Valeport miniSERIES Series User manual

miniSERIES Operating Manual
miniCTD, miniSVP & miniTIDE
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This document was prepared by the staff of Valeport Limited, the Company, and is the property of the
Company, which also owns the copyright therein. All rights conferred by the law of the copyright and by
virtue of international copyright conventions are reserved to the Company. This document must not be
copied, reprinted or reproduced in any material form, either wholly or in part, and the contents of this
document, and any method or technique available therefrom, must not be disclosed to any other person
whatsoever without the prior written consent of the Company.
Valeport Limited
St Peters Quay
Totnes
Devon, TQ9 5EW
United Kingdom
As part of our policy of continuous development, we reserve the right to alter, without prior notice, all
specifications, designs, prices and conditions of supply for all our equipment.
0660880d
May 2019
[phone]
[e-mail] | [e-mail]
www.valeport.co.uk
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e mail:
Web:

Table of Contents
© 2019 Valeport Ltd Page 2
Table of Contents
..................................................................................................................................... 41. EU Declaration of Conformity - CE Marking
.................................................................................................................................... 51.1. CE Marking -Standard Equipment
.................................................................................................................................... 61.2. CE Marking -Bluetooth Equipment
..................................................................................................................................... 82. Introduction
..................................................................................................................................... 93. Specifications
.................................................................................................................................... 93.1. Dimensions
.................................................................................................................................... 93.2. Connections
.................................................................................................................................... 103.3. Power
.................................................................................................................................... 103.4. Acoustic Frequency(miniSVP)
.................................................................................................................................... 103.5. Memory
.................................................................................................................................... 103.6. Output
.................................................................................................................................... 103.7. Operating Modes
.................................................................................................................................... 113.8. Performance
..................................................................................................................................... 124. Data Requests and Output Formats
.................................................................................................................................... 124.1. Stop Command
.................................................................................................................................... 124.2. Baud Rates
.................................................................................................................................... 124.3. Run Commands (miniSVP & miniCTD only)
.................................................................................................................................... 134.4. Run Commands(miniTIDE only)
.................................................................................................................................... 134.5. Pressure Units
.................................................................................................................................... 134.6. Pressure Tare
.................................................................................................................................... 134.7. Site Information
.................................................................................................................................... 144.8. Instrument Information
.................................................................................................................................... 144.9. Logger Control
.................................................................................................................................... 144.10. Data Formats
..................................................................................................................................... 165. Deployment
.................................................................................................................................... 165.1. Cage.................................................................................................................................... 175.2. Clamp
..................................................................................................................................... 186. Battery Life
.................................................................................................................................... 186.1. miniSVP & miniCTD
.................................................................................................................................... 18
6.1.1 Operation with Bluetooth
.................................................................................................................................... 186.2. miniTIDE
.................................................................................................................................... 196.3. Changing Batteries

Table of Contents
Page 3 © 2019 Valeport Ltd
..................................................................................................................................... 207. Optional Bluetooth Logger
.................................................................................................................................... 207.1. Bluetooth miniLogger Pack
.................................................................................................................................... 217.2. USB Bluetooth Receiver
..................................................................................................................................... 228. Care and Maintenance
.................................................................................................................................... 228.1. SubConn Care
.................................................................................................................................... 228.2. Greasing and mating above water (drymate)
..................................................................................................................................... 239. O Rings
..................................................................................................................................... 2410. Wiring Information
.................................................................................................................................... 2410.1. Instrument Connector
.................................................................................................................................... 2510.2. Switch Plug
.................................................................................................................................... 2510.3. 3m Y Lead (RS232)

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
0660880d - miniCTD, miniSVP and miniTIDE
Page 4
1. EU Declaration of Conformity - CE Marking
Please note: Any changes or modifications to the product or accessories supplied, that are not authorised by
Valeport Ltd, could void the CE compliance of the product and negate your authority to operate it. This product
has demonstrated CE compliance under conditions that include the use of shielded cables. It is important that you
use shielded cables compliant with the product’s conformance, to protect from potential damage and reduce the
possibility of interference to other electronic devices.

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
EU Declaration of Conformity- CE Marking
Page 5
1.1. CE Marking - Standard Equipment

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
0660880d - miniCTD, miniSVP and miniTIDE
Page 6
1.2. CE Marking - Bluetooth Equipment

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
EU Declaration of Conformity- CE Marking
Page 7

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
0660880d - miniCTD, miniSVP and miniTIDE
Page 8
2. Introduction
This manual covers the basic specifications, deployment and maintenance procedures for the following products:
·miniSVP Sound Velocity Profiler
·miniCTD CTD Profiler
·miniTIDE Underwater Tide Gauge / Level Recorder
These products have been designed to operate with Valeport’s DataLog software; details of this software are given
in a separate manual. The instruments can also be controlled by sending commands directly, using a suitable
terminal emulation program such as HyperTerminal.
The instruments are based on Valeport’s existing “mini” sensor range, with the addition of an internal battery and
logging facility to allow autonomous self recording operation, as well as additional operating modes to suit profiling
and moored applications.
Each product in the range is available in either 500m rated Acetal or 6000m rated titanium housing. This manual
highlights where this may result in specification variations, but the housing material has no effect on instrument
function or operation. Where illustrations show plastic housing, it may be taken that the instructions apply equally
to a titanium housing, and vice-verse.
The products have been designed to be simple to use and maintain, as well as being small and lightweight for
easy handling and deployment. Overall, they represent a very cost effective method of data collection for
applications where the sophistication of Valeport's larger instruments is not required.
If the equipment is used in a manner not specified by the manufacturer the protection provided by the equipment
may be impaired.
The safety of any system incorporating the equipment is the responsibility of the assembler of the system.

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
Specifications
Page 9
3. Specifications
The operational limits for the miniSERIES are:
3.1. Dimensions
Housing Ø
Sensor Bulkhead
Ø
Overall Length
Weight (Acetal)
Weight (Titanium)
miniSVP
48mm
54mm
435mm
0.8kg
1.6kg
miniCTD
48mm
54mm
370mm
1.0kg
1.8kg
miniTIDE
48mm
48mm
270mm
0.7kg
1.4kg
3.2. Connections
SubConn type MCBH10F (titanium on titanium housings, brass on Acetal housings). Wiring Information is in Section
6.
Materials:
Part
mini
SVP
mini
CTD
mini
TIDE
Material
Main housing
·
·
·
Titanium (6000m) or Acetal (500m)
Sensor bulkhead
·
·
·
Titanium (6000m) or Acetal (500m)
Space Rods
·
Carbon Composite
Acoustic Reflector
·
Titanium
SV Transducer
·
Ceramic transducer behind polycarbonate window.
Conductivity Sensor (6000m)
·
Titanium structure, polyurethane coating, ceramic core
Conductivity Sensor (500m)
·
Acetal structure, ceramic core
Pressure Transducer
·
·
·
Stainless steel diaphragm with Acetal protective cover.
Temperature sensor
·
·
PRT in titanium housing with polyurethane backing.

© 2019 Valeport Ltd
0660880d - miniCTD, miniSVP and miniTIDE
Page 10
3.3. Power
External
9 – 28V DC input
NB: battery should still be fitted even if external power is being used, to maintain clock
function
miniSVP / miniCTD
<250mW (20mA @12v)
miniTIDE
<200mW when sampling (16mA @12v)
Internal
Single “C” cell, either 1.5v alkaline or 3.6v Lithium
miniSVP / miniCTD
30 hours operation (alkaline)/90 hours operation (Lithium)
miniTIDE
38 days @ 40 sec / 10 min sampling (alkaline)
67 days @ 40 sec / 10 min sampling (Lithium)
3.4. Acoustic Frequency (miniSVP)
Single sound pulse of 2.5MHz frequency.
3.5. Memory
Each instrument is fitted with SD memory cards. This provides more than sufficient capacity for the operational life
of the battery pack.
3.6. Output
Units are fitted with both RS232 and half-duplex RS485 communications as standard, selected by pin choice on the
output connector. Protocol is 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, no flow control.
Baud rate is factory set to 115200. User may choose between 38400, 57600, 115200.
fast data rates may not be possible with low baud rates
3.7. Operating Modes
miniSVP
Continuous output at 1, 2, 4 or 8Hz
Profiling mode, every n.nn dBar, where n.nn is user defined
miniCTD
Continuous output at 1, 2, 4 or 8Hz
Profiling mode, every n.nn dBar, where n.nn is user defined
miniTIDE
Continuous output at 1 or 2Hz
Burst mode, using a choice of pre-defined patterns