PM8000 - TOU 8 tariffs?

[Pavel_Melnik]

Hi everyone!

One of our customers have a lot of PM8000 meters used on incomers at many sites across the globe.
We are starting to use extensively TOU capabilities to register Active Energy Delivered consumption for different rates like High peak, mid, low. Now customer raises the topic of a configuration of 8 rates for the same day.
According to the specs of PM8000 it is supported:

Link to Technical sheet, page 9

Yet, if using ION Setup it is possilble to manage only 4 tariffs:

Same goes when I open the meter with Designer in PME, it just shows one Time of Use modele available with ability to write data into 4 records: A, B, C and D

So could anyone please advise me which apporaches are available here to utilize all 8 tarrifs?
Are there any special firmwares or ready-to-use frameworks to import into the meter?

[Mehran_Mehrnia]

Hi @Pavel_Melnik 

The TOU Setup Wizard in ION Setup provides configuration for only one TOU module. However, in Advanced mode, it is possible to add a second TOU module, which is the maximum supported. In total, up to 8 TOU rates can be configured, with 4 rates in TOU1 and 4 rates in TOU2.

Best Regards,

-Mehran

L3 Expert Advanced metering

[Pavel_Melnik]

Hi @Mehran_Mehrnia ,

Yes, I’ve seen that capability. However, it’s still not clear how they are supposed to work together, or whether they can work together at all, to achieve the goal of having 8 different tariffs within a single day.

Besides, simply adding and configuring an additional TOU module through Advanced mode does not automatically create the additional recorders and connections.

So my question still stands.

[Pavel_Melnik]

Hi @Charles_Murison ,

I would appreciate to hear your opinion on this one.
By the way, here is an example of 5 rates for one of seasons from July to August.
Is there any proper way to organize it so customer can see the charts in PME with consupmtion from 5 different measurements dedicated to each rate?

[Charles_Murison · Accepted solution]

Hello ,

In the World of ION there is usually more than 1 way to do things. For example in PME it is possible to setup a TOU that can be customized to a much higher degree than on a meter's TOU module. All the calculations are done after the data is collected. Data logging configuration on the device is default. Benefit of this is, if the rate dates/times change you can make the change once and applies to all reports, would not have to update anything on the device. 

If you need calculations done on the device then two TOU modules would be needed. ION can be heavily customized, you could for example use 2 TOU with multiple AND/OR modules to determine multiple rates. The default template only has 4 rates, to add additional rates would require adding additional modules like Sliding Window Demand, and Integrators. Nothing too complex and the existing modules can be used as a template. I do not have examples to provide.

Regards,

Charles

[Pavel_Melnik]

Hi @Charles_Murison ,

Thanks for a reply! Ok, I see. Just wanted to make sure I'm not missing existing solution (like a dedicated firmware) or some other straightforward approach.

Yes, we are aware of TOU capabilities in PME, but customer wants to also see the data on the Dashboards and on top of that they want to configure TOU themselves. It was easy to explain how to do it in PME and also in ION Setup for 4 rates but with more rates it gets more complicated and I cannot just simple handle this task to them.

I'm now thinking of using SQL code to determine TOU rates based on the TOU Name, Source and Timestamp in PME. Then I can use it to calculate consumption for each also directly in SQL or using VIP.