Frequently Asked Questions

There are 2 preferred devices that are recommended.

USB-to-Serial Converters using the Prolific Chipset have been tested and work consistently with loggers and other devices.
The KeySpan USA-19H USB-to Serial Converter is also recommended. It has a well-tested history with SUTRON products and comes with a utility that allows you to configure it for any Serial Port number available on your Laptop/PC.

Field exchangeable plug and play modem cards allow for easy upgrade of cellular/telecom technologies including 4G, and cellular IoT (CAT-M1/LTE-M). The XLink 100 & 500 also support Iridium Satellite communications.

The XLink 500 supports Python scripting and has additional analog sensor inputs.

The LTE-M network is a low-cost option with improved network availability. By equipping a datalogger with a modem, a user can leverage the two-way communication features to change configuration and check station status.

The software can be downloaded for either MAC OS X and PC. LinkComm software is used to easily set up and maintain data from numerous loggers.

Connection is either via direct USB connection or remotely over cell, Iridium satellite, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth. The software runs on Windows PC, iPhone/iPad, and Android platforms enabling seamless connection with commonly used devices.

Click on “Click for available actions…” next to the level or depth to water measurement (M1 on top), you will be asked to calibrate which allows you to enter the reference value.

LinkComm software is complimentary and used to easily set up and maintain XLink and Satlink dataloggers, as well as the ecoLog 1000, an all-in-one water level logger. LinkComm can be downloaded from our website and in the App Store.

“Refresh Status” refreshes the view, reads and displays the last stored values from the ecoLog 1000 as configured in M1-M5. “Measure All” performs an actual measurement and displays these values.

LTE-M is a low power transmission option and allows users to access real-time data across greater distances. The low power nature of the LTE-M protocol enables longer battery life of the ecoLog1000. Additionally, the cost of data transmission is low with inexpensive machine to machine (M2M) communication. You can expect to experience better network availability, even underground, and avoid high network traffic in emergency events, such as flooding.

1. You need a Windows 10 OS Release 1607, Build 14393 or higher (Windows 7 or an earlier version will not work)
2. The internal Bluetooth driver is not current and needs an update; check the webpage of the Bluetooth module manufacturer for the latest version
3. Your PC does not have a built-in Bluetooth module, use an external one, we recommend Delock USB Bluetooth Adapter V4.0 dual mode or try other adapters supporting Bluetooth Low Energy (Windows 10 OS required)

Click on “Click for available actions…” next to the level or depth to water measurement (M1 on top), you will be asked to calibrate which allows you to enter the reference value.

This compresses the data file and reduces the size by a factor of up to 10 which is beneficial for a shorter transmission and less power consumption. The data will need to be decompressed (unzipped) on the receiving server. OTT Hydras 3 does this automatically.

“Refresh Status” refreshes the view, reads and displays the last stored values from the ecoLog 1000 as configured in M1-M5. “Measure All” performs an actual measurement and displays these values.

The ecoLog provides two transmission and therefore two transmission times. For each transmission, two servers can be configured as either parallel transmission or fallback.

You can use HTTPS TLS 1.2 (incl. latest Cipher Suites). The ecoLog 1000 does not support FTP-S or SFTP.

Each electronic device with an internal clock has a time slip called drift. This means the time of the clock is drifting away from the true time. Even though the ecoLog 1000 RTC (real time clock) is quite accurate, it will drift. With SNTP (Simple Network Time Protocol) each time a transmission is done the time is checked on a public server and adjusted if required, this is a no-cost service.

If data is sent to software like Hydras 3 net, the station location will automatically be displayed on the map.

If the power source is disconnected longer than 40s, the internal clock loses its time and needs to be set via LinkComm.

No, the data is in nonvolatile storage and will remain there even if no power is applied. If the battery is too weak for transmissions, it will stop transmitting but has enough reserve power to continue to measure at least another ten thousand values. Measurement data will not be lost and with the continued measurements the exchange of the battery can be planned. After installing a new battery, the data not previously transmitted will be transmitted and no gaps will occur on the server.

You can set limits to the “Supply Voltage” M3 or the “Power Consumption” M4 and send alarms to one or more recipients.

Ott provides a calculation tool helping to understand how long the battery could last.

The one towards the top (labeled BLE) is green if the Bluetooth connection is active. The second one is for the mobile communication (labeled STAT) is red when a transmission via the modem is active. Additionally, this LED flashes red once after a new start i.e. power reset. You can use this when you are in the office and want to see what is currently going on.

The idea behind transmission technology is to push the data, meaning that the data logger has a self-time transmission to a server, so the data is not pulled, but it’s pushed. The advantage of this is that the logger can do this on its own, you don’t need to have the modem on all the time or wait for someone to pull the data. By pushing it, it saves time, battery power, and energy, and with the action and alarm management, it’s possible to adjust, for example, the transmission interval from maybe once per day to two times a day. The XLink dataloggers have the ability to pull data with additional effort.