User`s manual

Section 4: Configure Menu, Part II - Instrument .con File
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Section 4: Configure Menu, Part II -
Instrument .con File
This section describes the setup of the instrument configuration (.con) file in
the Configure menu.
For setup of other items in the Configure menu (Alarms, ASCII Output,
Header Form, Mark Variable Selection, NMEA Lat/Lon Interface, Remote
Display, and Water Sampler Configuration), see Section 3: Configure Menu,
Part I - General System Setup.
Introduction
The instrument configuration (.con) file defines the instrument configuration
(what sensors are integrated with the instrument and what channels are used by
the sensors) and the sensor calibration coefficients. SEASAVE uses this
information to convert the raw data stream into engineering units for display
during real-time data acquisition.
Because Sea-Bird always tries to maintain support for old instrumentation,
while continuously improving and expanding our product line, SEASAVE has
two instrument configuration types:
• Old Style Instrument Configuration - does not support products or
auxiliary sensors added to software after November 2000 (such as
SBE 16plus or 19plus SEACAT, SBE 45 MicroTSG, SBE 49 FastCAT,
SBE 43 Dissolved Oxygen Sensor, and Turner SCUFA).
• New Style Instrument Configuration - does not support older products:
SBE 31, 911, or 911e (but does support 9plus with 11plus or 17plus,
abbreviated in SEASAVE as 911/917plus). The new style has the same
features / functions / dialog boxes used by the Configure module in our
Windows data processing software (SBE Data Processing), and is the
style required by SBE Data Processing.
Old and new styles are compatible, except for the instruments / sensors that are
not supported. This allows you to open an existing old style .con file with
the new style selection in the Configure menu, and vice versa, if the
instrument and sensors are all supported by that style.
• Use the new style if your system does not include any of the older
instruments and you plan to use SBE Data Processing to process the data
after acquisition. Note that this .con file can be created / modified in
SEASAVE or SBE Data Processing.
• Use the old style if your system includes any of the older instruments or
you plan to use SEASOFT-DOS to process the data after acquisition. Note
that this .con file can be created / modified in SEASAVE or in the
SEACON module of SEASOFT-DOS.
Notes:
• Sea-Bird supplies a .con file with
each instrument. The .con file
must match the existing
instrument configuration and
contain current sensor
calibration information.
• Appendix II: Configure (.con) File
Format contains a line-by-line
description of the contents of the
.con file.
Note:
Setup of all parameters in the
Configure menu, including the name
and location of the selected .con file,
is included in the SEASAVE
configuration (.cfg) file. To save the
setup, you must save the .cfg file (File
menu / Save Seasave configuration
as . . .) before exiting SEASAVE.