Testing Communications - Honeywell XYR 5000 Series User Manual

Honeywell Industrial Wireless
Rev 5
08/06

3.2. Testing Communications

Remember, proper placement of the Transmitter will optimize
your RF communication range and capabilities. Perhaps the best
test to perform before mechanically mounting the unit is a quick
hand-held test. There are two types of tests you can conduct: the
RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) Diagnostic and the
Link Test. The RSSI Diagnostic measures the strength of the
signal at the Transmitter. The Link Test measures the throughput
of data sent to and from the Transmitter. The Link Test may be
conducted from the Transmitter, Base Radio, or through WMT.
The RSSI Diagnostic should be conducted first to determine if
the Base Radio is communicating with the Transmitter. Then the
Link Test may be performed to test the validity of the installation.
To perform these tests you should have a good idea of where
the Base Radio will be placed (for more information see Section
3 of the Base Radio User Manual). Place the Base Radio in the
desired area and power on. Make sure that the Base Radio and
Transmitter are on the same RF Channel and Baud Rate (See
Section 5). You may also have to increment the number of
Transmitters with which the Base Radio is communicating (See
the Base Radio User Manual Section 4.3).
Once both the Base Radio and Transmitter are set up to be on
the same network, make sure communication is established by
looking at the Transmitter LCD for the 'RF OK' message in the
Read-Only Sequence (see Section 4.2.1).
After communications have been established, go to Section 3.2.1
for the RSSI Diagnostic or Section 3.2.2 for the Link Test.
3.2.1.
Transmitter RSSI Diagnostic
The Transmitter should be placed in RSSI Diagnostic mode to
determine the signal strength at the location of the equipment to be
monitored.
The RSSI Diagnostic, located in the Transmitter's diagnostic menu,
displays the RF signal strength in one of seven ranges. The signal
strength is displayed on the LCD using a combination of '>' and '_'
characters. Full signal strength is displayed as "> > > > > > >" while
minimum signal strength is displayed as "> _ _ _ _ _ _". If the
Transmitter is not communicating with the Base Radio (i.e. NO RF),
all underscore characters will be displayed ("_ _ _ _ _ _ _").
The RSSI is measured every time the Transmitter receives a
message from the Base Radio. The signal strength of the received
message from the Base Radio is calculated during this time. The
actual signal strength in dBm for each range is shown below:
User Manual
Wireless Dual Discrete Input Transmitter
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