Owner's Manual

Clicking this button in the AutoComm window will cause AutoComm to
check for any programs in the Sentinel database that have been changed
but have not been sent to the field controllers. AutoComm will then transmit them to their designated field controllers at the
specified time. Referring to Chapter 5, you will note that any changes to a program will cause a checkmark to flag the
program until it is sent to the field unit. It is this checkmark that flags the program in the database so AutoComm will select
the program and automatically transmit it to the field units. You can set the time by typing it at the Send at box or by clicking
the scroll bar below it. You must leave AutoComm running in order for it to perform the automatic transmissions at the
desired time. Clicking the OK button at the top will merely minimize the AutoComm window but will leave it running. (To exit
AutoComm, click CANCEL or the X box at the top right corner of the window.) If you pick the Every Day option next to the
time, the operation will repeat everyday at the same time for as long as AutoComm is left running.
This option will retrieve the ET Today and Rain Today values from the
ET source specified in the Software Configuration screen. It will transmit
these values to all units in the current system. Thus, if the source is an ET gauge (and Rain gauge) AutoComm will first
receive the values from the unit specified in Software Configuration. If the source is a default ET value, AutoComm will first
retrieve the default ET value for the unit specified in Software Configuration from the database. If the source is a
GroWeather station, AutoComm will read and sum the values for the last complete day in the GroWeatherLink database
located in the central computer. If the ET source is the Campbell Weather Station, the ET values of the last complete day
will be directly read from the weather station. You can specify any time and select Every Day to repeat the operation daily, as
long as AutoComm remains running.
This option will command AutoComm to read the alarm states from all
field units in the current system at the specified time. Each unit is polled
individually and the results are displayed on the screen and saved in a
log file, calarms.log. Example results are shown in Chapter 12. As with
the other two AutoComm options, a time can be typed into the box or set
by the scroll bar. Additionally, alarms can be polled more than once per day at the period selected by clicking one of the
option buttons or dragging the slider at the bottom to specify the time interval between polls.
Once any or all of the three events are selected, AutoComm constantly checks the time until the first event is scheduled to
occur. If an event is not selected (the large button is not green and the time appears very dim), the time set for it will be
ignored and AutoComm will wait for the next scheduled event that is selected. The time required to complete a transmission
depends on the number of field units in the system. AutoComm will not allow you to set times for different events closer than
three minutes apart. Allow at least an additional minute per three field units and an additional two minutes for processing. For
example, for a system of 30 field controllers, allow 12 minutes after polling alarms before sending the ET data, 10 minutes
allotted for the 30 field units plus the 2-minute processing time. If the communication retry count in the Sentinel Software
Configuration screen is greater than one, allow an additional 15 seconds for each try for each unit.
Since AutoComm must be left running and may be left unattended, password protection is provided to prevent inadvertent
interference. Clicking the padlock icon opens a password input box. After you enter and confirm a password (up to 10
characters), AutoComm is locked and cannot be changed. It will run with the current settings, triggering events at the
specified time, until the password is entered to unlock it (by clicking the padlock icon again and typing the password in the
box), or until the computer is re-booted.
NOTE: It is recommended that you record your password for future reference. The system will not allow you to make
changes without the correct password.
One minute before the first selected scheduled event, AutoComm displays the Starting
Auto countdown and warning window in case Sentinel is being used. At the end of the
60-second countdown, a program called AutoSentinel takes over in the background,
completing the scheduled event by transmitting data from the Sentinel database to the
field units or polling the units and recording data to the database or log file. Meanwhile,
AutoComm waits until it is time to trigger the next scheduled event. While AutoComm
communication is active, it is recommended that Sentinel and the other modules (Flow
Optimizer and Composite Flow Graph) remain closed, because manual communications
or database operations may conflict with AutoComm and result in errors.
Poll Alarms
Transmit ET
Transmit Programs
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Toro Sentinel Central Software User’s Guide