PM8000 / ION 7400 waveform capture settings

[sesa197217_brid]

Currently the PM8000 and ION 7400 series meters have separate current and voltage nominal settings, but their respective waveform recorder module Enable inputs share the same 'Wfm Rec Enble' External Boolean status.  A customer expressed interest in only recording voltage data because the loads being monitored are not constantly pulling current data causing a large number of unwanted waveform captures.  We were able to assist by creating a custom External Boolean module, unlinking the 'Wfm Rec Enble' status, and linking the new custom module.  Would it be possible to include the separation of current and voltage waveform capture in the default dcf template files in the future?

[Anonymous user]

Hi Adam,

Really appreciate you sharing this type of insight and feedback. I'll leave it to Offer Management (Daniel Brandao Neto) to comment on the feature request.

Would it be possible for you to share your framework file that you developed to address the solution? It would be helpful to have for others if they come across a similar situation.

Thanks,

Adam

[engenharia_memt]

Hello, 

I'm currently facing some difficulties to explain to our customer why should or why should him not set the nominal current in order to capture current waveform. I mean, as a matter of fact, current is a load dependent parameter and, therefore, it can vary from zero to the nominal value many times over the day. So, in order to help us to answer the customer questions, think about the solutions and applications, could you share with us what Development/Engineering teams thought of when inserted this possibility in newer versions of ION meters? 
Thanks! 

Kind regards, 

Ramon

[DanL · Accepted solution]

I'd like clarification on the "large number of unwanted waveform captures".

1. One possibility is that for every voltage sag or voltage disturbance event, the PME query is displaying both voltage and current waveforms, but the customer only wants to see the voltage waveforms.... This would be easily solved by customizing the database query to have it only display required values.
2. The other possibility is that the customer is using an older firmware that has a bug in the Disturbance Analyser Module which is used in the so-called "Current Sag" and "Current Swell" framework logic - among other places. On this older firmware, certain conditions can result in many (millions in some cases) of nuisance alarms and waveforms. In this case, please disable both the "Current Sag" and "Current Swell" alarms and/or upgrade the firmware and framework.

The question about Nominal Current is a separate topic, but as far as I know it is only used for the "Current Sag" and "Current Swell" framework features. The intent is that the customer would set it to some reasonable level of expected primary line current in Amps.

[Charles_Murison]

Hello Ramon,

An example I have seen where Current Sag/swell logic was used was a Data center where the loads where expected to be fairly consistent. The change in current would notify the user that something has changed with the system. Some times the changes would be expected and the alarm dismissed. However if not expected, the alarm would indicate a change that would require investigation.

Charles