pulse to analog to totalizer?

I have a weather station with a rain bucket. it gives 1 pulse for .01 inches of rain. Don't know why but it has a pulse convertor. Converts 0-32 pulses to 4-20 mA. analog goes to a AB PLC5 analog card. What kind of conversion needs to be done in the logic to totalize this for a 24 hour period or a month , etc. ? thanks in advance for your help.

Get rid of the converter and count the pulses instead. Assume the pulse rate is pretty slow, so you can use standard discrete input module to count the pulses.

Thanks Ken, Do you think it would be able to count the pulses in a downpour? I don't know, guess I could try it, but that would be too easy

You don't need to worry too much about this one. If each pulse is 0.01 inch of rain then take the pulse directly into your PLC input. Just count them over the time period of interest and you are in busines.

A high speed input isn't going to be required:

Assume 10" of rain per hour
10 in/hr / 0.01 in/pulse = 1000 pulse/hour
1000 pulse/hour / 3600 sec/hour = 0.278 pulse/sec
1 / 0.278 pulse /sec = 3.6 sec/pulse

If you get more than 10" of rain in an hour your PLC will be the least of your problems.

Tom Jenkins said:

If you get more than 10" of rain in an hour your PLC will be the least of your problems.

Click to expand...

Unless your name is Noah and you can't find the damn Unicorns!

Thanks guys

Dua Anjing said:

Unless your name is Noah and you can't find the damn Unicorns!

Click to expand...

You gotta love the Irish Rovers!