Summary
InstallationDetails
Install trip 8/25-8/27:
The team met with Eric Carlson on the morning of Sunday 8/25. He suggested having the station closer to the northern stretch of fence so that the yard would still be useful.
On the first auger dig the auger broke through low-voltage multi-conductor wire about 1.5’ down. Eric said that this was probably part of the control for an old sprinkler system that was in the yard and no longer in use, and not to worry about it. Just after, in the same hole, the auger broke through a rigid blue plastic pipe, and the hole started to fill with water. Eric said this was also part of the old sprinkler system and that there must have been water still in the line. The end of the pipe was seen sticking out of the ground on the barn side of the yard. He said that the irrigation system in this yard must have been connected to the main water line on the south side of the road and that it had been shut off. If he were to try and turn on a hose there, he said that the blue plastic line would flood the hole. But he intends to disconnect the whole irrigation system so that won’t happen. The water in the hole eventually drained.
The team proceeded with digging the other holes, going around the trajectory of the blue pipe and cable to avoid hitting them again. Two holes were dug for the enclosure poles at 2.5’ deep (2” galvanized pipe), one hole for the MRR tripod pole at around 1’ deep (1.5” galvanized pipe), and one for the tipping buck pole at 2.5’ deep (1.5” galvanized pipe). The holes were all easily dug to about 1.5’ and then it was very hard clay which required a digging bar and the hammer drill.
RADMet AC power was taken from an outlet inside the barn closest to the north-most window on the west wall of the barn. Starting from the AC plug, the cable ran through a hole in the wall of the barn, per Eric’s suggestion, into a junction box that was screwed into the exterior of the barn wall. The team ran ¾” conduit from this junction box to the RADMet enclosure in a 1’ deep trench.
A battery enclosure was installed with 2x 12V 100AH lead acid batteries in series, and two vents in the enclosure. The enclosure was installed behind the RADMet enclosure on a wooden stand and with a wooden cover for shade. The RADMet enclosure was also shaded by a wooden cover with a built-in solar powered fan for cooling. The team ran DC wires in ¾” conduit directly from the battery enclosure to the RADMet enclosure, connecting the DC UPS to the battery backup.
The cell modem was set up for T-Mobile, and the cell modem was pointed to the north based on the T-Mobile signal strength measured from that direction during scouting.
When powered on, the Septentrio GPS was giving a bad elevation value compared with the cell phone GPS readings. Used the phone elevation for setting up the master program in the surface Met as well as in the MRR settings.