Laser rangefinders

You can connect Trimble Access to a laser rangefinder to measure the position of points or assets that you are unable to get close to. Use the laser rangefinder to measure the distance to the feature from your current position. Trimble Access stores the distance as an offset position.

The configuration for each laser that is supported by Trimble Access is detailed below.

Trimble Access may support other models of laser rangefinder than the ones listed here, as the protocols used by the manufacturer are often the same or very similar between models.

Trimble LaserAce 1000

There is no Bluetooth configuration on the LaserAce 1000, it is always enabled.

When the Trimble LaserAce 1000 is detected during the scan for Bluetooth devices, an authentication request dialog appears. You must enter the PIN number set in the laser rangefinder (default PIN = 1234).

Bosche DLE 150 or Bosch GLM 50c

When the laser rangefinder is detected, an authentication request dialog appears. You must enter the PIN number set in the laser rangefinder.

LTI Criterion 300 or LTI Criterion 400

From the main menu, press the down arrow or up arrow key until the Survey menu appears and then tap Enter. Select Basic measurements and tap Enter. A screen showing the fields HD and AZ appears.

LTI Impulse

Set up the laser to operate in CR 400D format. Make sure that a small "d" is displayed on the screen. (If necessary, press the Fire2 button on the laser).

LTI TruPulse 200B or LTI TruPulse 360B

Set the TruPulse mode to either Slope Distance, Vertical Distance, or Horizontal Distance.

Laser Atlanta Advantage

Set the Range/Mode option to Standard (Averaged) and the Serial/Format option to Trimble Pro XL.

Set Serial / Remote / Trigger Character to 7 (37h). (The remote trigger works only when connected via a cable, not when using Bluetooth wireless technology.)

Set Fire Time to the delay required (not zero or infinity).

Set Serial T-Mode to Off.

LaserCraft Contour XLR

Set the LaserCraft mode in the laser. If you connect through Bluetooth wireless technology, you also need to change the baud rate setting on the laser rangefinder to 4800.

Leica Disto Memo or Leica Disto Pro

Set the unit to meters or feet, not feet and inches.

Leica Disto Plus

You must enable Bluetooth wireless technology on the Leica Disto Plus before you run a Bluetooth scan. To do this, set System / Power / Bluetooth to On.

If automeasure is switched off:

  1. To take the measurement, press the Dist key on the laser rangefinder.
  2. Press the [2nd] key.
  3. To transfer the measurement to the controller, press one of the eight direction arrow keys.

MDL Generation II

No special settings are required.

MDL LaserAce

Set the Data record format to Mode 1. When you use the angle encoder, set the magnetic declination to zero in the Cogo settings screen of the Trimble Access software. The angle encoder in the MDL LaserAce laser corrects for the magnetic declination.

Set the baud rate to 4800.

There is no Bluetooth wireless technology configuration on the MDL LaserAce, it is always enabled.

When the MDL LaserAce is detected during the scan for Bluetooth devices, an authentication request dialog appears. You must enter the PIN number set in the laser rangefinder (default PIN = 1234).

  1. Tap and select Settings / Survey styles. Select the required survey style. Tap Edit.
  2. Select Laser rangefinder.
  3. Select one of the instruments in the Type field.

  4. If necessary, configure the Controller port and Baud rate fields.

    The default value in the Baud rate field is the manufacturer's recommended setting. If the laser is a model with which the Trimble Access software can automatically take a measurement when you tap Measure, select the Auto measure check box.

  5. If required, select the Auto store point check box.

  6. If the Low quality targets check box is available, clear the check box to reject measurements that are flagged by the laser rangefinder as low quality. When this happens you will need to take another measurement.

  7. Tap Enter. The precision fields contain the manufacturer's precision values for the laser. They are for information only.

    Laser measurements can be displayed as vertical angles measured from the zenith or inclinations measured from horizontal. Select a display option in the Laser VA display field of the Units screen. See Units.

To connect to the utility locator, enable Bluetooth on the laser rangefinder. In Trimble Access, tap and select Settings / Connections and then select the Bluetooth tab to scan for devices and pair with the laser rangefinder. The default PIN to pair with the Trimble LaserAce 1000 or MDL LaserAce laser rangefinder is 1234. For more information, see Bluetooth connections.

Before measuring distances with the laser rangefinder, connect it to the controller and configure the laser rangefinder settings in the laser and in the survey style.

Measuring distances using a laser rangefinder is especially useful when entering the offset when measuring a point, computing a point, or using the taped distances function to measure the points defining a rectangular shape. To insert a distance into a Distance, H.Dist or an Offset field, tap next to the Laser field and then measure the distance with the laser.

To measure points using a laser range finder:

  1. Tap and select Measure.
  2. Tap Measure laser points.
  3. Enter the point name and a code for the point.

  4. Select the Start point you are measuring the laser point from, or measure a new point using the connected GNSS receiver.

    To measure a new point:

    1. Tap next to the Start point field.
    2. Enter the details for the point and then tap Measure.
    3. Tap Store.

      The software returns to the Measure laser points screen with the new point selected in the Start point field.

  5. Enter the laser height and the target height.

    Allow the laser to settle for a few seconds before you take a measurement with it.

  6. Tap Measure.

  7. Use the laser rangefinder to measure the distance to the target.

    The details for the measurement appear in the Measure laser points screen.

    If the software receives only a distance measurement from the laser, another screen is displayed with the measured distance in a Slope distance field. Enter a vertical angle if the measured distance is not horizontal.

  8. Tap Store.

    If you are using a laser without a compass, you must key in a magnetic azimuth before the software can store the point. If you enter a value for magnetic declination in the laser, make sure the Magnetic declination field in the Cogo settings screen is set to zero.