Pico Technical Support and Discussion Forum

Hi!
I have been checking your web site because I am interested in your data
loggers for a soil warming experiment I am planning to do this summer
using soil heating cables.

My idea is to set the temperature of the warming plots 2 degrees over the
control plots, so that temperature in warming plots can vary along with
the temperature in control plots: when the difference between control and
warming plots is over 2 degrees, the datalogger sets a signal and the heating cables turn off. And vice versa.

So my question is how could I get this. Does any of your data loggers and
software come with this feature?

Thank you very much in advance for your help

Hi this may well be possible.

The Enviromon system may be suitable for your application. It comprises of a number of component, a data logger and up to 10 converters. The data logger is initially programmed on the computer and then can be left to run remotely as it has a microprocessor and memory. It can then be connected to the PC to download the data, or it can be just left to connected to your PC.

There are a number of different converters for different purposes really, in your case the EL001 with the EL015 thermistors may be suitable.

You can also then use the EL042 alarm/relay unit to trigger on an alarm condition.

So I would recommend the following really:

http://www.picotech.com/e_starter_kits.html (Temperature kit)

and

http://www.picotech.com/e_alarms.html (EL042)

Note: The system samples once every minute (actually averages readings every minute) so an alarm condition might take 1 or 2 mins before it is noticed.

Kind regards

Ziko

Hi Ziko!
Thank you very much for your help! I really appreciate it!

I have some questions, though. With the system EL008 or EL005 (data logger) plus EL001 (converter) if the difference between the warming and control plots is over 2 C, then the heating cable will automatically switch off? How is the datalogger/convertor connected to the heating cables?

Thank you very much for your help!!

Hi I do not know specifically how you would do this with your system.

What I will say is that the EL042 has 3 relay switches which can be triggered on an alarm condition, if you can somehow wire your system to the relays, then this can switch it on and off.

Kind regards