This product is not available for new orders.
| Services Available | |
|---|---|
| Repair | No |
| Calibration | No |
| Free Support | Yes |
Overview
The CWS655 is a wireless version of our CS655 soil water reflectometer. It has 12 cm rods and monitors soil volumetric water content, bulk electrical conductivity, and temperature. This reflectometer has an internal 900 MHz spread-spectrum radio that transmits data to a CWB100 Wireless Base Station or to another wireless sensor. The internal radio's frequency is commonly used in the US and Canada.
Read MoreBenefits and Features
- Versatile sensor—measures dielectric permittivity, bulk electrical conductivity (EC), and soil temperature
- Measurement corrected for effects of soil texture and electrical conductivity
- Internal frequency-hopping, spread spectrum radio provides longer range and less interference
- Battery powered
- A reliable, low maintenance, low power method for making measurements in applications where cabled sensors are impractical or otherwise undesirable
- Transmissions can be routed through up to three other wireless sensors
- Compatible with CR800, CR850, CR1000, and CR3000 dataloggers
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Detailed Description
The CWS655 has 12-cm rods that insert into the soil. It measures propagation time, signal attenuation, and temperature. Dielectric permittivity, volumetric water content, and bulk electrical conductivity are then derived from these raw values.
Measured signal attenuation is used to correct for the loss effect on reflection detection and thus propagation time measurement. This allows accurate water content measurements in soils with bulk ≤3.7 dS m-1 without performing a soil-specific calibration.
Soil bulk electrical conductivity is also derived from the attenuation measurement. A thermistor in thermal contact with a probe rod near the epoxy surface measures temperature. Horizontal installation of the sensor provides accurate soil temperature measurement at the same depth as the water content measurement. For other orientations, the temperature measurement will be that of the region near the rod entrance into the epoxy body.
Why Wireless?
There are situations when it is desirable to make measurements in locations where the use of cabled sensors is problematic. Protecting cables by running them through conduit or burying them in trenches is time consuming, labor intensive, and sometimes not possible. Local fire codes may preclude the use of certain types of sensor cabling inside of buildings. In some applications measurements need to be made at distances where long cables decrease the quality of the measurement or are too expensive. There are also times when it is important to increase the number of measurements being made but the datalogger does not have enough available channels left for attaching additional sensor cables.
Compatibility
Note: The following shows notable compatibility information. It is not a comprehensive list of all compatible or incompatible products.
Specifications
| Weather Resistance | IP67 rating for sensor and battery pack (Battery pack must be properly installed. Each sensor is leak tested.) |
| Operating Temperature Range | -25° to +50°C |
| Operating Relative Humidity Range | 0 to 100% |
| Power Source | 2 AA batteries with a battery life of 1 year assuming sensor samples taken every 10 minutes. (Optional solar charging available.) |
| Average Current Drain | 300 μA (with 15-minute polling) |
| Rod Diameter | 3.2 mm (0.13 in.) |
| Rod Length | 12 cm (4.7 in.) |
| Weight | 216 g (7.6 oz) |
Measurement Accuracies |
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| Volumetric Water Content | ±3% VWC typical in mineral soils that have solution electrical conductivity ≤ 10 dS/m. Uses Topps Equation (m3/m3). |
| Relative Dielectric Permittivity |
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| Bulk Electrical Conductivity | ±(5% of reading + 0.05 dS/m) |
| Soil Temperature | ±0.5°C |
Internal 25 mW FHSS Radio |
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| Frequency | 902 to 918 MHz |
| Where Used | US and Canada |
| FHSS Channel | 50 |
| Transmitter Power Output | 25 mW (+14 dBm) |
| Receiver Sensitivity | -110 dBm (0.1% frame error rate) |
| Standby Typical Current Drain | 3 μA |
| Receive Typical Current Drain | 18 mA (full run) |
| Transmit Typical Current Drain | 45 mA |
| Average Operating Current | 15 μA (with 1-second access time) |
| Quality of Service Management | RSSI |
| Additional Features | GFSK modulation, data interleaving, forward error correction, data scrambling, RSSI reporting |
Documents
Downloads
Wireless Sensor Planner v.1.7 (30.5 MB) 08-08-2013
The Wireless Sensor Planner is a tool for use with Campbell Scientific wireless sensors. It assists in designing and configuring wireless sensor networks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Number of FAQs related to CWS655: 34
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The equation used to determine volumetric water content in the firmware for the CWS655 is the Topp et al. (1980) equation, which works for a wide range of mineral soils but not necessarily for artificial soils that typically have high organic matter content and high clay content. In this type of soil, the standard equations in the firmware will overestimate water content.
When using a CWS655 in artificial soil, it is best to perform a soil-specific calibration. For details on performing a soil-specific calibration, refer to “The Water Content Reflectometer Method for Measuring Volumetric Water Content” section in the CS650/CS655 manual. A linear or quadratic equation that relates period average to volumetric water content will work well.
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The bulk electrical conductivity (EC) measurement is made along the sensor rods, and it is an average reading of EC over the top 12 cm of soil.
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No. The temperature sensor is located inside the sensor’s epoxy head next to one of the sensor rods. The stainless-steel rods are not thermally conductive, so the reported soil temperature reading is actually the temperature of the sensor head near the soil surface.
Because the sensor is installed vertically with the sensor head above ground, the soil temperature reading is not representative of the temperature over the length of the 12 cm rods, but the reading is closer to the temperature of the soil surface. Because the temperature reading is not representative of the entire thickness of soil measured for water content, no attempt was made to correct the water content readings for temperature changes.
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Yes, but the pots would have to be large. The CWS655 can detect water as far away as 10 cm (4 in.) from the rods. If the pot has a diameter smaller than 20 cm (8 in.), the CS655 could potentially detect the air around the pot, which would underestimate the water content. In addition, potting soil is typically high in organic matter and clay, causing the probably need for a soil-specific calibration.
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No. The abrupt permittivity change at the interface of air and saturated soil causes a different period average response than would occur with the more gradual permittivity change found when the sensor rods are completely inserted in the soil.
For example, if a CWS655 was inserted halfway into a saturated soil with a volumetric water content of 0.4, the probe would provide a different period average and permittivity reading than if the probe was fully inserted into the same soil when it had a volumetric water content of 0.2.
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Shortening the rods will void the warranty. There are several other reasons why Campbell Scientific strongly discourages shortening the sensor’s rods. The electronics in the sensor head have been optimized to work with the 12 cm long rods. Shortening these rods will change the period average. Consequently, the equations in the firmware will become invalid and give inaccurate readings.
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The CWS655 works best when the rods are inserted into the soil as parallel to each other as possible. To make parallel pilot holes before installation, use the CS650G Rod Insertion Guide Tool. Minor deflection of a rod during insertion, such as when it contacts a small stone or root, may not affect the readings significantly. Major deflections, however, may cause the CWS655 to operate outside of published accuracy specifications, as well as to damage the sensor housing.
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Campbell Scientific does not recommend using the CWS655 to measure water content in compost. A compost pile is a very hostile environment for making dielectric measurements with soil water content sensors. All of the following combine to make it very difficult to determine a calibration function: high temperature, high and varying electrical conductivity, high organic matter content, heterogeneity of the material in the pile, changing particle size, and changing bulk density. The electrical conductivity values reported by the CWS655 may give some useful information about processes occurring in the compost pile, but it will not be able to give useful readings for water content. In addition, the plastic housing of the CWS655 may likely be damaged by the high temperatures and acids formed during the composting process.
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Period average and electrical conductivity readings were taken with several CWS655 probes in solutions of varying permittivity and varying electrical conductivity at constant temperature. Coefficients were determined for a best fit of the data. The equation is of the form
Ka(σ,τ) = C0*σ3*τ2 + C1*σ2*τ2 + C2*σ*τ2 + C3*τ2 + C4*σ3*τ + C5*σ2*τ + C6*σ*τ + C7*τ + C8*σ3 + C9*σ2 + C10*σ + C11
where Ka is apparent dielectric permittivity, σ is bulk electrical conductivity (dS/m), τ is period average (μS), and C1 to C11 are constants.
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If information is available on soil texture, organic matter content, and electrical conductivity (EC) from soil surveys or lab testing of the soil, it should be possible to tell if the soil conditions fall outside the range of operation of the CWS655. Without this information, an educated guess can be made based on soil texture, climate, and management:
- Mineral soils work well with a CWS655 if the EC at saturation is below 3.04 dS/m.
- If the soil is located in an arid or semiarid region, it may have high EC.
- If the soil is frequently fertilized or irrigated with water that has higher EC, it may have high EC.
- If the climate provides enough rain to flush accumulated salts below the root zone, the EC is expected to be low and suitable for a CWS655.
- Organic or artificial soils typically have high surface electrical conductivity and may become out-of-bounds if they receive significant fertilizer or water with high EC.