Pulse count meter problems

[M.Harrison]

I'm trying to implement some pulse count meters and am having problems getting them to work... It's probably me doing something wrong or have missed something somewhere. I have setup an input on a QRH module as a pulse count meter and physically connected it to an electric meter that has pulse output. I get nothing logged. To prove that its not a faulty meter if I manually short the QRH inputs still nothing... Tried a different input on the QRH with no success The QRH input works fine when configured as a switch input. I know that when connecting an input for pulse counting that I need to restart the module to make the counting change take effect. I've tried to setup meters on a number of different modules (and yes i did check for ones that can pulse count...) and not got any to work then yesterday tried once more on a different QRH and that one works! !! so thinking great I've got there retried somr of the previous ones and they still won't work l. As far as i can tell I've done everything the same between them all..

So does anyone have any possible suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong ???

[chris_j_hunter]

hmm ... some time since we set ours up, but we certainly use QRH for pulse counting ...

how about Behaviour / Configuration parameters ...

values can take several minutes to appear in PlanView, as with any icon / module / sub-element ...

Chris

[M.Harrison]

Chris - Whilst tryaing various things to test this I've altered the update to 15 seconds and that works well on the one that works. On the ones that don't work the total pulse count doesn't change even by the following day.

[chris_j_hunter]

ISTR that pulse counting was a later addition - so am wondering if the module predates that ? Does the one that worked work on all channels & with all meters ... no idea which meters you're using, we used DIN-rail mounting single-width ones with pulse output that I think comes from and internal transistor ... another possibility might be something to do with the 0V connections ... clutching at straws, sorry !

[M.Harrison]

Chris - many thanks for the suggestions. Gives me a few more things to check... The QRH's are aprox 6 months old and the BRS was only bought this month. Will see if i can check on firmware versions etc. to see if the QRH's are different..
Appreciate any help i can get

[Karam]

I can't imagine it to be firmware version related so must be something else. I suppose it might be due to the pulse signal not being strongly defined but, as you say, to test the input is correctly set up then shorting the input to 0V a few times should generate some pulses which eventually will appear in the history data (you have to wait for end of the sample period). There is a limit to the minimum width of the pulse (say ~ 20ms) but manually generated ones I would think would easily exceed this. You appear to also be aware of the necessary procedure i.e to reset the module after adding the metering objects and I presume you have the parent swich input container network enabled?

[M.Harrison]

Yes - switch object enabled. To test I've shorted the contacts directly on the back of the module and tried both long & short "dabs" to try pulse length - still nothing... What really puzzles me is why there's one that does work... ???

[chris_j_hunter]

how about there being something wrong with the Cat-5e network cable connections - eg: the the 0V not being properly connected (eg: insulation trapped) ... maybe the Idranet pair are fine, but the power pair are not, or vice versa ... or maybe pairs are crossed over in some way ??

[M.Harrison]

Chris, if it had been only a single module (or the same network cable) then I might have been suspicious of cable problems but the non working QRH is in the loft and the BRS I'm using as a test module is in the workshop on total seperate feeds from the IPS. Also all the other module functions seem to be working as expected for both mods... The loft QRH even switches an output ok if i change the di to a switch (remembering to restart the module) so the physical connection to the input is OK. My gut feeling is still that I'm missing something / doing something wrong but I can't work out what... - Think my next test will be to try the brand new unused QRH I have and set it up from scratch with a di configured for pulse counting...

[Karam]

For the present QRH (which you say is not working) can you please perform the following test with the network running normally and the QRH set up with pulse metering objects, i.e as you tried above:
- Go to the logging options | Filter menu and select filter on the QRH module (so that we reduce logging content just to that module)
- Clear the communications window (right click on it and select Clear)
- In the command line send the following:
FA90xxyy440005002704 <Transmit or hit return twice> where xxyy is the ID of the QRH module.
- Copy the returned data packet (or entire comm. window content) and send to me
- Undo the logging filter