Using the NM150 with Adulticiding

Transcription

1 Reason Adulticiding 3.5 includes support for the New Mountain NM150 Weather Station. Adulticiding fogger log point details include temperature, wind speed, and wind direction. These can be recorded from the weather station simultaneous with the sprayer data, using a Bluetooth serial adapter on Windows Mobile devices (most mobile devices do not have two 9-pin RS-232 COM ports) or a USB connection on Windows tablets. Solution Windows Mobile Device Configuration 1. Configure the FireFly Serial-Bluetooth adapter to communicate with the weather station. Note: full instructions for the FireFly are found in the FireFly User Guide. a. Power up the FireFly b. Connect it to a computer serial port using a null modem cable c. Use a TTY Terminal program (such as HyperTerminal) to configure the communication settings for the FireFly. (The default baud rate is 115,200 but the New Mountain weather station uses 4,800. It s possible to change baud rate using jumpers on the FireFly, but you can only change it to 4,800 by putting it into Command mode using HyperTerminal.) i. Connect using 115,200 baud ii. Set connection properties iii. Enter command mode by typing $$$. The device will respond with CMD. 1

2 $$$CMD iv. Type SU,48 to set baud to The device will respond with AOK. SU,48 AOK? v. Type --- to exit command mode. The device will respond with END. --- END 2. Power up the sprayer. 3. Connect the sprayer data cable to your mobile device. 4. Power up the weather sensor. Use the pigtail cable with the 9-pin RS-232 serial connector to connect the weather sensor up to power. Note: this cable comes with a 12-volt AC wall adapter. You will need to get a vehicle power adapter instead. A 12-volt vehicle adapter with an M-sized (2.1mm x 5.5mm) barrel plug can be purchased from electronics stores. Also note that if a serial cable extension must be used, a M-F straight through cable can be purchased from Electronic Data Solutions Connect the Bluetooth serial adapter to the 9-pin serial connection on the pigtail cable and secure the connection so that vibration or human interference does not disconnect it (e.g. tape

3 it). For our testing, we used the Bluetooth FireflyBP (male) available from GridConnect, because it has rechargeable AAA batteries. The GC-BT-FIREFLY-DTE-110 was also tested. Either device will need a DC charger 1a, plug size (1.3 x 3.5 x 9.5 mm) outer cylinder is GND) to supply reliable power to the device (if an external power source is not used the FireflyBP will power off if no data communication is detected). Other Bluetooth serial adapters may be available, but they would need to be tested with the system to ensure proper setup. 6. Power up the Bluetooth adapter and put it in Discoverable mode. For the FireFlyBP, this involves pressing the red button for approximately 2 seconds until the lights begin to blink. 7. On the mobile device, go to the Bluetooth manager. (Windows tablets and Windows mobile devices have different management tools, but the following instructions will provide you the basics of what you need to know to get this set up properly.) For a Windows Mobile device, go to Settings > Connections > Bluetooth. 8. Tap on Add new device 3 9. Select the FireFlyBP and press Next.

4 10. Enter 1234 for the Bluetooth Passcode and press Next. 11. Give the device a moment to complete the pairing (do not enter the passcode again). Tap on the FireFlyBP device listing and select the Serial Port service. Press Save. 4

5 12. Tap COM Ports > New Outgoing Port. Select the FireFlyBP device and press Next. Set the COM port number (make a note of it!) and uncheck Secure Connection. Press Finish. (If you have more than one mobile device, make sure the COM port is configured the same on all of them.) 13. The Firefly devices will display disconnected once setup properly; this is normal behavior for the devices from this mfg. 14. Your Bluetooth connection and port are now configured. You should not have to perform these steps again unless you factory reset your device. 15. It is important to note the Sentinel device and the NM150/FireFly devices are a pair and must be used together as a pair. 16. In ArcMap, select Adulticiding > Mobile Application Configuration Utility. On the General tab, check the box to Read weather data from New Mountain NM150 Weather Station and set the COM Port the mobile device will use to communicate with it (from Step 12 above) Use DataLink GIS to send updates to the mobile device(s).

6 18. Start Sentinel GIS Adulticiding (always make sure that the sprayer is on and connected, the weather station is on, and the Bluetooth serial adapter is on). 19. Note the flashing green light on the Firefly indicates no BT connection, once Adulticiding has started and the sprayer is powered on the Green light will turn solid. The Yellow light on the Firefly will blink when data is being sent or received from the NM On the Adulticiding login screen, if the NM150 is enabled, the boxes for Temperature, Wind Speed and Direction will not be displayed (because the weather information will be collected with the fogger log points, not the spray session record). 21. To verify the port setting for the NM150, tap the space next to the Log In button. If the COM port needs to be changed, uncheck the Use defaults button and change the port (this will override the setting from Step 16 above on this device only). 6

7 22. Fill in the rest of the login details and press Log In to begin recording sprayer data. The weather connection icon will display an X until communication is established with the pump control box. Windows Tablet 1. Install the Windows 7/8/10 NM-150 drivers using the installation media that came with the weather station. 2. Power up the sprayer. 3. Connect the sprayer data cable to your mobile device and power on the sprayer. 4. Power up the weather sensor. The USB to RS-485 box must have vehicle power to communicate. 5. Plug the USB connection cable that came with the weather station mobility package into the mobile device or mobile dock. 6. Go into the Windows Device Manager on the tablet and note the COM port settings for the attached weather station. Typical COM port may be COM4, COM5, COM6; baud rate must be set to 4800 to communicate with the weather station. 7. In ArcMap, select Adulticiding > Mobile Application Configuration Utility. On the General tab, check the box to Read weather data from New Mountain NM150 Weather Station and set the COM Port the mobile device will use to communicate with it (from Step 5 above). 7

8 8. Use DataLink GIS to send updates to the mobile device(s). 9. Start Sentinel GIS Adulticiding on the tablet (always make sure that the sprayer power is on and connected and the weather station has power and is connected). 10. On the Adulticiding login screen, if the NM150 is enabled, the boxes for Temperature, Wind Speed and Direction will not be displayed (because the weather information will be collected with the fogger log points, not the spray session record). NM150 option not enabled NM150 option enabled 11. Fill in the rest of the login details and press Log In to begin recording sprayer data. The weather connection icon will display an X until power is supplied to the spray control box. 8

9 Sprayer power on and NM150 communicating Sprayer not connected or power off Troubleshooting This message indicates Sentinel is not receiving weather station data. This can be caused by several things no cable connection, no power to the NM150, incorrect port settings provided by the win7 port driver. Follow these steps to recover. 9

10 1. Confirm power at the NM150. The mobility module has a window with an indicator light if the light is on it indicates the NM150 has power. 2. Confirm the NM150 windows driver has assigned the same port that was assigned in step #6 a. Right click the computer icon and click properties b. Click Device manager c. Expand ports d. Check for the existance of AIRMAR USB RS422 Serial Port i. If it doesn t display start the process over and confirm connection and power. ii. If it displays but the port is different than the orginal setting go to step 5 below. e. Double click on the AIRMAR USB RS422 Serial Port f. Confirm the BAUD rate is set to 4800 and the other settings are as displayed below. 10

11 g. Click Advanced to change the Port number assignment and select the correct COM port number from the drop down list. h. Click ok through all boxes to get back to the main screen and start Sentinel again to confirm NM150 connection. 11