Sutron Corporation 8310 & 7310 Users Manual 8800-1125Rev. 2.7 (BETA) 4/16/2014 pg. 189
close by lightning strike occurs on the water, the transient travels freely through the water, to
the metal float, up the steel tape, into the shaft encoder, then finally into the logger. This
information has been obtained from various field people who have indicated this being a source
of problems, therefore, it is suggested that the earth grounding guidelines listed above be
followed and grounding to the stilling well only be used as a last resort.
Bench Testing
A complete station consists of sensors, wiring, 8310, power supplies, communications and setup
or programming. Sutron recommends that each station be tested on a "bench" setup (in the
office) before it is put in the field. There are countless stories of persons traveling hundreds of
miles to install a station who cannot complete the task because of a missing cable, incompatible
sensor, or incomplete programming information. The most important lesson from these wasted
trips is to "bench" test the system (hardware, sensors and setup) as far as possible before trying
to install the station.
A good bench test will connect the actual sensors using the actual cables. Create and follow a
wiring diagram for the connection of the sensors. Fill out and use the 8310 setup sheet. As
stated in Section 5, the setup sheet is the tool used to specify the details of the 8310 setup. The
best place to create the setup sheet is on the bench with as many of the sensors connected to
the 8310 as possible.
Most of the commonly used sensors have been interfaced to the 8310 and typical setups for
them are located in the "How To" section in this manual. If not, contact Sutron for an
Application note that Sutron may have written for the sensor. If by chance you have picked a
sensor which we have yet to interface with, our Applications Dept. will do their best to assist in
the interfacing. We do ask, if this is necessary, to send us one of the sensors you are trying to
use so we may connect it to the 8310 in our lab and develope the appropriate application note.
You will want to activate the station so it makes its measurements, logs data and even
transmits. Vary the sensor inputs to make sure that the conversion to engineering units and
other processing is correct. If the station is part of a network of stations, set the base station up
to handle the data. A common error is that the base station software is not configured properly
to receive and process data from the station when it is installed. Then when the base station is
setup an error is encountered which requires going to the station to change the setup. Running
tests on the bench help to insure that the data from the field stations is handled properly.
If your setup uses alarms, you will want to adjust the sensors to measure at alarm levels. Note
how the 8310 handles the alarms to make sure that it is working the way you want.
Test Before you Leave
Chapter 5 gives the basic steps to setting up an 8310. Naturally, after entering the setup and
activating the station, you will want to check the station out before you leave. These checks
should include at a minimum:
1. View data from each sensor and make sure the values displayed are correct. If not, there may
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