Consultation to change firmware to a previous version

[Ricardo_RM]

Hello community,

A few days ago the firmware of some ION7650 was updated to version V416, but the customer noticed that they do not provide communication to some systems that have other than the PME such as the DCIM.

They want to lower the version to what they had, which was V415. But I have read that this is not good practice because it can damage the meter.

I wanted to know if the firmware version can be changed to the previous one without problems or if there is some degree of danger that it could damage the equipment.

Greetings

@Charles_Murison 

[Mehran_Mehrnia]

Hi @Ricardo_RM 

Downgrade to lower version V415 is supported and does not damage the meter, however, as mentioned in 'WHAT'S NEW' note of V416 release, number of new features and changes that are designed to help improve the security of the meter, will be removed.

If you have customized Framework, before downgrade/upgrade, please take a backup using ION Setup(Setup Assistant -> Template -> Save to PC), and paste it again during downgrade/upgrade process.

There is another option to upgrade/downgrade only the firmware by holding <Ctrl> + clicking on upgrade button, which will prompt a message to just do firmware upgrade.

Best Regards,

-Mehran

L3 Expert Tech Support

[Charles_Murison]

Note that if doing a firmware only upgrade, after then upgrade is complete, the meter will have no template, no display screens, no logging, no frameworks etc. You will want to apply a template to the meter after the upgrade is complete.

Regards,

Charles

[Robert_Lee]

Also be warned that attempting to download any template from *newer* firmware to older firmware (V416 -> V415 firmware) may possibly cause issues when doing so.  It is preferable to either use a previously saved template (one which was saved when the device was set to V415 firmware) or use the factory default one (and then manually updating the device changes again).  There are ways to force the use of the template but possible new template changes won't possibly exist on the older firmware so this could lead to lots of issues.

[Ricardo_RM]

Hello, thank you very much for the answers.

We did the test with a 7650 meter, but when downloading for the first time this error appears.

The meter also goes blank, but if it is turned off and on again it returns to normal.

And checking if they have the correct firmware version, but if it shows some messages in ION Setup like the following

Do you think this may affect communications?

Greetings

@Robert_Lee  @Charles_Murison @Mehran_Mehrnia 

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @Ricardo_RM ,

This is part of what we have been talking about, templates are usually future firmware compatible, not always backward firmware compatible. A template from V410 firmware is likely to work on V415 or V416 firmware however a V416 template is unlikely to work on V410 firmware.

RMP stands for rapid meter programming, This will configure the meter completely before taking all the modules online, if any module fails to go online you get that message. You meter will still communicate however many, if not all modules, are offline, no data recording, no display modules, no min/max, no demand etc. Most of the features of an ION meter comes from the template.

When you restarted the meter, many of the modules came online however there may still be some modules offline. You many need to do a check with ION Setup again.

Regards,

Charles

[Ricardo_RM]

Hello @Charles_Murison 

I understand, regarding this point I clicked on the Online option that appears in the image and that message no longer appeared.

We also tried to load the firmware again, but the same error appeared.

But it could be because of what you mentioned. And the customer has a DCIM system where the meter was no longer communicating, it may be a product of these modules not starting correctly.

Greetings.

[Charles_Murison · Accepted solution]

Hello @Ricardo_RM ,

Modules offline should not affect communications, there could be something else happening there. Hard to troubleshoot something like this from the forum. One item to note is ION7650 meters are obsolete so there may be limited technical support options. I would start with using a V415 default template to see if that works on the meter.

Regards,

Charles