The ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit – Model 3324-02 is a cost effective way to upgrade a rain only monitoring site from Legacy ALERT to ALERT2. The ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit can be used to upgrade High Sierra Electronics (HSE) transmitter Models 3206 and 3201 and the Model 5096 transmitter which has been manufactured over the years by Sierra Misco, NovaLynx, and HydroLynx. The ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit hardware mounts quickly and easily in your existing transmitter’s chassis using the included wiring harnesses to connect to your transmitter’s battery and radio (Maxon or Midland).
The ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit transmitter is compatible with tipping buckets using either standard momentary (2-wire) or 3-wire format reed switches. The existing 26 pin ribbon cable from the top plate connector board of your chassis is pin compatible with the 26 pin connector on the ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit’s circuit board.
The ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter is supplied on a mounting bracket that simply replaces the radio/power amp mounting bracket in the Model 3206 or 3201 transmitters. In the 5096 transmitter the ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit’s bracket can be mounted by drilling 8 holes in the aluminum center plate or with the optional 3324-96 mounting plate that will simply replace the 5096 transmitter’s circuit board. Whether you are replacing your HSE transmitter or another manufacturers you will need to drill a 1/4 inch (0.635 cm) hole in the transmitter’s top plate to accommodate the bulkhead GPS antenna connector which is supplied in the ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit (GPS antenna, cable, and mounting hardware sold separately).
ALERT2 is the next generation data format for Hydological and Meteorological Data Collection Systems. A Rain Gauge using the ALERT2 protocol reports each tip of the bucket with a time stamp for when the tip occurred. Utilizing faster baud rates for transmission, more data can be sent in shorter messages. This increase in data capacity allows for the transmission of field data in calibrated, floating point engineering units, and also provides a tremendous increase in the number of available Station IDs. Another significant advancement offered by ALERT2, is the ability to assign TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) time slots for each transmitter and repeater. This capability eliminates data collisions and ensures exceptional system data throughput even during extreme weather events. This report scheduling capability is possible due to the precise timekeeping enabled by the on board GPS Receiver. The increased message capacity of ALERT2 also allows for the inclusion of Forward Error Correction to help minimize transmission errors that can occur over noisy channels.
The ALERT2 Rain Gauge Data Transmitter Upgrade Kit – Model 3324-02 is part of the 33XX family of transmitters and like all transmitters in the family you can easily program them using the downloadable Insight software which is supplied at no additional charge for your use.
