Solmetric PVA-1000S, User Manual

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5 Troubleshooting PVA Operation
5-5
The PVA software displays dashes in place of data in the sensor displays when SolSensor
is turned off or out of wireless communication range, or when a thermocouple is not
plugged into the yellow sockets labeled TC1 and TC2.
Reduced wireless range can be caused by objects (especially metal) blocking the line-of-
sight from PC to SolSensor, or by placing either the PC or SolSensor on top of or near
metal objects like metal roof surfaces, equipment housings and so on. The corrective
action is to clear the line-of-sight and to raise the equipment above the metal surfaces. If
these steps do not solve the problem, move the PC closer to the I-V Measurement Unit.
Mounting SolSensor on a tripod in a location with good line of sight to your PC is
another alternative.
The SolSensor may recover by performing a hard reset of the SolSensor and I-V unit by
holding down the power button for 5 seconds on each.
With SolSensor 200, the parameters will also be absent if the Network ID number of
SolSensor and your Wireless USB Interface do not match. See Your Wireless Network
for details.
Communication to I-V Measurement Unit or SolSensor briefly drops out
This may occur with the PVA-1000S or PVA-600+ when the I-V Unit or SolSensor or
both are being physically relocated. The communication path from the PC to each of the
instruments may be direct or indirect (one instrument relays the signal to the other).
Indirect links allow operation at greater distances from the PC, but the network may be
unavailable for 10-20 seconds during the switch between direct and indirect.
A brief dropout can also occur between the PVA-1500xx and your PC. If the link does
not restore in 2 minutes, you may be out of wireless range. Similarly, communication
with the SolSensor 300xx can also briefly drop out, but should restore momentarily if
SolSensor 300xx and the I-V Unit are within wireless range of one another. If the I-V
Unit is not wirelessly connected to the PC, the software will also show "Searching for
SolSensor" because SolSensor 300xx communicates through the I-V Unit to the PC.
It takes more time than usual to return and save a measurement
The speed depends on the number of I-V trace points selected. Use 100 points for most
work, and 500 points only when extreme resolution is required. The resolution can be
changed back and forth any time throughout your Project. The resolution control is
located in the Utility menu.
The minimum time from measurement to measurement for the PVA-1500xx I-V Unit is
also affected by the open circuit voltage of the strings under test. Higher voltages mean
more energy transferred to the I-V Unit with each measurement, and therefore more rapid
temperature rise within the I-V Unit. To allow this heat to dissipate, a delay is inserted
between sweeps when measuring high-voltage strings. When the strings are near 1500V,
the delay will be the longest at 22 seconds.
I-V curve does not reach down to the X-axis