RainWise PortLog User manual

PortLog™
User’s Guide
Rev Date: 7/08/14

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RainWise PortLog Users Guide
2014 Revision
Copyright © 2014 by RainWise, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form except by written
permission of the publisher. All rights of translation are reserved.
PortLog™ is a trademark of RainWise, Inc.
.

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Table of Contents
1) Introduction........................................................................................................................... 5
2) Getting Started ...................................................................................................................... 6
3) Physical Setup........................................................................................................................ 8
3.1) Quick Guide ................................................................................................................ 8
3.2) Detailed Setup............................................................................................................. 9
3.21) Site Selection ...................................................................................................... 9
3.22) Tripod Setup........................................................................................................ 9
3.23) Leveling PortLog ................................................................................................ 9
3.24) Solar Panel and Solar Radiation Sensor Assembly Setup ................................ 10
3.25) Solar Panel Latitude Adjustment ...................................................................... 11
4) Software Setup .................................................................................................................... 13
4.1) Initial Logger Setup .................................................................................................. 13
4.2) Setting the Barometer ............................................................................................... 14
5) Verification of Deployment ................................................................................................ 15
6) WLcom Data Retrieval Software Overview ..................................................................... 16
6.1) Installation................................................................................................................. 16
6.2) Starting the Program ................................................................................................. 16
6.3) Editing the Item Descriptions ................................................................................... 16
6.4) Command Mode Window......................................................................................... 16
7) Using Weather Station Data Files with other PC Software ............................................ 17
7.1) Opening a data file in Excel...................................................................................... 17
8) Data Format Sheet .............................................................................................................. 18
8.1) Data ........................................................................................................................... 19
8.2) RAM Capacity .......................................................................................................... 19

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8.3) Serial Command Format test .................................................................................... 20
9) Product Support.................................................................................................................. 23
10) Contact Information ........................................................................................................... 23
11) Warranty ............................................................................................................................. 24

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1) Introduction
The PortLog is a compact rugged industrial grade data logging weather station which measures
Temperature, Wind Speed, Wind Direction, Barometric Pressure, Relative Humidity, Dew Point,
Solar Radiation and Rainfall. The unit is fully assembled and can be quickly deployed. The large
3-Watt solar panel and 5AH sealed lead acid battery ensure reliable operation in the harshest
conditions.
The PortLog communicates directly to a PC via an RS232 serial port. During the data logging
time interval, the wind speed and wind direction are averaged. The maximum wind speed is also
captured and the solar energy calculated. All data is saved to non-volatile RAM. Selectable units
are English and Metric with wind speed also recorded in Knots and Meters per Second. Solar
Radiation is in SI units only.
Deployed PortLog with tripod and travel case

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2) Getting Started
Every PortLog comes with the standard package listed below. Additional options are also
available to the standard package.
The itemized lists should be consulted after opening the PortLog to verify if any equipment is
missing or damaged. If equipment is missing or damaged, contact RainWise Inc. at (207) 288-
5169 immediately.
Standard:
•PortLog Data Logger Assembly
•Solar Assembly
•Serial Cable
•WLcom Software Disk
•Battery Charger
•Instruction Manual
•Tripod Mount Mast
Optional: (Tripod Kit & Compass)
•Tripod Assembly
•Three Tripod Mounting Feet
•Tripod Anchor Kit
·Hammer
·3 Nails
•Compass
Optional:
•Travel Case

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Standard unit in travel case
•“SP/SR: solar panel/solar radiation sensor
•“Mtf”: tripod mounting feet (included with tripod purchase)
Tripod in travel case
The PortLog is stored under the tripod and foam. The other accessories are located in the well.
The top is cushioned to support the items when the cover is closed.

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3) Physical Setup
The physical setup is important for functionality of your PortLog.
3.1) Quick Guide
1. Select suitable location to set up
2. Unpack the tripod (if purchased)
3. Attach tripod mounting feet
4. Layout the tripod, do not extend the tripods legs
5. Level the tripod
6. Attach mounting pole into tripod
7. Attach PortLog to mounting pole
8. Attach Solar Panel and Solar Radiation Assembly to the PortLog
9. Connect the Solar Panel and Solar Radiation Cable to the PortLog
10. Set the angle of the solar panel
11. Fully extend the tripods legs
12. Face the solar panel in the correct compass bearing for your location (refer to Section
3.25)
13. Secure the tripod to the ground
14. Level tripod
15. Turn PortLog ON

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3.2) Detailed Setup
A few different aspects are important to consider when setting up the PortLog.
3.21) Site Selection
Select an open site for the PortLog. The site should be located where temperature and humidity
won’t be affected by heat and water sources. Nearby obstructions can affect the wind, rainfall
and solar radiation sensors. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defines open
terrain as an area where the distance between the anemometer and any obstruction is at least ten
times the height of the obstruction. RainWise recommends this guideline to be used as minimum
for selecting a site.
3.22) Tripod Setup
1. Remove the tripod from its travel case
2. Install the tripod mounting feet. To mount the feet, pull the pin and slide the mounting
foot over the tripod leg. Put pin back through hole of mounting foot.
3. Unfold the tripod legs to the extent of the chain. Do not fully extend the tripods legs yet.
The tripod legs will extend to approximately twice the in case length. Be sure to secure the
extension lock on the side of each of the tripods legs. The holes in the tripod mounting foot are
for securing the tripod mount kit.
3.23) Leveling PortLog
If the PortLog has not been downgraded, the tripod will be used to level it. There is a bubble
level attached to the base of the tripod. The tripod base should be leveled so that the bubble on
the level is within the circle. Push down and rotate until the support mast engages the base
alignment pin. The tripod’s mounting mast has a small screw that should be now facing South.

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3.24) Solar Panel and Solar Radiation Sensor Assembly Setup
1. Slide the solar panel and solar radiation sensor assembly over the front cover. The
assembly slides down over the cover and stops just above the receptacle.
2. Plug the black twist lock connector into the receptacle. Be sure to twist the connector
collar until it locks into place. The thumbscrew attaches the solar panel assembly ball
chain to the logger housing.
This Figure shows the assembled PortLog on the tripod mount, with the chain fully extended.
The insert shows the Solar Panel Solar Radiation Sensor connector and the tie down chain.
Remove the thumb screw to install the chain.
With temperature above 20 °C and the logger in sleep mode, the battery will operate the logger
for at least 60 days without sun. Also note that battery capacity diminishes with lower
temperatures. RainWise recommends the battery be charged overnight before the logger is
deployed. For cold temperatures and/or long deployment, correct solar panel adjustment is
important.
In the Northern Hemisphere, face the solar panel south. For Southern Hemisphere
deployment, face the solar panel north. There is a software command {“H”} to set the wind
direction for southern hemisphere deployment. (Refer to Section 8.3)

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3.25) Solar Panel Latitude Adjustment
Solar panel latitude adjustment is to ensure the solar panel is perpendicular to the sun’s rays at
noon. There are five holes arranged around the panel pivot allowing angles of 15, 30, 45, 60, 75
and 90 as measured from horizontal.
Site
Latitude
North or
South
Panel Angle
from
Horizontal
Panel Angle from
Vertical
0° to 4° 10° 80°
5° to 20° Latitude +5° 90°- Latitude +5°
21° to 45° Latitude +10° 90°- Latitude +10°
45° to 65° Latitude + 15° 90°- Latitude +15°
65° to 75° 80° 10°
Panel Angle
from
Horizontal
Hole
Number
15° 1
30° 2
45° 4
60° 2
75° 3
90°
5
Table of rough latitude tilt angle as measured
from horizontal and vertical for the winter
season.
Table of hole numbers and
corresponding angles.

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Picture of Hole Numbers
Low angle: The solar panel angle for this
setting is for high latitudes i.e. latitudes
located close to the poles.
High angle: The figure shows the panel set at 15
degrees from horizontal. This angle is for low

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4) Software Setup
4.1) Initial Logger Setup
The on/off switch and serial port connector are on the bottom of the PortLog housing. The
illustration below shows the bottom view of the sensor assembly. To power up the PortLog, flip
the toggle switch to the “ON” position. Without the serial port cable attached, the LED on the
bottom center will remain on for less than one minute and blink every two seconds. This is the
normal logging mode. When the serial port circular connector is attached, the logger will exit its
power saving mode and the LED will be on. The serial port cable must not be left connected
for extended periods.
Portlog Enclosure Bottom: This figure shows the power switch, RS232 port and Indicating
LED. For power on, the toggle switch is set towards the solar panel as shown. In the normal
operating mode, the RED LED blinks every two seconds. The Blue cap covers the RS232 port.
When the RS232 cable is installed AND connected to a PC the PortLog wakes from the sleep
mode. The RED LED will be on. The battery charging cable also attaches to the RS232
receptacle.
1. Flip the toggle switch to the “ON” position. The LED will illuminate.
2. Connect the serial cable to the PortLog. Connect the DB-9 serial connector to a computer.
3. Run the provided WLcom software and connect to the comm. port.

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4. The clock and logging interval can be set and the RAM cleared. Refer to Section 8.2 for
the relationship between the logging interval and number of logging days.
5. The PortLog should always be deployed with a fully charged battery. Verify that the
battery voltage is higher than 6V. The battery voltage can be viewed using the WLcom
software (Section 6.0). An excessively low battery could result in data loss.
6. Disconnect the serial cable from the PortLog.
4.2) Setting the Barometer
The barometer in the PortLog reports absolute pressure. The readings can be adjusted to
compensate for elevation if necessary.
1. Using the Wlcom Data Retrieval Software, open the Command Mode Window.
2. Type a “ : ” followed by a “ B” and the current corrected pressure.
a. For PortLog with measurement units set to metric, the pressure is entered in
millibars to the nearest tenth, for example “:B1000.0”. The decimal point is
included.
b. For PortLog set to English units enter the current pressure in inches of Mercury,
for example “:B30.00”.
c. Setting the pressure to zero in either unit system, removes the offset and the
Portlog reports absolute pressure.

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5) Verification of Deployment
The PortLog has an RS-232 serial port for direct connection to a computer. The data may be
accessed by use of the WLcom program provided with the unit, or any terminal program can be
used.
The PortLog transmits data at 9600 baud, with 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, and no parity. A 6 foot data
cable is provided that will connect the PortLog to a standard DB-9 male PC serial port.
1. Connect the serial cable from the serial plug receptacle on the bottom of the PortLog to a
serial port on the computer. Within two seconds, the LED will be on.
2. The PortLog is ready to communicate with the PC. The PC must assert the DTR RS232
signal in order for the PortLog to awaken.
The same receptacle is used for battery charging with the supplied cable and charger.

6) WLcom Data Retrieval Software Overview
WLcom is a Windows compatible software program that automates the process of transferring
data from the remote unit to a computer. This software will link to the remote unit via a direct
cable, telephone modem, or radio modem, depending on the system configuration.
6.1) Installation
The WLcom program is provided on a CD.
1. To install the software on a PC run “setup.exe” on the disk. This is done by selecting
“Run..” from the “Start” button.
2. Enter the following string “A:\setup.exe” assuming the drive is designated as the “A”
drive. Follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation.
By default the program will be installed in the following folder “Programs/Rainwise/Wlcom”.
6.2) Starting the Program
1. Connect the serial cable to a free port on the PC and start the WLcom program.
2. Click the “Auto Detect” button and the system will scan all the ports until it finds the
weather station.
3. Once the station is found the real-time data will be displayed.
6.3) Editing the Item Descriptions
1. To edit item descriptions select “Edit Descriptions” from the “Edit Menu”. All the items
can be edited.
2. If the weather station has a wind sensor then the wind rose can be enabled by selecting
enable and entering the item numbers for wind speed and direction.
6.4) Command Mode Window
The command mode window is an ASCII Terminal. Commands can be sent to the device by
typing the appropriate commands– refer to SERIAL COMMAND FORMAT. The window
shows both sent and received data.
To see the current data type ‘:’ followed by ‘D’ the unit will respond with a string giving current
conditions.
Setting the logging interval must be done in the Command Mode Window.

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7) Using Weather Station Data Files with other PC Software
The data collected by RainWise loggers can be imported into most spreadsheet, graphing, and
data base programs for analysis and formatted output. The RainWise data is saved as a comma
delimited ASCII file (.csv). This basic format is acceptable by the import function of many
programs.
Comma Delimited Files (*.csv) are directly supported by Microsoft Excel.
7.1) Opening a data file in Excel
1. Start Excel and select File Open from the main menu.
2. Select "Text Files (*.prn;*.txt;*csv)" in the types of files drop down list in the Open
dialog window.
3. Select the data file and click open. Comma Delimited files do not support formatting or
graphs, so it is advised that you save changes in Excel format (*.xls);
Note: All programs mentioned are copyright by or are registered trademarks of their respective
developers.

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8) Data Format Sheet
This data sheet describes the order and format of data that will be supplied from your system.
The data is saved in ASCII text format. The time and date items are in quotation marks, items
are separated by commas, and each data record ends with a carriage-return and line-feed
character. This format can be directly imported by most spreadsheet and data base programs.
Order of Data Items:
•Date (Month/Day/Year, in quotation marks)
•Time (Hour:Minute in quotation marks)
•Temperature (degrees F, degrees C)
•Humidity (percent)
•Barometer (inches of Hg., mb (hPa))
•Wind Direction (Compass Degrees)
•Wind Speed (miles per hour, kilometers per hour, Knots, meters per sec. )
•Wind Speed Maximum (miles per hour, kilometers per hour, Knots, meters per sec. )
•Solar Radiation (Watts/m
2
)
•Solar Energy (J/m
2
)
•Rainfall (inches, millimeters)
•Battery Status (1=ok, 0= supply volts less than 4.75)
•Units (0=English & mph, 1=English & knts, 2=metric & mps, 3=metric & kph, 4=metric
& knts)
•Checksum (An exclamation point(!) followed by three digits, 000 to 255)
Header and sample for RAM data:
DATE,TIME,T_AIR,HUM,DEW,BARO,WDIR,WSPD,WS_MAX,SRAD,SR_SUM,RAINF,B
ATT,UNITS,
CKSUM <cr><lf>
"04/05/94","16:17",078,029,043,29.92,270,010,015,0760,1.066E04,1.50,1,0.!xxx <cr><lf>

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8.1) Data
The temperature, barometer, humidity and solar radiation data are sampled at the data save
interval. The wind direction and speed are sampled every two seconds and averaged over the
data save interval. The rainfall and wind speed max data are captured during the data save
interval and reset after saving. When the battery voltage is less than 5.05 volts, the logger will
NOT save to RAM.
Battery Life: The battery alone with no solar panel connected will operate the PortLog for over
25 days. About 1 hour at 160 milliamperes is required to replace the energy removed for one
day of operation. The Solar Panel is configured to charge the battery when the PortLog is not
powered up. In addition, a separate Battery charger is provided. The charger and the serial
cable connect at the same connector and may not be used at the same time. The real time
clock uses a capacitor for backup and will operate for 8 days without power.
8.2) RAM Capacity
The PortLog has 5 different options of RAM which will hold the logged records. You can find
what size of RAM that was installed on your PortLog by using any communications or terminal
emulator software that uses ASCII characters. The communications protocol is described in
Section 8.3: “Serial Command Format”, a command “.V” will give you the size of RAM.
The table below shows the maximum amount of time the PortLog can log data before its RAM
will fill up.
Size of RAM
Maximum number of Records
128k 4672
256k 9344
512k 18688
1M 37376
2M 74752

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The maximum recording time depends on the logging interval. The table below shows the
logging interval and the number of days until the RAM is full. When the RAM fills, recording
stops until the RAM is cleared so that the first data is preserved.
8.3) Serial Command Format test
The following list is command structure for communicating with the PortLog. Any
communications or terminal emulator software can be used to read data from the PortLog. The
host computer communicates with the logger by sending simple ASCII text commands and
receiving ASCII text data.
The host computer begins a command by sending a colon character (:) to the logger. The unit
will respond with a greater-than character (>). The host then sends a single command letter from
the list below. The logger will respond with a question mark (?) if it receives an unknown
command letter.
A Output the altitude setting in feet or meters.
B Barometer altitude correction: After typing B, send the adjusted pressure in either inches
of mercury or millibars followed by a carriage return line feed (<ENTER>). For PortLog
with measurement units set to metric, the pressure is entered in millibars to the nearest
tenth, for example “:B1000.0”. The decimal point is included. For PortLog set to English
units enter the current pressure to the nearest 100th inches of Mercury, for example
“:B30.00”. Setting the pressure to zero in either unit system, removes the offset and the
Portlog reports absolute pressure.
CClear data RAM. All stored data is erased. The logger responds with OK.
Logging
Interval
(Mins)
128k Logging
Time (Days)
256k Logging
Time (Days)
512k Logging
Time (Days)
1M Logging
Time (Days)
2M Logging
Time (Days)
1 4 8 16 32 64
5 17 34 68 136 272
10 33 66 132 264 528
20 66 132 264 528 1056
30 97 194 388 776 1552
60 194 388 776 1552 3104