setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

For more advanced meter data users. Learn from others and ask questions about how to read meters, how to use the EKM Push Data, and how to display the meter data in useful ways.
Post Reply
dandelot
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:07 pm

setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by dandelot »

I successfully read A and B data, but I'm not understanding the
sequence of operations for setting some things
in the Pulse v.4. Writing in C on Linux.

My rash assumptions were as follows. Not working so...what are the corrrect sequences?
I don't send the Pulse v.4 12 byte meter addresss here, (what should I send? when?) so...I'm confused.
What does 'Set Meter Address' do?

a) set lcd display
Password (send password record)
sleep 1 sec
Set Selected LCD display items (send the transaction, trying to display item 25 only)

b) Set Pulse 1 ratio
Password (send password record )
sleep 1 sec
Set Pulse Input 1 constant (send the transaction, trying to set the pulse ratio to 1, it
seems to default to 1000 and I wish to count every pulse. )

Thanks in advance for any help.
Jameson
Posts: 860
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:42 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by Jameson »

First, I would like to check to see if you are using the EKM Dash Hex Inspector to learn how to make settings. With the Hex Inspector open you can use the Dash to "Set CT Ratio" for example, in the Hex Inspector you can see how the Dash makes meter requests, waits for responses, and gives the password.

Here is the v.4 meter settings protocol: http://documents.ekmmetering.com/Omnime ... otocol.pdf

Here is a link to the developer portal just to be sure you have it: http://www.ekmmetering.com/developer-portal

Here is the sequence you need to use to make a meter setting (from this page: http://forum.ekmmetering.com/viewtopic. ... uest#p5527)

Send Full Meter Request (Master)
Receive Meter Response
Send Password (Master)
Receive Meter Responds OK
Send Make Setting (set Max Demand to zero use: 01 57 31 02 30 30 34 30 28 30 30 30 30 30 30 29 03 01 2b) (Master)
Receive Meter Responds OK
Send Close String (Master)

Let us know if you have any questions.
Jameson
EKM METERING
http://www.ekmmetering.com
831.425.7371
dandelot
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:07 pm

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by dandelot »

On starting Dash and trying to run the free trial I get 'unhandled NilObjectException'.

The Protocol.pdf is a sketch, isn't it. Not a definition.

The forum article you mention does have some useful info. Thanks.

Seems like the most productive approach would be to get dash running,
but I have no idea how to proceed. I just paid for a registration key for dash.
I assume the problem is nothing big. The option to buy the reg. key.
certainly worked by getting me into firefox on the right page: no core dump :-)

Ah. When I click the 'quit program' button I get the exception and Dash dies.

If we could just get Dash running all would be well, watching the transactions on my LAN
is simple.
Jameson
Posts: 860
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:42 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by Jameson »

Are you trying to run Dash on Linux? Is it 64 bit?

If so here are some discussions about that which may clear up some questions (too bad neither of the discussions is conclusive):

http://forum.ekmmetering.com/viewtopic. ... inux#p5777
http://forum.ekmmetering.com/viewtopic. ... inux#p5847
The Protocol.pdf is a sketch, isn't it. Not a definition.
I would be willing to bet you are right. Someday I will learn what an actual RS485 protocol is supposed to look like :lol: Hopefully it is helpful (in conjunction with the Dash)

Hope we get you cleared up soon and on your feet ;)
Jameson
EKM METERING
http://www.ekmmetering.com
831.425.7371
dandelot
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:07 pm

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by dandelot »

Ubuntu 14.04. 32bit . Has just 4GB Ram, so there was no good reason
to run x64 :-) And I've been unable to find bigger RAM that (regardless
of specification and MOBO matching what original ram says)
passes memtest on this motherboard. So: 32bit pointer, 32bit long int.
dandelot
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:07 pm

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by dandelot »

Oh my. To my astonishment the spelling of the executable name
is critical to getting dash to work. I renamed "EKM Dash" to "EKMDash"
with no space as spaces in names are really annoying
to script and...that did not work.

I changed the name back to "EKM Dash" with the space and now I get something sensible.
The panel is to close to top of screen, something odd there. Alt-leftclick lets me grab
and move the panel down and right so I see all of it.
Lets see if it works for me now.
dandelot
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 7:07 pm

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by dandelot »

Finally realized input number 11 is PulseCount 3.
Now I am getting counts.
Dash is working ok (would be nice if hovering
over a toolbar symbol would print it's purpose,
a tooltip),
but that is just a nice idea.
Dash is working, I set
the pulse ratio to 1 and the Pulse v.4
window to display pulse count3 and
now we're up, up and awaaaaayyyyyyy.

Well, anyway, I can start logging water use, the second step is a
set of tripwires (over time intervals from
an hour to a month. That sends me an email when it looks like I
have a leak. That I'll surely do in python, not C.
Jameson
Posts: 860
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:42 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: setting Pulse v.4. Not yet getting it right.

Post by Jameson »

Thank you very much for your posts Dandelot, and for explaining where you got stuck and how you fixed the issues.

Any way you can send us a screenshot of what you were seeing here:
The panel is to close to top of screen, something odd there. Alt-leftclick lets me grab
and move the panel down and right so I see all of it.
Good to hear you have the Dash up and running now :D

If you are interested in Triggers, you can set them up by going to EKM Dash > Events > Triggers

Here is a trigger I have setup to send an email to info@ekmetering.com, it happens if the v.4 Pulse 1 increments by more than 500 within 500 reads (500 minutes in this case). This one is looking for a lot of water over a fairly long amount of time (a size-able leak, or a lot of irrigation water), you could set it up to look for less water over a shorter period of time (a broken pipe). It will take some experimentation to setup various triggers that will be most useful for you. :
Screenshot 2014-09-26 12.39.13.png
Screenshot 2014-09-26 12.39.13.png (86.23 KiB) Viewed 16271 times
Jameson
EKM METERING
http://www.ekmmetering.com
831.425.7371
Post Reply