Agratronix WCT-2 User manual

Operator’s Manual

Portable Wood Chip

Moisture Tester

ENGLISH

DOCU-M0137 0212

Introduction

THANK YOU for purchasing a Wood Chip Moisture Tester.

READ THIS MANUAL carefully to learn how to operate and service the

Moisture Tester correctly. Failure to do so could result in personal injury

or equipment damage.

THIS MANUAL SHOULD BE CONSIDERED a permanent part of the

Moisture Tester and remain with the Moisture Tester when you sell it.

WARRANTY is provided for customers who operate and maintain the

Moisture Tester as described in this manual.

This warranty provides you the assurance that we will back our products

where defects appear within the warranty period. In some circumstances,

the manufacturer also provides ﬁeld improvements, often without charge

to the customer, even if the product is out of warranty. Should the Mois-

ture Tester be abused, or modiﬁed to change speciﬁcations, the warranty

will become void and ﬁeld improvements may be denied.

PROOF OF PURCHASE (retail sales receipt) must be included with the

returned Moisture Tester to obtain free warranty service. Without proof, the

Moisture Tester will be assumed to be out of warranty and repair costs will

be invoiced.

RECORD SERIAL NUMBERS. Accurately record all the numbers on the

back cover of this manual, and refer to it in all communication with the

factory. The manufacturer, needs these numbers when you order parts

or obtain service.

All information, illustrations and speciﬁcations in this manual are based on the latest

information available at the time of publication. The right is reserved to make changes at

any time without notice.

Contents

Set Up and Installation

Contents of the Case ......................................................................... 05-1

General ............................................................................................... 05-1

Operation

General ...............................................................................................10-1

Measurement Preparation ..................................................................10-1

Step-by-Step Measurement ...............................................................10-2

Automatic Average Calculation ..........................................................10-3

Erasing the Average Calculation Memory ..........................................10-3

Adjusting the Result ...........................................................................10-4

Erasing of the Scale Adjustment ........................................................10-4

Types of Wood Chips

Wood Chips ........................................................................................15-1

Fine Logging Residue Chips ..............................................................15-1

Medium-Course Logging Residue Chips ............................................15-1

Coarse Logging Residue Chips ..........................................................15-1

Battery Replacement

Battery ................................................................................................20-1

Warranty and Service .......................................................................25-1

Manufacturer’s Contact Information ...............................................30-1

CAUTION: The Wood Chip Moisture Tester may cause

harm if used improperly. Please use the pointed probe

tip with care.

Set Up and Installation

05-1

CONTENTS OF THE CASE

• Wood Chip Moisture Tester with dish probe

• Carrying case

• Operating instructions

GENERAL

The Wood Chip Moisture Tester measures the moisture content of differ-

ent types of wood chips that are typically used as solid fuels in various

power plants. The tester can measure common types of wood chips,

from coarse chips to ﬁne logging residue chips. The measurement range

extends up to 70% of moisture.

The tester shows the moisture content of the material in weight percent.

Measurement range for wood chips is 12-40% and logging residue chips

30-70%.

GENERAL

One can measure the moisture content of the wood chips directly from

the storage pile or from the load. It is also possible to take a measure-

ment by gathering a sample of the material and measuring it from a

plastic 5 gallon bucket.

Take measurements from different places throughout the mass to en-

sure that the ﬁnal moisture reading represents the average quality of the

whole mass. Make several measurements if needed.

The measurement itself happens in the ball-shaped zone, that is situated

between the metal tip of the probe and the dish part. The diameter of the

measurement zone is about 7.5 inches (20 cm).

The quality of the wood chips affects the measurement result. Using the

pictures and descriptions in section 15, deﬁne what type of wood chips is

closest to the material you are going to measure. Choose the measure-

ment scale according to the kind of wood chips.

Step-by-step measure-

ment instructions on page 10-2

explains the important notice on possible

risks of measuring moisture content in frozen wood chips.

MEASUREMENT PREPARATION

In order to make the transportation easier the dish probe is packed in a

sturdy carrying case disassembled. Assemble the tester as follows:

Before carrying out any measurements and every time before measuring

the new/different types of wood chips choose the appropriate scale.

Operation

10-1

1. Unscrew cap from probe

2. Identify 4 Pieces:

A. Cap

B. Probe

C. Dish

D. Tester

3. Screw Cap to Tester

4. Balance Dish on Cap

5. Using little force, tighten

Dish into place by screw-

ing Probe into Cap.

Now the moisture tester is

ready for use.

1 & 2 3

4 5

Operation

10-2

MEASUREMENT PREPARATION (CON’T)

Switch the tester on with a single press on the POWER - button. The

number of the used scale will appear on the testers’s display. When the

number of the scale is displayed, you can change the scale by pushing

the FUNCTION - button:

-1- Scale for wood chips

-2- Scale for ﬁne logging residue chips

-3- Scale for medium coarse logging residue chips

-4- Scale for coarse logging residue chips

After the correct scale is chosen, RUN will display and in a moment the

tester will turn off. Now the moisture tester is ready for use.

The setting of the scale is permanent, it will stay the same until the op-

erator changes it.

-0- scale is used by the repair department to calibrate the moisture testers.

Descriptions of the various wood chips mentioned above are presented

on page 15-1.

STEP-BY-STEP MEASUREMENT

If using this wood chip tester to measure from a storage pile or from the

load, remove some material from the surface. The top layer can be drier

because of the sun or more wet because of rain.

In winter, the top layer of the uncovered pile of wood chips can be deeply

frozen. Never measure moisture content in frozen wood chips. When

measuring moisture content in frozen wood chips the measurement

result is incorrect. Remember that all the storage piles of wood chips are

always melted from the inside. Take the sample of wood chips from the

inside of the storage pile and take the measurement from it.

Push the tip of the probe into the storage pile, so that the dish of the

probe is ﬁrmly touching the wood chips.

IMPORTANT: Keep the tester ﬁrmly pressed against the material during

the whole measurement.

Switch the tester on with a single press of the POWER - button.

The number of the selected scale will appear on the display. After that the

tester proceeds to the measurement. RUN will be displayed during the

measurement. The result of the measurement (moisture content) will be

displayed in weight percent. After the measurement the tester will auto-

matically turn off and will be ready for a new measurement.

Operation

AUTOMATIC AVERAGE CALCULATION

The tester can calculate the average value of several measurements.

After the measurement has been made, the result can be saved for the

average calculation.

Saving the measurement result for the average calculation

Take the measurement as usual. When the result is displayed, push the

FUNCTION - button for a short time. A will appear on the display and the

tester will add the measurement result for the average calculation. The

average calculation is ready when two numbers, for example A05 and

25.6, appear alternating on the display.

In this case A05 means that the number of measurement results includ-

ed into the average value is 5. Number 25.6 is the average value of those

5 measurements.

If you do not want to include the measurement result into the average cal-

culation, do not take any readings after the measurement, just wait until

the tester automatically turns off and is ready for the next measurement.

Before calculating the average value of every new lot of material, make

sure that average calculation memory is empty and erase it if needed.

ERASING THE AVERAGE CALCULATION MEMORY

Push and hold the FUNCTION - button. Switch the tester on with a single

press of the POWER - button.

When you see A on the display, release the FUNCTION - button. If the

average value appears on the display now, you can erase it by pushing

and holding the FUNCTION - button. The memory is erased, when 0 ap-

pears on the display.

NOTE: Always remember to erase the average calculation memory

after the measurement series so that the previous average value will

not affect the average value of the new lot.

Average calculation memory can accommodate a maximum of 99 test

results. If no more results can be added to the memory, the number on

the display will start blinking.

10-3

Operation

ADJUSTING THE RESULT

If the quality of the measured material is different from normal, the result

can be incorrect. You can adjust the result shown by the tester to conform

with a reference value.

Adjusting the value upwards - When the measurement result is dis-

played make the double press on the FUNCTION - button. Three bars

will appear on the upper edge of the display. Wait for a moment and

the result appears on the display again. Now each time you push the

FUNCTION - button, 0.1 moisture % will be added to the result.

Adjusting the value downwards - When the measurement result is

displayed, push the FUNCTION - button three times. Three bars will

appear on the lower edge of the display. Wait for a moment and

the result appears on the display again. Now each time you push the

FUNCTION - button, 0.1 moisture % will be deducted from the result.

NOTE: This adjustment is speciﬁc to the used scale. In other words

there may be deﬁned speciﬁc adjustment for each scale.

ERASING OF THE SCALE ADJUSTMENT

When the moisture content result is displayed, you can erase the adjust-

ment. To do that push and hold FUNCTION - button for about 6 seconds.

When the result value on the display changes, you know that the adjust-

ment has been erased.

NOTE: Usually the moisture in wood chip piles is not evenly distributed.

Always make several measurements to get a proper average moisture

reading for the pile.

10-4

Types of Wood Chips

Scale 1: Wood Chips - Some pieces of wood a few inches in size, that

are the resultant pieces from many different types of wood: tree trunks,

decayed trees, pallets etc. Usually the material is rather dry, often drained

under some shelter in the open air.

Scale 2: Fine Logging Residue Chips - Mass of wood chips containing nee-

dles, small parts of branches and so on. Usually the mass contains different

sorts of rot materials and needles from the soil, often decayed pieces as well.

Scale 3: Medium-Coarse Logging Residue Chips - Type of wood chips

containing needles and parts of branches. This sort is coarser than the

previous scale. Usually this sort of wood chips contains a lot of needles.

Scale 4: Coarse Logging Residue Chips - Usually contains big, some-

times longer than 4 inches (10 cm), parts of tree branches or tops of

trees. Needles and smaller parts of wood are presented in the mass as

well. May also contain parts of birch and ﬁr bark.

15-1

Battery Replacement

BATTERY

The tester is powered by a 9V alka-

line battery.

This tester gives a warning about the

low battery voltage with LOBAT - text

in the left upper part of the display. If

the battery is almost empty, the dis-

play will show some random marks

and LOBAT text can fade.

The battery box is located on the bot-

tom of the tester. Open the box by pushing the locking lever over the bat-

tery symbol as shown in the picture (see image) and replace the battery.

Remove the battery from the tester, if the device is not used for a long

period of time. To ensure the correct functioning of the tester replace the

battery regularly. If you suspect a fault in the tester, always test the bat-

tery ﬁrst.

NOTE:A battery slowly discharges itself even if the tester is not used.

20-1

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