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A511 Sensor Testbox

We have developed the A511 Sensor Test box to facilitate the maintenance of ADCON RTU's in the field or office. With the A511 you can test analog and SDI-12 sensors, pulse counters and solar panels, modify SDI-12 sensor addresses and check for vendor IDs, and much more. The old time-consuming process of dragging batteries and adapter cables along, and hook the sensors up to standard testing tools is a thing of the past. This has just become a whole lot easier!

The A511 features the same 5-pin and 7-pin connectors as the ADCON RTU's. ADCON analog and SDI-12 sensors, rain gauges and solar panels can thus be connected directly to the A511. For SDI-12 sensors you need an adapter cable from 7-pin to 5-pin, which is now included with the A511. This cable can also be ordered separately. As an option for other SDI-12 sensors we offer a 5-pin cable with cage clamps to connect to any SDI-12 sensor with open wire ends.

To power the sensors it features an internal 9V battery, which can be sourced almost anywhere. The latest version of the A511 will also work with all standard ADCON 6V battery packs.
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Checking analog Sensors

Several types of measurements are available:

  • permanent, instantaneous monitoring
  • averaging
  • simulating an ADCON RTU


Since the A511 features 2 7-pin signal connectors you can simultaneously connect up to 6 analog sensors. According to the ADCON cabling convention each of the two 7-pin Ports supports three analog sensors. This is certainly a convenient feature when it comes to testing combi-sensors, like the ADCON Temperature / Humidity sensor, the ADCON Wind speed and direction sensors, and certainly the Sentek and C-Probe multilevel soil moisture sensors.

You can furthermore test the current consumption of all sensors attached. This is particularly handy to detect faulty sensors, drawing too much current and thus emptying the battery.

Checking Solar Panels

Check the output voltage and the charging current of all standard ADCON solar panels. This will let you easily detect a problem with a solar panel.

Checking Pulse Counters

To test rain gauges and water meters, which output pulses by means of standard reed switches. Simply create a defined number of pulses and check the display of your A511. As long as the reed switch is connected the device will sum the pulses received. 2 rain gauges can be connected simultaneously.

Changing the address of SDI-12 Sensors

The A511 Sensor Test box lets you connect SDI-12 sensors to see which address they are set to, and change it, if necessary. This is of particular importance if you want to run several sensors off the same RTU, but don't know which address they are set to. Since there is no SDI-12 standard connector, the optional adapter cable features cable clamps to hold bare wires.

Reading SDI-12 Sensors

In its latest version, available since January 2011, the A511 can also read an SDI-12 sensors manufacturer ID and, if available through the sensor's SDI-12 implementation, the serial number. Through standard M-commands the A511 will also let you read SDI-12 values.

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Connectors 2 x 7-pin female M9 Binder
1 x 5-pin female M9 Binder
Analog inputs 6 x 0 - 2.5V
Pulse inputs 2 x standard reed switch
with internal pull-up to 3.3V
Digital inputs 2 x 0 - 3.3V TTL
Solar Panel inputs 1 x max. 15V
SDI-12 sensor ports 1 x
SDI-12 supply voltage 5.5 ... 16V
SDI-12 supply current max. 500mA
SDI-12 Data 3.3 ... 5V
Supported SDI-12 Addresses 0 - 9; A - Z; a - z
Resolution of ADC 12 Bit
Keypad foil, 6 keys
Display LCD, green, 16 characters, 3 lines
Power Supply 9V Alkaline Battery
all Adcon 6V RTU batteries
Dimensions 145 x 85 x 38 mm LxWxH
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