ION 7330/7350 limited number of connections over TCP

[engenharia_memt]

Dear all,

I hope this message finds you well. 

navigating on some topics in the community, trying to find some way to connect two ION clients simultaneously to an ION 7330/7350 meter on TCP port (7700), I came accross a topic in which  @Hal_Etheridge al_Etheridge mentions that maybe there is a firmware version that could have this number of TCP connections extended to the maximum of two clients using ION protocol by disabling the serial port.

Could you guys confirm if this would still be a possibility and give me some more details on this subject? 

I appreciate any other ideas. 
Thanks in advance!  

Best Regards,

Ramon

[Hal_Etheridge]

Long as it is the latest firmware version for the ETH73xx card and the meter itself then the feature should be there.  The Protocol register for one (or more) of the serial ports should have a "None" option.  Once that is selected then that "slot" is freed for an additional TCP connection.  I am not sure what version number it is.  Performance may be slightly impacted as internally the requests from the ethernet card is transferred to the main meter over a 19200 or 38400 baud serial link.  Typically this should not be noticeable but if you are hammering all the TCP connections at the same you may have some slowdowns.

Note that this is from a very long time ago so my memory may be slightly off...  I think the last firmware release for that product was around 15-20 years ago....

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @engenharia_memt 

Please refer to https://www.se.com/ca/en/faqs/FA212335/, the ION73xx meter has a maximum connection of 1 for the ION protocol. The serial port does not have the none option. There is nothing that can be done to the number to support more than 1 connection with the ION protocol.

Charles

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @engenharia_memt 

Looking at the KB again and talking with hardware team, you might be able to get a "second" ION connection. This does require that the com ports on the meter are tried together, Com1->Com2. One port is set to Ethergate (default) the second port is set to ION. Then you can use the device ID of the second com port and TCP port of the first com port to to the meter. I currently do not have an ION73xx meter I can confirm this with.

Charles

[engenharia_memt]

Dear @Charles_Murison, 

thank you for helping in this case!

I think I got the required steps. We still have one or two pieces of ION 73xx in the lab, so we can perform some tests.

As soon as our team finish the tests, we update you here. 

Best regards,

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @engenharia_memt ,

Where you able to get the Ethergate to work for you?

Regards,

Charles

[engenharia_memt]

Hi @Charles_Murison, 

actually, no. I have an ION7350, which I jumped the serial com ports and left PME connected via ethernet 7700 port and configured a new connection from ION Setup using ethergate protocol on 7702 port. I don't know if I'm missing any step, but you can see most of configuration in attached picture. Also, you can see that Ethergate protocol is being used and I promise you that ION Setup simply timed out. Also, I tried to change ID on COM1 to 255, but nothing has happened.    

I appreciate if you could give any insight. 

Thank you!!

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @engenharia_memt ,

One thing the config page does not show is the serial settings of each port (8N1). Likely they match but would be the first thing I check. In your text you said port 7702, but I am guessing you meant 7802. Did you confirm that the serial port + goes to + and - to -? Could you share a picture? I assume the ID for Com1 is the device ID you use in ION Setup.

Regards,

Charles

[engenharia_memt]

Hello @Charles_Murison, 

I tried to check the serial data bits, parity and stop bits, as you can see in the pictures, but I don't have this option neither in basic options nor in advanced.

Yes, I meant 7802 and checked the wiring + to + and - to - ant the ID was correctly configured in ION Setup.

Anyway, I'm assuming that this might not be the most feasible option and we are thinking about some kind of solution in PME level. If I spend some more energy on that and find any news I will let you know here. 

Thank you!

Best Regards,

 

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @engenharia_memt ,

Does your ION7350 meter have a modem as well as Ethernet? If so this would explain the problem. With a modem, the Com1 is set to modemgate rather than RS-485. If your meter does not have a modem, are you able to talk to the serial port of the Com1 directly with RS-485 converter connected to a computer?

Regards,

Charles

[engenharia_memt]

Hello @Charles_Murison, 

oh, right now, I just can't answer your question because the meter itself is isntalled on field and we haven't tested the access via Rs-485 converter, unfortunately. Is there any toher way to check it but by the part number?  One thing that I have checked is that optical port is available, as you can see in attached, and maybe this could "kill" one of the other serial ports. 

Thank you so much for your attention in this case. 

[Charles_Murison · Accepted solution]

Hello @engenharia_memt ,

Yes from the serial number I can determine if the meter came with a modem as well as Ethernet. The front optical port does not "kill" other ports. This is a separate port and the meter does not limit the number of serial ports.

Regards,

Charles