Campbell Scientific PWS100 Present Weather Sensor - Manual (Page 37)

Section 7. Operation
7.1 Introduction
The best way of becoming familiar with the sensor is to setup the sensor and
connect it to a PC running Windows and the Campbell Scientific Present
Weather Viewer program.
This software allows easy setup of the sensor and a graphical display of the
measurements being made. It also provides an easy way of upgrading the
firmware of the sensor. It is not intended to capture or store data on a
permanent basis but is provided as a demonstration, test and setup tool. Brief
details of use of the program are described below. The program includes a
more detailed multi-lingual help system which can be accessed from the Help
menu option once the program is running.
The PWS100 Present Weather Sensor is capable of outputting a range of data,
from single particle parameters, to codes representing those from WMO and
other standard meteorological tables. The sensor is setup with some factory
defined output messages but the user often will need to change these to meet
their own requirements. The setup can be done using either the Present
Weather Viewer program or using a terminal emulator and interacting with the
sensor directly.
7.2 PWS100 Configuration
7.2.1 Using the Present Weather Viewer Program
The latest copy of which can be downloaded from:
www.campbellsci.com/downloads
To use this program install it on your PC. When first run you will be prompted
to chose a connection port and speed. Set these to match the serial port on the
PC being used and the baud rate. With a new sensor the PWS100 address/ID
will be set to zero and there will be no password. With these set you can then
connect icon (top right hand corner) to establish a connection with the sensor.
After the program has checked the sensor setup it will switch to a mode of
displaying data transmitted at regular intervals (one minute by default). The
graphs will then be updated, although they will largely look blank if there is no
precipitation falling. Clicking on the data values and status tab of the display
gives access to basic data which shows the sensor is working OK.
To change settings in the sensor click on the icon near the connection button
which brings up the sensor control panel.
The PWS viewer also provides a simple terminal emulator screen which can be
used to setup the sensor using it’s built in menu system rather than the
graphical interface the viewer provides.
To understand the operation of the sensor and the relevance of the settings in
the graphical interface it is necessary to understand the messages and
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