The Olpas Tentacle consumes approx. 0.8W of power during operation. For battery and/or solar powered devices, it is recommended to provide power only when a measurement is required. The sensor is capable of fast start-up, measurement and RS485 modbus RTU communication to ensure limited energy consumption per measurement.
For TSS, SSC or related concentration measurements, the Olpas Tentacle will provide the first measurements after a warm-up or start-up of time of 2-3 seconds (depending on exact parameters).
Selection of smoothing factor
The measurement smoothing factor, referred to as ‘alpha’ in the sensor manual at modbus register 8, can be adjusted to suit short power-on situations. When a sensor is only active for a few seconds, smoothing of consecutive measurements is not very important and a large smoothing factor will make the first measurement dominate. It is recommend to use limited to no smoothing for short power-on cycles. A value of 1-3 for alpha/register 8 is recommended.
Selection of ‘number of pulses’
The amount of ultrasound pulse-echo readings use for one measurement relates to smoothing as well. A larger amount of pulses (i.e. 25-100) cannot be processed within the standard measurement time an will slow the sensor down. A small value of pulses (1-10) will however provide inaccurate or noisy measurements results.
For this reason, it is recommended to use 10-25 pulses for short power-on measurements.