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This Application Note describes the installation and use of the SBE 14 Remote Depth Readout, a large-format, 4-digit, liquid crystal display and sonic alarm in a weatherproof, plastic housing. The SBE 14 is intended for mounting at the CTD winch operator’s position, and is operated in one of the following modes:

• Connected directly to the computer
  The SBE 14 is powered by a standard RS-232 serial port on the user's computer, and is controlled via Seasave V7 (our real-time data acquisition software). The computer must have an extra RS-232 serial port to accommodate the SBE 14, in addition to the port(s) needed for the CTD and, if applicable, a Water Sampler. In this configuration, the SBE 14 can be used with a number of Sea-Bird CTDs, including the SBE 9plus (with SBE 11plus Deck Unit -- original V1 or V2), 19, 19plus, 19plus V2, 25, or 49.
• Connected directly to an SBE 11plus V2 (EPROM version 5.0 or greater) Deck Unit
  The SBE 14 is powered and controlled by the SBE 11plus V2. An extra RS-232 serial port is not needed (the SBE 11plus V2 requires one serial port or GPIB parallel port for data and, if applicable, one serial port for communication with an SBE 32 Carousel Water Sampler).

Installation and setup for these modes differ significantly, as described below.

Note: Cables longer than 3 meters should be installed inside an earthed metal conduit by a qualified electrician. This minimizes the potential for external signals to disrupt communication and ensures that high voltage lines (such as the sea cable) are sufficiently protected. Cables shorter than 3 meters can be used without shielding when installing or bench testing the instrument.

Cables:

SBE 14 to computer: 32809

SBE 14 to SBE 11plus V2: 32433

SBE 11plus V2 to computer (test cable, for setup only): 32799

SBE 14 Top assembly: 41269

SBE 14 PCB assembly: 41266

SBE 14 Schematic: 32813

 

1. Mount the SBE 14 where the winch operator can easily read the display.
2. Wire the SBE 14 and CTD as follows:

1. Using the 3-pin to DB-9 cable (drawing 32809), connect the SBE 14 to an RS-232 port on the computer.
2. Connect the CTD to an RS-232 port on the computer as described in the CTD manual.

The SBE 14 is set up in Sea-Bird’s Seasave V7 software. These setup instructions assume that you are running Seasave V7 version 7.17 or greater.

Note: The SBE 14 can be used with earlier versions of Seasave (Seasave-Win32); however, setup for Seasave-Win32 is not covered in this application note. Also, Seasave-Win32 is not compatible with the SBE 19plus V2.

1. In Seasave V7, click Configure Outputs. In the Configure Outputs dialog box, click the SBE 14 Remote Display tab. The dialog box looks like this:

The dialog box entries are (see drawing below):

• Send data to SBE 14 remote display: Enable sending data to SBE 14, using serial port defined on Serial Ports tab.
• Remote display data type: Select converted data to be displayed --
  - Altimeter height (3 digits)
  - Depth (4 digits)
  - Pressure (4 digits)
  - Altimeter height + depth       (alternate on display)
  - Altimeter height + pressure   (alternate on display)
  Note: Altimeter height available only if altimeter included in configuration (.con or .xmlcon) file.
• Depth Type: Affects Seasave V7's depth calculation --
  - Salt water -- Algorithm estimates local gravity from latitude from NMEA navigation device (if NMEA enabled in .con or .xmlcon file). If system does not have NMEA, enter latitude on Miscellaneous tab in Configure Inputs.
  - Fresh water -- Algorithm ignores gravity variation with latitude, because fresh water applications are usually shallow, and effect of gravity variation is insignificant.
• Seconds between updates: Updates at very fast rate make display hard to read. Also, time between updates interacts with data output baud rate (set in SBE 14 to 300 baud; cannot be changed) and number of variables transmitted. Seasave V7 will not work properly if data is presented to COM port faster than port can transmit it to SBE 14.
• Minimum pressure alarm
  - Enable minimum pressure alarm: Select to enable minimum pressure alarm.
  - Sound alarm when pressure is less than (decibars): Set to alert winch operator that CTD is about to reach surface on upcast.
• Maximum pressure alarm
  - Enable maximum pressure alarm: Select to enable maximum pressure alarm.
  - Sound alarm when pressure is greater than (decibars): Set to CTD's maximum operating depth, or some lesser depth at which you want winch operator to stop downcast.
• Altimeter alarm
  - Enable altimeter alarm: Select to enable altimeter alarm.
  - Alarm set point (meters) and Alarm hysteresis (meters): Set set point at altimeter reading for alarm to sound. Set hysteresis greater than expected ship heave (swell) to prevent on-off-on-off alarm sounding.
  Example: You want alarm to turn on at 10 m; set set point = 10 m. There is a 0.5 m swell; set hysteresis = 1 m, which should be sufficient to account for possible 0.5 m upward movement due to ship heave. Alarm sounds at 10 m above sea bottom and stays on until altimeter goes above 11 m, when it turns off until it falls to 10 m again.
  - Minimum pressure to enable alarm (decibars): Set greater than approximately 20 db to prevent alarm from turning on while CTD is sitting on ship deck or entering water (when altimeter is measuring distance to deck or top of water surface).
  Note: The altimeter alarm is available only for a CTD with an altimeter. The input field for the alarm is grayed out if the selected configuration (.con or .xmlcon) file does not indicate a CTD with an altimeter. To view the configuration file, exit this dialog box and click Configure Inputs. In the Configure Inputs dialog box, click the Instrument Configuration tab.
• Bottom contact switch alarm
  - Enable bottom contact switch alarm: Select to enable bottom contact switch alarm.
  Note: For the SBE 9plus CTD, the bottom contact switch alarm is always available. For all other CTDs, the input field for the alarm is grayed out if the selected configuration (.con or .xmlcon) file does not indicate a CTD with a bottom contact switch. To view the configuration file, exit this dialog box and click Configure Inputs. In the Configure Inputs dialog box, click the Instrument Configuration tab.

Enter the desired settings.

2. Click the Serial Ports tab. For SBE 14 Remote Display Serial Port, select the COM port connected to the SBE 14. Click OK.
3. Change other settings, as desired.
4. In the File menu, select Save Setup File or Save Setup File as to save all changes.

Test the SBE 14 by running Seasave V7 using a real-time connection to a CTD system or archived data.

Sea-Bird’s terminal program (Seaterm) is used to set up the SBE 11plus V2 to transmit data to the SBE 14.

1. Temporarily connect the SBE 11plus V2’s Remote Out port to a COM port on the computer, using the supplied test cable (drawing 32799).
2. In Seaterm, select SBE 11 Remote Out in the Configure menu. The following dialog box appears:

The dialog box entries are:

• COMM Port and Baud Rate: Select COM port and baud rate for communication between SBE 11plus V2's Remote Out port and computer. These will be used while setting up the interface with the SBE 14; during operation, the Remote Out port is not connected to the computer.

Enter the desired COM port and baud rate and click OK or Save As to save the settings when done.

3. Turn on the power switch on the SBE 11plus V2.
4. Click the Connect button on the Toolbar. Seaterm returns an S> prompt, showing that correct communications between the computer and the SBE 11plus V2 Remote Out port have been established.
5. Send the following commands to set up the SBE 14 display and alarm parameters (see the figure below for alarm operation details):

• Baud=300: Set baud rate for data transfer between the SBE 11plus V2 and SBE 14 to 300.
• Alarms=x: Enable/disable alarms:
  If Alarms=0, all alarms are disabled. Any combination of bottom contact switch, pressure, and altimeter alarm can be enabled by adding alarm value (bottom contact = 1; pressure = 2; altimeter = 4) to x.
  Example: To enable all alarms, set Alarms=7 (1 + 2 + 4 = 7).
• Format=x: Set data type for display on SBE 14:
  x=129   Altimeter height
  x=130   Depth
  x=144   Pressure
  x=145   Pressure + Altimeter height (alternate on display)
  x=131   Depth + Altimeter height (alternate on display)
• PEnable=x: Set minimum pressure to enable alarms (bottom contact, pressure, and altimeter) to x decibars.
• PSet=x: (if pressure alarm enabled) Set pressure alarm to x decibars.
• AltSet=x: (if altimeter alarm enabled) Set altimeter alarm to x meters.
• AltHyst=x: (if altimeter alarm enabled) Set altimeter hysteresis to x meters. Alarm will remain on until CTD is above AltSet + AltHyst, to prevent alarm from cycling on and off due to ship heave.
• Lat=x: Set latitude to use for pressure to depth conversion to x degrees.
• NAvg=x: Set number of scans to average to x (6 or greater). With NAvg=6, the SBE 14 display updates every 0.25 seconds (6 scans/24 scans/second = 0.25 seconds).

6. Send other commands to configure the remote output, if desired (see the SBE 11plus V2 manual for complete command listing). Send status command (DS) to verify setup.
7. Disconnect the SBE 11plus V2’s Remote Out port from the computer COM port.

1. Mount the SBE 14 where the winch operator can easily read the display.
2. Wire the SBE 14 and SBE 11plus V2 as follows:

1. Using the 3-pin to 5-pin cable (drawing 32433), connect the SBE 14 to the 5-pin Remote Out port on the SBE 11plus V2.
2. Connect the SBE 11plus V2 to the computer -

(1) Connect SBE 11 Interface on the SBE 11plus V2 data to an RS-232 port or GPIB parallel port on the computer.
(2) If applicable, connect Modem Channel on the SBE 11plus V2 to an RS-232 port on the computer.

Test the SBE 14 by running Seasave V7 using a real-time connection to an SBE 911plus system.

Last modified: 23-Feb-2011

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