Senix Transmitters and Sensors

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Senix ToughSonic Sensors

Senix ToughSonic 14’ and 30’ ultrasonic sensors are used to monitor water levels throughout the valley. 14’ and 30’ are the range of the sensors. The 14’ sensors are mounted in locations that are a maximum of 14’ above the ground or water surface (e.g. farm fields and ditches with lower flood levels). The 30’ sensor are mounted in locations greater than 14’ above the ground or water surface (e.g. bridges over the river, in areas where flood levels are highest).

These ultrasonic sensors work by are designed to work by emitting a sound pulse and measuring the time it takes the sound echo to return to the sensor. It uses the speed of sound to calculate the distance. Ultrasonic sensors only work out of water and must be mounted where they will not be inundated by flood waters. Even though inundation will not damage the sensor, it will not function properly while submerged. It will also not function properly if the water is too close to the sensor face and will return bad readings.

While a 30’ sensor can be mounted in place of a 14’ sensor, a 14’ sensor cannot be mounted in place of a 30’ sensor (because it is out of range).  It is important to know that if a 30’ sensor is mounted in place of a 14’ sensor, the sensor dimensions differ. This will impact readings if it is not accounted for and edited in Floodzilla. If mounted in the brackets manufactured by Senix, the 30’ sensor will extend 1” lower than the 14’ sensor. See dimensions below:

Sensor	Max Range	Optimum Range	Sensor Length	Sensor Length below mounting bracket
Senix ToughSonic 14’ sensor	14’	4” to 10’	4.06”	2.75”
Senix ToughSonic 30’ sensor	30’	10” to 20’	4.30”	3.75”

Pre-Deployment Procedure

Prior to deploying transmitters in the field, they must be assembled and configured in an office environment where you have access to a laptop or desktop computer that has access to the internet to test the transmitters on www.liquidlevels.com. If not already installed on the computer, “Senix AirWire LoRa System Manager” and “Senix View Version 3” should be installed. These can be downloaded from https://senix.com/technical-support/documentation/. If a receiver is not already installed in the office where the transmitters are being assembled and configured, it should be set up according to the instructions in section 4.2.

Wiring and Connections

Prior to connecting the sensor to the transmitter, mount the sensor in the bracket using the round fasteners which thread onto the top of the sensor. To do this, feed the length of the sensor cable through the fastener until you reach the top threaded portion of the sensor. Tighten the fastener onto the lowest threads. Seat the sensor in the round opening of the bracket and then feed the cable through the second fastener. Once you reach the threads of the sensor, tighten down the fastener. The mounting bracket should be sandwiched between the two fasteners.

The transmitter and sensor come disassembled and must be assembled in the office. Open the transmitter box using a Philips head screwdriver. Unscrew the gland at the base of the transmitter box, feed the sensor cable through the disconnected gland and then through the transmitter box. Connect the bare wires of the sensor to the terminals indicated by color and tighten each one with a small flathead screwdriver. Once all colored wires are secured, tighten the entrance gland to prevent water from entering the transmitter box. Test that the cable is not able to slip in or out.

Attach the antenna to the mount on the top of the transmitter and be sure it is hand tightened.

Do not insert the three D-Cell batteries yet since a USB will be needed to connect the transmitter to the computer for configuration in section 4.2.

Network Configuration'

Prior to configuring the transmitters, you must have a configured indoor receiver.  

Configuring the Transmitters

With the lid removed from the transmitter box, connect the micro USB to the transmitter and the USB to the COM port on the computer. The transmitter will be powered through the USB cable for configuration. Later you will add batteries at installation. You can also use the temporary USB cable connection when using the software Senix AirWire LoRa System Manager to make any changes directly to the transmitter rather than over www.liquidlevels.com.

Navigate to www.liquidlevels.com and login using the username: andy@svpa.us and password.  On the “Home” page, you will see the transmitters listed in groups or clusters. The transmitters are grouped based on the receiver cluster they are located in.  Any new transmitter will likely not appear on this page because they are not yet designated to a receiver cluster. To add a new group, navigate to the “Advanced” page. Under “SVPA Groups” click “Add Group” (if this is a new receiver group). Title the group based on the final location of the receiver and click “okay”. To add the new transmitter(s) to this group click “add sensor to groups”. A drop-down menu will appear. Select the sensors to add to the new group one by one. You should see them populate the new group. Next, scroll down to “SVPA Users” and click “add group to user”. Select the group that was just created and add to all users by checking the boxes on the left for each user. Scroll down to “SVPA User Permissions” and check the boxes for the new transmitters that say “disabled”. These need to be enabled so settings for the new transmitters can later be edited on liquid levels.

Example

To configure the transmitter open Senix AirWire LoRa System Manager. All changes made in this program will be reflected on liquidlevels.com as well. In the “Display” tab select the appropriate COM Port to connect to the new transmitter. Edit the default friendly name to match the SVPA naming convention which is the last six digits of the EUI with no spaces in between, letters in all Caps (Ex: 015D5F). The EUI and S/N can be found on the bottom of the transmitter. Set the min to -50’ and the max to 50’. Click “Store All” to save changes. In the “Com” tab set LoRa retries to 10 (this is the same as “TX retry limit” on liquidlevels.com). Set frequency subband to 3 (this must be the same for all transmitters).

Before changing the sample rate, be sure the transmitter has appeared on the liquid levels site and be sure it is transmitting data. If the transmitter is not yet activated and is taking a while you can sometimes speed the process by pressing the RESET button in the transmitter box.  Once you know the transmitter is active on the network, change the final sample rate to 900 seconds for Rate1 and Rate 2. Click “Store All”. On the “Alarms” tab uncheck all alarms and click “Store All”.

Repeat these steps for the other transmitters. You will see them arrive one by one on the dashboard soon after power is applied.

Registering Senix Sensor / Transmitters with Floodzilla

Registering the Senix sensor/transmitters with the Floodzilla system happens entirely within the Sensor admin pages.  This step should be done before deploying the sensors.  All the necessary information is on the sensor serial-number plate:

In particular, you will need the serial number (“S/N”) and the External Unique Identifier (“EUI”).

To register a sensor, go to the Devices admin page and click “New Device”.  You will come to a page that looks like this:

Add Device Example

The important fields:

• Device Id: Enter the serial number for the sensor.
• Device Name: Choose a name to refer to this sensor; this can be changed later.
• External Device ID: Enter the EUI from the labe.  Use all lowercase for letters.
• Device Types: Select “Senix”

Version and IMEI should be left empty.  Location can be specified once the sensor is deployed.

See Also

• Senix Indoor Receiver
• Senix Outdoor Receiver