OTT HydroMet SUTRON SatLink 3 Lite Logger User Guide
- June 15, 2024
- OTT HydroMet
Table of Contents
OTT HydroMet SUTRON SatLink 3 Lite Logger
LinkComm – Quick Start Guide
LinkComm is a program used to view status and configure OTT and Sutron data loggers. LinkComm runs on PC and Macs, but also on Apple iPhones and iPads, and Android phones and tablets.
With LinkComm you can:
- View status and measurement data
- Change the setup
- Download and graph the log
- Perform diagnostics (e.g., send a command, set the time)
- Upgrade the firmware
This is a quick start guide for LinkComm. Please see the user manual for your logger for complete documentation of LinkComm and using your OTT or Sutron logger! LinkComm provides full support for the Satlink3 and XLink family of Sutron loggers (100, 500, GPRSLink, IridiumLink, etc.), as well as for the OTT ecoLog 1000. Text-only status and setup are provided for Xpert and 8310 families.
Installing LinkComm
PC and Mac versions are available for download at https://www.otthydromet.com/en/p-sutron-linkcomm-software/LINKCOMM. If you haven’t already, download and unzip LinkComm to its own folder. LinkComm may be run directly from this folder. To install LinkComm on PC:
- Run “setup.exe”.
- If USB drivers are needed, run “Install USB Drivers” from Start Menu – LinkComm, or simply run “install-usb.bat” in the download folder.
For Apple mobile devices, download from the Apple App Store. For Android mobile devices, download from the Google Play Store. Do this from within your mobile device:
- Open the App Store or Play Store app.
- Search on LinkComm.
- Select Install.
Running LinkComm on Windows
LinkComm may be run directly from the download folder. If you installed
LinkComm, then run it by selecting Start Menu – LinkComm – LinkComm.exe. Some
Windows PCs do not fully support OpenGL or DirectX hardware acceleration. If
LinkComm.exe does not appear to start properly, try running either
“LinkComm.exe (DirectX)” or “LinkComm.exe (SoftOpenGL)” from the Start menu
Getting Connected
When you open LinkComm the first time, “New Station” is selected by default
(on smaller screens, select the “< Stations” text link to see the list view
where “New Station” resides). Specify your station type (e.g., Satlink3, XLink
500, etc.). Then scroll down (if necessary) to see the Connection Settings
section and configure to connect to your station. The Connection Settings
appear as follows. The image on the left from a PC, while the image on the
right comes from an iPhone with the view scrolled down to see the connection
settings (the station settings are out of view above the connection settings).
Connect Type
- USB: Select this option to connect to Satlink3 or XLink 100/500 via USB
- BLE: Select this option to connect to ecoLog 1000 via Bluetooth Low Energy
- Station Wi-Fi: Select this option if you are in range of your logger’s on-board Wi-Fi. Note: to use this option, you must first:
- Turn Wi-Fi on (by pressing the Satlink3 or X-Link Wi-Fi button), if needed
- Connect to the station’s Wi-Fi network using your device’s network settings
- Serial: Select this option to connect to station via serial cable (or USB for X-Link family, which uses a virtual serial port over USB)
- Redirector: Choose this option if your logger has been set up for access via the Sutron Redirector service (common when using Sutron cellular data plans). Set User name and Password to the values provided by Sutron, and select the station name
Get Recent Data on Connect: When checked, LinkComm downloads the last week of data to graph on the dashboard tab, every time you connect to the station. This can be a lot of data (several k-bytes). Here again, disable this feature to reduce data costs. After configuring Connection Settings, press the Connect button to connect.
Note: GPRS/CDMA communications are billed per bytes transferred, so be mindful of data transfers! Syncing the setup (either getting or sending the setup), can range from a few tens of bytes to a few thousand bytes, depending on how many measurements are active. A typical status update is a few hundred bytes.
Work Offline
When you choose the Work Offline button in the stations list view, instead of
the Connect button, LinkComm enters “offline mode”. In this mode, LinkComm
does not try to communicate with a data logger over the network. This mode is
useful for making changes to setups you will later load into a station.
Remember while in Offline mode, that the changes you are making are not in the
logger!
Viewing Station Status
Use the Dashboard tab to view the logger’s status. Here’s the Dashboard for an
X-Link logger. To see the complete status on the smaller phone screen, simply
scroll down:
- Use the Refresh Status button to refresh the status displayed.
- Use the Clear Status button to tell the logger to reset all its status data like error counts, etc. (make sure this is really what you want to do first, as it cannot be undone).
- Use the Show Details button to view the status text stream reported by the logger.
- Click or touch the recent data graph to see a pop-up menu allowing you to refresh recent data, or see the selected data in a larger graph on the Data tab.
- Access the main menu by pressing the button in the upper left. Different tabs are selected by pressing the tab buttons at the bottom of the view. To disconnect, either press the Disconnect button in the header, or open the main menu and select Stations… to return to the stations list view.
Making Changes
Use the Measurements and Telemetry tabs to make changes to the setup. Note
that after making your first change, the setup sync icon at the top of the
screen changes from a green check to a yellow warning sign. Use this yellow
warning sign as a reminder to send the setup to the logger when you’re done
making changes.
In the larger, landscape view on desktop/tablet, change the selected measurement by selecting from the list on the left. On smaller screens, press the “< Measurement 1” link text first to access the measurement list, then select the desired measurement.
Don’t Forget! You must send the setup to have the station start using your changes. Do this by pressing the setup sync button when it’s a yellow warning icon, or by selecting “Send Setup to Station” in the main menu
Some Things Can’t Be Changed!
There are some changes you can’t make when connected to a station over GPRS or
CDMA (i.e., “remotely”). For example, you can’t turn recording off, turn
listening off, disable transmissions, or alter important modem settings. You
can change these items when connected over Wi-Fi (as well as when connected
directly using LinkComm on the desktop, of course).
Viewing Data
Use the Data tab to view historical data, and to download the log. If recent
data was downloaded when connecting to the logger, the graph displays this
data the first time you select the Data tab.
To zoom in on subsets of data, click/touch-and-drag to create a rectangle around the data you want to zoom to. To restore the zoom to all data, double- tap. Click/touch and hold the press for a short bit to show a menu allowing you to select all series, deselect all series, or show points. You may select or deselect individual data series for display using the legend just below the graph. Change the span of the period to graph using the Span control. Several options are available. Whenever a change to span is made, you must press the Download button to retrieve the data for display. When the defined span no longer matches the displayed span, the download button text changes to “Download***”. On the desktop, click Save File… to save the downloaded raw data file, or click Save Image… to save an image of the graph to file. In mobile versions, you’ll see Share File… and Share Image…, which enable you to share the files via services like Email and Dropbox (if installed). The “Include Header” and “Include Events” options shown affect only the raw data file content downloaded from the station.
Note: On smaller screens, turning the device to landscape causes the blue header and footer sections to be hidden, showing you more data content.
Diagnostics
This tab provides extensive diagnostics information and offers tools for
performing various diagnostics and maintenance operations. For example:
- Get diagnostics information including software versions and data usage
- Terminal and Data Flow views
- SDI-12 command utility
- Set the station clock
The following images show the LinkComm diagnostics screen for an X-Link:
Troubleshooting
- Problem connecting to station – here are a couple of common reasons why you may not be able to connect to your station:
- For most station types, only one connection can be active at any given time
- Some stations can’t accept a remote connection attempt when it is transmitting (and if the station is experiencing problems connecting to the server, it may be trying to transmit a lot!)
- Problem changing setting xxx – some settings can’t be changed remotely. See “Some Things Can’t Be Changed”, above.
- When using GPRS, disconnecting when not in use may help save precious bytes, as well as availability for other users!
Stations Database
All station definitions are saved in a database. You can export this database
to a file and import it into LinkComm running on another device. This is how
you can easily share your station definitions between, say, your PC and your
smartphone. Use the main menu items, “Import Database” and “Export Database”,
to share the station database across devices.