ION 8650A Cell Modem communications

[sesa197217_brid]

I am actively working with a customer who has purchased 35 ION 8650A cell modem meters.  They have purchased this same model in the past and are actively using them within their PME system, however, this recent batch is unable to communicate through the cell modem connection.  Serial and ethernet communications to the units are stable, so we believe the cause is isolated to the cell modem hardware.  Working with continuous engineering we need to pull additional diagnostics directly from the cell modem.

The process to gather these diagnostics requires the information and hardware below:

1. meter factory backdoor password based on the serial number
2. meter DGD log password
3. Either a remote webex connection to the device or being physically in front of the unit
4. Serial to USB or serial to ethernet converter

As part of support policy we're unable to give out these passwords to end customers.    This process makes it extremely difficult and time consuming as a support engineer to gather the diagnostic data needed from the hardware.   Could this data potentially be gathered via ethernet with hardware changes?  Are there any plans to improve this process?

[Robert_Lee]

Hi Adam,

     What is the Cell Modem setup assistant showing for the Info tab?

The ETH2 MEID should already have a value out of the box.  To activate the cell modem, you will need to now connect using ION Setup first via serial or Ethernet, highlight the ETH2 Activation Status option and then press the Activate button (which will ungrey at that point).

If the modem activates successfully but can't acquire an IP address, then you might need to do some type of hardware wiring in order to grab diagnostic info from the cell modem using a remote PC.  DGD information can be collected via ION Setup (but needs to be done by =S= personnel and not the end-customer).