Valeport va500 User manual

VA500 Altimeter Operating Manual
Document ID
MANUAL-1969127270-2 | issue: 1.3
Date:
January 2022
This confidential 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 there from, must
not be disclosed to any other person whatsoever without the prior written consent of the Company.
© 2022 Valeport Ltd
Valeport Ltd
St Peter's Quay
Totnes TQ9 5EW
United Kingdom
Phone:
email:
Web:
[phone]
[email protected]
www.valeport.co.uk
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

Contents
©2022 –Valeport Ltd
Page | b
Contents
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................1
2 Specifications ..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Acoustic........................................................................................................................................... 2
2.1.1 Acoustic Footprint.................................................................................................................. 2
2.2 Pressure.......................................................................................................................................... 2
2.3 Data Acquisition.............................................................................................................................. 2
2.4 Communications ............................................................................................................................. 3
2.5 Power Requirements....................................................................................................................... 3
3 Physical Characteristics..............................................................................................................4
3.1 Dimensions ..................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1.1 Standard VA500 Altimeter ..................................................................................................... 4
3.1.2 VA500 Altimeter with 90° Transducer.................................................................................... 5
4 Configuration and Operation.......................................................................................................6
4.1 Using the Configuration Wizard....................................................................................................... 6
4.2 Manually Configuring the Unit......................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Instrument Settings......................................................................................................................... 9
4.4 Range Settings.............................................................................................................................. 10
4.5 Communications Settings.............................................................................................................. 11
4.6 Sampling Regime.......................................................................................................................... 12
4.7 Output Format............................................................................................................................... 12
4.8 Pressure Settings.......................................................................................................................... 13
4.9 Appended DigiQuartz Data String (VA500P)................................................................................. 13
5 Output Data String Formats......................................................................................................14
5.1 Valeport NMEA Data String ($PRVAT) ......................................................................................... 14
5.2 $SDDBT Data String..................................................................................................................... 14
5.3 Tritech Data String........................................................................................................................ 14
5.4 Benthos Data String...................................................................................................................... 15
5.5 Appended DigiQuartz Data String (VP500P)................................................................................. 15
6 Care and Maintenance..............................................................................................................16
6.1 Connector Care............................................................................................................................. 16
7 Wiring Information.....................................................................................................................17
7.1 SubConn MCBH10F ..................................................................................................................... 17
7.1.1 Extended Y Lead - Power/232 Comms / Analogue.............................................................. 17
7.2 Non Standard Instrument Connectors........................................................................................... 18
7.2.1 6 Way Impulse MCBH 6 MP Pinout..................................................................................... 18
7.2.2 Test Lead with 6 way Female Impulse Connector ............................................................... 18
7.2.3 6 Way XSG-6-BCL Pinout.................................................................................................... 18
7.2.4 Test Lead with 6 Way Female RMG-6-FS Connector.......................................................... 19
7.2.5 6 Way MCBH6M SubConn Pinout....................................................................................... 19
7.2.6 Test Lead for 6 way SubConn MCIL6F Connector .............................................................. 19
8 Customer Specific Configurations.............................................................................................20
8.1 Seacon Connector ........................................................................................................................ 20
8.1.1 Physical Characteristics....................................................................................................... 20
8.1.2 Dimensions.......................................................................................................................... 20
8.1.3 SEACON 1508 Pin Out........................................................................................................ 21
9 Declarations of Conformity........................................................................................................22
9.1 EU Declaration of Conformity - CE Marking.................................................................................. 22
9.2 UK Declaration of Conformity - UKCA Marking............................................................................. 23

VA500 Altimeter Operating Manual
MANUAL-1969127270-2 | issue: 1.3
Page | 1
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
1 Introduction
The VA500 altimeter has been designed with the objective of providing an accurate, reliable and
robust measurement of range from surface and underwater platforms. State of the art signal
processing offers unrivalled range and performance from a 500kHz transducer.
•millimetre precision
•0.1m –100m range
•RS232 and RS485 serial outputs
•0-5V & 0-10V analogue outputs
•wide range power supply - 9 to 28 volts DC
•Low power - <125 mA @ 12V
all address the needs of the ROV, AUV and Hydrographic community in a compact and robust
package.
The option of integrating a high accuracy pressure sensor (0.01%), as used in the miniIPS,
provides full water column measurement offers an unbeatable package for your underwater
positioning requirements.

Section 2 | Specifications
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
Page | 2
2 Specifications
2.1 Acoustic
State of the art signal processing technology provides stable, repeatable readings while allowing
the range to be extended to unrivalled distances for a 500kHz altimeter.
Type:
500 kHz broadband transducer
Range:
0.1m –100m
Resolution:
1mm
Beam Angle:
±3°
2.1.1 Acoustic Footprint
The acoustic beam angle of the VA500 is, for practical purposes ±3°.
The beam pattern is a cone extending from the face with that angle so the foot print diameter is
approximately 10% of the range as described in the table below:
Range(m)
Footprint Ø (m)
1
0.10
2
0.21
5
0.52
10
1.05
20
2.10
50
5.24
100
10.48
2.2 Pressure
The optional pressure sensor fitted to the Altimeter is a temperature compensated piezo-resistive
sensor, which delivers the performance previously only available from a resonant quartz sensor at
a more cost-effective price.
Type:
Temperature compensated piezo-resistive
Range:
10, 30, 100, 300 or 600 Bar
Accuracy:
±0.01% FS
Resolution:
0.001% FS
2.3 Data Acquisition
Sampling:
Continuous or data on demand (by serial command/TTL trigger).
Data Rate:
1, 2 or 4 Hz

VA500 Altimeter Operating Manual
MANUAL-1969127270-2 | issue: 1.3
Page | 3
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
2.4 Communications
Digital Output:
RS232 & RS485 fitted as standard
Protocol:
4800 to 115200 baud, (8,1,N)
Formats:
Valeport NMEA / Tritech / Kongsberg / $SDDBT / NMEA
Analogue output:
0-5/0-10 V fitted as standard
RS485 is enabled by grounding pin 9 to pin 5 in the communications lead
see Wiring Information
2.5 Power Requirements
Input:
9 - 28 volts DC (isolated power supply)
Power:
<125 mA @ 12V

Section 3 | Physical Characteristics
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
Page | 4
3 Physical Characteristics
Housing:
Titanium (6000m rated)
Size:
48mm max Ø
43mm main body Ø
215mm length (including connector)
248mm length with pressure module fitted
Weight:
0.95 kg (air)/ ~0.7 kg (in water)
Connector:
SubConn MCBH10F (titanium)
3.1 Dimensions
3.1.1 Standard VA500 Altimeter

VA500 Altimeter Operating Manual
MANUAL-1969127270-2 | issue: 1.3
Page | 5
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
3.1.2 VA500 Altimeter with 90° Transducer

Section 4 | Configuration and Operation
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
Page | 6
4 Configuration and Operation
The VA500 is supplied with a Valeport DataLog x2 and Terminal x2, setup and terminal
communications program and configuration tools designed specifically for use with Valeport
instruments.
Install the program by opening the install package supplied (or download from
https://valeport.download) and follow the on-screen instructions. Once installed, launch the
terminal program
4.1 Using the Configuration Wizard
Valeport Terminal can be used to manually connect and
configure the VA500 or can be used in the configuration
wizard mode.
Click on the configure button to launch the wizard.
Select the COM port the VA500 is connected to.
The wizard is configured with the default settings of the
unit but can be altered if the unit has been modified.
Default ASCII settings are pre-configured and should not
need changing.

VA500 Altimeter Operating Manual
MANUAL-1969127270-2 | issue: 1.3
Page | 7
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
Select the VA500 altimeter from the drop down list.
Select the Read Configuration from the instrument to
determine current settings
Or
Open previously saved configuration file to load a
predefined setup.
The first wizard screen will give information about the
instrument. These are settings that are set at the factory.
The next page defines:
Communications settings.
Analogue mode and limits.(See wiring schedule in
section 6 for analogue outputs)
Analogue range can be 0-5V or 0-10V
Analogue limit is the distance that equates to full scale
voltage output.
Serial Data format (see data format section for definition
of formats)
The next page defines:
Output units, can be seconds, metres, feet or fathoms.
Minimum range allows fixed returns close to the VA500
to be filtered out.
Maximum range allows filtering of spiking in noisy
environments or in the presence of multiple echoes.
Sound speed is set to 1500m/s. To improve accuracy
then the local sound speed should be measured and
applied here.
Error is the value returned when no echo is detected or it
is outside the minimum and maximum ranges defined.

Section 4 | Configuration and Operation
© 2022 –Valeport Ltd
Page | 8
If the Altimeter is fitted with the optional pressure sensor,
this can be configured here.
Units can be dBar, metres or feet.
Tare allows the pressure sensor to be zeroed to
atmospheric pressure.
Latitude is used in the conversion from pressure to
depth.
Continuous output rates can be 1,2 or 4 Hz
Alternatively the VA500 can be triggered with a serial
command (S followed by a carriage return) or via TTL
(see wiring schedule in section 6)
Once configuration is complete, the wizard will
summarise the commands to be sent to the instrument.
The configuration can also be saved to file for later use
or reference.
If the Run mode check box is ticked the instrument will
start outputting data into the terminal window behind
once the configuration is complete.