BIC2000 Weather Station SYSTEM GUIDE VERSIONS : BIC2000 3.92; PC 4.90
CONTENTS 1. SYSTEM OVERVIEW 3 2. WEATHER STATION SETUP 4 2.1 ISS AND CONSOLE SETUP 4 2. RF RTU SYSTEM SETUP 5 2.2 BIC2000 WEATHER STATION SETUP 5 3. IRRIGATION BY EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET) 6 3.1. PRINCIPALS OF IRRIGATION BY ET 6 3.2. PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 7 4. RAIN SHUT DOWN 9 4.1. RAIN SHUT DOWN PARAMETERS 9 5. FROST PROTECTION 10 5.1. FROST PROTECTION PARAMETERS 11
1. System Overview The BIC2000 version 3.92 and the PC_BIC2000 software version 4.9.0 support a connected weather station. The user can monitor and to record the meteorological data and schedule the irrigation according to real time weather data. Additional tools supplied in the BIC2000 enables Frost Protection, Rain Delay and scheduling adjustment by Evapotranspiration (ET) based on the meteorological parameters. The supported weather station is Vantage Pro 2 by Davis. The weather station offers an Integrated Sensor Suit (ISS) and a Console. INTEGRATED SENSOR SUIT - ISS CONSOLE The information transferred from the weather station to the BIC2000 system includes: Barometric pressure Rain rate Daily rain Outside Temperature Outside Humidity UV radiation Wind Speed Evapotranspiration Wind Direction Dew point Solar radiation 3 info@bermad.com www.bermad.com The information herein is subject to change without notice. BERMAD shall not be held liable for any errors. All rights reserved. Copyright by BERMAD.
2. Weather Station Setup 2.1 ISS and Console Setup The process of setting up the ISS is explained in the Integrated Sensor Suite Installation Manual supplied along with the Weather Station kit. The Console installation is simplified due to the fact that it is supplied within a special enclosure known as the Weather Station Unit. Included in this unit there are the power supply and the necessary interfaces for connecting the BIC2000 on one side and the Console on the other side. The only connections need to be done are shown at the drawing below. Apart from the power cord there is a connection of a two wired cable from the Remote I/O RS485 port of the DREAM through the lightning protection to the interface included in the enclosure. The lightning protection can be omitted in case the unit is installed close to the DREAM. The console is connected by a 4 wired cable to the ISS and two other cables connect the Console (internally) to a communication interface and to the 5v power source. Power cord Weather station interface Lightning Protection To BIC2000 Remote I/O Console communication interface 5v supplied to the Console (Internal connection) Connection to the interface (Internal connection) Connection to the ISS After powering up the Console and prior to starting to use the Weather Station, the Console must undergo a setup procedure. A detailed Console setup and programing can be found in the Vantage Pro2 Console Manual supplied with the Weather Station Kit. 4 Irrigation.us@bermad.com www.bermad.com 1849 Thunderbolt Drive, Porterville, CA 93257 Tel: 877-577-4283 Fax: 800-839-3884
2.2 BIC2000 Weather Station Setup The BIC2000 can manage a single Weather Station. Define an analog Davis interface during the configuration process. In the Setup menu Enter Hardware definitions Enter the number of I/O interfaces installed Select type of interface Davis The Weather Station sensors do not appear at the connections list at the first time the connection list is entered, however after exiting the connections list the sensors connections will automatically be filled as shown below: Scroll down in the Connection Definition to setup the Weather Station sensors inputs Unlike other analog sensors that are directly read by the BIC2000 system, the sensors of the Weather Station will appear in the tables of Analog Sensors as EXTERNAL and without specified range of values because the values of the Weather Station sensors transmitted by the console as processed values. 5 info@bermad.com www.bermad.com The information herein is subject to change without notice. BERMAD shall not be held liable for any errors. All rights reserved. Copyright by BERMAD.
At the PC software the Weather Station sensors appear in the analog sensors table with a light blue background as opposed to the other sensors that will have white background. The units by which the sensors are presented arrive also by communication from the Weather Station s Console; therefore changing the units can only be done at the Console itself. Use the Vantage Pro2 Console Manual to learn how to set the desired units. 3. Irrigation by Evapotranspiration (ET) 3.1. Principals of Irrigation by ET The Evapotranspiration is calculated by the Weather Station based on the measured parameters accumulated during the past day. Each midnight the value of the day before is cleared and the new day s value is started to be accumulated. The BIC2000 stores the data of the Evapotranspiration of the last 16 days and uses the information for calculating the amount of water to be irrigated by the programs defined to irrigate by ET. The calculation takes into consideration, the accumulated ET since the last irrigation, multiplied by the area covered by the particular valve and by the specific factor that represents the needs of the particular crop. Define in Dealer Definitions Irrigation by ET 6 Irrigation.us@bermad.com www.bermad.com 1849 Thunderbolt Drive, Porterville, CA 93257 Tel: 877-577-4283 Fax: 800-839-3884
3.2. Practical Example When irrigating by Evapotranspiration the amount of water to be supplied per valve is calculated automatically by the system. The calculation takes into account the number of days since the last time the specific program was irrigating, summing up the total ET of the elapsed days. The data is taken from the evaporation table of the last 16 days as shown below. Day 1 is the current day. Day 2 is yesterday. Day 3 is the day before yesterday etc Past 16 Days PC Table Past 16 Days BIC2000 Table The result is then multiplied with the area covered by the specific valve (or group of valves), and by the factor in % (taken from the valves constants) that represents the needs of the particular crop. This final result is the amount to be irrigated. Area and Crop Factor PC Table Area and Crop Factor BIC2000 Table Notice that if the irrigation program is a cyclic program of n cycles, each cycle will irrigate the amount of the final result above divided by n. 7 info@bermad.com www.bermad.com The information herein is subject to change without notice. BERMAD shall not be held liable for any errors. All rights reserved. Copyright by BERMAD.
Example: Program that contains valve No. 1 and assume irrigated 3 days ago. ET of the last 3 days was 1.2, 1.3, 0.8 mm accordingly. The total ET is 1.2+1.3+0.8= 3.3 mm. The area covered by the valve equals 50 Acres Calculated evaporation is 3.3 x 50x10 = 1650 m 3. The crop factor is 80 % therefore the amount to be irrigated is: 1650 x 0.8 = 1320 m 3. If there are 2 cycles defined, each cycle will irrigate 1320/2 = 660 m 3. For irrigation scheduling by time, the system offers an option of dosage: EVAPORATION TIME which uses the same calculation method explained above but the result is converted to time units by dividing the volumetric result with the nominal flow of the valve. 8 Irrigation.us@bermad.com www.bermad.com 1849 Thunderbolt Drive, Porterville, CA 93257 Tel: 877-577-4283 Fax: 800-839-3884
4. Rain Shut Down The system can be asked to shutdown all irrigation activities when the daily accumulated rain reaches a predefined limit. The user may define the desired limit and the number of days to keep the irrigation shut down. The feature must be enabled at the DEALERS DEFINITIONS. 4.1. Rain Shut Down Parameters The following pictures show the screens used for setting the Rain Shutdown parameters both at the BIC2000 panel and the PC BIC2000 software: The Rain Shutdown can be manually activated and stopped. irrigation was shut down due to rain. The system keeps a track of the total number of days that the 9 info@bermad.com www.bermad.com The information herein is subject to change without notice. BERMAD shall not be held liable for any errors. All rights reserved. Copyright by BERMAD.
5. Frost Protection The system offers a Frost Protection mechanism based on the Due point calculated from the measured Outside Temperature and Outside Humidity. The grower need to define the Critical Plant Temperature below which the crop may suffer frost damage. According to the Critical Plant Temperature and the Dew Point, the system decides about the Turn On Temperature at which the Frost Protection program starts in order to make sure the protection is effective before the temperature drops to the Critical Plant Temperature. The following table show how the Turn On Temperature is obtained: Table expressed in Fº: Critical Plant Temperature Fº Dew Point Range Fº Turn On Temperature Fº 32 3.1 to 10 46 10 to 16 44 16 to 21 42 21 to 24 40 24 to 28 38 28 to 31 36 31 to 32 34 30 0 to 9 43 9 to 15 41 15 to 20 39 20 to 24 37 24 to 27 35 27 to 30 33 28 0 to 8 40 8 to 14 38 14 to 19 36 19 to 23 34 23 to 27 32 27 to 28 30 26 0 to 10 37 10 to 16 34 16 to 20 32 20 to 24 30 24 to 25 28 The user need to define a program that will serve as the Frost Protection Program. This program should contain the list of valves to be activated by the Frost Protection mechanism and it will be restarted again and again as long as the temperature is below the Turn On Temperature plus a predefine temperature raise; Temperature Raise to Stop. When the BIC2000 is equipped with a Spider Cellular Communication, a warning message will be sent by the Spider when frost conditions are anticipated. This alarm will be sent when the temperature gets to the Turn On Temperature plus the Temperature Raise to Stop. A second message will be sent when the Frost Protection program started. Note: that the Frost Protection is not influenced by the Rain Shutdown mechanism; it will be activated in any case. The Frost Protection feature must be enabled at the DEALERS DEFINITIONS. 10 Irrigation.us@bermad.com www.bermad.com 1849 Thunderbolt Drive, Porterville, CA 93257 Tel: 877-577-4283 Fax: 800-839-3884
5.1. Frost Protection Parameters The following pictures show the screens used for setting the Frost Protection parameters both at the DREAM panel and the PC DREAM software: The Frost Protection can be manually activated and stopped. 11 info@bermad.com www.bermad.com The information herein is subject to change without notice. BERMAD shall not be held liable for any errors. All rights reserved. Copyright by BERMAD.
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