Posts Tagged milltronics
Troubleshooting Siemens MultiRanger/HydroRanger mA Inputs
Posted by danstips in 4-20mA, Level, Siemens, Troubleshooting on February 9, 2017
Written by: Dan Weise
Recently, I was helping a customer troubleshoot the analog input on his Siemens MultiRanger 200.
For common troubleshooting, using voltage values to confirm a zero, mid point and span is all that’s needed. I find it easier to put a voltmeter across the analog input and read the voltage drop than to wire an amp meter into the circuit to read directly, but that assumes that the analog input’s resistor value is a known. For the most commonly used input resistance (250 ohms), the equivalent voltage drop is 1.0 to 5.0V.
Being the guy who actually reads the user manuals, I looked in the Siemens manual to find the input resistance, and it’s not there.
Move New Multi/HydroRanger Level Controller Guts into an Existing Multi/HydroRanger Enclosure
Written by: Dan Weise
The venerable Siemens Milltronics line of level controllers, the MultiRanger and HydroRanger Series, recently received a major update. The new models have high resolution LCD displays and built-in configuration tools with English language menus. Configuration time is reduced significantly without the need to reference manuals for parameter codes. These updated models have ‘HMI’ in the model name: MultiRanger HMI or HydroRanger HMI.
Why doesn’t my LR560 radar’s analog output match the displayed level value?
Posted by danstips in Configuration, Installation, Level, Level Technology, Level Transmitters, Measurement, Radar, Siemens, Transmitters, Troubleshooting, Uncategorized on September 20, 2012
A customer who had had lots of experience with Milltronics and Siemens ultrasonics was installing his first SITRANS LR560 radar level transmitter. They had worked with it in the shop beforehand, going through most of the settings. They even tested it by setting it up to shoot against a file cabinet and used a tape measure the check the indicated distance value.
Everything checked out OK in the shop.
When they installed the transmitter on the top of the bin, they changed the transmitter’s sensor mode parameter from the distance mode they used in the shop for testing to level mode. After aiming, the level value shown in the local display was dead nuts on, but the 4-20mA signal going back to the control room was way off.
The bin was a third full. The 4-20mA showed it about double that. Not only that, the 4-20 was going in the wrong direction. The bin was emptying and the HMI reported an increasing level value. Someone realized that an inverse-acting output was typical of a distance value, so they reconfigured the sensor mode to distance. That got the 4-20mA much closer to a distance value, but it was still not exactly what it should be, and besides, the goal was to read level, not distance, in the control room. What was going on?
The Impact of Background Echoes on Ultrasonic Level Measurement
Posted by danstips in Configuration, Echomax transducers, Installation, Level, Level Technology, Measurement, Siemens, Ultrasonic, Uncategorized on June 21, 2012
Photography is a pretty good way to illustrate the importance of background.
Look at the two photographs here. In one, the background is minimal, and focuses your eye on the subject matter. In the other, the background seriously detracts from the subject. Where should you be focusing? What’s most important?
But unlike photography, where a good background helps you focus on the subject, in the world of non-contact ultrasonic level measurement, even a “good” background has a negative influence. Background never contributes to a level reading, it only detracts. But Siemens has a built-in function to “cure” for the influence of backgrounds in their level devices. Read the rest of this entry »
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