T300 Protocol Analyzer

[N4th4n13L]

T300Following my previous post on data scaling in our ION meters. I also wanted to discuss an application with another one of our products, the PowerLogic T300. This can be used to quickly validate and compare data points between meter and other devices or applications.

The PowerLogic T300 is a modular and flexible remote terminal unit (RTU) that can be utilized in a variety of applications.  This application utilizes the HU250 module as a DNP and Modbus Protocol Analyzer for technicians to validate communications are working properly at end devices.

A common issue that technicians encounter is validating the DNP and Modbus values from end devices when commissioning IEDs. Most configuration software doesn’t provide raw values in the outputs of those registers and the only way to validate is to check values in an RTU.  A common challenge that technicians face is once they have commissioned an IED and are confident it is configured properly, the RTU they are validating with still says the data is incorrect.  This common issue typically arises due to IEDs being less complex to configure the communications protocols compared to an RTU that is connected to and supporting multiple IEDs.  This T300 application can easily help troubleshoot RTU connection issues and quickly validate the IED configuration.

Using the T300 as a protocol analyzer we can pre-configure the RTU to detect and read the IED’s point maps. Once configured, setup, and ready. Verification is as easy as connecting via serial or ethernet, and checking the data points. The T300 can be setup to show raw values and scaled values for configuration verification. 

This can be used to quickly validate your ION meters in the field, and help validate connections to RTUs, SCADA, and other applications that may be reading your metering device.

Please contact the US Power & Grid Sales team for more information or to request a quote.

[sesa29811 · Accepted solution]

We use a variety of tools to test communications from our ION and other brand of meters and IEDs 

First is IONsetup 3.0 which is a free download and is our SE software and will give you real time data from our ION Meters and older powerlogic meters

Also there is an older tool we have available called Tester which is a basic modbus tester and will read input, holding and coil registers

[N4th4n13L]

Thanks Cadet!

I've used ION Setup to calculate raw values as well. The Mod Value registers or output registers to the Modbus module registers help a lot when using 16bit formatting. But, when setup for 32bit registers it's not as straight forward depending on format.

I've also setup data screens like the one below to help with DNP verification. It doesn't provide the raw value, but gives you all the information to calculate the raw values!

I've also tried some other Modbus tester application. It might be the one you're referencing. It was similar to checking the mod value registers in ION Setup in that it's all in 16bit. So, would require additional calculations to get the correct value for the 32bit register reads.

Utility Customer heavily use DNP for SCADA and communications with RTU. There currently isn't a way to see those raw values within ION Setup without doing calculations. When using 16bit registers I commonly see secondary values used as well as they're much less likely to exceed the minimum and maximum supported value for 16 bit registers. But, SCADA is looking for primary values to compare.

Using a protocol analyzer you can set it up to view just the raw values to compare between IED and RTU, or configure with primary scale factors to compare back to SCADA!

[Robert_Lee · Accepted solution]

ION Setup also has a Modbus Tester Interface built-in to allow basic Modbus read/writes. It is available for Modbus-based devices by highlighting the device and then clicking on the stethoscope icon on the toolbar (or selecting Tools -> Diagnostics from the menu) and then going to the Troubleshooting tab. By default it shows returned values as UINT16 but you can right click on the values and select one of the available data types to convert to any of the different formats.