USER GUIDE Kestrel 5500 Fire Weather Pro Kestrel 5400 Fire Weather Pro with WBGT www.kestrelinstruments.
! CAUTION Your Kestrel Weather/Environmental Meter is designed to provide accurate measurement of current and historical conditions only. Depending on your location and environment, conditions may change rapidly. Rapid temperature and humidity changes (i.e., moving your meter from indoors to outdoors) may cause temporarily inaccurate readings of temperature and humidity as well as all readings that rely on either of these values.
CONTENTS Contact................................................................................... 4 Weather Glossary................................................................. 21 Batteries................................................................................. 4 Impeller Replacement......................................................... 23 Measurements And Features............................................. 5 Warranty Certificate.....................................................
CONTACT This User Guide contains only the information you need to get started using your Kestrel meter. For FAQ’s, chat and e-mail support, visit www.kestrelinstruments.com. For more information on regional, sport, or organizational WBGT guidelines, or for more information on heat stress safety, visit us as www.heatstress.com. For questions about your Kestrel Heat Stress Tracker, contact us at (800) 784-4221 Toll Free North America (610) 447-1555 Email: support@kestrelinstruments.com Facebook: Fb.
MEASUREMENTS Icon Environmental 5000 Weather 5500 5400 5500 5400 Wind Speed | Air Speed (mph | fpm | Bft | m/s | km/h | kt) • • • • • Temperature (˚F | ˚C) • • • • • Wind Chill (˚F | ˚C) • • • • • Relative Humidity (%) • • • • • Probability of Ignition • • Fine Dead Fuel Moisture • • HST Fire Fire Heat Stress Index (˚F | ˚C) • • • • • Dewpoint Temp (˚F | ˚C) • • • • • Wet Bulb Temp (˚F | ˚C) • • • • • Station Pressure (inHg | hPA | psi | mb) • •
MEASUREMENTS Icon 5500 Weather 5400 HST 5500 Fire 5400 Fire Wet Blub Globe Temperature (WBGT) (˚F | ˚C) • • Thermal Work Limit (TWL) (˚F | ˚C) • • Globe Temperature (˚F | ˚C) • • Naturally Aspirated Wet Bulb Temp (˚F | ˚C) • FEATURES N/A Backlit Display switchable white or Night-Vision preserving red N/A • Environmental 5500 Weather 5400 5500 5400 o o o o • • • • • • 5000 LiNK Connectivity & Kestrel LiNK Mobile App o optional 6 5000 Environmental HST Fire Fire
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR KESTREL BLACK GLOBE SENSOR* FRONT ZONE ALERT LIGHT* BACK REPLACEABLE IMPELLER TEMPERATURE SENSOR SERIAL NUMBER PRESSURE SENSOR SUNLIGHT READABLE DISPLAY OPTIONS/EXIT SELECT IMPELLER COVER HUMIDITY SENSOR AA BATTERY (1) (Lithium recommended) CAPTURE BACKLIGHT SCROLL/ADJUST BATTERY DOOR DATA TRANSFER PORT LANYARD ATTACHMENT BATTERY DOOR LATCH POWER *Only available on 5400 Fire Weather Pro WBGT.
KESTREL OPTIONS MENU BUTTONS Button 8 Name Function POWER Turns Kestrel on and off. Press for on, hold for two seconds to turn off. OPTIONS/ EXIT Enter the main Options menu or exit a menu. SELECT Access Settings on any measurement screen or select a menu option to enter its submenu or confirm a task. UP/DOWN Scroll up and down through measurement screens or menus. Adjust values when entering text in name menus. LEFT/ RIGHT Scroll options left and right.
WEATHER MODE SCREENS MORE MEASUREMENTS Measurement & Icon Graph of Stored Data Log Units Data Point Scroll Bar Data Point Value Data Point Time Stamp Current Measurement Screen Press SELECT to enter settings menu for that measurement. Min Avg Max Screen Press SELECT to start, stop and clear the Min/Avg/Max tracking. Data Graph Screen Press SELECT to enter the Data Log Detail Screen to view logged data points. Data Points Screen Press LEFT/RIGHT to scroll through data points.
KESTREL MENU NAVIGATION TYPES OF MENU ITEMS »Tasks are executed by highlighting the field and pressing Select. »The presence of a submenu is indicated by a “…” following a field. » Highlight the field and press Select to enter a submenu. » Adjust a setting by pressing left or right. » An arrow indicates there are additional fields off screen. » Adjust the value of a Combo Field by pressing left or right. » Enter the Combo Field sub menu by pressing select.
GETTING STARTED 1. INSTALL BATTERY. Slide the battery door latch and open door. Insert the provided AA lithium battery as indicated by the label. Replace the battery door, ensuring it “clicks” fully into place. 2. ENTER OPTIONS MENU. Press to enter the Options Menu. 3. SET DATE AND TIME. Scroll to and select System. Scroll to and select Time & Date. Adjust the time and date. 4. SET AUTO STORE RATE. Scroll to and select Memory Options. Scroll to Auto Store and ensure it is set to ON.
PROBABILITY OF IGNITION AND FINE DEAD FUEL MOISTURE The Probability of Ignition (PIG) and Fine Dead Fuel Moisture (FDFM, also known as Reference Fuel Moisture or 1 Hour Fuel Moisture) measurements in the Kestrel Fire Weather Pro meters come from the tables in the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, Incident Response Pocket Guide, 2014, with nighttime measurements following the recommendation from the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, Fire Behavior Field Reference Guide, 2014.
CONFIGURE WBGT 1. POWER ON KESTREL. Press to power on Kestrel. 2. CONFIGURE WBGT SETTINGS. 1. Scroll to the WBGT Current Measurement Screen and press select. 2. Set Type to either Indoor or Outdoor, depending on your environment. 3. To use the colored WBGT zones (also known as Flag Settings), scroll to Zones… and set to On. The zones increase from White to Black in order of severity of risk of heat injury. 4.
CUSTOM FLAG SETTINGS If you do not wish to follow one of the WBGT guidelines pre-loaded into the Kestrel Heat Stress Tracker, you may set custom zones and zone thresholds. Your Kestrel Heat Stress Tracker allows you to activate and set up to six customized heat stress warning zones identified by color names on screen. SETTING CUSTOM WBGT ZONES: 1. In the Settings Menu of the WBGT Current Measurement Screen, scroll to and select Zones. 2. Scroll to the colored zones you wish to edit and press select.
ALTIMETER AND BAROMETER The Kestrel employs a stable, accurate pressure sensor to measure station pressure, the unadjusted air pressure in your location. »» To use your Kestrel to measure barometric pressure (station pressure adjusted for local elevation), you must enter a correct reference value for your altitude. Accurate barometric readings require that no elevation changes be made while taking measurements.
USING MIN/ AVG/ MAX Pressing the right scroll button from any Current Measurement Screen will open the Min/Avg/Max Screen. The capture process is linked for all measurement screens, capturing Min/Avg/Max values on one measurement screen will capture Min/Avg/Max values over the same time period for all measurements. Each new Min/Avg/Max capture overwrites the previously captured value from all measurements. CAPTURING MIN/AVG/MAX VALUES: »» Scroll to the Min/Avg/Max Screen of the desired measurement.
»» Ensure the computer or mobile device is searching and in range. When Status changes from Available to Connected, the pairing is active and your Kestrel is ready to communicate. connection will be made and Searching will change to Connected, indicating that the pairing is active and your Kestrel is ready to communicate. CONNECTING TO A NEW LiNK-COMPATIBLE DEVICE: »» Follow directions for your LiNK-compatible Device to power it on and put it in pairing mode.
CREATING, VIEWING, & EXPORTING DATA LOGS In addition to taking live measurements, your Kestrel 5 Series weather meter is a powerful data logger. The Kestrel will automatically create a time stamped data log of all measurements at the logging interval you set. Additional log points can also be captured manually. Logged data can be accessed four ways: »» Viewed on the Kestrel Meter on the Data Graph Screen and Data Log Detail Screens.
»» »» »» »» to locate Kestrel LiNK in the App or Play store and install on your mobile device. Follow the directions in the Kestrel LiNK app and in the section of this manual titled Pairing with a Computer, Mobile Phone or Tablet: to connect the mobile device to the Kestrel. The Kestrel’s new logged data will automatically be added to the app’s log whenever the devices are connected. To export logged data to a .
THERMAL WORK LIMIT (TWL) The Kestrel 5400 also displays a measure of human heat stress known as “Thermal Work Limit,” or “TWL.” Unlike WBGT, which is a measure of the environment, TWL is an estimate of the cooling capacity of a human body in given conditions. Accordingly, a higher TWL is safer because a person is able to eliminate more heat from their body.
WEATHER GLOSSARY CONFIGURING TWL: »» In the Settings Menu of the TWL Current Measurement Screen, scroll to and select the clothing setting that most closely reflects the clothing worn by the people you are monitoring. A check mark will appear next to the chosen clothing setting.
FDFM – Fine Dead Fuel Moisture, also known as 1 Hr Moisture Content, is an estimate of the moisture content of dead fuel between 0-1/4” in diameter. HEAT INDEX – Heat Index is a calculated value of the perceived temperature based on temperature and relative humidity. WET BULB – Wet Bulb is the lowest temperature that can be reached in the existing environment by cooling through evaporation. Wet Bulb is always equal to or lower than ambient temperature.
IMPELLER REPLACEMENT P ress only the sides of the impeller when removing and inserting to avoid damaging the precision hub bearing. [Figure 1] . »» P ress FIRMLY on the impeller module to remove it. »» Insert the new impeller so the side that has the small triangle (close to the perimeter) faces the front of the Kestrel when installed. »» Orient one “arm” of the module straight up . [Figure 2]. The impeller can be pushed in from either side.
5-YEAR LIMITED PRODUCT WARRANTY WARRANTY CERTIFICATE Your Kestrel Weather/Environmental Meter is warrantied to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of FIVE YEARS from the date of its first consumer purchase. NK will repair or replace any defective meter or part when notified within the warranty period, and will return the meter via domestic ground shipping or NK’s choice of method of international shipping at no charge.
Kestrel® Weather and Environmental Meters are designed and manufactured in the USA By NIELSEN-KELLERMAN 21 Creek Circle, Boothwyn, PA 19061 Phone: (610) 447-1555 Fax: (610) 447-1577 Web: Kestrelinstruments.com Email: info@NKhome.com Please register your Kestrel Meter at www.kestrelinstruments.com 28 319044_1_18.08.
