User`s manual

Manual revision 016 Section 6: Troubleshooting SBE 49
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Section 6: Troubleshooting
This section reviews common problems in operating the FastCAT, and
provides the most likely causes and solutions.
Problem 1: Unable to Communicate with FastCAT in Seaterm (terminal program)
The S> prompt indicates that communications between the FastCAT and
computer have been established. Before proceeding with troubleshooting,
attempt to establish communications again by clicking Connect on Seaterm’s
toolbar or hitting the Enter key several times.
Cause/Solution 1: The I/O cable connection may be loose. Check the cabling
between the FastCAT and computer for a loose connection.
Cause/Solution 2: The instrument type and/or communication settings may be
entered incorrectly in Seaterm. Select SBE 49 in the Configure menu and
verify the settings in the Configuration Options dialog box. The settings
should match those on the instrument Configuration Sheet in the manual.
Cause/Solution 3: You may be using the wrong cable. The I/O cable supplied
with the FastCAT permits connection to standard 9-pin RS-232 interfaces.
• FastCAT pin 1 goes to DB-9 pin 5
• FastCAT pin 2 goes to DB-9 pin 3
• FastCAT pin 3 goes to DB-9 pin 2
See Section 2: Description of FastCAT for the connector details.
Problem 2: Seasave Data Acquisition is Cancelled – Timed Out
Cause/Solution 1: The I/O cable connection may be loose. Check the cabling
between the FastCAT and computer for a loose connection.
Cause/Solution 2: Seasave may have incorrect communication settings.
Connect to the FastCAT in Seaterm to find the correct communication settings
and COM port (they appear in the Status bar at the bottom of the window once
connected to the instrument). Then disconnect from Seaterm and open
Seasave. Check that the communication settings and COM Ports selected on
the Serial Ports tab (Configure Inputs or Configure Outputs) are correct.
Problem 3: Unable to View Data in Seasave (Real-Time Data Acquisition program)
Cause/Solution 1: If the scan length does not match the selected .xmlcon or
.con configuration file (for example, the configuration file indicates that
NMEA position data is added through a NMEA device connected to the
computer, but you did not connect the NMEA device to the computer),
Seasave continues with real-time data acquisition (saving the raw data to
a file for later processing), but does not show or plot data in the Seasave
displays. The data quality is not affected; you can correct the configuration
file error in SBE Data Processing (post-processing), and process the data as
required.
Note:
If Check scan length is enabled in
Seasave’s Options menu, Seasave
checks the data scan length against
the expected length (based on the
configuration file setup), and provides
a warning that there is an error. Sea-
Bird recommends using this setting.