Omega RDXL12SD User manual

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RDXL12SD
12-Channel Temperature Recorder
with Data Logging SD Card
Extended Warranty
Program
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User’s Guide
MADE IN TAIWAN

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.S.A.: Omega Engineering, Inc., One Omega Drive, P.O. Box 4047
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regulations t at apply. OMEGA is constantly pursuing certification of its products to t e European New
Approac Directives. OMEGA will add t e CE mark to every appropriate device upon certification.
T e information contained in t is document is believed to be correct, but OMEGA accepts no liability for any
errors it contains, and reserves t e rig t to alter specifications wit out notice.
WARNING: T ese products are not designed for use in, and s ould not be used for, uman applications.

TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Table of Contents
Section Page
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1
Key Features ....................................................................................................... 1
Operating Instructions ..................................................................................... 2
What’s in the case ....................................................................................... 2
Setup 3
Adjusting thermocouple offsets ................................................................5
Normal operation..........................................................................................5
Holding and storing measurements..........................................................6
Automatic vs. manual datalogging............................................................6
Transferring data from an SD card to a computer..................................7
Specifications ..................................................................................................... 9
Maintenance and Troubleshooting Tips........................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Thank you for purchasing OMEGA® RDXL12SD 12-Channel Temperature Recorder with
Datalogging SD Card. Please read this user’s manual carefully and thoroughly before using the
instrument.
The RDXL12SD is a general-purpose handheld instrument that can measure up to 12 channels of
temperature using any of six different types of thermocouple. Up to eight channels can be
displayed at a time. The instrument also can be configured to automatically record up to 12
channels during the same period every day—a function called loop data recording.
Although thermocouples are not as accurate as other types of thermometers, they more than
make up for this shortcoming with an extended measurement range. For example, the
RDXL12SD can measure and read out temperatures from -148 to 2372°F (-100 to 1300°C) using
Type K thermocouples, and temperatures from -148 to 2102°F (-100 to 1150°C) using Type J
thermocouples. Type R and Type S thermocouples have an even higher upper limit. These very
wide ranges, plus a fast response time and a low price tag, suit thermocouple thermometers for a
variety of commercial and industrial tasks requiring measurement of very high and low
temperatures. Examples include applications in the food and chemical processing industries,
HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning), power generation, and paper production.
Because it is microprocessor-based, the RDXL12SD can make full use of the portability,
reliability and large storage capacities that SD memory cards offer. Measurements can be made
automatically at any sampling rate between one second and one hour. After time-stamping and
storing the measurements on an SD card plugged into the instrument (a process called
datalogging), the user can remove the card and plug it into to a laptop or desktop computer either
directly or through an SD card reader. The data logs are stored on the card as files with the .xls
extension, which can be opened by Microsoft’s Excel application.
The RDXL12SD has a backlit 2-1/2 inch diagonal display and is powered by eight AA Alkaline
batteries or an optional 9-VDC AC adapter.
KEY FEATURES
•Twelve independent temperature measurement channels
•Displays up to eight channels at a time; one push of a button switches to Channels 9
through 12
•Works with and automatically temperature-compensates for six popular thermocouple
types: K, J, T, E, S and R
•Combining thermocouple types extends overall measurement range to -148 to 3092°F (-
100 to 1700°C)
•Can automatically log 12 channels of data every day during same period
•Big (2.5-inch diagonal) front-panel green backlit LCD is easy to read
•Displays maximum and minimum readings and holds any reading
•Automatically logs measurements at sampling time settable from one second to one hour
•Also supports manual datalogging and changing of SD card storage location
•Outputs Excel-compatible data logs
•Accepts SD memory cards of up to 16 GB capacity
•Auto power off function
•Powered by eight AA batteries or optional 9V AC/DC adapter
1

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
What’s in the case
The RDXL12SD comes fully assembled in a hard carrying case along with two Type K
thermocouples, a 2 GB SD memory card and this user’s manual.
Optional accessories available from OMEGA include:
•Additional Type K thermocouples of various diameters, types and measurement ranges
•Types J, T, E, R and S thermocouples
•A 9VDC adapter for a 110V power supply
See the Optional Accessories section of this manual for more details.
Figure 1 shows all of the controls and indicators on the front, right side, back and top of the
RDXL12SD. Familiarize yourself with the positions and functions of these controls, indicators
and connectors before moving on to the setup procedure.
1. The RDXL12SD’s controls and indicators and other physical features
1-1 Liquid-crystal display
1-2 POWER/ESC button
1-3 HOLD/NEXT button
1-4 REC/ENTER button
1-5 Type button
1-6 Page button
1-7 SET button
1-8 LOGGER button
1-9 T1 through T12 thermocouple jacks
1-10 SD card socket
1-11 RS-232 output jack
1-12 RESET button
1-13 Socket for 9VDC AC adapter
1-14 Battery compartment cover
1-15 Kickstand
2

Setup
1. Choose the power source. Before using the RDXL12SD, make sure it is powered by
fresh batteries or an optional 9VDC AC adapter plugged into the bottom jack on its right
side (callout 1-13).
To remove the battery compartment cover (callout 1-14), remove the two screws holding it in
place. Then install eight AA batteries in the correct orientation, using the polarity marks on the
inside of the compartment as a guide. Replace the cover by replacing the two screws.
2. Install an SD card. To prepare for setup, also install the supplied 2 GB SD card or
another card of 1 GB to 16 GB capacity in the socket on the right side of the instrument
(callout 1-18). When installing the card, make sure its gold contacts are facing front and
push the card into the socket until you hear a click. To remove the card, push it in until
you hear a click and the card pops out.
Now power on the instrument by pressing the POWER/ESC button (callout 1-2) to generate a
short beep. (To power off the RDXL12SD, press the POWER/ESC button and hold it until the
instrument responds with a long beep.)
When the temperature recorder powers on, a series of transient startup screens will briefly
appear. Once the display has stabilized, perform the following eight setup steps in the order
presented.
Once you have set the date, the display will prompt you to set the hour, minute and
second of the current time. Again use the Type or Page buttons to navigate to the
correct values, and the REC/ENTER button to store the settings.
4. Set the start and end times for “loop recording”—logging 12 channels of temperature
information during the same period (for example, 2:15 to 3:30 p.m.) every day. Once you
have set the date and time, the display will show the flashing term “LooP”. Press the
REC/ENTER button and then use the Type and Page buttons to set the first of the
four values that define the loop: the starting hour. Press the REC/ENTER button to store
your selection. Then use the Type and Page buttons to set the loop’s starting
minute. Again press the REC/ENTER button to store your selection. Repeat this sequence
twice more to set and store the loop’s ending hour and minutes values.
3
3. Set the date and time. Pre ss the SET button (callout 1-8) and hold it for at least five
seconds, until the word “dAtE” appears flashing on the top line of the left column of the
display.
(If you press buttons too slowly in setup mode, the screen will revert to the normal display.
To return to the setup sequence, press and hold the SET button again. To move ahead to the
next field in the sequence or to the next parameter, press the HOLD/NEXT button.)
Press the REC/ENTER button. Set the current year by pressing the Type or Page
button repeatedly until the correct value appears flashing on the top line of the left column.
Quickly (within three seconds), press the REC/ENTER button to store the setting. The next
screen that appears will show the value “01” flashing on the second line. Use the Type
or Page button to navigate to the current month and press the REC/ENTER button to
store the setting. When the value “01” begins flashing on the third line, again use the
Type or Page button to navigate to the current day and press the REC/ENTER button
to store the setting.

Once you have entered the fourth value—the loop’s ending minute—the following screen
will appear:
To enable recording of data during the specified loop duration, press either the Type ▲or
Page ▼button to change the “no” to a “yES” and then press the REC/ENTER button to store
the selection. To disable recording, press the REC/ENTER button without changing the “no”
to a “yES”.
5. Choose a decimal point or comma to represent the decimal division between integers
and fractions (for example, American-style 20.88 vs. European-style 20,88). Once you
have set the date and time, the display will show the word “bASIC” above the phrase
“dEC”. Press the SET button to make “bASIC” (American style) or “Euro” appear in the
upper display, as desired. Press the REC/ENTER button to store the selection as the
default.
6. Enable or disable auto power off. Once the format of decimal point divisions has been
set and stored, the display will show the word “yES’ over the term “PoFF”. Press the
Type ▲or Page ▼button until the desired automatic power off management scheme
(“yES” for enable; “no” for disable) is displayed. Press the REC/ENTER button to store
the selection. If enabled, the power off function shuts off the RDXL12SD after a period
of inactivity of ten minutes.
7. Enable or disable the beeper. The next step in the setup sequence turns the
thermometer’s beeper on or off. Once the auto power off function has been enabled or
disabled, the display will show the word “yES” over the word “bEEP”. Press the Type ▲
or Page ▼button until the desired setting (“yES” or “no”) is displayed, and then press
the REC/ENTER button to store the selection as the default.
8. Select the temperature unit. Once the beeper has been enabled or disabled, the lower
part of the display will show the term “t-CF”. Press the Type ▲or Page ▼button until
the unit you prefer (“F” for Fahrenheit, “C” for Celsius”) is displayed. Then press the
REC/ENTER button to store the selection as the default.
9. Set the datalogging sampling time. Once the default temperature unit has been selected
and stored, the display will show a value above the letters “SP-t”. Press the Type ▲or
Page ▼button to decrease or increase the value until the desired sampling time appears
above “SP-t”. The options are 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, 60, 120, 300, 600, 1800 and 3600
seconds (0 seconds to 1 hour).
10. Format the SD card. Once the sampling time has been set and stored, the term “Sd-F”
will appear in the lower half of the display. Press the REC/ENTER button.
Pressing the REC/ENTER button causes the word “no” or “yES” to appear over the term
“Sd-F”. Press the Type ▲or Page ▼button to make a selection. Choose “yES” whenever a
new SD card is being used, or when a used card is being repurposed (from use with another
SD card instrument or a camera, for example) and all data on it is to be erased. Choose “no”
to preserve any data on a card previously used with this instrument.
4

If you choose “yES”, after you press the REC/ENTER button the instrument will prompt you
to confirm that decision by displaying the term “Ent” below “yES” and sounding three beeps.
To confirm that you want to begin the erasure/formatting procedure, press the REC/ENTER
button. “Ent” will then flash several times and the instrument will sound another three beeps
to confirm that the SD card has been erased and formatted.
Once the SD card has been set up, the display will then either return to the first of the eight steps
in the setup sequence—setting the current date and time—or show the term “ESC”. If “ESC”
appears, press the POWER/ESC button to exit the setup procedure and enter normal operating
mode.
Adjusting thermocouple offsets
To maximize the accuracy of measurements, OMEGA strongly recommends that you
compensate for (offset) the small measurement error peculiar to each thermocouple used with the
instrument.
To adjust the offset of a thermocouple, press the Type ▲button until its type appears on the
display. Then plug the thermocouple into the T1 jack on the top of the thermometer.
Press the LOGGER OFFSET button, hold it for at least three seconds, and then release the
button. A screen similar to the following should appear:
Next, use the Type ▲or Page ▼button to adjust the value under “oFS” to match the value under
“SEt”. Then press the REC/ENTER button to store the offset adjustment and return the
instrument to measurement mode. Repeat the procedure for each thermocouple to be used.
Normal operation
1. To prepare to make measurements, power on the RDXL12SD and make sure an SD
card is firmly seated in the socket on the bottom of the instrument.
By default, the RDXL12SD uses Celsius units for temperature measurements. If you wish to
make Fahrenheit units the default, press the SET button to enter the setup procedure and perform
Step 8.
2. To use Type K thermocouples to measure up to 12 channels of temperature, plug one to
12 of them (two are supplied, others are available for purchase from General) into the
jacks (callout 1-9 of Fig. 1) on the top of the thermometer. Make sure jack T1 is
occupied. Because Type K is the instrument’s default thermocouple type, plugging in the
thermocouples will instantly produce eight display readings. Any of the eight channels
that are not used will show the overrange reading “- - - - -”.
To show the other four of the 12 channels, press the Page ▼button once. To return the display
to Channels T1 through T8, press the Page ▼button again.
5

3. To use Type J, T, E, R or S thermocouples to measure up to 12 channels of
temperature, first press the Type ▲button as many times as necessary until the letter of
the thermocouple type you are using appears on the display. Then plug one to 12 of the
optional accessories into the jacks on the top of the thermometer. As with Type K
thermocouples, display readings are instantaneous. Use the Page ▼button to toggle
between displaying Channels T1 through T8, or Channels 9 through 12, as with Type K
thermocouples.
Whenever the thermometer is in measurement mode, you can turn off the backlight (which is on
by default) by briefly pressing (but not holding) the POWER/ESC button. To reactivate the
backlight, briefly press the button again.
Whenever the instrument is in measurement mode, you also can check the current date and time
by briefly pressing the SET (which has the words “Time check” stenciled to its right). Doing so
causes both values to appear briefly at the lower left of the display.
Holding and storing measurements
4. To hold a measured value, press the HOLD/NEXT button during the measurement.
Doing so will cause the word “HOLD” to appear at the top of the display. Pressing the
HOLD/NEXT button again releases the hold.
5. To record and recall readings, press the REC/ENTER button while making
measurements. This will make the term “REC” appear at the top of the display. Pressing
the REC/ENTER button again, briefly, will make the term “MAX” appear to the right of
“REC” and switch the display to the maximum value stored in memory during the last
recording session. Pressing the REC/ENTER button again, briefly, will make the term
“MIN” appear to the right of “REC” and switch the display to the minimum value stored
during the last session.
6. To exit recording mode, press the REC/ENTER button and hold it for at least three
seconds, until the term “REC” disappears from the top line of the display. The display
will then revert to showing the current reading.
Automatic vs. manual datalogging
The RDXL12SD can automatically log data at a user-selected sampling period from 1 second
3,600 seconds (one hour). To view the sampling time that the instrument has been set up to use,
press the LOGGER button (which has the words “Sampling time check” stenciled below it)
once. To change the sampling time, perform Step 9 of the setup procedure.
7. To start automatic datalogging, press the REC/ENTER button once. The top line of the
display will then show the term “REC”. Pressing the LOGGER button at this point will
make REC flash and add the flashing term “LOGGER” at the top right of the display.
This indicates that the instrument is currently storing measured values and their time
stamps in memory.
8. To pause automatic datalogging, press the LOGGER button once; this action makes the
flashing term “LOGGER” disappear from the top right of the display and changes the
term “REC” from flashing to constant. Pressing the LOGGER button again resumes
automatic datalogging.
9. To end automatic datalogging, press the REC/ENTER button and hold it for at least
two seconds. This action causes the “REC” message to disappear.
6

10. To log data manually, set the sampling time to zero using Step 9 of the setup procedure.
Then press the REC/ENTER button once. The display will show the term “REC” on the
top line, a value in the middle, and below it the letter “P” on the left and a number from 1
to 99 on the same line to the right. The number indicates the position on the SD card that
will be used to store manually logged data.
Now press the LOGGER button. This will cause the beeper to sound and the term “LOGGER” to
briefly appear at the upper right of the display. As in automatic datalogging mode, in this mode
the instrument is storing measurements and their time stamps on the SD card.
In manual datalogging mode, however, measurements are being stored continuously (with a
sampling time of zero), and their locations on the card can be changed.
11. To change the storage location of manually logged data, press the SET button once;
this causes the “P” to disappear from the left side of the display and the value on its line
to begin flashing. Once the flashing begins, you can use the Type ▲and Page ▼buttons
to change the flashing value to any number between 1 and 99. Once you have chosen the
storage location, press the REC/ENTER button to save the setting. This causes the value
to stop flashing and the “P” to return.
12. To end manual datalogging, press the REC/ENTER button and hold it for at least three
seconds. This action causes the “REC” message to disappear from the top line of the
display.
13. To execute the loop data recording function (if the function was enabled during setup)
press the REC/ENTER button while the instrument is in measurement mode. Doing so
makes the term “REC” appear at the top of the display and prepares the instrument to log
data during the specified daily period.
14. To pause loop data recording during the specified period, press the LOGGER button
once. This will make the term “REC” stop flashing. Pressing the LOGGER button again
resumes loop data recording.
15. To end loop data recording, press the REC/ENTER button and hold it for at least three
seconds. This causes the “REC” term to disappear from the display and ends datalogging.
Transferring data from the SD card to a computer
After automatic or manual datalogging of measurements, or loop data recording, remove the SD
card from the instrument and plug it into your computer either directly (if it has an SD card slot)
or through an SD card reader.
Because the files containing time-stamped data logs have the file extension .xls, they open in
Microsoft’s Excel application. Figures 2 and 3 show two kinds of Excel presentation: a data-only
screen and a graphics-only screen.
7