5
Pro tip: Always test your total station in the shade first
I was setting up for a foundation layout in Austin last month and my readings kept bouncing around... turns out the heat was messing with the prism constant. A guy from the surveying crew told me to let the instrument acclimate in the shade for 15 minutes before locking in. That fixed the drift on my first control point. Has anyone else had their gear act up in direct sun like that?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
olivia67017d ago
Gonna play devil's advocate here a little. I've run total stations in direct Texas sun for years and never had a prism constant drift noticeable enough to throw off control points. More likely the heat was messing with your operator's patience or the tripod's stability if it was sitting on hot asphalt. The manual says the acceptable temp range for most prisms is way wider than what we deal with outdoors. Acclimating in the shade sounds like a superstition from an old timer, not a real fix for hardware that's built to handle the job site.
7