North
Q
Power & Gas Reader
Revision: 2.2
10
close together, using low power transmission will show a major battery lifetime improvement.
The communication software in the controller may chose not to try low power communication
for a longer period of time if the Power Reader failed to respond to a certain amount of low
power transmissions.
- sending wake up no more information will force the Power Reader to send an ACK to the
controlling node. Not sending wake up no more information actually improves battery lifetime
in this case. The Power Reader will go to sleep after the time in register 10 expires.
Misc:
- make sure your controller knows how to properly set the Power Reader to sleep from real-
time mode by setting register 11 to 0.
- make sure your controller's UI notifies the user that requesting live data from the Power
Reader (i.e. real-time mode requests) will cause the batteries to deplete very fast.
- the wake up interval must not be less than 15 minutes
- do not use CRC 16 command class unless it is absolutely necessary as it will require the
antenna to send more bytes than the regular command class. By sending more bytes, the
battery lifetime is affected.
- leave register 10 at 3 seconds
If all these requirements are fulfilled and the Power Reader is close to the gateway, the
battery lifetime with the original batteries is 8 months.
VI. Common setup to properly install a Power Reader
In order to properly install a Power Reader the controller node has to follow these steps:
- pair the Power Reader by enabling learn mode on the controller node and pressing the button
3 times
- immediately after pairing, the Power Reader will enter real-time mode
- get manufacturer specs to check for the firmware type
- get firmware version
- get serial number (configuration register 12)
- set time parameters
- set wake up interval
- set meter type and impulse factor registers
- ask user to place the Power Reader on the meter
- if the Power Reader is to be installed on an electricity meter mechanical type, then a
calibration is needed. Start a calibration by setting register 7 to 0. The Power Reader will start
sending unsolicited configuration reports to inform the controlling node of its calibration status.
