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2 wireless nodes Dash will not read all meters

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 11:49 am
by ccesena
Hi, My original system has 10 V.3 meters tied to a 485Bee, another 485Bee to a EKM i serial TCP/IP to RS 485 converter all read with Dash V1.8.3.11 paid version software and all had worked fine, but I added another 485Bee wireless adaptor with 4 meters to the network, bought new 485Bee adaptors for all nodes (because the old ones are not compatible with the new ones) and also hooked up another meter to the 485Bee connected to the i serial converter and dash reads sometimes all meters but most of the time I get No response-check RS485... or Bad reading... or cannot read meter at this time try again later...
If I separate my networks the one with the 4 meters only or the one with the 10 meters only dash can read them without a problem but all together, I get the error messages, what am I doing wrong, do I have to increase the meters reading interval set a this time to every 5 seconds? thank you for your help.

Re: 2 wireless nodes Dash will not read all meters

Posted: Mon May 15, 2017 3:18 pm
by Jameson
It should work to have up to thousands of 485Bees in the same network. It sounds like there could be a timing issue with the EKM Dash/485Bees.

Will you send me the Hex Inspector data for a meter that is having a hard time being read when you have 3 of the 485Bees connected to the same wireless mesh? Go to EKM Dash > Help > Hex Inspector and select the meter.

It is odd that you can read the 4 meters on one 485Bee and the 10 meters on the other 485Bee, but you cannot read all 14 meters when there are three 485Bees on the same mesh.

Try this with all 14 Omnimeters connected: If you pause the EKM Dash and then start it again: is the first read good and all subsequent reads bad?

Thanks for your help.

Re: 2 wireless nodes Dash will not read all meters

Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 6:17 pm
by ccesena
Sorry for the delay.

The first two or three meter readings can be done without a problem and from there on some meters are read and some don't. Hex inspector for two of the meters that DASH can't read: meter 12173 Send2F 3F 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 31 32 31 37 33 21 0D0A also meter 12192 Send2F 3F 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 31 32 31 39 32 21 0D0A. meter 12192 for example, I can read directly hooked up to the RS485 network using an USB converter, but not when I try to read it through the 485BEE network.

I also paused DASH and started again and same problem. Finally, node 1, 14 meters, node 2, 4 meters and directly conected to node 3, 1 meter

Thank you for your help.

Re: 2 wireless nodes Dash will not read all meters

Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 6:26 pm
by Jameson
This sounds more like a wireless connectivity issue, than a Dash timing issue. If the same batch of meters is able to be read, and the same batch of other meters has a hard time or reads infrequently then I would work on your wireless connection. I had understood earlier that either all or none of your meters can be read, I did not understand that just some of your meters are being read (some good, some bad). Please correct me if I am wrong. Are you able to read the meter that is furthest away or in the most difficult location? Or can you only read the meters that are nearby.

This will just take some troubleshooting and possibly adding 485Bee nodes that are not connected to a meter, but simply act as a data relay.

The closer you can get to good line of sight communications the better.
The higher you can get the 485Bees off of the ground and away from obstacles the better.

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Steps to troubleshoot a 485Bee network:

To troubleshoot 485Bees it is best to start simply and then add complexity or barriers to communications.

We would follow these steps to add complexity to an installation checking that you have reasonable connectivity after each step:

1. Connect the 485Bee to the meter with a hardwired connection. Check to make sure you have good communications.
2. Add additional meters to the RS485 Bus.
3. Connect two 485Bees very close to each other, so that the signal has to go from meter, to 485Bee, to 485Bee, to Communication Device.
4. Move the 485Bees further apart
5. Move the 485Bees so that there are barriers between them (no longer line of sight)

If any of the steps above do not work you will have to back up a step to figure out how to correct the issue that the added complexity introduced. Starting at the end of the list and working backwards is how installations usually happen, but it takes more time and is more frustrating.

You can correct or boost a 485Bee mesh signal by adding other 485Bees to strengthen the mesh network.

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Hope this helps.