Radiation Alert AM-7149 User manual

S.E. Internaonal, Inc. P.O. Box 39, 436 Farm Rd. Summertown, TN 38483 USA
1.800.293.5759 | 931.964.3561 | Fax: [phone]
www.seintl.com | radia[email protected]om
®
Radiation Alert®
Area Monitor

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Contents
Chapter 1: Introducon 3
Precauons 3
Chapter 2: Quick Start 4
Chapter 3: General Operaon 5
The General Operaon Screens 5
The Main Screen 5
The System Info Screen 5
Display of Alarms 5
Chapter 4: Selecng Base Units of Measurement 6
Chapter 5: Connecng Relays and Triggers 6
Chapter 6: Seng The Alarm Levels 7
The Set Alarm Levels Screen 7
The Set Indicators Screen 7
Chapter 7: Ethernet Conguraon 8
The Set Communicaons Screen 8
Chapter 8: Area Monitor PC Soware 8
Installing the Area Monitor Server PC Soware 8
Area Monitor Soware Menu Items 8-9
Help Menu 10
View Detail Window 10
Exporng Data 10
Loading A Floor Plan 10
Deleng Units from Area Monitor Server Soware 11
Acknowledging Alarms and Warnings 11
How to Send Alerts Via Email and Text Message 12
Soware Alerts 12
Hardware Alerts 13
Chapter 9: Calibraon Sengs 14
The Area Monitor Calibraon Screens 14
Accessing The Calibraon Sengs Screen 14
The Set High Voltage Screen 14
The Set Threshold Screen 15
The Set Dead Time Screen 15
The Set Cal Constant Screen 16
Setup and Calibraon Sequence 16
Chapter 10: Unit Conversions 17
Radiaon Measurement Units 17
Converng CPS to mR/hr 17
Chapter 11: Glossary of Common Terms 18
Appendix A: Technical Specicaons 19
Appendix B: Limited Warranty 20
Appendix C: Relays and Triggers Technical Info 21
Appendix D: How to Send a Text Message Via Email 21

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Chapter 1: Introducon
The Radiaon Alert® Area Monitor is one of the most user friendly, all inclusive, state of the art radiaon area
monitors available. The easy to use interface is an intelligent resisve touch screen display featuring a large 5
digit LED readout.
It comes with either an internal or external detector and free soware for monitoring every Radiaon
Alert® Area Monitor on your network. Includes user selectable warning indicators for low and high radiaon
alarm levels, low baery, and detector failure. All the sengs are stored internally, even when power is
disconnected.
Precauons
To keep the Area Monitor in good condion, handle it with care, and observe the following precauons:
• CAUTION: Never touch the Area Monitor or the external detector to a surface that may be contaminated.
You may contaminate the instrument.
• Do not get the Area Monitor wet. Water can damage the circuitry.
• Do not put the Area Monitor in a microwave oven. It cannot measure microwaves, and you may damage
it or the oven.
• This instrument may be sensive to and may not operate properly in radio frequency, microwave,
electrostac, and high electromagnec elds.
• In the event of exposure to high stac discharge, which may result in the screen going blank, please
restart the unit to resume normal funon.
• Do Not connect or disconnect an external probe to the base unit while the Area Monitor is powered on.

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Chapter 2: Quick Start
1. If you are using an external detector, ensure that the
unit is powered o before connecng the detector to the Area
Monitor with the included C to C cable. (If your Area Monitor has
an internal detector, skip this step and proceed to step 2.) Note the
Maximum Cable Lengths for GM Probes is 100 and for Scinllaon
Probes is 50
2. Connect the included +12VDC power supply into the right
side of the Area Monitor, located to the le of the power switch.
Then plug the power supply into an electrical outlet.
3. Once you have connected the probe and power, change the
Power switch to the ON posion. The power switch is located on
the boom of the Area Monitor to the le of the Ethernet jack.
4. The Area Monitor will quickly go to the start up screen
while the system boots up. It will take approximately 30 seconds to
nish the boot process.
5. Aer the boot process has been completed, the main
screen will be displayed and the Area Monitor is now operaonal.
The display will update to show the current radiaon rate within a
few seconds.
7. To silence or acknowledge any alarm, tap the “ALARM”
buon that appears towards the lower center of the screen when
an alarm has been triggered.
6. To see details of the system set up, tap the “System…”
buon on the touch-screen display.

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The General Operaon Screens
The Radiaon Alert® Area Monitor has two separate screens for general operaon of the unit; The Main Screen
and the System Info Screen. In order to enter the System Settings, press "System". The Default Passkey is 1234.
The Main Screen Figure 3(1)
The Main Screen is divided into two general secons. The top
two thirds displays the current radiaon rate. The lower secon
displays the units used, voltages of both the external power and
the internal baery, and the “System…” buon. This area is
also used to display alarm informaon and provide a buon to
acknowledge and/or silence current alarms.
The System Info Screen Figure 3(2)
Pressing the “System” buon will open the system informaon
screen.
This screen displays several key system parameters. They cannot
be edited from this screen. The upper right corner displays the
current radiaon rate. All alarms are sll acve and funcon as
normal while this screen is displayed.
Press the “Back…” buon to return to the main screen.
Display of Alarms Figure 3(3)
There are three alarm types:
Hardware Fail Low High
Soware Fail Radiaon
Warning
Crical Radiaon
Alert
The Fail condion occurs when the incoming count rate is lower than the entered set point, which is normally
set to some fracon of the ambient background. The Fail alarm indicates the Area Monitor is not funconing
properly (e.g. the detector has failed or has been disconnected). To silence or acknowledge any alarm, tap the
“ALARM” buon that appears towards the lower center of the screen. Once the alarm has been acknowledged,
the horn will stop and the strobe will connue to ash unl the levels fall below the alarm set threshold. Note:
By default, the fail alarm is deacvated.
Chapter 3: General Operaon
Figure 3(1)
Figure 3(2)
Figure 3(3)

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Chapter 4: Selecng Base Units of Measurement
The Set Base Unit Screen Figure 5(1)
The Base Unit sets the units of measurment that will be used
for the Area Monitor display and the alarm set points. From the
calibraon Sengs screen, tap the “Base Unit…” buon to open
the Set Base Unit screen
Tap the radio buon next to the desired Base Unit, and the
displayed rate will immediately be converted to that unit. The
displayed value updated within 2 seconds . When nished, tap
the “Back…” buon to return to the Calibraon Sengs screen.
The Base Unit also determines what MINIMUM subunit will be displayed. For example, if the base unit is mR/h
and the radiaon eld on the detector is 80 µR/h, the displayed value will be 0.1 mR/h.
Figure 5(1)
DB-9 Relay Connector
The Radiaon Alert Area Monitor can interface with external
triggers and external strobes/horns via the DB-9 relay connector,
located on the boom of the unit. See “Appendix C: Relay and
Triggers Technical Info” for more informaon.
Connecng The Remote Alarm
Connect the remote alarm with a standard serial cable by
plugging the female end of the cable into the boom of the area monitor and the male end into
the boom of the remote alarm. Once the unit is connected, you can set alarm response sengs in the Set
Alarm Indicators screen. Note: All alarm indicators can be modied directly on the Area Monitor or via the Area
Monitor PC soware.
To enter the set alarm indicators screen (Figure 6(2)), use the included pin, a paper clip, or another small
object to press the recessed buon on the boom of the Area Monitor. This will cause the Passkey Screen to
display: Figure 4(1). Enter your passkey and select the set buon, then select the Indicators buon to open the
Set Alarm Indicators screen. The strobe and siren sengs only apply to the local unit. The relays control the
remote alarm, and the remote alarm’s strobe and audio sengs are built into the alarm.
Assigning any alarm to relay A will cause the audible alarm to sound and the strobe light to ash, without
pause when triggered in the remote alarm. Relay A is generally intended for the high alarm.
Relay B will cause the audible alarm to cycle on and o for about one second each when triggered in the
remote alarm. The strobe will ash connuously. Relay b is generally intended for the low alarm.
Relay C will cause the audible alarm to make a short “blip” about once per second when triggered in the
remote alarm. The strobe will ash connuously. Relay C is generally intended for the fail alarm.
Chapter 5: Connecng Relays and Triggers
Figure 6(2)

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Chapter 6: Seng The Alarm Levels
The Set Alarm Levels Screen Figure 6(1)
The Set Alarm Levels Screen is used to set the levels at which the
three alarms are triggered. From the Calibraon Sengs screen,
tap the “Alarms…” buon to open the Set Alarm Levels Screen.
Tap the radio buon next to the alarm type to be set. Use the
keypad to enter the desired Alarm Level. Any value, including
fraconal, may be entered. The modied Alarm Level(s) will not
be applied unl the “Set” buon is tapped, at which point the
display will return to the Calibraon Sengs screen. Tap the “Back…” buon instead to cancel any modied
value(s) and return to the Calibraon Sengs screen.
The Fail alarm sets the level below which an instrument failure is indicated. The Low Alarm is intended for use
as a warning level, and the High Alarm is intended as a true level of interest.
The units used for the Alarm levels are determined by the Base Unit seng. If the Base Unit is changed the
alarm sengs will not be corrected. For example, if an alarm level of 100 mR/h is set and then the base unit is
changed to µR/h, the actual applied alarm value will become 100 µR/h.
Seng any Alarm Level to zero will disable that alarm.
NOTE: If you change the unit of measurement, you will need to reset your alarms with the current unit of
measure.
The Set Indicators Screen Figure 6(2)
The Set Indicators screen is used to set which annunciators are associated with the three alarms. From the
Calibraon Sengs screen, tap the “Indicators…” buon to open
the Set Indicators screen.
For each alarm type, tap the associated radio buons to trigger
one of three relays (accessible through the DB9-M connector on
the boom of the Area Monitor), ulize the strobe light on the
front of the Area Monitor, and to set the siren to sound fully,
use an intermient paern (1 second on, 1 second o), or be
disabled.
The modied Alarm Indicators will not be applied unl the “Set” buon is tapped, at which point the display
will return to the Calibraon Sengs screen. Tap the “Back…” buon instead to cancel any modied value(s)
and return to the Calibraon Sengs screen.
For informaon about seng up text and email alerts for your alarms, please refer to the “How to Send Alerts
Via Email and Text Message” secon on page 12 of Chapter 8.
Figure 6(1)
Figure 6(2)

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Chapter 7: Ethernet Conguraon
The Set Communicaons Screen Figure 7(1)
In addion to the touch screen interface, the Area Monitor
can communicate with a PC using USB and/or Ethernet and
the included Area Monitor PC Soware. From the Calibraon
Sengs screen, tap the “Comms…” buon to open the Set
Communicaons screen.
Tap the appropriate radio buon to enable the Ethernet and or
Serial (USB) funconality. For Ethernet, the IP address of the PC
to which data will be sent must be specied on this screen. The modied Communicaons Sengs will not be
applied unl the “Set” buon is tapped, at which point the display will return to the Calibraon Sengs
screen. Tap the “Back…” buon instead to cancel any modied value(s) and return to the Calibraon Sengs
screen.
Figure 7(1)
The Area Monitor Server Soware enables users to remotely monitor and congure the Radiaon Alert Area
Monitor via USB or Ethernet, view the area monitors in real me, export collected data, and change the
sengs of the unit.
Installing the Area Monitor Server PC Soware
There is no addional charge for the Area Monitor Server Soware. It can be downloaded at seintl.com/area_
monitor_soware. Once you have downloaded the installer to the PC you would like to install the soware on,
double click the exe le to begin your soware installaon. Follow the on-screen prompts unl the install is
complete.
Area Monitor Server Soware Menu Items
File Menu
Exit
To exit the soware, click EXIT in the File Menu.
View Menu
Floor Plan
To load an image of your oor plan, go to View > Floor Plan to open the Floor Plan window. From here, you can
place the area monitors listed in the main window of the Area Monitor Server Soware on a customized map
you can load into the soware. Accepted le formats for oor plan images are jpg (jpeg), png, bmp, and 
les.
Chapter 8: Area Monitor PC Soware

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Lost Connecon Status. Once it has lost a connecon, you can hide it from being
displayed in the main screen.
Server IP Address
Shows the IP address for the computer with the Area Monitor Server Soware installed.
Hide Unconnected
In the event that you have lost a network connecon or change the serial number of the area monitor
connected to the soware, the Area Monitor Server will lose the connecon to the previous serial number of
the area monitor and create a new area monitor in the soware window. Aer a unit fails on the network, or
the network connecon to the unit fails, it take approximately 5-10 seconds for the area monitor soware to
register the lost connecon. If you changed the serial number of the area monitor, the previous sengs will
appear as an area monitor that has a lost connecon. To remove the one listed with the older sengs, go to
View > Hide Unconnected.
Calibraon and Sengs
The Calibraon and Sengs screen is used to
change the High Voltage, Threshold, Dead Time, Cal
Constant, IP Address, Alarms, Units, Serial Number,
and Communicaon sengs.
You can access the Calibraon and Sengs Screen
two ways. For both, select the row in which the
area monitor is listed in the main window. An arrow
to the le side of the row will indicate you have
selected the correct unit.
1) Select View > Calibraon and Sengs
2) Right Click on the row and then click on
Calibraon and Sengs.
NOTE: Be sure to set your unit of measurement rst. When changing units of measurement, if you have
already set the alarm levels, then the same numeric value will be assigned to the new unit of measurement.
For example, if the alarm level is set at 300 CPM (Counts Per Minute) and then the units of measurement are
changed to mR/hr, then the alarm seng will change to 300 mR/hr. The numeric value stays the same, but
the unit of measurement changes. NOTE: If you change the unit of measurement, you will need to reset your
alarms with the current unit of measure.

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Help Menu
Open Help File
Opens a searchable help le for answering basic quesons about the use of the soware.
About RSA Area Monitor Server Soware
Opens a window that shows the version number of the soware, technical support contact, and the locaon of
the les on your computer that are created when each new area monitor is added or changed in the soware.
View Detail Window
The View Detail Window displays a histogram of the
collected data, the current count rate, the status of
the connecon, the serial number, and the IP address
of the unit. It is also used as a means of collecng
data, seng the data logging frequency, and exporng
the data received from the area monitor to a text le.
You can also select how frequently to log the data in
the Data Opons menu, located in the lower right
corner of the View Detail screen.
Exporng Data
You can select the last hour, the last day, the last week, or the last month to export, as well as custom date
ranges to export. Exporng data is located at the boom of the View Detail screen just below the data opons.
Loading a Floor Plan
To load an image of your oor plan into the Area Monitor Server
Soware, open View > Floor Plan to open the oor plan window.
Click the Load Floor Plan Image buon, select the image of your
oor plan, and click Open.
You will now see your oor plan image in the oor plan window.
There will also be green square icons (connected area monitors) or
purple square icons (lost connecon) that represent each monitor
on the network. To drag them to the proper posion on the oor
plan map, scroll over the small box in the upper le corner of each
icon and hold down the mouse buon to drag them to the desired
posion on the oor plan map. Once you have placed them where
you want them on the oor plan, check the Lock Monitor Locaons
check box in the upper le of the Floor Plan window. This will
ensure that the locaons of the area monitors on the oor plan
map will not be moved accidentally.