Monarch Instrument DC 2000 - Manual (Page 47)

Chapter 3 Getting Started
Page 3-17
4,000 samples. Alarm/Event log files record all alarm and/or events to disk. Each alarm or event uses the space
of 6 samples.
The amount of data that can be stored on a disk is dependent on circumstances (how many alarms occur) and what
has been selected for recording.
We will use the recorder to format a disk and set it up to record four channels at a sample rate of once every five
seconds.
NOTE: Before a disk can be used for recording it must be FORMATTED. For best results, format the disk inside
the Recorder.
3.10.1 Using the Recorder to format a floppy/zip disk or PCMCIA card
With the unit turned on, locate the disk drive behind the pull-down panel below the LCD screen. Ensure the
disk is not write protected. The plastic slide in one corner of the floppy disk must be in a position such that
it exposes the hole in the plastic cover. The PCMCIA card may have a tiny slide switch on the back end
which will be marked as to which way is write protected. Insert the disk, label side up, into the drive and
push home. In the case of the floppy or zip disk, the metal slide goes into the drive first.
Press MENU at the bottom right corner of the LCD screen. This will bring up the command button bar. Press
PROGram and use the UP and DOWN Arrow keys to scroll the highlight bar to “Record Setup” then press
ENTER. This will bring up the Record Setup Program Menu. Use the UP and DOWN Arrow keys to scroll the
highlight bar to “Format”. This will bring up a window that displays “Format = NO*”. Press YES then ENTER to
begin formatting. The light on the drive will come on until the format is complete and a “Format Done” message
will be displayed. Press “OK?” to end the format. The disk is now formatted and ready for use.
3.10.2 Selecting the Record Mode
There are a number of parameters that need to be set up before actual recording can take place. These are -
which channels or points to record, at what rate to record them and which record fill mode to use. There are
basically two record fill modes - “Fill to end” and “Cyclic.”
3.10.2.1 Fill to End
Data is recorded on the disk until the disk is full, then the recording stops. The status of the disk (amount
of disk space used in %) is displayed on the status line.
3.10.2.2 Cyclic
Data is stored on the disk in blocks. In the cyclic mode, once the disk becomes full, the first block of data
recorded is overwritten by the most current block. A block contains approximately 500 samples, thus the
500 oldest samples are replaced with 500 newest samples. This continues to happen until the recording
is stopped. The recorder recycles the space on the disk and can record indefinitely. The oldest data is
always replaced with newest data and you will have a record of the most current data. The amount of data
that will be on the disk is calculated as described above.
3.10.2.3 Average or Instantaneous Recording
There are two methods of storing data to the disk, average or instantaneous. Average mode will average
all input data sampled at 4 times per second to the record rate being recorded. Thus if data is being stored
to disk once every minute (60 seconds), 240 samples will be averaged. Instantaneous mode stores only
the latest sample to the disk and is used if you have one of the special functions enabled, such as peak
reading or moving average that does not need to be averaged.