Eureka Manta 2 User manual

Manta 2
™
Water Quality Multiprobe Manual
Release date 16 Dec 08
Eureka Environmental Engineering
2113 Wells Branch Parkway, Suite 4400
Austin, TX 78728
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
www.eurekaenvironmental.com
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Contents
QS Learning the Manta 2 in 30 Minutes
QS1 Loading the Manta 2 Software on Your PC – 7 Minutes
QS2 Installing the USB to Serial Driver
QS3 Connecting the Manta 2 to Your PC – 3 Minutes
QS4 Tinkering with the Software – 20 Minutes
A Overview
A1 Eureka Environmental
A2 What’s So Cool about the Manta 2?
A3 Example Systems and Applications
A4 Manta 2 System Components
A5 Manta 2 Different Sizes
A6 Connecting the Manta 2 to a PC
B User Interface Software – Main Screen
B1 Connecting the Manta 2 to a PC
B2 Main Screen
B3 Hot Buttons
B4 Pull-Down Menus
C User Interface Software – “PC” Pull-Down Menu
C1 “PC or Amphibian” Flow Chart
C2 Set Scroll Interval
C4 Choose a File for Storing Your Snapshots
C5 Graphing
C6 COM Ports
D User Interface Software – “Manta 2” Pull-Down Menu
D1 “Manta 2” Pull-Down Flow Chart
D2 Manage Manta 2 Files
D3 Logging Set-Up
D4 Calibration Record
D5 Sensors and Parameters List
D6 Calibrate
D6a Calibrate
D6b Set Barometric Pressure
D6c Set Time and Date
E Sensors
E1 The Difference between Sensors and Parameters
E2 Basics of Parameter Calibrations
E3 Calibration Record
E4 Sensor Response Factor (SRF)
E5 Temperature
E6 Dissolved Oxygen, Clark Sensor
E7 Dissolved Oxygen, Optical Sensor
E8 Conductivity
E9 pH
E10 Reference Electrode
E11 Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP)
E12 Depth and Vented Depth
E13 Turbidity
E14 Chlorophyll, Rhodamine, and Blue-Green Algae
E15 Total Dissolved Gas (TDG)
E16 Ion-Selective Electrodes
E16a Ammonium
E16b Nitrate
E16c Chloride
F The Manta 2
F1 Manta 2 Components and How They Work
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F2 What Them Little Lights Mean

F3 Applications: Profiling (Spot-Checking), Logging, and Telemetry
F4 Cables
F3 Operating the Manta 2 with Eureka’s Amphibian
G Logging
G1 What’s the difference between “Logging” and “Snapshot”?
G2 Why We Do Logging the Way We Do
G3 Activating Manta 2 Logging
G4 Logging Interval
G5 Sensor Warm-Up
G6 Internal Battery Packs
G7 External Battery Packs
G8 Am I using Battery Pack power or Cable power?
G9 Logging Redundantly with Telemetry
G10 Dumping Data from the Manta 2
G11 Routine Maintenance
G12 Opening the Manta 2
H Everything Else
H1 Troubleshooting
H2 Technical Information
H3 Customer Service
H4 Performance Specifications
H5 Software Version Information
H6 Warranty
I Amphibian Screen Shots
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QS Learning the Manta 2 in 30 Minutes
I’m the last to blame you if you are determined to read as little of this manual as possible. So, if you
have any experience with multiprobes – you know what a cable looks like and you know what a pH
buffer is – you can get by just fine reading only A1 – A3. The rest of you should at least skim the
sections on software and sensors.
I tried to make this manual at least half as long as those of other multiprobes on the market just so
you’d feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. But I couldn’t do it – the Manta 2 is just too easy to
use. We did that on purpose.
However, if you have any questions about the Manta 2, multiprobes in general, water chemistry,
Longhorn baseball schedule, etc., please call Eureka at 512-302-4333 x? We’ll drop what we’re
doing and talk to you until you’re trying to figure out a polite way to get off the phone.
QS1 Loading the Manta 2 Software on Your PC – 5 Minutes
1) Find the Eureka Install Disc that was delivered with your Manta 2.
2) Stick the disc into your PC’s CD-ROM drive tray and close the tray.
3) Verify, in a few minutes, that your PC desktop has a new icon called Manta 2 Control
Software.
4) The Manta 2 software will start automatically, but you’re going to click on Close because
you’ve got to load your USB to Serial Driver now.
QS2 Installing the USB to Serial Driver
1) Plug the USB to Serial Adapter (it’s the blue thing with the USB connector on a one-foot
cable) into any USB port on your PC.
2) Your Windows system will give you the “Welcome to New Hardware Found” box. Click the
little circle beside “Install the software automatically” and click on Next.
3) Your PC will find the USB to Serial Driver software on the Eureka Install Disc and load it
automatically after you click on “Continue Anyway” when you see the box that says that the
software has not been verified to be Microsoft compatible.
4) Then you’ll see the box that says your hardware (meaning the USB to Serial Adapter) is
successfully installed and ready for use.
QS3 Connecting the Manta 2 to Your PC – 5 Minutes
1) Connect the USB Adapter to any USB port on your PC.
2) Connect your Manta 2 Cable to the USB adapter.
3) Connect the Manta 2 to the Cable.
4) Click on the new Eureka icon.
5) Wait a few seconds while the PC and Manta 2 automatically find each other, and then you’ll
see the user interface Main Screen and rolling data from your Manta 2.
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QS4 Tinkering with the Software – 20 Minutes
You can tinker around with the software until you see how to calibrate sensors, activate logging, etc.
You can’t break anything because every software step (i.e. every screen) has a “Cancel” button that
takes you back to the Main Screen without changing anything.
Note that the Main Screen has six “hot” buttons that give you short-cuts to various routine tasks, like
turning Manta 2 logging on and off, or clearing the data screen. But it’s in the “pull-down” menus –
“PC or Amphibian” and “Manta 2” – that you’ll find most of the serious operating functions. Below is
the flow chart for the menus.
Manta2 Control Software
Menu Flow Chart
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A Overview
A1 Eureka Environmental
Eureka Environmental was formed in 2002 to take advantage of the market leaders’ inattention to
product development and customer service. Eureka’s staff, with over 100 man-years experience in
all areas of the multiprobe industry, produced the Amphibian Multiprobe Data Display and the Manta
1 Water-Quality Multiprobe in 2003. The Manta sported such industry firsts as direct connection to
USB ports, unbreakable cable connections, the transparent multiprobe housing, and on-board LED’s
for easy troubleshooting. The Amphibian was the industry’s first PDA-based data display.
With over 1000 instruments in the field, Eureka has joined the ranks of manufacturers whose
instruments are accepted by the most discerning field practitioners.
A2 What is new about the Manta 2?
The Manta 2 takes the Manta 1’s utility a step further by associating most of each sensor’s circuitry
with the sensor instead of elsewhere in the basic multiprobe. For instance, the circuitry that operates
a conductivity sensor is normally built into the one or two large circuit boards dominating the center
section of a multiprobe. In the Manta 2, however, most of the conductivity circuitry is built into the
conductivity sensor itself. This architecture solves two of the most pernicious problems that have
faced multiprobe users for decades.
First, you don’t have to buy stuff you don’t need. The base price of virtually all pre-Manta 2
multiprobes includes the circuitry needed to measure six or eight parameters. The Manta 2 base
price includes only basic communication circuitry. If you want to measure pH, the price of the pH
sensor and its circuitry are added to the Manta 2 base price. If you don’t want pH, you don’t pay for
the sensor or its circuitry. This system also makes adding additional sensors to a multiprobe a snap.
Second, you will never have to suffer the downtime and cost of returning a Manta 2 to the factory for
repair. Troubleshooting works like this: If the multiprobe turns on and reads any of its parameters
correctly, then the basic communication circuitry is OK - if not, you need a new communications
board. If the multiprobe reads temperature, but not, say, conductivity, then you need a new
conductivity sensor. You call Eureka, we send you a new conductivity sensor by FedEx, and you
install it yourself in a few minutes. There’s no labor charge, and only one day of down-time. It really
is that easy.
And, of course, the Manta 2 continues Eureka’s tradition of user software that is so easy that most
customers rarely read this instruction manual. Who knows, you may be the only customer ever to
read these words.
A3 Example Systems and Applications
The Manta 2 multiprobe, which can be used in any natural water up to 50 degrees C and 200 meters
depth, has three basic applications. First, it can be used manually to gather data if you have a cable
and an Amphibian or notebook PC. You might take a series of measurements in one or more lakes
or streams during the day, and then download any saved data to your desktop PC that evening.
Second, it can run unattended for weeks at a time with a battery pack. You might set the instrument
to take a set of readings every half-hour, anchor it in an estuary, and return two weeks later to
retrieve the instrument and download the data.
Third, the Manta 2 can connect to a data telemetry system. You might deploy the instrument in a
location for which access is dangerous or expensive. A data logger, battery, and modem would take
data from the multiprobe and transmit the data to a Website of your choosing.
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A4 Manta 2 System Components
Clockwise from the top: Manta 2 and its underwater cable,
storage/calibration cup, maintenance kit, software disc and
data cable, USB adapter, weighted sensor guard.
1) The Manta 2 system comprises these basic parts:
2) Manta Multiprobe – each unit is custom configured with your choice of sensors, and with or
without a battery pack.
3) Underwater Cable – The underwater cable connects the Manta 2 to a PC, Amphibian Data
Display, or telemetry device when the Manta 2 is underwater.
4) Storage/Calibration Cup – With the black lid screwed on, the storage/calibration cup should
contain a few ounces of tap water to keep the sensors moist. (Some units are shipped with
separate storage cups and calibration cups; the storage cup does not have a removable
bottom.) Do not overfill, and do not allow the water to freeze. Do no store in anything other
than tap water. With the black lid removed, the storage/calibration cup is used to hold
calibration standards when calibrating the sensors.
5) Maintenance Kit – This kit contains spare DO membranes and DO electrolyte (if you ordered
a Clark dissolved oxygen sensor), reference electrode filling solution (if you ordered pH), the
logging on/off switch if the Manta 2 has an internal battery pack, and o-ring grease (please
use this liberally, especially on the o-rings of the underwater cable connector and on/off
switch if so equipped.).
6) Manta Desktop Software – allows you to connect the Manta directly to your PC through the
USB port. You can view data, setup logging files, and calibrate your instrument. Also
contains the USB to Serial Driver – The Manta connects directly to a USB port on your PC.
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This software allows your PC to recognize the Manta. The original driver disc is included with
your Manta, but has also been copied onto the Manta Installation Disc “2”.
7) USB Cable – Use this cable to connect the Manta to your computer via a USB port. Do not
use the USB adapter cable with anything but your PC and a Manta 2. In the USB world, this
is considered abuse. You will make it soooo angry that it will refuse to work and no amount
of pleading will help.
8) Weighted Sensor Guard – Replace the storage/calibration cup with the weighted sensor
guard just before using your Manta 2 in the field.
A5 Manta 2 Different Sizes
Unlike the products of lesser manufacturers, the Manta 2 uses the same basic components
regardless of how many sensors you order. All the circuit boards are the same, and all the sensors
are the same. Most importantly, we have a No-Cramming Rule that prevents our stuffing too many
sensors into an artificially small instrument diameter. Doing so usually results in sensors whose
performance, reliability, and repair or maintenance ease is compromised.
So, when you ordered your Manta 2, one of the product specialists figures out the optimum housing
diameter for the sensors you selected. The Manta 2 sizes (outside diameters) are 2 inches (actually
1.95), 2.5 inches (2.45), 3 inches (2.95), 3.5 inches (3.50), and 4 inches (4.00).
Anytime you wish to add or subtract sensors, we can use all of your Manta 2’s circuit boards and
sensors in a larger or smaller housing. You don’t have to change from one model instrument to
another.
All Manta 2’s are the same height: 16 inches including the weighted sensor guard and cable locking
sleeve.
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A6 Connecting the Manta 2 to a PC
You’re not going to believe how easy it is to communicate with your Manta 2 and make it jump
through all its hoops:
1) Put the CD with the fish logo in your PC’s CD tray. The Manta 2’s operating software will
automatically load on your PC in a few minutes, and you will see a new fish icon called Manta
2 Control Software on your PC desktop.
2) Plug the Manta 2’s USB adapter into any USB port on your PC.
3) Connect the cable between the Manta 2 and the USB adapter.
4) Click on your desktop’s fish icon.
5) Marvel at how quickly the Manta 2 software boots, automatically finds the correct PC
communication port, and starts reeling off data from your Manta 2.
The first screen you see - the one with the rolling, real-time data - is called the Main Screen, which
you can read more about in Section B.
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B Manta 2 Control User Interface
B1 Connecting the Manta 2 to a PC
If you’re reading B1, we know you didn’t read A1 and A2. Go back and do that.
B2 Main Screen
We call the Manta 2 Control Software’s main screen the “Main Screen” because it’s the screen that
first appears when you click on the Eureka desktop icon, and because you can access all the Manta 2
Control Software functions from this screen. The MS functions are:
Manta 2 User-Interface Main Screen
Circulator is
ON Manta 2 Logging
is
Capture One Line
of Data
"Snapshot" to PC
or Amphibian w/o
Annotation
Clear Data from
PC or Amphibian
Display
Capture One Line
of Data
"Snapshot" to PC
or Amphibian w/
Annotation
(most recent data line)
(rolling data)
connected on
COM 3 snapshot file: C/Documents… Manta 2 Logging is M2 log Interval: 15 min M2 log file: R/1.Log
These two buttons are
pull-down menus.
These five buttons are
“hot buttons” – short-cuts
to important and often-
used functions.
The line of data
highlighted in yellow is the
most recent line of data
sent from the Manta 2.
This area is continuously
updating, real-time data
from your Manta 2.
This area tabulates some
of the information you
might find handy.
PC or Amphibian Manta 2
OFF
OFF
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B3 Hot Buttons
“Hot Buttons” are the little squares you can click on to do something important without leaving the
Main Screen. The Hot Button functions are:
Main Screen 'HOT" Buttons
Circulator is
ON
Manta 2 Logging
is
Capture One Line
of Data
"Snapshot" to PC
or Amphibian w/o
Annotation
Clear Data from
PC or Amphibian
Display
Capture One Line
of Data
"Snapshot" to PC
or Amphibian w/
Annotation
Click this button to toggle your circulator, if
any, on and off.
If this button says “ON”, click on it to turn
Manta 2 logging off .
If this button says “OFF”, click on it to turn
Manta 2 logging on.
Click on this button to send one frame of data
to your PC or Amphibian Snapshot file.
Click on this button to clear the data area.
When you click on this button, a comment
screen appears (see below), and then one
frame of data is sent to your PC or Amphibian
Snapshot file (along with the comment you
typed in the box).
OFF
If you click on "Capture w/Annotation" Hot Button, this box appears so you can type in any comments
you wish saved with the most recent line of data:
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B4 Menus
Menus are the little squares that you can click on to see all of the things you can do to either the PC
or Amphibian functions or Manta 2 functions:
The two Menus are explained further in Sections C and D.
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C User Interface Software – “PC or Amphibian” Menu
C1 “PC or Amphibian” Flow Chart
When you click on the “PC or Amphibian” menu, you can click on your choice of:
C2 Set PC or Amphibian Scroll Interval
Click on “PC or Amphibian Scroll Interval” if you wish to change the time for which lines of data on
your screen are updated. You can click on a specific scroll interval, or write in your own:
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C4 Choose a File for Storing Your Snapshots
Click on “Choose a File for Storing Your Snapshots” if you wish to change the file in which your
chosen lines of data (“snapshots”) are filed. This calls up the standard “Save As” function of your
PC’s Windows operating system. Follow the instructions just as if you were saving a new Excel
document.
C5 Graphing
Click on graphing to see your M2 data in graphical form.
C6 COM Ports
Click on “COM Ports” if you wish to change the USB port that your Manta 2 Control Software uses to
talk to your Manta 2. Because the Manta 2 Control Software searches all active USB ports until it
finds a Manta 2 to talk to, you may wish to tell the Manta 2 Control Software to look at another port if
you have more than one Manta 2 connected to your PC at one time. This might be valuable if you
are calibrating several Manta 2’s at the same time, or are using your PC to monitor several Manta 2’s
at the same time (for instance in a fish hatchery with multiple tanks).
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D User Interface Software – “Manta 2” Pull-Down Menu
D1 “Manta 2” Flow Chart
When you click on the “Manta 2” menu, you can click on your choice of:
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D2 Manage Manta 2 Files
This screen shows you all the files that are stored in your Manta 2. Highlight the file(s) you’re
interested in by clicking on it. You can then view that file on your PC screen, delete that file, or export
it to your PC (via the Save As function standard to Windows).
Manta 2 Pull-Down: Manage Manta 2 Files
Click on a file name: OK
(go to MS)
File #1
File #2 Cancel
(go to MS)
File #3
All Files Help
(go to Help screen)
Export Selected
Manta 2 Files to
this PC or
Amphibian
View Selected
Files Delete Selected Files
implements
Windows standard
Save As function
tile(s) showing the
contents of the
selected file(s) Are you sure?
Y
es
(return to above)
No
(return to above)
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D3 Logging Set-Up
This screen lets you change any or all of the instructions the Manta 2 will follow when logging (i.e.
periodically saving data to its memory). You can click on your preferred logging interval (or write in
another logging interval) and/or click on the number of wipe cycles your turbidity sensor (on most
models, but only if you have a turbidity sensor). will make before taking data. You can also elect to
append any new data to an existing file by clicking on that file name, or you can create a new Manta 2
logging file.
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D4 Calibration Record
The Calibration Record is a permanent record of all calibration changes for your Manta 2. Please see
E3 for more information.
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D5 Sensors and Parameters List
A sensor is a basic sensing element, like a thermistor. A parameter is a type of data derived from
that sensor, like degrees Fahrenheit and degrees Centigrade. This screen lists all the parameters
supported by the Manta 2, and you enable these parameters by clicking in the box (to the left of the
parameter name) to produce the check mark. Clicking on a box with a check mark removes the
check mark and disables that parameter. Note that if you enable a parameter but don’t have a sensor
for that parameter, it would be a huge coincidence if the data were accurate.
The order of the enabled parameters in this list is the order in which the parameters will appear in
your PC or Amphibian Main Screen, the order in which they will appear in logging files, and the order
in which they will appear in Snapshot files. You can change the parameter order by clicking on it (i.e.
highlighting it) and then moving it up or down by clicking on the up- and down-arrows at the bottom of
the screen.
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D6a Calibrate
Clicking on Calibrate in the Manta 2 Menu gives you a pop-up screen listing all the parameters that
can be calibrated in a Manta 2. Clicking on the parameter you wish to calibrate gives you the
Calibrate screen. This screen has calibration instructions for the specific parameter, the current
reading for that parameter, and a box for you to type in the value of your calibration standard.
When the parameter reading has stabilized in the calibration solution, click on the OK button. If your
calibration has an acceptable SRF (please see Section E4), the calibration will be accepted and you
will be returned to the Main Screen. If the SRF is not acceptable, a box will pop up and caution you
about the feasibility of your calibration. You have the option of calibrating despite a deviant SRF
(click on “OK”, in which case you will be returned to the main Screen), or you can go back to the
calibrate screen and check your instructions, calibration value, etc. (click on “Cancel”).
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