Replace old ION meters

[Stuart_Cheng]

Hi All,

At one customer site, we are going to replace several old PM8000 meters. I plan the following procedure, would like to check if anything wrong.

1. Upgrade the firmware of the old PM8000 (to the version of the new PM8000)
2. Export the .dcf file from the old PM8000
3. Import the .dcf file into new PM8000

Based on the procedure abovementioned, am I be able to copy the configuration and framework to the new meters without any further settings? Do I also need to copy the .cfg file to see the layout of the framework?

Thank you.

Best regards,

[Charles_Murison · Accepted solution]

Hello @Stuart_Cheng ,

If you are going to be replacing the meters, upgrading the firmware first is likely just a waste of time. I would recommend determining if the existing template has any customizations (manual process), record information like, customizations, PT/CT ratios, nominal voltage, volts mode, energy readings, alarm settings sag/swell settings etc. Then use a new meter with new template and apply the settings of the original meter plus any customizations.

When upgrading firmware on an ION Meter, onboard memory including the template are erased. Be sure that any logged data you want to keep is saved before upgrading. When upgrading, most configuration information has the option to be saved to temp location and put back on the meter after upgrade.

Most elements of a meter's template are future compactable, that is to say, new firmware can support older templates. The better question to ask is should older templates be put on newer firmware. Often firmware updates will allow for new features or updates that did not exist on the older firmware. If the old template is used, some of these features may not be used or used to full potential. An example of this is with old firmware, 2 PQ standards could not be implemented on the same meter, there was 1 template for IEE519 and a standard template. Now the meter supports enough modules to have both. 

Regards,

Charles

[Tom_Stevenson]

Fully agreed with Charles - if you have customizations to ION frameworks from the factory default, I would suggest you maintain a sub-framework you can apply to the latest factory framework.  This way, you can take the latest factory framework and paste your set of modifications in Designer to it to produce your custom default framework.  This is a very context specific question too, so please advise if there are other nuances to consider.

Tom

[Stuart_Cheng]

Hi Both,

Many thanks for your information and I can see that upgrading the old ION meters is not necessary since the templates are future compatible.

Would like to check again if I understand correctly. The recommended way from your side is to identify the customization of the old ION meter and paste them onto the new ION meter via Designer. The reason is that importing the .dcf file from the old ION meter may not fully bring out the potential of the new firmware?

Thank you.

Best regards,

[Charles_Murison]

Hello @Stuart_Cheng 

"Would like to check again if I understand correctly. The recommended way from your side is to identify the customization of the old ION meter and paste them onto the new ION meter via Designer. The reason is that importing the .dcf file from the old ION meter may not fully bring out the potential of the new firmware?"

Correct

"Many thanks for your information and I can see that upgrading the old ION meters is not necessary since the templates are future compatible."

As stated may be a little confusing. Every effort is taken to make new versions of firmware compatible with older templates. Current firmware can have older templates placed on. There may be some change in a future firmware where an existing template would no longer be able to be placed on new firmware. For example if modules are deprecated. (see Pinned post as of typing this replay). Most modules currently listed for deprecation are not used in default framework.

Regards,

Charles

[Stuart_Cheng]

Hi @Charles_Murison 

It’s clear. Thanks for the help!

Best regards,