FLSO hay moisture and temperature transmitter

Continuous hay moisture measurement during forced drying Forced drying costs what it takes in time. Too short, and the hay reaches the stack too wet: it heats, moulds and loses feeding value. Too long, and the fan burns electricity while the over-dried hay crumbles and sheds its leaves, the part that carries the protein. Between the two lies a difference of a few percentage points of water content, and no hand can judge that. The FLSO is driven into the hay on its lance and measures without interruption. Water content and temperature appear on the display and go out on the current outputs at the same time, so the transmitter can serve as the sensor for the fan control. Nobody has to climb onto the stack with a hand-held meter.

A 2 metre lance measures where the heating starts

Moisture and heat build up deep in the layer, not on the surface. The two metre lance reaches into the stack and the measuring tip works from -10 to +70 °C, so it also registers the material heating up.

4-20 mA outputs drive the drying Water content goes out on a 4-20 mA output scaled 0 to 40 %, temperature on a second 4-20 mA output covering +5 to +85 °C. A fan controller, a data logger or a farm monitoring system can take the signal. Power supply 24 VDC, current consumption 90 mA.

Readout on the device itself The housing carries a display and three keys. The menu sets the language (English included), the temperature unit, averaging, backlight time, the crop calibration, a password and a reset.

Averaging over several measuring points

The device averages the readings it has stored, so a batch is not judged on a single insertion. The manufacturer notes that differences of up to ±3 % against the drying oven are normal, because the FLSO covers far more material than the sample weighed out for drying.

Advantages

• continuous measurement of hay moisture and temperature, with the probe left in place
• a 2 metre lance reaching into the layer where the heating begins
• two 4-20 mA outputs, for controlling the drying and for recording
• display and menu on the device itself, English included
• automatic averaging of the stored readings
• automatic temperature compensation
• 10 years of repair warranty and manufacturer support

FLSO or the humimeter FLS probe

Both have a 2 metre lance and measure the same thing. The humimeter FLS plugs into a hand-held meter: you take it along when the stack has to be walked and checked at several points, and unplug it for transport. The FLSO stays in the material and hands its result to the control system. For a routine check of the stack the probe is handier; for running the drying, the transmitter is.

Technical data

Scope of delivery

FLSO transmitter, insulating disc, connection cable of 1.9 m with moulded 5-pole plug, operating manual. The analogue temperature output is a factory option, which we confirm before dispatch.

Accessories

• Art. no. 12308 - test block for humimeter FL1, FL2, FLH, BLL, BL2, WLW, BLW, SLW, RM1, BLO and the external sensors art. no. 12122 and 12470
• Art. no. 14902 - replacement lance 1.15 m for the humimeter FL series