A C SETUP MAX MIN CLOCK FAST SLOW INTV REC LEVEL RS-232 Lo = 30 Med= 50 Hi = 80 Auto= 30 POWER-UP OPTIONS 80 db 100 db 130 db 130 db ital Measurement Metrology, Inc ECISION IS OUR VISION 1-866-960-940 www.dmm.
Title CONTENTS Page I. SAFETY INFORMATION...... 1 Environment conditions 1 Maintenance & Clearing.. 1 Safety symbols. 1 II. GENERAL DESCRIPTION... 1 III. SPECIFICATIONS.... 2 IV. CONTROLS...... 4 V. CLOCK & INTERVAL SETUP..... 7 DataLogger 7 Clock Setup 7 Recording Interval Setup. 8 Auto Power Off. 8 VI. CALIBRATION PROCEDURES.. 8 VII. MEASUREMENT PREPARATION... 9 VIII. OPERATING PRECAUTIONS. 9 IX. MEASUREMENT... 10 X. Setup TestLink SE-322 (Sound Level Meter) RS232 interface software.. 10
I. SAFETY INFORMATION Read the following safety information carefully before attempting to operate or service the meter. Use the meter only as specified in this manual; otherwise, the protection provided by the meter may be impaired. Environment conditions Altitude up to 2000 meters Relatively humidity 90% max. Operation Ambient 0 ~ 40 Maintenance & Clearing Repairs or servicing not covered in this manual should only be performed by qualified personnel. Periodically wipe the case with a dry cloth. Do not use abrasives or solvents on this instrument. Safety symbols Complies with EMC When servicing, use only specified replacement parts. II. GENERAL DESCRIPTION To ensure that you get the most from the Data Logger/Sound Level Meter, we recommend that you read and follow the manual carefully before use. This unit conforms to the IEC651 type2, ANSI S1.4 Type 2 for Sound Level Meters. The Data Logger/Sound Level Meter internal memory can store up to 32,000 records.(note 1.) An RS232 interface is provided to perform bi-directional communication with a PC. Note1: Every time you press REC button to start recording data and press REC button again to stop recording, there will be a data set in memory. The meter will store as many data sets as will fit in memory. 1
III. SPECIFICATIONS Standard applied: Frequency range: Measuring level range: Frequency weighting: Microphone: Display: Digital display: Digits: Resolution: Update: Analog display: Type: Resolution: Update: Time weighting: Level ranges: Lo: Med: Hi : Auto: Accuracy: Dynamic range: Alarm function: MAX/MIN Hold function: AC output: Voltage: Impedance: DC output: IEC651 Type2, ANSI S1.4 Type2. 31.5Hz ~ 8KHz 30 ~ 130dB A/C 1/2 inch electret condenser microphone LCD 4 digits 0.1dB 0.5 sec. 50 segment bargraph 1dB 50 ms FAST (125ms), SLOW ( 1 sec.) 30 80 db 50 100 db 80 130 db 30 130 db ±1.5dB (under reference conditions @ 94dB, 1KHz) 100 db OVER is when input is more than upper limit of range UNDER is when input is less than lower limit of range Holds readings of the maximum and minimum value. 1 Vrms at full scale Approx. 100Ω 2
Voltage: 10mV/dB Impedance: approx. 1KΩ Power supply: One 9V battery; 006P or IEC 6F22 or NEDA 1604. Power life: About 50 Hours (alkaline battery) AC adapter: Voltage: 9 VDC (8-15VDC Max) Supply current: > 30mADC Socket: pin Ground Casing Positive External Diameter 3.5mm Internal Diameter 1.35mm Electromagnetic Compatibility: RF field 3V/m Total accuracy specified accuracy + 0.5dB Operating temperature: 0 to 40 ( 32 to 104 ) Operating humidity: 10 to 90% RH Storage temperature: -10 to 60 ( 14 to 140 ) Storage humidity: 10 to 75% RH Dimensions (LxWxH): 275 x 64 x 30 mm Weight: Accessories: 10.8 x 2.5 x 1.2 inches 285g (10.0 oz.); including battery 9V battery, carrying case, screwdriver, instruction manual, windscreen, 3.5ψ plug, software, RS-232 cable 3
IV. CONTROLS 1 9 2 3 6 A C 4 5 SETUP MAX FAST MIN SLOW CLOCK INTV REC LEVEL 7 8 CAL RS-232 9V BATTERY NEDA 1604 6F22 006P PLEASE READ MANUAL FOR SAFETY OUTPUT Lo = 30 80 db Med= 50 100 db Hi = 80 130 db Auto= 30 130 db POWER-UP OPTIONS DC 9V OPEN 4
1 Windscreen If you operate the meter in wind speeds over 10m/sec, for best performance, please install the protective windscreen. 2 Display SYMBOL LCD MAX MIN FAST SLOW dba dbc AUTO REC FULL FUNCTION 4 digits Maximum held value indicator Minimum held value indicator Over range Under range Fast response Slow response A-Weighting C-Weighting Range Indicate Low-Battery Under range 20dB Auto Level range selective Recording Datalogger Memory full Power OFF active 3 Power & Backlight button The I key turns the sound level meter and backlight ON and OFF. Press it once to turn on the sound level meter. Press it again momentarily to turn the backlight ON or OFF. Press and hold for three seconds to turn the power OFF. 5
Note: When first powered on, the LCD will indicate how much memory space is available to use. 4 MAX / MIN hold button Press the button to enter the maximum and minimum recording mode. Select the proper level range before using MAX/MIN to ensure that the read value will not exceed the measurement range. Press once to select MAX value. Press again to select MIN value, and press again to select current value. The MAX MIN indicator will blink. Press and hold the button for two seconds to exit the MAX/MIN mode. Note: If the sound level range or A-C weight are changed, the MAX/MIN mode will clear. 5 Record Datalogger button Pressing the button will start recording. The REC indicator will appear in the display. Pressing it again will stop recording. 6 Frequency Weighting select button A: A-Weighting for general sound level measurements. C: C-Weighting for checking the low-frequency content of noise. (If the C-Weighted level is much higher than the A-weighted level, then there is a large amount of low-frequency noise.) 7 Time weighting select button FAST: for normal measurements SLOW: for checking average level of fluctuating noise. 8 Level range control button Each time the button is pressed the level range will cycle through the Lo, Med, Hi, and Auto levels. 9 Microphone 1/2 inch Electret Condenser microphone 10 CAL potentiometer Calibration control for level calibration adjustment 11 RS-232 Interface: The RS-232 signal output is a 9600 bps N 8 1 serial interface. 6
12 Signal output terminal AC: 1 Vrms corresponding to each range step Output impedance 100Ω The output signal appears on pin (tip) of the 3.5mm coaxial plug. Note: On the Auto level range, the output signal is automatically set to the Lo or Med or Hi level range. DC Signal AC Signal Ground DC: Output: 10mV/dB Output impedance 1KΩ The output signal appears on ring (middle) of the 3.5mm coaxial plug. 13 External DC 9V power supply terminal Connect the AC adapter to this terminal. 14 Tripod mounting screw. 15 Battery Cover V. DATA LOGGER CLOCK & INTERVAL SETUP DataLogger: Pressing the "REC" button starts recording, and pressing the "REC" button again will stop recording. To clear the memory, power off the meter, then press and hold the REC button while pressing the power button and hold at least five (5) seconds. The LCD will show "CLR" and SURE indicating the memory is cleared. Clock Setup : 1: Press and hold the A/C button while powering on the meter: 2: Press the MAX/MIN (clock) button: 3: Press the "REC" or "LEVEL" buttons to increase or decrease the displayed digits, respectively. Press the MAX/MIN (clock) button to adjust the next item. The adjustment order is year month day hour minute. Press the MAX/MIN (clock) to set the clock. To abort the setup process, press the power button to cancel. 7
POWER-UP OPTIONS Recording Interval Setup : 1: Press and hold the A/C button while powering on the meter. 2: Press the FAST/SLOW" (INTV) button. 3: Press the "REC" or "LEVEL" buttons to increase or decrease the displayed digit, respectively. Press the FAST/SLOW " (INTV) button to adjust the next item. Press the FAST/SLOW (INTV) button again to complete the setup. To abort the setup process, press the power button to cancel. Auto Power Off: By default, when the meter is powered on, it is under the auto power off mode. The meter will power itself off after 30 minutes if no buttons are pressed, no recording or RS232 communication occurs. To disable the auto power off feature, press and hold the FAST/SLOW button and then power on the meter. The will not be displayed, indicating that auto power off is disabled. VI. CALIBRATION PROCEDURES Using a standard Acoustic Calibrator (94dB, 1KHz Sine wave ) Acoustic Calibrator A C SETUP MAX FAST MIN SLOW CLOCK INTV Screwdriver REC LEVEL Lo = 30 80 db Med= 50 100 db Hi = 80 130 db Auto= 30 130 db DC 9V CAL RS-232 OUTPUT 8
(1) Make the following switch settings. Display: dba Time weighting: FAST Measurement mode: MAX/MIN Mode function disabled Level range: 50 to 100dB (2) Insert the microphone housing carefully into the insertion hole of the calibrator. (3) Turn on the calibrator and adjust the CAL potentiometer of the meter until the level display indicates the desired level. The meter is calibrated before shipment. We recommend recalibration annually. VII. MEASUREMENT PREPARATION (1) Battery Loading Remove the battery cover on the back and install one 9V battery. (2) Battery Replacement When the battery voltage drops below that required for reliable operation, the low battery symbol will appear, indicating it is time to replace the battery. (3) AC Adapter Connection When using the AC adapter, insert the plug of the adapter into the DC9V connector on the side panel. VIII. OPERATING PRECAUTIONS (1) Wind blowing across the microphone induces a significant amount of extraneous noise. When using the instrument in the presence of wind, install the windscreen to eliminate the pick up of undesirable signals. (2) Calibrate the instrument before operation if the instrument has not been used for a long period of time. (3) Do not store or operate the instrument in high temperature and high humidity environments. (4) Keep the microphone dry and avoid severe vibration. (5) Remove the battery from the instrument, and store in a low humidity environment when not in use. 9
IX. MEASUREMENT (1) Open the battery cover and install a 9V battery in the battery compartment. (2) Turn on power and select the desired response time and weighting. If the sound source consists of short bursts, or the meter is only catching sound peaks, set response to FAST. To measure average sound levels, use the SLOW setting. Select A-weighting for general noise sound level and C-weighting for measuring sounds with high low frequency content. (3) Select desired level. (4) Hold the instrument comfortably by hand or fix to a tripod using the tripod mount, and point the microphone at the suspected noise source. Read the sound pressure level from the display. (5) When MAX/MIN (maximum/minimum hold) mode is chosen, the instrument captures and holds the maximum and minimum noise level values indefinitely. The MAX/MIN function operates on all settings regardless of the response time, frequency weighting, or range. Press and hold the MAX/MIN button for two seconds to clear the MAX/MIN reading. The MAX/MIN indicator will disappear. (6) Turn OFF the instrument and remove the battery when not in use. X. Setup TestLink SE-322 (Sound Level Meter) RS232 interface software: The TestLink package contains: 1. 80mm CD 2. Custom-designed RS232 cable for TestLink System Required: Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT 4.0 or above Minimum Hardware Required: PC or NoteBook with Pentium 90MHz or higher, 32 MB RAM; At least 5MB hard disk space available to install TestLink; Recommended display resolution is 800X600 10
Install TestLink: 1. We recommend closing all other applications before installing TestLink. 2. Insert the setup CD disk into the CDROM drive. 3. Choose the Start button on the Taskbar and select Run. 4. Type E:\SETUP and choose OK. The SE322.exe (executable file) and help files will be copied to your hard disk (default is c:\program files\testlink\se322). For additional detailed operating instructions, please refer to the online help available within the TestLink program. Main Menu: File Open - Retrieve files from the disk. Save - Save the active window data to the disk (when the caption bar is highlighted). Print - Print the data of the active window (graph or list). Printer Setup - Select printer. File Exit: Terminates the TestLink program. View Control Panel: By opening the Panel Window, the meter can be controlled directly via the buttons in this window. View Real-Time Graph: Opens the Real-Time Graph display, which displays the present data in graphical form. Real Time Data Run - Start collecting real time data from the meter. Stop - Stop collecting real time data from the meter. DataLogger: Opening the DataLogger Window allows downloading of recorded data from the meter to the PC. Output To Graph - Graphs tabular data. 11
Graph Tool Bar - Display or hide Statistic1. - Display or hide Statistic2. - Normal cursor. - When selected, the mouse cursor will become a crosshair when moving over the graph. Click on the graph to mark a cross on the graph. - When selected, the mouse cursor will become a "I" (I-beam) when moving over the graph. Click on the graph to add an annotation. - Color graph. - Monochrome graph. Dragging a rectangle marquee on an area on the graph allows zooming in to view more detail. 12
The two vertical lines (CURSOR A and CURSOR B) in the graph are associated with the time and value displays on the top and right side of each cursor. Move the cursor over either cursor A or B and click to drag the cursor line left or right. Right below cursor A and B is a slider. Click and drag the slider to move cursor A or B. Below the slider is the statistical display area, which displays start time, sampling rate, data number, and maximum and minimum values of the graph. The statistics area also displays the maximum, minimum and average between cursors A and B. These data will update automatically when cursor A or B is moved. Double-click the graph to open the Options dialog box, where controls for customizing the graph style are located. Right-click the graph to display the popup menu. You can Zoom this graph by using mouse: To Zoom: 1. Press the left mouse button and drag the cursor to select the area of the graph to be enlarged. 2. Release the mouse button. To Undo the Zoom, right-click on the graph to display the pop-up menu, and select Undo Zoom. DataLogger 13
When you have the meter connected to a PC and select "DataLogger" from the main menu or click from the tool bar, recorded data will be downloaded from the meter. A progress indicator will show the loading progress. If an error occurs, click "DataLogger" again. After the data is loaded, the left-hand column will show how many data sets were loaded and detailed information for each data set (start date, start time, recording rate and number of records). When downloading is completed, the records from the first data set are automatically loaded into both the tabular list and plotted in the graphing area. Click on any data set to change the set for graphing. Tutorial - Quick Start to Using SE322 TestLink (1.) Recording real time data in waveform display 1. Power on the Sound Level Meter first, and connect it to a PC RS-232 serial port wit the supplied cable (SE-300). 2.Start the SE322 program. 14
3. If the connection is successful, the panel will display the same value as the Sound Level Meter. If the connection between the meter and the PC fails, the display will indicate "No Connection" on the panel window in TestLink Se322 display. 4. When the connection is successful, click to start recording real time data. A waveform will be displayed on the Real Time Graph Window. 5. Click to stop recording. (2.) Saving the recorded real time data to a file 1. Click the graph window which displays the data you want to save and the graph window will become active. Choose File Save from the main menu or click from the tool bar. 2. A SAVE dialog window will be displayed where you can choose the file name and file type to save. There are three types of file types that can be saved binary file (*.ghf), text file (*.txt) and a comma separated value EXCEL format file (*.csv). The *.ghf file is a much more compact file format than the other two, but it can only be used in the TestLink SE322 program. The text file can be opened by TestLink SE322 and any other word processor program like Word, Notepad etc. The EXCEL format file can be opened by TestLink SE322 and Microsoft EXCEL. 15
(3.) Downloading recorded data from the memory of the Sound Level Meter/Data Logger and saving it to a file: 1. Power on the Sound Level Meter/Data Logger. 2. Press the REC button of the meter to start recording data. 3. After a while, press REC button again to stop recording data. 4. Connect the Sound Level Meter to the PC. 5. Start the SE322 program. 6. Choose Data Logger from main menu or click in the tool bar. 7. Refer to the DataLogger section. 16
Frequently Asked Questions 1. I connected the Sound Level Meter to the PC serial port and turned meter power on, but it still indicates "NO CONNECTION". Answer: All serial ports may be occupied by other applications. Close all other applications, and run the TestLink software again. If it still don't work, restart your computer and run TestLink SE322 again with no other applications running. 2. How can I save the graph to a file that can be used in EXCEL? Answer: When you save a graph to a file, the default file format is "*.ghf". Select *.csv to save files in a format that can be opened in EXCEL. 3. How do I uninstall the TestLink SE322 software? Answer: Uninstall TestLink SE322 by launching the Add/Remove Program in the Control Panels. Highlight the SE322 and click on the Add/Remove... push button. The SE322 folder and files will be removed from your computer. 4. Why does loading data fail? Answer: Some notebook computers exhibit a response that is too slow. If this occurs, the data download will fail. 5. How do I zoom in on an area of the graph? Answer: Press the left mouse button and drag the cursor to drag a marquee around the area of interest, then release the mouse button. 6. When I setup the realtime sampling with a fast rate (eg. 0.1 sec), some of the sampling data is lost. Answer: This might be caused by a slow response time of the PC. 17