1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Decagon Devices Manuals
  4. Measuring Instruments
  5. ProCheck
  6. Operator's manual

Decagon Devices ProCheck Operator's Manual

Hide thumbs Also See for ProCheck:
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
ProCheck
Operator's Manual
Version 5
Decagon Devices, Inc.

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the ProCheck and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel

Related Manuals for Decagon Devices ProCheck

Summary of Contents for Decagon Devices ProCheck

  • Page 1 ProCheck Operator’s Manual Version 5 Decagon Devices, Inc.
  • Page 2 Decagon Devices, Inc. 2365 NE Hopkins Court Pullman WA 99163 (509)332-2756 fax: (509)332-5158 www.decagon.com soils@decagon.com Trademarks ProCheck is a registered trademark of Decagon Devices, Inc. © 2007-2010 Decagon Devices, Inc.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contact Information ........1 Warranty ............1 Repair Instructions ........2 Repair Costs ..........2 Seller’s Liability ..........3 2. About the ProCheck ......4 Specifications ..........4 Components ..........4 3. The Buttons ........5 4. The Menus ........6 The Main Menu ...........
  • Page 4 Appendix A: Compatible Sensors ..33 Appendix B: Sending Feedback ..36 ProCheck CE Compliance ....38...

  • Page 5: Introduction

    1. Introduction 1. Introduction Thank you for purchasing Decagon Devices’ ProCheck. The ProCheck is a device used to interface with your analog and digital soil moisture sensors and obtain instantaneous results. This manual will help you understand the functions of and get the most out of your ProCheck device.

  • Page 6: Repair Instructions

    Decagon to obtain a Return Merchandise Au- thorization number (RMA). This will allow Decagon’s re- pair staff to keep track of your ProCheck. Once you have acquired an RMA, send your ProCheck to Decagon. Please include a document listing the complete shipping address, name, and department of the person responsible for the instrument, as well as a description of the problem.

  • Page 7: Seller's Liability

    ProCheck 1. Introduction Seller’s Liability Seller warrants new equipment of its own manufacture against defective workmanship and materials for a period of one year from the date of receipt of equipment (the re- sults of ordinary wear and tear, neglect, misuse, accident and excessive deterioration due to corrosion from any cause are not considered to be a defect);...

  • Page 8: About The Procheck

    ProCheck 2. About the ProCheck 2. About the ProCheck The ProCheck is a hand-held readout device designed for use with all soil moisture sensors and environ- mental monitoring sensors made or sold by Decagon. Specifications Accuracy: Determined by the sensor being used...

  • Page 9: The Buttons

    ProCheck 3. The Buttons 3. The Buttons MENU is used to turn on the ProCheck and cycle through the menus at the top of the screen. Hold- ing MENU down for 3 seconds will turn the power off. Pressing MENU in an annotation/edit screen will re- turn to the previous screen.

  • Page 10: The Menus

    NOTE: You can customize the sensor units and calibrations in the Con- fig. Menu. The sensor version is only shown if the ProCheck was able to retrieve sensor information directly from the sensor. A soil calibration...
  • Page 11 To take a reading, scroll through the sensor list until you find the sensor type you want to read. Plug the sensor into the stereo jack on the top of the ProCheck. Press ENTER to start the live update mode. A live up- dating icon is displayed in the lower right corner.

  • Page 12: The Config Menu

    ProCheck 4. The Menus NOTE: The ProCheck will remember the last annotation stored into memory. You can clear all or part of an old annota- tion by pressing the up or down arrow key. This will clear all the characters to the right of the current cursor position.
  • Page 13 ProCheck 4. The Menus Units Sub Menu From this menu you can configure your unit preferences for various unit types. Use the up and down arrows to navigate to the unit you would like to change and press ENTER to cycle through the different types.
  • Page 14 ProCheck 4. The Menus Calibration Type Sub Menu Some sensors support a calibration adjustment for dif- ferent media types (soil, rockwool, etc.). The first screen shows a summary of the selected soil calibrations for each configurable sensor. To modify a sensor’s calibration type, press ENTER. You can choose a preset soil calibration type or create your own (See creating a Custom Calibration).
  • Page 15 NOTE: With the 5TE 5TM sensors (only), custum calibra- tion equations must be constructed with a (dielectric per- mittivity) as the ‘x’ variable. With the ProCheck and other Decagon data acquisition equipment, a = Raw/50. With other data acquisition equipment, if read in SDI-12 mode, a = Raw/100.
  • Page 16 Entering a Custom Calibration To enter your custom calibration into the ProCheck, navi- gate to the Calibration Type sub menu (in the Config Menu) and select a sensor. Press ENTER until the medium type says Custom.
  • Page 17 ProCheck 4. The Menus Use the up and down arrow keys to change the current value, use the left and right arrow keys to change the cur- sor position. Press SAVE to save the coefficient and MENU to return to the coefficient list without changing the coef- ficient.
  • Page 18 ProCheck 4. The Menus ENTER. If the sensor name is checked, it will be included in the list on the main screen. If it is unchecked it will be excluded. You can use the “Check All” or “Un-check All” options to enable/disable all the sensors at once. Press SAVE to save your changes or press ESC to exit without saving.
  • Page 19 ProCheck 4. The Menus Setting SDI-12 addresses The ProCheck may be used to conveniently assign SDI-12 addresses to the Decagon digital sensor. To assign the ad- dresses, follow the instructions below: Use the pigtail adaptor to connect a SDI-12 compat- ible sensor the the ProCheck’s stereo jack.
  • Page 20 ProCheck 4. The Menus Date and Time Sub Menu To set the date/time on the instrument you can connect to ECH O Utility and select the “Set Date/Time” option under the actions menu, or you can follow the instruc- tions below to manually update the date and time: Scroll to the Date Option in the Config Menu and press ENTER.

  • Page 21: The Data Menu

    The Data Menu To navigate to the Data Menu, press MENU until the Data Tab is highlighted. Several different options are available within this menu. With the ProCheck you can store up to 5000 individual readings. Number of Readings Taken...
  • Page 22 ProCheck 4. The Menus View Sub Menu You can view a summary of your saved data or view de- tailed information about any data record. The first screen is a summary screen and looks similar to the picture below. This page shows a data record list that includes the date and the time that the reading was taken and the annotation (if any).

  • Page 23: Downloading Data

    In general, you should use the O Utility to download data instead of the menu op- tion in the ProCheck. This menu option sends the data saved in the ProCheck to the terminal software running on your computer. Configure your...

  • Page 24: Erasing Data Memory

    4. The Menus Erasing Data Memory WARNING! Once this feature is activated, all data will be permanently deleted from the ProCheck, and cannot be recovered. To erase your data, do the following. Navigate to the Data Menu in the ProCheck.

  • Page 25: Ech2O Utility Software

    Excel Workbook file, tab-delimited text file, and a Raw, unprocessed data file. O Utility also helps you delete measurement data stored in your ProCheck and set the date and time in your ProCheck. NOTE: ECH O Utility is designed to work with your ProCheck and Decagon’s line of ECH...

  • Page 26: Connecting To Your Procheck

    ProCheck 5. ECH2O Utility Software Connecting to your ProCheck O Utility needs to establish a communication con- nection with your ProCheck to perform any of its func- tions. To connect to your ProCheck, do the following: Launch ECH O Utility.
  • Page 27 Excel Workbook (*.xls): ECH O Utility saves your mea- surement data on Sheet 1 with the following columns: • Measurement Time: Date and time when the ProCheck made the measurement. • Sensor Name: Type of sensor used for the measure ment. • Measurement 1: Primary measurements made by the sensor.
  • Page 28 You can use the raw data for the sensor to apply a different calibration if needed. This sheet has the following columns: • Measurement Time: Date and time when the ProCheck made the measurement. • Sensor Name: Type of sensor used for the mea surement. • Unprocessed 1: Raw data for measurement 1 • Unprocessed 2: Raw data for measurement 2.
  • Page 29 Raw File (comma delimited) (*.csv): This file format con- tains just the raw data as stored by the ProCheck. Save this type of file if you need to send a raw file to Decagon to help in troubleshooting a data processing problem.

  • Page 30: More Echo Utility Options

    Setting the Date and Time O Utility automatically synchronizes the date and time of your ProCheck to your computer time when you connect to your ProCheck. You can manually synchronize the time by selecting Set Date/Time from the Action menu.
  • Page 31 ProCheck firmware. Choose Check for Device Firmware Updates from the Help menu to compare the firmware version in your ProCheck with the latest version available from Decagon. Your computer must be connected to the internet for this feature to work. Decagon can improve your ProCheck by publishing new versions of firmware to fix bugs or add features.

  • Page 32: Troubleshooting

    To ensure operation of your ProCheck, please consider the following: Batteries: Be sure your ProCheck has sufficient battery power. The ProCheck screen shows a battery icon in the upper right corner. When the battery power is low, replace the batteries. You can also use ECH O Utility to check your battery power.
  • Page 33 Check to make sure the sensor type shown in the sensor menu on the main screen matches the sensor type plugged into the ProCheck. If these steps don’t resolve the problem, please consult the sensor’s user manual for...

  • Page 34: Troubleshooting Echo Utility

    O Utility tells me it can’t connect to my ProCheck. SOLUTION: Try one or more of the following to make sure there is a serial connection to you ProCheck. • Check your serial port choice. Make sure the “Con- nect Via” drop-down menu shows the name of the se-...

  • Page 35: Troubleshooting Data Issues

    SOLUTION: There is no measurement data stored in your ProCheck or previously saved data was erased. If you want to use measurement data collected by the ProCheck on your computer, be sure to press the SAVE button on the...
  • Page 36 ProCheck data file shows “* * *”. SOLUTION: The three asterisks means the data stored by the ProCheck is outside the expected range for the sensor type. This could indicate a broken sensor. PROBLEM: My sensor data doesn’t seem correct.
  • Page 37 The ProCheck is also useful when installing and trouble- shooting sensors used with the ECH O loggers. For this reason, the ProCheck will measure all the sensors used in the ECH O system. NOTE: The ProCheck is only compatible with sensors made and sold by Decagon Devices for the ECH O system.
  • Page 38 • MPS-1 Water Potential • ECT Temperature • PYR Solar Radiation • QSO-S PAR Photon Flux •Millivolt Rain Gauge Sensors The ProCheck will count tips from the following rain gauge sensors. This is helpful for troubleshooting rain gauge prob- lems. • ECRN-50 Precipitation • ECRN-50 Volume • ECRN-100 Precipitation NOTE: The ProCheck is not compatible with the ECRN Pre- cipitation rain gauge used with Em5 loggers.
  • Page 39 ProCheck. When an ECH O logger measures these sen- sors. It uses a time-series date to make each measurement. The ProCheck can only take instantaneous measurements so the data measured by the ProCheck is different from a logger. •G1 Drain Gauge shows the percent full of the tip reservoir.
  • Page 40 ProCheck Appendix B: Sending Feedback Appendix B: Sending Feedback Decagon Software makes it easy to send feedback, bug re- ports, and feature requests to Decagon or your Decagon Distributor. Choose “Send Feedback to Decagon...” from the help menu. This opens the window shown below.
  • Page 41 ProCheck Appendix B: Sending Feedback Enter your name, company name, and other contact in- formation. Tell us what type of feedback you are sending (General Feedback, Feature Suggestions, Bug Report, or Other). Indicate how you want us to respond to your feed- back (E-mail or Telephone).
  • Page 42 PC-1 Year of First Manufacture: 2007 This is to certify that the ProCheck, manufactured by Decagon Devices, Inc., a corporation based in Pull- man, Washington, USA, meets or exceeds the standards for CE compliance as per the Council Directives noted above.
  • Page 43 ProCheck...
  • Page 44 ProCheck Index About 4 Annotating 7 Battery Life 4 Battery Type 4 Buttons 5 Calibration Type 10 Coefficient 12 Compatible Sensors 33 Compliance 38 Components 4 Connection 22 Contrast 16 Custom Calibration 11 Customer Service 1 Date and Time 16...
  • Page 45 ProCheck Firmware 26 Installation 21 PHONE 1 Processed Data 24 Raw File 25 Repair 2 RMA 2 SDI-12 14 Send Feedback 36 Sensor List 13 Tech Support 1 Terminal software 19 Troubleshooting 28 Unprocessed Data 9 Warranty 1...

Table of Contents