If vehicles are clearly spaced apart, then it will record the speed of every vehicle. If vehicles are driving closely, the DFS will try to estimate when a new vehicle is in the beam. Success rates are typically 70%.
The DFS 700 is not designed for use on motorways as the height of the number is not large enough for motorway traffic and the radar is not suitable for multiple lanes.
The data will be saved in RAM every 23 milliseconds as long as the vehicle is in range of the radar. Afterwards only the date, time, entrance and average speed will be saved in the permanent memory. It also needs some logic e.g. if five cars pass the DFS sign very close to each other, it looks like one very long car, but the logic counts it as several cars.
The LEDs can be seen at maximum intensity, if you are exactly in front of them. If the observation angle is greater or less than 9°, they will theoretically lose intensity.
If two vehicles of a similar size reach the radar beam, the closest one will be detected first. If one of the vehicles is much larger than the other one it will reflect the radar beam better, so the larger one will be detected first.
The speed of the vehicle with the strongest signal (depends of shape, distance and dimension) will be shown. The signal must be cut off for a minimum of 0.5 seconds to be handled as a new vehicle.
The radar beam has 14 degrees angularity, so in 100m distance it will be 24 metres wide. This means it will cover multiple lanes. However, the internal data logging will not register different lanes. Also, the radar cannot pick up more than one vehicle at a time.
The radar beam has 14 degrees angularity, so in 100m distance it will be 24 meters wide. This means it will cover multiple lanes. However, the internal data logging will not register different lanes. Also, the radar can not pick up more than one vehicle at a time.
There are two possibilities:
1) You can drill through the box to the pole in order to directly route and hide the cable in the pole.
2) In the bottom of the box there are punched-out exit holes, which can be opened with a screwdriver. This should be done using a sealing gasket or bung, e.g. a PG type one. For outdoor installations you should cut the connector of and connect the blank wires to terminal blocks where the phase is connected to a switchable 6 Ampere overcurrent protective device.
In some locations 230V power is only available at night-time (e.g. streetlamp). In this situation you need so called buffered line power, This means the DFS keeps running at daytime from the battery when there is no 230V power. At night the battery will be recharged. This ensures continuous 24hr operation.
The DFS 700 has an internal on / off switch for external devices. In the DFS-CAS software you can chose the speed when the external device should be activated. The simplest way would be that your complementary panel displays the text in green even if no speed is displayed on the DFS 700. If a vehicle approaches the DFS 700 faster than the speed limit that was chosen in the Parameter settings, the internal DFS switch will activate the red display colour on the complementary panel. Please contact us for any further information.
In its standard form the unit is larger than this, however our distributors may be able to modify the unit for you. Please look at our list of approved distributors.
If you want to detect and log each lane separately, then you have to install two DFS units. The DFS is usually used to detect only one lane, but you can also adjust the DFS so that you are able to log two lanes without any separation of the lanes.
Replace backup battery of the DFS 700 unit. DFS date and time have to be redefined after this operation. In some cases, DFS data has to be deleted in order to keep new date and time settings.
It depends on traffic density, application, and settings. 3 to 5 days for regular operation for a single battery (6-10 days for 2 batteries), with average traffic density and typical settings. It will last less time in more demanding conditions and more in less demanding conditions. By setting the parameters to show an amber display (overlapping the green and red display settings) the unit will use more energy and therefore use more battery power.div>
If the charger and battery are plugged in as shown in the manual, the battery will be charged. But if preferred, you can connect the charger and the battery directly together to charge the battery.
Charging a complete empty battery of the DFS requires approximatly 6 hours, however to maximise the battery life it should be charged overnight. Please charge the battery before using it the first time.
Every two hours the status of the real-time clock battery will be checked. If the power goes below 2.25 V the SMS will be sent out. The clock will still run until it reaches 2V, after which the DFS data and settings will be lost and a replacement backup battery will need to be fitted and the unit reset.
You can adjust the radar sensitivity through the DFS-CAS software and increase the DFS parameter setting to 100%. Ensure you have the latest firmware installed.
You can adjust the radar sensitivity through the DFS-CAS software, and increase the DFS parameter setting to 100%. Ensure you have the latest firmware installed.
No, only entrance and average speeds. While the car is in the radar beam, exit speeds are hard to measure because the vehicle will be in a high angle to the radar beam when exiting it, which makes the measurement unreliable. To calculate a theoretical exit speed, double the difference between the entrance speed and the average speed.
The DFS unit is vandal resistant but not vandal proof. The DFS passed the shock test (EN 60598-1). A steel ball (0.51kg) dropped from 1.3m through the display without damaging the device. The unit is protected by means of a strong outer casing and polycarbonate screen. Care has been taken to house all fixing mechanisms and components within this safe structure.
Please use the internal Bluetooth of your PC, or if you don't have one, use the Bluetooth dongle, which is given with the DFS or any other Bluetooth stick for USB 2.0.
Ensure that the Bluetooth is activated on your PC, that your PC and the DFS unit are paired and that you are within the distance frame of the DFS unit (10 metres). Set the correct COM port for bluetooth in the DFS-CAS connection menu as shown when the unit was paired with the DFS unit via add a new device / new connection procedure.
Ensure you have the latest DFS 700 firmware and DFS-CAS software installed. If you are using the integrated Bluetooth device of your laptop, please ensure that you have the latest driver version and that only one driver is installed in your PC. A Bluetooth dongle that is using a Bluetooth driver different from "Widcomm/Broadcom" could help. For more information, please contact us.
Due to some security settings of the PC, COM port settings may only be changed by an administrator. Ask your IT staff to give you the rights on your PC.
Ensure that your PC is equipped with a modem connected to an analogue line and the DFS you have purchased is fitted with a modem.
Ensure you have the latest version of firmware installed on your unit.
Ensure your DFS is located in an area where there is signal reception.
The error 41 code that means the port is already open. This could be caused:
- by another program that has access to this port
- by an earlier attempt to get connected and the “connection” was cancelled before it timed out. In this case please wait until you receive the message “COMxx closed” before cancelling.
Please ensure you are using the latest firmware and software.
Ensure the USB driver is installed and the USB cable is connected to both the DFS and the PC. Select the com port which has the suffix (VCPO) in the drop down list in the connections section of the software.
The data once applied can be saved as an excel file, or the charts generated in the software can be saved as .bmp or .wmf files for distribution for those who cannot view the data through the software. Please view the user manual for directions on how to do this.
Yes, with the PDA software provided on the CD. All functions in the main windows software can be carried out on a PDA, except for the manipulation and viewing of the downloaded data which must be transferred to a normal PC and then assigned as data to a location.
The display will be blank. However if the 'measure and log speeds from and to' are above the upper display threshold, the unit will record data even though nothing is displayed on the sign face.
If the unit is set in limit mode under the operating mode tab in the parameter settings, the unit will display the speed entered in the 'show this in speed limit mode' value (in the settings tab).
The language in the PDA software is changed from English in the "Settings" section of the software. This can be found in the "menu" on the bottom right of the main screen. Don't forget to click "save" in the bottom left corner after changing the language. The PDA language file has to be in the correct folder before this change can be made.
The DFS 700 can be scheduled by weekday. This means you can define a behaviour for weekends and weekdays, but you cannot define single specific dates like holidays.
It depends on the type of connection and whether or not the memory is full. To speed up data downloads, ensure that the data is deleted from the memory after the download has taken place.
Unless you have checked the data deletion after download box, you can redownload data and choose the folder destination. By default data is stored in DFS-CAS installation folder under c:\Program Files\3M\
The DFS 700 memory management collects 33 measurements before these are stored in the non-volatile permanent main memory. Before this happens the data cannot be downloaded. In the worst case only the buffered data would be lost in the event of sudden power failure, meaning the loss of a maximum of 32 measurements. Saving the 33 measurements in the non-volatile permanent main memory takes 3 ms.
The data will be saved in RAM every 23 milliseconds as long as the vehicle is in range of the radar. Afterwards only the date, time, entrance and average speed will be saved in the permanent memory. The display changes every half second.
You have to download and assign data to a location first. When this has been done, right click each location and choose "Create report" (or "View measurements" if you want to see the individual measurements). There is an example location in the software called 3M with data in it. After choosing "Create report" you can select the reporting period you wish to create the report for.
The DFS 700 memory management collects 33 measurements before these are stored in the non-volatile permanent main memory. Before this happens the data cannot be downloaded. In the worst case the buffered data could be lost in case of sudden power failure.
MS Excel is limited to 256 columns. You have to minimise the number of days or change the interval of the hours so that you don't have more than 256 columns to export (for example set the time bin width to 24:00).
