Chris Aspin

Sales Representative
MCN Solutions Ltd.
AGENDA
● In this course you will learn the following

● How to connect to a meter using ION Setup

●Troubleshooting steps

● Explanation of Setup Assistant Guide

●Basic Setup
●Security
●Communications
●Clock
●Demand
●Energy Pulsing
●Onboard IO
●Expansion IO
●Logging
●Revenue
●Alarming
●Power Quality
●Displays
●Verification

● General Navigation around ION Setup

●ION Setup Assistant vs Advanced Mode
●Diagnostic Views
●Data View (Real Time and Historical view into the meter readings)
●Reports in ION Setup Assistant

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AGENDA
● In this course you will learn the following

● How to save the current settings file (framework) to a PC

●Discussion about best practices: AsFound_version_Date_SN_Location.dcf , AsSent_version_Date_SN_Location.dcf, Meter Configuration Report

●Note about ION Setup .dcf files and ION Designer .fwn files

●How to run a Configuration and Template comparison report

● Changes to the settings of an ION meter using ION Setup

●Limitations to Measurement Canada Sealed meters (*ION 7700, ION 8600 and ION 8650)
●Changing CT / PT ratios
●Changing MeterTag1 and MeterTag2
●Changing DST setting

● How to send a settings file from a PC to the connected meter

● How to perform a Firmware Update

● Questions and Answers

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ION Setup Training

● Prerequisites for this course

● ION Setup version 3.0 needs to be installed on your laptop

● You will need access to an ION meter or have the 8600 Offline Files available
on your laptop

● If you have a physical meter, you will need a serial or Ethernet cable to
connect to the meter

● Please download the ‘ION Setup User Guide’ and ‘ION Reference’ documents

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 ION Setup Programming
● Physical connection from the meter to ION Setup software
● Serial connection – direct line from RS485 or RS232 port on meter to USB or RS232 port on Laptop
● Ethernet connection – support for direct or crossover cable from meter Ethernet port to Laptop or from
Ethernet switch that is connected to the meter to a Laptop

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Let’s jump right in

● Connecting to an Offline / Virtual meter

● Run the Offline meter

● Test that it’s working through Windows security by running Offline meter display

● Connect to meter with ION Setup - there’s no place like 127.0.0.1

● Physical ION meters

● Connect the RS232/USB cable for a Serial Connection

●Determine COM port on laptop you are plugging into with Device Manager
●Ensure all serial settings on laptop and the meter match (baud, protocol ION, etc..)
●If needed – refer to the ‘Troubleshooting Serial Communications’ technical note

● Connect the CAT5 Ethernet cable for an Ethernet Connection

●You may need to turn off Wifi settings on your laptop
●Ensure the meter IP address on the meter and the laptop match for the first three sets of
numbers (i.e. 192.168.0.001 on meter will speak to 192.168.0.002 on laptop)

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 Serial Communications
Best Practices

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 Ethernet Communications

● If you have an Ethernet switch which supports 10BaseFL connection to an older

7700/7600/7650 meter, and you replace the meter with a newer 7650 meter
with 100BaseFX fiber port the Ethernet switch will no longer be able to
communicate to the meter, you will need to convert the 10BaseFL to
100BaseFX using an RMC converter or changing the port on the switch.

● You are able to connect a 100BaseFX Multimode Fibre Ethernet cable with SC
connectors directly into the newer ION 7650s, and communicate all the
supported Ethernet protocols (ION, Modbus TCP, DNP3) to and from the meter.

● When you connect to the fibre Ethernet port, you aren’t able to connect to the
copper Ethernet port beside the fibre port on the ION 7650’s communication
card – only one (1) Ethernet port can be used on the meter at a time.

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through

Basic Setup
● Most common – this is to get the meter started
● Important Settings
●Volts Mode (Delta, WYE, Demo)
●CT ratio
●PT ratio
●Voltage Nominal

Security
● Security Mode – Standard with meter password, Advanced with user names and passwords
● Manitoba Hydro has Advanced Security on Revenue Locked meters
● Hardware Lock – Disabled for standard meters, Enabled for Revenue Sealed/Locked meters

Communications
● Serial Settings – COM1 to COM4, listed on the meter (careful not to change settings on the serial port you are
accessing)

● Network Settings
●IP address
●Gateway
●Enable SNMP
●MAC Address (for IT)
●Modbus Gateway (for downstream serial Modbus devices)
●DNS Primary/Secondary
●SMTP (Emails)
●NTP (Time Synchronization)

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through (cont)

Clock
● Timezone
● Timezone = -5 UTC in Winnipeg
● DST Offset (Daylight Savings Time) = 1 in Manitoba
● DST Settings are preprogrammed for the next 20 years, if you have meters that are in service longer than 20
years, you should be looking at replacing them

Demand
● Rolling Block Demand = Sliding Window Demand
● Manitoba Hydro standard is 3 sub-Intervals of 5 mins
● Industry standard is 1 sub-interval of 15 mins

Energy Pulsing
● Tabs of Pulsed values and End of Interval (EOI)
●Kt = pulse weight (how much of a value is needed before a pulse is generated
●Pulse Width = minimal time in seconds between pulses (in case PLC’s or IO Controllers read pulses at a
limited rate)
●Port = which digital output or LED will pulse
●Output mode = Pulse or KYZ

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through (cont)

Onboard IO
● Digital inputs: These are virtual IO drivers and can be matched with any physical digital port on the meter
●These can be linked to alarms within the meter, or IO aggregation collection for storage
●Additional programming is required in order to utilize digital (and analog) inputs
● Programming these can not be done through the meter front panel (ION Setup or ION Designer is required)

● Digital output options will be different for different meter models

●You can link any value or setpoint alarm in the meter to a digital output and customize
●Most common type is a Form A digital output for pulsing, and Form C relay output for KYZ
●Form C relay output is electromechanical (you’ll hear the clicking in the meter)

Expansion IO
● Additional Digital inputs and outputs – same settings as above
● Analog In
●Zero Scale, Full Scale, Port
● Analog Out
●Input (must be static value = KW, KVA, PF), Zero Scale, Full Scale, Port
● Converting from 0-20mA to 4-20mA on ION meters – refer to ‘Analog Outputs Program Guide’ for steps

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through (cont)

Logging*
● Memory: allows for adjusting the amount of memory within the meter allocated to each type of record (Data
Recorders for interval data, Event Logs for meter event data, Waveforms for Oscillator data)

● Load Profile
●Channels: This is the 1st data recorder which captures Revenue Data (in most cases) or Load Profile data
(KWh, KVARh)
●Interval / Depth: For configuring intervals between records (standard is 15mins), and the amount of records
stored in the meter before the earliest records get erased (FiFo)
●Event Log: How many events are stored in the meter, ensure EvPriority is above 0 to ensure the meter is
recording sag/swell information

Revenue
● PT / CT Correction: Enables or Disables Transformer Correction within the meter: Voltage inputs or Current
inputs – can be used to increase the accuracy of the entire meter system (meter + CT/PT accuracy)
●After running a CT / PT points test using a NIST traceable standard you can determine the precision and
accuracy of the CT/PT, once you have these values you can enter them into the meter so it compensates

● Transformer Loss
●Method Selection: enables or disables loss compensation, and determines which method of calculation for
compensation you want to use
●Test Sheet and %Loss Constants: refer to the ‘Transformer / Line Loss Calculations’ technical note
●Time of Use: to be used for revenue billing when the Utility decides to implement TOU billing structures

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through (cont)

Logging
● i.e. Manitoba Hydro use specific Revenue Indices for revenue meters;

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through (cont)

Power Quality
● Sag / Swell: Important settings for how the meter captures waveform information when a power quality event
occurs
●Nominal voltage must be configured for the meter to actual capture event information – standard is 120V on
a revenue 8650. Uses Line-to-Neutral for WYE and Line-to-Line for DELTA

● Transients (if supported on meter): Transients can be detected by the ION 7650 or ION 8650A meter, the settings
of when and how the meter captures transient

Displays
● All the displays for the ION meters can be configured to show any type of value with variable granularity (within
limits) – with the exception of Revenue Sealed meters (ION 8650)

Verification
● Verification: Useful in the field when installing or rewiring a meter – ensures CT/PT inputs are connected
correctly (no negative / reversed values, no missing phases, etc..)
● Phasor Viewer under Wiring: Useful in the field when installing or rewiring a meter – ensures phases are
connected correctly (ABC)

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ION Setup Assistant

The Run Through (cont)

Verification (cont)
● Using the Phasor Viewer or the Phasor_Tool.xml

● You can Invert the Polarity on non-sealed meters using the meter front panel or ION Setup in Advanced Mode
● In the ‘Power Meter Modules’ folder, in ‘Power Meter’ ION Module, select the Setup Registers tab

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General Navigation around ION Setup

ION Setup Assistant vs Advanced Mode

1. Close Setup Assistant

2. Click ‘No’ when it asks if you want to connect to another device

3. Click on the meter you want to see in advanced mode

4. Click on ‘Edit’, ‘Properties’, select the Tools tab and change ‘Show Basic ION Setup’
to ‘Show Advanced ION Setup’

5. Alternatively you can hold shift down and click on the meter – much easier

6. Refer to ‘ION Reference’ for detailed information for each ION Module

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General Navigation around ION Setup

Diagnostic Views

● Diagnostic View is a method for checking whether your Ethernet or Serial connection from the meter is reliable

● It can also show a measure of how loaded the meter’s onboard CPU is: up to 98% is safe, if it’s loaded more the
meter life might not be as long (standard is 10 years in the field)

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General Navigation around ION Setup

Data View (Real Time and Historical view into the meter readings)

● All we’ve seen is the setup / configuration view of ION Setup, sometimes in the field you need to see
real time values or to go back into the meter’s onboard memory and look at the historical information
or waveform captures

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General Navigation around ION Setup

Reports in ION Setup Assistant

*Load Profile 1st Data Recorder (Revenue Log) *.csv

*Event Log All or previous # records; any change to meter *.csv

*Meter Configuration Report Most of the settings / critical information of meter *.txt

Configuration Comparison Compares the *.txt report versus the current settings *.txt
highlights differences in red

Template Comparison Report Compares the stored *.dcf file versus the current *.txt
settings in the meter

MV-90 Report Revenue report used by Revenue Meter shop to MV-90xi1.5 file *.DAT
collect revenue data

*Data Collection Exports Log Data file into Excel format *.xml

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General Navigation around ION Setup

How to save the current settings file (framework) to a PC

1. Open Setup Assistant

2. Click on ‘Template’ settings, under the ‘Save to PC’ tab, click ‘Save’

3. Ensure you save the file with organization and proper naming convention

Discussion about best practices

● AsFound_version_Date_SN_Location.dcf

● AsSent_version_Date_SN_Location.dcf

● Meter Configuration Report

Note about ION Setup .dcf files and ION Designer .fwn files

● They are not compatible ION Designer can not load a *.dcf file and ION Setup can
not always load a complete *.fwn file.
● ION Designer can copy and move sections of Modules whereas ION Setup can only
copy the entire file.
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General Navigation around ION Setup

A Demonstration of how to run Configuration and Template comparison reports

Configuration Comparison

Start with Meter configuration report

Save As… *.txt file

Run Configuration Comparison Report – select a previously saved *.txt file

Template Comparison

Save to PC *.dcf file

Run Template Comparison Report – select a previously saved *.dcf file

*Highlighted settings in RED will be different

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General Navigation around ION Setup

Changes to the settings of an ION meter using ION Setup

● Limitations to Measurement Canada Sealed meters (*ION 7700, ION 8600 and ION 8650)

● ION Device Template provides a list of ‘locked modules’ on Revenue Sealed meters

● Some changes can only be done with ION Setup or ION Designer and can not be done through
the meter front panel

– Changing Nameplate information

– Setting Alarms / IO Controls
– Setting SNTP / NTP Time Server

Changing CT / PT ratios

●Through Front Panel

– Program (7550/7650) / Alt Enter while in Test mode (86xx) / Setup Button (73xx)
– Configure in Basic Setup > PT/CT setup

●Through ION Setup

– Open Setup Assistant
– Configure in Basic Setup > PT/CT Ratio’s

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General Navigation around ION Setup

Changes to the settings of an ION meter using ION Setup

Changing MeterTag1 and MeterTag2

1. Only can be done through ION Setup

2. Open Setup Assistant

3. Under ‘Basic Setup’ click on the ‘Nameplate Info’ tab

4. Click Edit for FAC1 Owner, FAC1 Tag1, FAC1 Tag2 (Factory 1 settings Owner info, Meter Tag1

Changing DST setting

● Through the Meter’s Front Panel

– Program (7550/7650) / Alt Enter while in Test mode (86xx) / Setup Button (73xx)
– Configure in Time Setup > Clock Setup

● Through ION Setup

– Open Setup Assistant
– Configure in ‘Clock’ settings > Timezone

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General Navigation around ION Setup

How to send a settings file from a PC to the connected meter

1. Open ION Setup, Setup Assistant

2. Click on ‘Template’ Settings and on the ‘Send to Meter’ tab

3. Click on Send, and select from a previously saved *.dcf file to load on the meter

● Firmware may be a mismatch but meter type must be the same (i.e. an ION 7700 framework will not
successfully load on to an ION 7650)

How to perform a Firmware Update

1. Open ION Setup, Setup Assistant

2. Click on ‘Template’ Settings and on the Firmware Upgrade tab

3. Click on Upgrade to choose the *.upg file with the latest firmware you wish to install on the
meter

● This will reset all recorded data on the device – you can export the existing data before performing an
update

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General Navigation around ION Setup

Questions and Answers

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 MCN Solutions Ltd.
181B – 64 Crowfoot Circle NW
Calgary, Alberta T3G 2T3
Ph: (403) 520-2060 Fax: (403) 770-8765
www.mcn-solutions.com

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