I am finishing up my in-depth test of the Saipan brain. One thing I've learned is that the serial ports (SIO4s) apparently got corrupted during one of the power outages. The SIO4s can store strings for me, containing commands to send to the instruments. I used to use those strings a lot more but after we migrated to the CR1000 loggers I started coding them into the logger program itself, which makes things more dynamic and easier to update. However, the BICs and the GroundTruth CT still used some SIO4 strings. I think this might help explain some other phenomena I've seen in the past during power failures, like at Jamaica in 2008 when all of the BICs went silent after an extended power failure (this has been otherwise inexplicable because the Jamaica DBJM1 CREWS station was lost before we could examine the equipment after the power outage).
Anyhow I'm trying to toughen up the logger program a bit by eliminating the last of those SIO4 strings and consolidating its filter strings. This enhancement will be rolled out to Puerto Rico in a few weeks, to Saipan when we reinstall, and perhaps to St. Croix next April/May. This is why I have two test brains running now, one on the roof (since Jan 4th) and one on my workbench.
I put the Saipan brain up on the roof for a few days (January 10th - 15th) to verify that its connections to the batteries and solar panels are okay, and to test the analog met sensors/wiring.
My assumption is that we will be shipping everything but the PacIOOS CTD to Saipan, shortly. At that point either I can work with Steven and David remotely, or if we all decide it is best, I can visit Saipan some time in April/May to walk them through any still-unfamiliar procedure step-by-step in person.
Mike J+