Our full technical support staff does not monitor this forum. If you need assistance from a member of our staff, please submit your question from the Ask a Question page.


Log in or register to post/reply in the forum.

Watermark 257-L


LDS Nov 18, 2009 05:37 PM

Hi all,

I have a bunch of watermark soil water potential sensors. These old sensors have two wires coming from the gypsum block and were original made to interface with the watermark handheld meter.

I am converting them to work with the CR1000 dataloger, but I need some help interpreting the schematic shown on the Campbell Scientific Instruction manual for the 257-L.

Can you please refer to figure 4-1 on page 4 of said manual and provide a little clarification on the schematic?

In addition to the one 1k Ohm resistor, are those four(4) 100ufd polarized capacitors? Are they four 25ufd capacitors for a total value of 100ufd?

I see all four have the "+" sign indicating polarization, but the two right hand capacitor symbols " -|(- " show polarity, but the left hand capacitor symbols look like
" -||- " to me and don't indicate polarity.

Thanks for the help


aps Nov 18, 2009 08:09 PM

The capacitors are connected back to back. Take a look in this manual as it is clearer and the connections are the same.

http://www.campbellsci.com/documents/manuals/227.pdf

If you are using a multiplexer the capacitors are not necessary as they are there to prevent polarisation. With a multiplexer the connection back to ground is brief and temporary so there is little chance of polarisation.


Gerry Apr 25, 2017 07:38 PM

I have the same questions as LDS. Do we need 4 x 100 microFarad capacitors, or 4 x 25?

Also, the curved side is the negative or positive end of the capacitors?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Log in or register to post/reply in the forum.