Piccolo SLM Integrating Sound Level Meter & Data Logger User Guide Rev. 4.3 2012-05-22 Soft dB Inc. 1040, Belvedere Avenue, Suite 215 Quebec (Quebec) Canada G1S 3G3 Toll free: 1-866-686-0993 (USA and Canada) E-mail: contact@softdb.
Table of contents INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 2 SUPPLIED MATERIALS AND OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES .................................. 2 Supplied Materials .......................................................................................................... 2 Optional Accessories ...................................................................................................... 2 WARRANTY...........................
INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the Piccolo Integrating Sound Level Meter. The Piccolo SLM with programmable integrating time (1 second to 24 hours) provides precise linearity over a professional and wide range (37 to 105 dB), and displays LEQ, SEL, SPL, LMAX and LMIN measurements. Response time (FAST and SLOW) and frequency weighting (A and C) are programmable. Statistical Analysis (L%) is available.
SPECIFICATIONS Measurement types LEQ, SPL, SEL, LMAX, LMIN and Statistical Analysis (L%) Measurement range 37 to 105 dB Frequency range 31 Hz to 8000 Hz Frequency weighting A and C Response time FAST and SLOW Linearity range 68 dB Display resolution 0.1 dB Accuracy ±1.
SOUND LEVEL METER DESCRIPTION 1. Power/Play/Stop button 2. Store/Auto-Store button 3. Display / Custom Action1 button 4. LCD 5. Alarm LED 6. PC Interface Input connector 7. Microphone compartment 8. Tripod mounting screw 9. Battery compartment 1 The custom action, which is selectable trough the software, makes it possible to either calibrate the Piccolo or switch between the dBA and dBC units. Piccolo SLM User guide-Rev. 4.
DISPLAY DESCRIPTION 1. Maximum SPL Value 2. Minimum SPL Value 3. Measurement Average 4. Equivalent Continuous Level 5. LEQ 1 hr. completed 6. LEQ 24 hrs completed 7. Response Time (FAST / SLOW) 8. Units (dB) 9. Frequency weighting A or C 10. Elapsed Time (minutes / seconds) Measured value (37 to 105 dB) Low Battery 11. Elapsed Time (days / hours) Auto-Store High / Low range Memory Full / Time Lost SPL / SEL / Record Number 12. Bar Graph (65 dB range, 24 segments) 13.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION POWER-UP To power ON the Piccolo meter, press and hold the POWER button for 3 seconds. Use the same procedure to power OFF the meter. • Change Display: Single press • Custom Action: Hold for 3 sec (dBA/dBC or Calib) • Power ON/OFF: Hold for 3 sec. • Start/Stop Measurement: Single press • Single Store: Single press • Auto-Store: Hold for 3sec. When powered ON, the meter will start performing LEQ averaging. The LEQ level is displayed to the right of the LCD.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION MEASUREMENT Two measurement modes are available: - Manual Start/Stop: Single Leq period, manual record - Auto-Store: Several Leq periods, automatic record Manual Start/Stop measurements Press the Start/Stop button to begin/end the Leq averaging measurement process. After the averaging process is started, the Piccolo switches to the Leq display. The AVG indicator is also displayed to indicate that the average is in progress.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION DISPLAY NAVIGATION Press the Leq/Lx button to successively display the Lmax, Lmin, Time (elapsed), SPL, SEL and Record number of the current measurement. Leq: The equivalent continuous sound level is the average level since the beginning of the average period. Lmax: The maximum sound pressure level is the highest value recorded during the current averaging process. Lmin: The minimum sound pressure level is the lowest value recorded during the current averaging process.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION DISPLAY – ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Average Indicator: The AVG indicator is displayed to indicate that an average measurement is in progress. A steady AVG indicator means that a Manual measurement is in progress. A blinking indicator means that an AutoStore measurement is in progress. Frequency weighting: An A or C is displayed below the dB unit label as an indication of the selected frequency weighting.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION Time Lost Indication: If the time reference has been lost, a Time Lost indication will be displayed at the opening of the Piccolo unit. This means that further recordings will not have an exact timestamp. It generally occurs when the battery is removed while the unit is powered on. Therefore, it would be a good idea to power off the unit before replacing the battery.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION CUSTOM ACTION: DBA/DBC SWITCH As for other parameters, the dBA/dBC units can be changed trough the software. It is also possible to switch between dBA and dBC units in standalone operation, but only if the custom action has previously been set to “dBA/dBC”. This action is the the factory default. To switch the units, 1. Press and hold the Lx/Leq Display button for 3 seconds 2.
PICCOLO STANDALONE OPERATION LOCK/UNLOCK BUTTONS The normal operation of the buttons on the Piccolo unit can be disabled (locked). Then, the user would be unable to stop or close the unit unless it is unlocked first. This feature allows avoiding accidental actions during a measurement. The lock/unlock process has no effect on the measurements. The procedure is the same for locking and unlocking the unit: 1. Press and hold the all three buttons for 3 seconds 2.
PICCOLO PC OPERATION INSTALLATION Requirements: The Piccolo Software must be installed on the PC that will be used with the unit. DO NOT CONNECT THE PICCOLO USB CABLE before the Piccolo Software is installed on the PC (see the Quick Guide instructions to install the Piccolo Software). Step 1: Connect the Piccolo SLM to a PC via the supplied Piccolo USB cable. Note: The Piccolo USB cable is a unique cable with embedded electronic components.
PICCOLO PC OPERATION SETUP MENU Time Setup At start-up, the Time & Date on the Piccolo is automatically verified and adjusted if the clock’s difference is greater than 5 minutes. The Time & Date can be manually synchronized with the PC by right-clicking on the Time & Date field.
PICCOLO PC OPERATION DATA PROCESSING MENU Data Retrieval When this page is called into function, the data in the Piccolo’s memory will be retrieved and displayed automatically. The Refresh recordings action button can also be used to read the data again (this function can be useful when the Piccolo is in Auto-Store mode during data processing). Read Memory Measurement Selection Data Histogram View Data View Statistics Measurement Info Data Export to .
PICCOLO PC OPERATION Rescale Viewer Measurement Selection Standard Statistic Levels Custom Statistic Levels Figure 3: Cumulative Statistics Viewer Change Resolution Rescale Viewer Measurement Selection Standard Statistic Levels Custom Statistic Levels Figure 4: Distributed Statistics Viewer Piccolo SLM User guide-Rev. 4.
PICCOLO PC OPERATION SPECTRUM ANALYSIS The Spectrum Analyzer tab allows Octave, 1/3 Octave and narrow band frequency analysis. Step 1: Select the desired acoustical measurement parameters: Frequency weighting: dB(A) or dB(C) Average type: Exponential or Linear Number of averages (number of data considered in the exponential averaging process) Step 2: Press the START/STOP button to begin or end current measurement.
PICCOLO PC OPERATION CALIBRATION MENU The sensitivity of Each Piccolo Integrating SLM unit is adjusted at the factory. The user can verify and/or proceed to a new calibration using the Calibration menu. Note: Calibrating the Piccolo Integrating SLM requires an acoustical calibrator (not provided) that produces 94 dB at 1 kHz. 1. Verify that the meter reads 94 dB by configuring the meter as follows: • Display: SPL [dB(A)] • Time weighting mode: FAST 2.
PICCOLO PC OPERATION Figure 7: Software Calibration settings Piccolo SLM User guide-Rev. 4.
ANNEX A : FREQUENCY WEIGHTING CURVES Z B and C A f (Hz) Figure 8: Frequency weightings A, B, C and Z
