose what the numbers represent – Meters or feet. If the “Trigger Distance” is set to 2.0, and “Units” to “Meters”, then Sabre will fire your camera up to 2.0 meters away. If you change the “Units” to “Feet”, the 2.0 won’t be converted to feet – it just means that Sabre will use 2.0 feet as its new trigger distance.

  • Page 27: Filter Rate

    In "Manual" mode, an object must pass this distance or closer to activate the shutter outputs. You can press the "Measure" button in the Sabre App to do a real-time measurement, or you can manually enter the distance. The distance is in either meters or feet depending on how you have set the “Units”...

  • Page 28: Distance Max

    (sorry entomologists) are flying around causing false triggers. Wasted frames and overheating flashes – not good! There is a way to tell Sabre to stop triggering the camera if it sees too many subjects flying around. Three settings come into play to adjust this. The first is “Shot Limit”.

  • Page 29: Limit Timeout

    5.16 Limit Timeout This is how long Sabre will ignore anything crossing in front of the sensor. You won’t have any camera triggers for this duration. Also, to indicate that the limit has been reached the shutter LED on Sabre will quickly flash. That’s a lot of words. Let’s put some numbers to these settings and then walk through a scenario.

  • Page 30: Hybrid

    If, however, they are set to take 100 photos, Sabre will start taking the photos and stop when either 100 are done OR the subject leaves the beam. This is a great way to control how often photos are taken yet still limit the maximum number.

  • Page 31: Pics

    5.19.4 Off Time The “Off Time” follows the “On Time”. During this time, Sabre will ignore anything passing in front of it. You can use this setting to prevent multiple triggers when they may not be desired. The “Off Time” also sets how long between multiple pictures if “# Pics” is greater than one.

  • Page 32: Review Timeout

    5.19.7 Keep Alive The “Keep Alive” can be used to periodically wake up (or prime) a flash/camera. Sabre will activate the shutter output at this interval (in seconds). If set to zero, the “Keep Alive”...

  • Page 33: Wifi Settings

    6.1.1 Open No security measures are in place. This is easiest for you to connect up to Sabre – but also for your neighbors (including squirrels with phones). Any communication is unencrypted. Of course, the “open” security is also extremely effective against intruders if Wifi is turned off.

  • Page 34: Timeout

    7.2 Shutdown Voltage If this is set to a non-zero value, Sabre will turn off if the input voltage drops below this value. This can be useful to prevent over-discharge of lead acid batteries. If the voltage increases to at least 11V, Sabre will resume operation.

  • Page 35: Measure

    8.3 DC Voltage This is the current voltage Sabre is running at. This can be used to verify that it is running from a DC supply rather than its internal battery, and also check if the solar panel is operating...

  • Page 36: Troubleshooting

    “Always On” feature is set. See section “5.18.5 - Always On” for details. If you cannot resolve a problem with Sabre, please contact us at support@cognisys-inc.com. We want to make sure that you are completely satisfied!

  • Page 37: Connector Pin-Outs

    Connector pin-outs Below are the pin-outs for the three connectors. This is provided for those who wish to do custom wiring for “special” applications. 10.1 Shutter / DC Power 1. DC Power In (See specifications for the voltage range in section 11) 2.

  • Page 38: Solar / Auxiliary Power

    10.3 Solar / Auxiliary Power 1. Reserved – do not use 2. Ground 3. Solar/Auxiliary power (see specifications for the voltage range in section 11)

  • Page 39: Specifications

    Specifications Specifications are intended for reference only. The design may be modified to improve features or functionality without notice. Specifications MIN NOM MAX UNITS Input Voltage (DC or Auxiliary) Input Current (12Vdc in) mAdc Shutter Output Current Sink Operating Temperature Charging Temperature Laser Wavelength Laser Power –...

  • Page 40: Warranty

    Sabre. There are inherent dangers in the use of any product, and you are solely responsible for determining whether Sabre is compatible with your equipment and other software installed on your equipment.

  • Page 41: Wireless Certification

    Wireless Certification 13.1 FCC Certification - USA This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates uses and can radiate frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications.

  • Page 42: Ic Certification - Canada

    13.2 IC Certification – Canada English This device complies with Industry Canada license-exempt RSS standard(s). Operation is subject to the following two conditions: 1. This device may not cause harmful interference 2. This device must accept any interference received, including received, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device French Cet appareil est conforme à...

  • Page 43: Glossary

    To connect two wires together. Provide a path for current to flow with low resistance. Trigger To activate Output This is what you attach your equipment to. Sabre can control these outputs to do various tasks. Abbreviation for microseconds. A millionth of a second.

  • Page 44: Revision History

    Revision History Revision Date Change 11/20/2015 Initial Release 05/25/2016 Included periodic activation of shutter outputs, review blinking shutter LED, low voltage shutdown. Changed LED brightness so zero is completely off. 08/16/2017 Added A|B I/O mode, hybrid drive mode, enter/exit drive mode, sensitivity, and “final off”.

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