Overview
Adaptive is for users working in environments where electric and magnetic fields are known to be present. The device learns the local ambient field and pauses alerts while the user works in a small area, so the alarm does not run continuously in steady-state energized environments.
From firmware 1.8.0.0 there are two adaptive modes: Smart Adaptive, which keeps adjusting on its own, and Work Zone Adaptive, which holds where you set it. Exactly one mode is active at a time, and Adaptive is set separately for voltage and for current.
Smart Adaptive
Smart Adaptive adjusts continuously, in both directions, and never stops tracking the field around you. The work area keeps re-forming as you move.
- When the user moves toward a source, alerts begin again.
- Holding still in the new location lets the device settle to the new ambient level, and the alerts pause.
- Moving away from the source re-baselines the device down to the lower field level, about six seconds after the user stops.
- While adapted and inside an active field, the user gets periodic fading corner lights — RED for voltage, BLUE for current — with no audible alert.
Work Zone Adaptive
Work Zone Adaptive holds where you put it. Press the Adapt button to set the level to the field around you, and the device stays there until you set it again.
- Pressing Adapt sets the level to the current ambient field.
- The device holds that level and will not re-adapt on its own.
- If the field grows above the set level, the device alerts. The alert builds as the user gets closer and indicates the direction of the source.
- If the field drops, nothing changes. The level stays where the user set it.
- To move the level, press Adapt again in the new location.
The Adapt button
While an adaptive mode is active, the device button is Adapt, not mute. Pressing it adapts the device to where the user is standing. Mute stays available with Adaptive turned off, on a fixed setting. A worker who presses the button expecting silence and gets an adapt is seeing the intended behavior, not a fault.
On firmware 1.8.1.0, which is optional, there is a pause of about a second and a half between the press and the adapt so the user can clear their hands before the device reads the area, and remote mute over Bluetooth is locked out while an adaptive mode is running. On 1.8.0.0 the adapt happens immediately.
Choose a mode and a work area size
In the Compass mobile app, open Adaptive setup from the wand icon on the Voltage tab. Step 1 selects the mode. Step 2 selects the work area size, Small or Large, which sets how much the reading has to rise before Adaptive alerts again. Current is set separately from voltage.
- Crews working one fixed spot, such as a substation, usually set a work zone and hold it.
- Crews moving between spots or through changing conditions usually run Smart Adaptive, which keeps up on its own.
Adaptation cues
- Adapting up to a higher field level: a growing LED pattern with a rising sound.
- Adapting down to a lower field level: a shrinking LED pattern with a lowering sound.