Getting your meter reconnected is a critical task for the Power/Facility Manager and it requires precision and safety precautions. This guide aims to provide an overview of the process/first-level steps required to get a meter reconnected.
Indicators/Causes
- When a meter has disconnected a customer/resident/end-user from power due to a low balance or outstanding payment the meter is/goes offline.
- When a command is sent from the Power Manager App but fails to reconnect a customer after several tries.
- A customer reaches out after successfully topping up their account and does not get power within 30 minutes.
SCENARIO 1
Confirm that the meter is powered
I) If the meter is not powered
- Kindly check if the supply breaker has tripped
- If yes, turn the breaker back ON
- If not, call your technician to troubleshoot the fault
II) If the meter is powered, Confirm that the modem is powered (if the modem is powered, the green indicator light will be on, not on red or null).
If the modem is not powered
- Call your technician to confirm the following
- The power supply is getting to the modem’s adapter
- If there is no power to the modem’s adapter, kindly troubleshoot the power supply line.
- If there is power supply to the adapter, your technician should confirm that there is a DC voltage on the adapter’s pin.
- DC voltage on the adapter’s pin
- The technician should confirm the voltage on the adapter pin using a multimeter (this voltage on the pin should be 11 -12 Vdc).
- If there is no voltage across the adapter or voltage measured fluctuates this indicates a faulty modem adapter.
- The power supply is getting to the modem’s adapter
Kindly use the meter tool and the Optical Eye to reconnect the meter and ensure the Modem’s adapter is replaced within a week to avoid data loss. (See how to use the meter tool below)
SCENARIO 2
i) The meter is powered.
ii) The modem is powered but the Net LED indicator is red or not lit
- Kindly power cycle the modem by turning off the socket in which the modem’s adapter is plugged or unplugging the modem’s adapter pin from the modem and wait for 5mins then turn on the socket or plug the modem’s adapter pin to the modem.
- Wait for 10 - 15 mins after the modem has been power cycled the meter should get reconnected.
iii) If the meter doesn’t get reconnected repeat step (ii) again
Kindly use the meter tool and the Optical Eye to reconnect the meter then open a ticket stating the action steps taken, the affected meter/s, and the current status of the system.
How to use the Optical Eye and Meter tool
Tools needed
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Optical eye USB meter reading tool
The optical eye for meter reading is an important tool for configuring and reading data from your Kamstrup OMNIPOWER V2 meters. The optical port is a light-based interface that attaches to the outside of meter units and is able to exchange information via a visual light interface to a computer connected via a USB port. New SHYFT FlexView customers will be provided with an optical eye meter reading tool during onboarding. If extra quantities of this tool are desired, please contact SHYFT to arrange for the purchase of further units.
2. Laptop - with USB port and METERTOOL software installed.
The METERTOOL is a license-free meter configuration product offered by Kamstrup in order to support very simple configuration and management functions of Kamstrup OMNIPOWER V2 meters. This software program is easy to download, install, and utilize for basic troubleshooting of meters within the FlexView platform, and is an important tool for all customers to familiarize themselves with so that these troubleshooting functions can be carried out quickly and easily. The METERTOOL platform works in conjunction with optical eye meter readings. SHYFT Power Solutions does not directly distribute or license METERTOOL software but will assist new customers in carrying out the simple process of downloading and getting up and running with METERTOOL.
METERTOOL runs only on Windows operating systems.
How to download and install METERTOOL:
To start, go to the resource drive
From this drive, download the folders
- Kamstrup-USB-Driver_5098893_C1-
- METERTOOL OMNIPOWER AG2
Install both software on your laptop.
Note- The Metertool application requires that your laptop has Microsoft DotNet Framework 3.0 and 4.0 runtime. If this is not available on your laptop kindly carry out a system update on your laptop.
Operation:
When placing the optical eye on a meter for meter reading or troubleshooting, place the optical interface side carefully on the meter so that it covers the meter’s optical port entirely. There are two small plastic guides designed into the meter’s front cover to help situate the optical eye in the proper position centered over the meter’s optical port. The cord extending from the optical eye tool should always extend downwards towards the wiring connection terminals of the meter for correct operation, and the USB end of the connected cable will need to be inserted into a laptop running proper configuration software.
Optical Eye placed correctly on a meter.
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Connecting to a meter with METERTOOL:
The process for connecting to a meter with METERTOOL software is quick and straightforward.
- First, open the METERTOOL software program on your laptop computer running Windows. When the program opens, it may ask you to set a password, just kindly close the pop-up.
- Next, plug the USB connector of the optical eye meter reader into your computer. Then, find the menu dropdown in the top left corner and open the menu.
From the menu, select the option for “Communication Settings” and you should see the following screen appear. In the communication settings menu, ensure that “Serial Port” is selected, and a Baud Rate of 9600 is set. Then in the Communication Port dropdown, select the USB COM port on which your optical eye device has been inserted.
Tip: Generally, you will only have one active COM port at a time so this is likely the only option you will see when you drop down the Communication Port menu but if there are several ports kindly check your system device manager to confirm the port number which the Optical eye is connected to.
Once you have set up the Communication settings select OK. Now you can place the optical eye reader onto the optical port of the meter you need to troubleshoot. Ensure that the optical eye is placed centrally over the optical port of the meter and that the cord coming out of the optical eye device is oriented downwards, towards the power wiring connection terminals of the meter, and is angled no more than 20 degrees away from the vertical plane. This ensures that the optical communication between the meter and the optical eye device will be successful.
A typical connection between meter and laptop using the optical eye tool.
- Getting the Meter Reconnected
With the optical eye connected to the meter, the system should now be able to read the meter information. Click the Refresh button in METERTOOL and you should see the main page populate with connected meter information:
Verify basic information shown on the dashboard: meter number, and DLMS address matching the address label on the front of the meter.
Click on “Tools” from the main toolbar at the top of the Metertool App
The resulting page will appear as follows; direct your attention to the lower left panel titled “Power Control”:
In this section, you will see three states represented, and one selected as the current state of the breaker. In this example, the breaker is currently disconnected, and we need to use METERTOOL to reconnect the breaker to supply power to the load.
To connect the breaker once again from a disconnected state. Click on the “Released” radio button. This selection should immediately cause the breaker within the meter to engage, which should be noted via an audible “click” or “thunk” from within the meter as the breaker engages. If the breaker does not immediately engage, try re-establishing the connection to the meter through METERTOOL and the optical eye and confirm that data for the meter is correctly populating on the main dashboard.
Once the meter has connected the breaker and confirmed the change, the Power Control section will show an updated status as follows:
If the reverse action is desired, to disconnect a meter rather than to connect it locally, from the “Load Connected” state shown above, you would simply click on the “Load disconnected” radio button, and the change will take effect immediately upon the meter.
If the preceding option of using METERTOOL to locally control the breaker is not succeeding, or if that option is not available on-site immediately due to a lack of the appropriate tools, then the last recourse is to contact customer support to guide on the next steps.
Please use this link as a visual guide to reconnecting the meter using the meter tool and optical eye.
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