Downloading Water Level Recorders

From: "May, Melynda Kathryn" Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 12:09:37 -0400

When you find each water level recorder (WLR) there are two things you need to do.

Measure the distance from the blue calibration line on the lower half of the WLR to surface of the water. I usually use a metric measuring tape to do this and I record the distance in cm, measuring to the nearest mm (ex. 10.2 cm). There should be a little field notebook where you can write this down. Some of the wells in Brownsville are dry at some times of year so don't be alarmed if there is no water in your wells, just make a note of it in the field notebook
Use the HP calculator to download the data from the well to the calculator. The first thing you want to do is take off the black rubber cap that covers the data transfer eye on the WLR. Now turn on the calculator. If no one has used the calculator since it was last used to download the WLR you should be in the correct menu and the screen will read:
```
                         1)press ok when ready: 
                          Read WL 40

                          *more options*
```
If this is not the menu you see, the easiest thing to do is reboot the calculator by holding down the ON button and pressing the white button C (similar to ctrl-alt-del on your PC). When you let go of these buttons the calculator restarts and there will be various menu options running along the bottom of the screen. Press the VAR key once which brings up the next set of menu options at the bottom of the screen. Select the one that says RDS by pushing the white button A. A new set of menu options will run across the bottom of the screen. Select the one that says MENU by pushing the white button A. Now you should be at the correct screen to download.
Once you are on the correct screen you can download the data by holding the top of the calculator up the the data transfer eye. To position the calculator correctly look for a small arrow etched into the plastic above the screen. Place the top of the calculator flush wish the rim of the data transfer eye and position it so that the arrow is centered about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the eye. Once the calculator is positoned correctly select OK by pushing the white button F. The calculator must stay in this position until the "final burst". When the calculator says it is finished it will tell you to replace the black rubber cover for the data transfer eye and then it will show the date and time of your download. If the date says you downloaded in the WLR in 1970 then the read was bad and you have to do it again. If the date is OK you're finshed.

When you get the calculator back to the lab you transfer the data from the calculator to the computer by connecting the calculator to the computer with a small black cord. The cord fits into the top of the calculator and on my computer the cord fits into a port labeled IOIOI 2.

Once the two are connected restart your computer in MS DOS mode. On your calculator get to the screen that says:

                         1)press ok when ready: 
                          Read WL 40

                          *more options*

Using the arrow keys scroll down to *more options* and press OK. Scroll to *more options* a second time and and push OK. The screen should say: type R on PC. The calculator is now ready to go. Now get the computer ready. In DOS type: cd.. (make sure you put in the two periods) and at the next prompt type the letter r. The screen on the computer should say PORT COM 2 and you will be in the Kermit program. In this window press enter on the computer and OK on the calculator. On the calculator you will see moving arrows indicating downloading of the data packets. When the downloading is complete (no moving arrows), exit from Kermit by pressing control-C, and then use the arrows to move down the exit button.

You will now be back in DOS. Type rds and push enter which converts the data and stores it in a directory WL40DATA. When this is complete type exit and press enter. The computer will exit DOS and restart in Windows. You can look for the data in a folder labeled WL40 in the D drive, although the location may vary between computers.