Configuring front panel displays

Using the front panel

You cannot configure displays from the front panel.

Using ION Setup

The following sections explain how to add or edit a display screen, and how to set up scaling for a display.

Adding or editing a display screen

  1. Open the Setup Assistant for your meter. See the ION Setup Help for instructions.
  2. Select the Displays screen.
  3. Select Displays on the Front Panel tab and click Edit.

    ION Setup uploads your meter’s display information to the Display Editor. This can take a few moments.

  4. Edit, rename, delete or rearrange displays as needed.
  5. Click New to add a new display or click Edit to change an existing display. The Display Setup wizard appears. There are three basic steps for creating or editing display screens.
    1. Select a Screen Type: Choose the screen type you want from the dropdown list.
    2. Select Parameters: Link or unlink the parameters available for your chosen screen type. Assign your preferred display units (if required); see Considerations when assigning display units for considerations and examples of display unit scaling.
    3. Select Digit Display Properties: Select your display qualities, including digit resolution and truncated or rounded last digits.
  6. Click Send to save the changes in the meter.

 

Considerations when assigning display units

NOTE: If you want to scale all front panel values by the same scaling factor, you do not need to assign display units to individual parameters. Instead configure the display scaling settings under the DISPLAY SETUP menu on the front panel; see DISPLAY SETUP menu. You can also configure the display scaling settings by accessing the Display Options module; see the ION Reference for more information.

For most values, the meter determines and displays the correct units for the source measurement, and automatically scales displayed values for readability. If these units meet your needs, you do not need to configure display unit scaling. Assigning display units allows you to: 1) override the default units and force a certain scaling or 2) to display units when the meter cannot determine the correct units (for example, when the source is an output from an Arithmetic module).

For the purposes of the display units, the source parameter is assumed to be in the base units of the Power Meter module (in other words, V, A, kW, etc.). If the source parameter is not in the base units of the Power Meter module, the parameter may be scaled incorrectly or display incorrect units.

NOTE: You can only assign display units to One, Two, Three, and Four Parameter screens and One, Two, and Three Parameter with Timestamp screens.

The available units are:

– Default    

–  V, kV, MV    

–  A, kA, MA    

–  kw, MW, GW

– kVAR, MVAR, GVAR

–  kVA, MVA,GVA 

–  Vh, kVh, MVh

–  Ah, kAh, MAh

–  kWh, MWh, GWh  

– kVARh, MVARh, GVARh

–  kVAh, MVAh, GVAh

– LD/LG¹
–  IND/CAP¹

–  Hz

–  %

 –  Blank

¹Power factor related units will not scale or change based on the input value. They are always assumed to be coming from a lagging source or a leading source.

The following example illustrates display unit scaling on a three parameter screen, including the case when the parameter is not in the base units from the Power Meter module. In the example, the kW tot value from the Power Meter module is 10000.

  • Parameter 1 = kW tot directly from the Power Meter module
  • Parameter 2 = kW tot from an Arithmetic module that has divided the Power Meter module value by 1000, converting it to MW.
  • Parameter 3 = kW tot from an Arithmetic module that does not scale the value from the Power Meter module.

Configuration

Displayed value

Notes

Default

Parameter 1 = 10000 kW

Parameter 2 = 10

Parameter 3 = 10000

Parameter 2 and 3 do not display units because they come from Arithmetic modules

kW

Parameter 1 = 10000 kW

Parameter 2 = 10 kW

Parameter 3 = 10000 kW

Parameter 2 and 3 do not change since they are assumed to be in the base units of the Power Meter module. However, parameter 2 is shown as 10 kW when it has already been scaled to 10 MW.

MW

Parameter 1 = 10 MW

Parameter 2 = 0.01 MW

Parameter 3 = 10 MW

All three parameters are scaled. However, parameter 2 has been scaled twice.

Using Designer

NOTE: Before you reconfigure or delete a framework, it is recommended that you make a copy. This ensures that you can restore the framework, if necessary, without having to reinitialize the factory configuration.

Removing a data display screen

  1. Open your meter in Designer.
  2. Select the Display module responsible for the screen.
  3. Press DELETE. This also deletes all links to that particular Display module.

    4. If the display screen you are deleting is part of the automatic scrolling cycle, you must reconfigure the links from the Scroll module’s Trigger outputs to the remaining Display modules so that the following considerations hold true:

  • The first Display module in the scrolling cycle is linked to the Trigger 1 output of the Scroll module.
  • The last Display module in the scrolling cycle (module n) is linked to the Trigger n output of the Scroll module. For example, if your scrolling cycle consists of 5 screens, Trigger 5 should be linked to the fifth module in the cycle.
  • The Wraparound setup register of the Scroll module designates the last trigger output (Trigger n). Expanding on the previous example, since Trigger 5 is the last trigger, the Scroll module’s Wraparound setup register would have a value of 5.

Adding a new display screen

  1. Create a Display module.
  2. Define the modules characteristics (display format) by adjusting its setup registers.
  3. Link any required data to the Source inputs of the Display module.

    4. If you want your new screen to appear in the automatic scrolling cycle, you must link the Show input of the Display module to a Trigger output of a Scroll module.

Creating a Disk Simulator screen

  1. Create a new Display module and set the type as Disk Simulator.
  2. Connect the new Display module’s first input to the Calibration Pulser module’s Disk Position output that you want to monitor for its pulsing interval.
  3. To include the newly added screen to the ALT screen list, connect the Display module’s Show1 and Show2 inputs to the Scroll module’s last available Trigger outputs in ALT SCROLL UP and ALT SCROLL DOWN (respectively).

    You can determine the last available Trigger by right-clicking on the output to discover the Triggers’ owners.

  4. Increase the Scroll module’s Wraparound setup register by 1 to include the new screen.
  5. Configure the remaining display settings according to your needs.

Although the Disk Simulator display is intended to show the disk behavior of mechanical watt-hour meters, this feature can be used to monitor any accumulated meter quantity over the time. To do this, connect the Display module’s first input to the meter quantity and connect the second input to the maximum value that you expect the displayed quantity to be bounded by (this can be any output register or an External Numeric module register). In a case where the Display module is not connected to a Calibration Pulser module, the Disk Simulator revolves from left to right.

If the associated Calibration Pulser module is set for NET accumulation, and a negative value is accumulated and sent to the Disk Simulator display, the negative number on the display will be a negative accumulation, but the display disk will still go from left to right (forwards). To make the display disk go from right to left (backwards), set the associated Calibration Pulser module’s Int Mode register to reverse.

NOTE: The inputs to the Disk Simulator display are always positive. If the value exceeds the maximum scale value assigned in the second input, nothing is displayed except labels and the disk rectangle.

Configuring leading zeros

The leading zeros and decimal point in a numeric display can be configured with the Display module setup register Screen Resolution. For example, the number 276.3443 can be configured in one of the following ways, depending on the selection you make in the Screen Resolution setup register:

Value

Screen resolution

276.3443

 1.x    =    276.3
 

1234.xx    =    0276.34
 

123456.    =    000276.

 If the Screen Resolution setup register is set to DEFAULT, the Display module uses the resolutions defined in the Display Options module.

Last digit mode

The Display module setup register Last Digit Mode lets you specify whether to truncate or round a value’s last digit. Numbers round up at 5 or greater and round down from 1 to 4. A truncated value disposes of any digits after the number of decimal places that you specified in the Screen Resolution setup register.

Screen resolution =1.xxx

Value

=

276.35192

Rounded

=

276.352

Truncated

=

276.351

Configuring parameter titles

The parameter value on a display screen is the value of an output connected to the Display module Source input register. By default, the displayed parameter’s title is the name of the output connected to the Source input. The Display module Source Title setup register lets you change the default to a title that better describes your system. For example, if “KWh Net” is linked to the first Source input, you can change its display name by setting Source 1 Title to “KWh Net West”. A maximum of 25 characters is permitted.

See Changing TEST mode timeout for information on configuring TEST mode display timeouts.