Anybody had problems setting up Octans

[Andy Shiers]

I am on a contract at the mo’ which has serious problems with delivering data through the sub .
Length of umbilical 1000 m
Direct wires through sub to surface unit , only ……………. The data is not exceptable to the topside.
I presume due to the length – RS 422 is the only way to go .
Anybody else come across this ? This is doing me heed in 🙁

[Scott Beveridge]

You know I’ve seen these probs before… You may need the little ol’ converters 232 <-> 422/485…

[James McLauchlan]

See below.. might help if you mail them.

To obtain support or information on any of our products, please contact IXSEA directly, or
one of its local representatives.

• IXSEA S.A.S.
55, Avenue Auguste Renoir,
78160 Marly-le-Roi,
France
Tel.: + 33 (0)1 30 08 98 88
Fax: + 33 (0)1 30 08 88 01
E-mail: info@ixsea.com

For Benelux, please contact directly the Dutch site of

• IXSEA b.v
A. Hofmanweg 5A
2031 BH Haarlem
Netherlands
Tel.: + 31 (0) 23 750 5110
Fax: + 31 (0) 23 750 5111
E-mail: info@ixsea.nl

• A detailed description of our products and a list of our representatives is available on
our website: http://www.ixsea.com

[Scott Beveridge]

Lost, Adams are also easy to get…Esp. where you are / lead times.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention… noisy longline??? Put a scope on it – careful though (go through your JSA’s).

[Andy Shiers]

Thanks Scott , Thanks James ,
Ixsea are the company that we hired the system from , but they have not been very helpful , even from their 24 hr emergency help line 😕
Any other info would be appreiciated.
An engineer is supposed to be coming out but he’s is a bit late and the client is getting quite rightly irked 😕

[Scott Beveridge]

Lost,

What do you have on the vehicle / what ancillary gear is it? PM or email me…

Some gear has propriety data language which will need the proper decoding and/or language selection (to convert to…. what the vehicle topside can decipher) a program / CD.

What about the Baud rate? Did you try incrementally stepping it up faster? Make sure both ends are of the same value.

I’m assuming the longline is "clean".

And…of course, any dodgy connectors…

Hope this will help you dude… Good luck.

[Rons_ROV_Links]

According to the Octans manual it can standard be used with RS422.

Assuming your Octans has a 16-pin Subconn (MCBH16M) these are the pins to use:
pin 3: SerOutV+/422
pin 4: SerOutV-/422
pin 5: SerInV+/422
pin 6: SerInV-/422
pin 10: SerGND

Don’t forget to setup the latitude correctly.

EDIT
Not sure, but it might be you have to configure the Octans for RS422 by using the supplied config-software and config-cable.

[T-Boy]

Yep, also seen this before…With the gear that you have on board;

If you have access to a TDR, you might want to ‘shoot’ the copper first just to see if any high impedance areas.

Also you may want to take a look at the actual level of the signal to see if it is falling below the threshold value needed for the data. (Check IXESEA data), you may see that the signal is swamped with intereferance or below a level that can be decoded. We had this creeping in from high power radar being induced into the umilical!

I would (If everything is accessable) working my way from the sub, first stopping at the slip rings, then rot JB checking at each stage if you can see the data at thoise points first, I’m sure you would have done this anyway.

No problem to drop me a PM.

It’ll be something daft 😕

[Rons_ROV_Links]

value needed for 232 think it may be around 3V

The umbilical is 1000m long, so RS232 is not an option unless having a serial channel free on the mux and that’s probably not the case otherwise lostboy wasn’t asking.

[T-Boy]

Sorry, suffered from a ‘brain fart’…carry on 🙂

[Andy Shiers]

Okay Gents , 😀
Found out what the problemo is 😯
RS 422 up to Blue surface interface unit , ( Test box ) No manual for it by the way 😕
Inside the unit is a small toggle switch which changes from Test cable to divert change to RS 232 😯
After hours of checking the pins / looking at the Octans manual / swapping wires topside and trying to find a way to update the repeater files from the CD ( Which was not the updated version – 1.5b , which you can only do IF it’s the updated version , which we didna have anyway 🙁 Not supplied ) And…………………… Speaking to Ixseas direct , 24 hour service on numerous occasions ………….. It was down to a poxy little switch hidden inside the Topside unit 👿
So if you hire Octans in the future , make sure the equipment comes COMPLETE with
Surface topside test box unit ( Complete with manual )
Test cable
Spare 1.5 m sixteen pin male cable to interface
13 pin to 16 pin pig tail
Octans unit ( Complete with manual )
You will be okay 😯
What I don’t understand is why the ‘Big brains’ at Ixseas have to change from 13 pin on the octans to 16 pin topside 😕
It just means an extra bloody termination to go wrong 🙄
Thanks for the support chaps.
Gule Gule 😀

[Author]

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