LX-80 Non-Contact Level Meter User Manual Copyright ©2021 Geolux d.o.o. All rights reserved.
LX-80 User Manual Page 2 of 32
LX-80 User Manual Starting Point Thank you for purchasing Geolux LX-80 non-contact water level meter! We have put together the experience of our engineers, the domain knowledge of our customers, the enthusiasm of our team, and the manufacturing excellence to deliver this product to you. You may freely rely on our field-proven radar technology. The use of top-quality components and advanced signal processing algorithms ensures that Geolux level meter can be used in various applications and environments.
LX-80 User Manual 1. Introduction Geolux LX-80 level meter uses radar technology to provide precise contactless measurement of level. Contactless radar technology enables quick and simple sensor installation above the water surface and requires minimum maintenance. This functionality is achieved by transmitting an electromagnetic wave in 80 GHz frequency range (W) and measuring the frequency shift of the electromagnetic wave reflected from the water surface.
LX-80 User Manual 2. Electrical Characteristics The electrical characteristics of the Geolux LX-80 level meter are given in the Table 1. Table 1.
LX-80 User Manual television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver. Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
LX-80 User Manual 3. Connector Pin-Out The level meter uses robust IP66 circular M12 connector with 12 positions and the mating cable is also delivered with the level meter. The connector and cable details are shown on Picture 1. The Table 2 gives detailed description for each pin. Picture 1. Level meter connectors Table 2. Connector and cable pin-out Pin Wire Color Pin Name No.
LX-80 User Manual 3.1. Serial RS-232 interface Serial RS-232 interface is implemented as standard PC full-duplex serial interface with voltage levels adequate for direct connection to PC computer or other embedded device used for serial RS-232 communication. In case RS-232 interface is connected to standard DB-9 PC connector, TxD line (green wire) is connected to pin 2 and RxD (yellow wire) is connected to pin 3.
LX-80 User Manual 3.4. Analog 4 – 20 mA output Analog current 4 – 20 mA output is provided for easier compatibility with older logging and control systems. Output is implemented as current sink architecture with common ground. Maximal voltage applied to the sink can go up to 30 VDC providing greater flexibility in connection of the sensor to PLCs, loggers, or data concentrators.
LX-80 User Manual 4. Installing Level Meter The level meter must be installed above the water surface, pointing directly towards the water surface. Minimum height above water surface must be 0,1m but it is recommended to keep height above the water surface of 1 meter or higher and up to the measurement range of the device. Sensor should be directed at a 90° angle towards the water. When mounting LX sensor care must be taken that direct non-obstructed line to the water surface is available.
LX-80 User Manual Instrument radar beam covers a circular area on the water surface and works best when water surface is calm and not wavy because flat surfaces reflect radar beams the best. As radar beam is defined by 3 dB width angle, the diameter of the pattern on the water surface is dependent on the distance of the water surface to the instrument. Calculation of the size of circular pattern on the water surface is calculated and presented in the table below the text. Height [H] R [m] 0.3 m 0.
LX-80 User Manual 4.1. Measurement through materials (containers) Geolux LX-80 instrument uses microwave radar for distance measurement and as microwave signal is passing through most of dielectric (non-conductive) materials very easy it is possible to mount radar outside of the container to measure level of the liquid inside of the container. Dielectric materials used in industry and buildings: ABS, PVC, Nylon, Teflon, Polycarbonate, Plexiglas, Polyamide, Polypropylene etc.
LX-80 User Manual synchronization is very complex to achieve so the interference probability between several radars on the same location is very small. It is possible that some wideband radiation sources can introduce small and impulse interference for the short period of time, but this should not, or it is very unlikely to affect measurements reported by radar sensor. 4.4.
LX-80 User Manual 4.6. Relative measurement Each sensor unit measures the distance between the sensor and the first detected object. For water level measurement, it is preferred to report the actual water level from the bottom of the riverbed to the surface of the water. That is why we offer relative measurement, which is calculated relative to mounted sensor height. Sensor height is defined as the distance from the mounted sensor position to the bottom of the riverbed.
LX-80 User Manual measurement at the same time when the device measures the distance as 6.02m, sensor height will be calculated as the sum of the two values; 6.02m + 1.34m = 7.36m In this case the sensor will report 6.02m as measured level and 1.34m as measured relative level. 4.7. Units Default measurement unit of the LX-80 is millimeters. It is possible to change the measurement unit of the device using any communication protocol.
LX-80 User Manual 5. Data Interface Geolux LX-80 level meter offers multiple data interfaces, in order to make the integration of the device with existing SCADA/telemetry systems easy. 5.1. Serial RS-232 interface Serial RS-232 interface is used for direct connection of a single level meter unit with the computer. The serial interface is used both for retrieving live level measurements and for configuration of the level meter device.
LX-80 User Manual 6.
LX-80 User Manual 6.2. Servicing protocol (RS-232) The servicing protocol is used to retrieve and modify device operating parameters. Various device settings, such as unit system and filtering parameters are configured using this protocol. Since NMEA protocol is one way (it only outputs the data), the servicing protocol is always active. To make radar configuration easy, Geolux provides a Configurator utility application.
LX-80 User Manual Change modbus baud rate #set_modbus_baud_rate=9600 #set_modbus_baud_rate=19200 #set_modbus_baud_rate=38400 #set_modbus_baud_rate=57600 #set_modbus_baud_rate=115200 Changes the device modbus baud rate. Change modbus parity #set_modbus_parity=0 #set_modbus_parity=1 #set_modbus_parity=2 Changes the device modbus parity. 0=no parity, 1=odd parity, 2=even parity. Change modbus stopbits #set_modbus_stopbits=1 #set_modbus_stopbits=2 Changes the device modbus stopbit.
LX-80 User Manual Changes the minimum spectrum amplitude threshold for peak to be detected. Peaks under this value will not be detected. Accepts integer values. Change deadzone settings #set_deadzone_min=<0-> #set_deadzone_max=<0-> Changes the deadzone of the sensor. Objects under deadzone min and over deadzone max will not be registered. Accepted values are floating point using decimal point in selected unit.
LX-80 User Manual Retrieve current device status #get_info Requests the current device status. Here is an example status output: # device_type:999 # firmware:16 # serial_number:000000 # modbus_id:2 # baud_rate:115200 # rs485_baud_rate:9600 # rs485_parity:2 # rs485_stopbits:1 # level_range:15360.000000 # level_resolution:7.500000 # level_offset:0.100000 # deadzone_min:0.200000 # deadzone_max:15.360000 # averaging_frame_number:24 # spectrum_amplitude_threshold:15 # IR_constant:0.
LX-80 User Manual 6.3. Modbus Protocol (RS-485) The unit responds to Modbus requests over RS-485 dana line. The baud rate is configured through the PC application, and 1 stop bit, even parity, 8 data bits configuration is used. Modbus registers that are accessed by Modbus protocol are 16-bit (2-byte) registers. Any number of registers can be read or written over Modbus.
LX-80 User Manual Table 6. Response example Name Content Detail Address 0X01 Slave address (Sensor id) Function Data length 0X03 Read slave info 0X02 Data length is 2 bytes Data 0X00 0X01 Data high byte Data low byte, means ID is 1 CRC16 0X79 0X84 CRC Low CRC High The table 7 defines the data returned by the unit when the master requests register read. The table 8 defines how to write device configuration. Rows highlighted in blue denote the important values measured by the sensor.
LX-80 User Manual Fun Data Addr Data Length Data Range 0x0006 2 bytes 0x0007 2 bytes 0 → no parity 1 stopbit 1 → no parity 2 stopbits 2 → odd parity 1 stopbit 3 → odd parity 2 stopbits 4 → even parity 1 stopbit 5 → even parity 2 stopbits default → even parity 1 stopbit 1-65535 0x000A 2 bytes 900 - 65535 0x000B 2 bytes 1 – 200 default: 24 0x000C 2 bytes 1 – 65535 default: 0 0x000D 2 bytes 0x000E 2 bytes 0x000F 2 bytes 0x0010 2 bytes 0x0011 2 bytes 0 – device range default → 0 0 –
LX-80 User Manual Fun Data Addr Data Length Data Range 0x0018 0x0019 2 bytes 2 bytes 4096,8192 0x001A 2 bytes 0-255 0x001B 2 bytes 0+ 0x001C 2 bytes 0-2 0x0020 2 bytes Current relative level 0x0021 2 bytes Average relative 0x0022 2 bytes Sensor height 0x03 Details FW version Number of FFT samples Temperature of electronics inside the case SNR 0 – no filter 1 – IIR filter 2 – window filtering Current level measured depending on the sensor height; Calculated as sensor height – curre
LX-80 User Manual Fun 0x06 Data Addr Data Length Data Range 0x0007 2 bytes 1 – 65535 SDI-12 ID 0x000B 2 bytes 1 – 1000 default: 100 0x000C 2 bytes 1 – 65535 default: 0 Number of frames for average measurement Minimum spectrum amplitude threshold, used for detecting peaks 0x000D 2 bytes 0x000E 2 bytes 0x000F 2 bytes 0x0010 2 bytes 0x0011 2 bytes 0x0012 2 bytes 0–1 IR filter constant 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐼𝑅𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡 = 1000 0x0015 2 bytes 2 printable characters Serial number[0-1] 0x0016 2 b
LX-80 User Manual 6.4. SDI-12 Protocol Supported SDI-12 commands are: In all commands, ‘a’ represents the device address. Blue row signal that parameters can be set using this command. Table 9. SDI-12 commands Name Command Response Address Query ?! a Ping sensor Address change a! a aAb! b aI! a13GEOLUX/WL-2300fff aV! a00001 aD0! a+d aD1! ..
LX-80 User Manual Additional Data Concurrent Measurement aD1! .. aD9! aC!/aCC! Send Data aD0! Additional Data Continuous Measurement aD1! .. aD9! aR0! ..
LX-80 User Manual +f – deadzone minimum value, sensor will not report measurement lower than this +f – deadzone maximum value, sensor will not report measurement lower than this +f – deadzone maximum value, sensor will not report measurement lower than this Set minimum deadzone value aXGDZ0+f! a+f Get maximum deadzone value aXGDZ1! a+f Set maximum deadzone value aXGDZ1+f! a+f aXGSHR! a+f +f – sensor height above riverbed aXGSHR+f! a+f +f – sensor heigh
LX-80 User Manual 7. Radar Configurator Utility Geolux provides a user-friendly PC application for configuring the level meter operating parameters. Additionally, the Configurator Utility displays current level measurements. When started, the Configurator Utility displays its main window. Initially, no level data is displayed, as the connection to the level meter device is not established. Picture 3.
LX-80 User Manual radar level meter information and operating parameters. Some of these parameters can be changed by editing the values directly inside the Radar Module Info pane.
LX-80 User Manual 8.
