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| Can I supply my own monitoring computer?
We supply custom manufactured servers with our system because we need a configuration designed for battery monitoring system demands. We remove all incidental software from the system and configure the machine to be always-on. The iBMU is dedicated 100% of the time to battery monitoring. You do not want the computer you entrust to warn you when your standby power is just about to ruin your day to be 'otherwise engaged' performing other duties or in standby.
I have multiple strings of jars on multiple batteries. What are the limitations of Cellwatch? A Cellwatch system consists of three main building blocks. A central computer known as an iBMU, a Control Unit (CU) and a measurement device know as a Data Collection Module or DCM.
Can Cellwatch handle strings of different sizes and different voltages? Cellwatch systems can handle cells, jars (or mono-blocks) of 2 volt to 12 volt DC nominal. They can be configured for almost unlimited combinations of batteries of any size and any voltage. They do not have to be divisible by 4. Easy alarm programming can take place if all the cells or jars on a system are of the same type and characteristic. However, your Cellwatch installer can set up the system to accommodate almost any combination of cell or jar in any string configuration.
I have 63 jars on one of my strings, can I still use Cellwatch? Yes, Cellwatch can be configured for any number of jars or cells. The number of cells or jars does not have to be divisible by 4! The only exception to this rule would be if the system was configured to monitor just 2 or 3 cells in a single string where the minimum system voltage for a DCM cannot reliably be maintained. Once that minimum battery voltage (6.7V DC) is achieved, then any number of cells can be measured in a string. What is maximum size battery string I can have? Cellwatch is designed to manage 254 DCMs on a Control Unit. This permits 1016 cells or if expressed more precisely they should be called measurement points as you can have two cells or more per measurement point. At present Cellwatch software has a screen size limit of 250 cell depictions on a visual battery string panel (or less if there are a large number of batteries). This limit gives a working maximum nominal voltage of 500Vdc (250 x 2v) if each and every cell was to be measured per screen panel. To workaround this issue, either the string could be split without any detriment to two screen panels or the DCMs could measure 8 instead of 4 cells each given a measurement point voltage of 4Vdc. Incidentally, with all the systems installed in Europe and the USA, this situation has never been reached.
Can I use an anti-virus program with Cellwatch on my network? Yes, Cellwatch has been tested with Norton Anti-Virus Small Business Edition (SBE 8.1.0825) and performs well. Testing was carried out Cellwatch where scans and discharges were run at the same time as virus definition uploads and virus scans with no detrimental degradation in performance. For more information see Techwatch.
Will Cellwatch work with Windows Vista? Until we complete testing we do not recommend customers change OSs to Windows Vista. For details of our thoughts on the subject go here. To stay up to date on the matter see Techwatch.
What is the data or time resolution on history recording?
Can Cellwatch be told when in the day to perform a discharge test? No, Cellwatch does not perform discharge tests. Cellwatch has the facility to program the time of day to perform the first ohmic value test. Its ohmic value test is performed once a day by default or twice a day by user selection. Cellwatch reacts to a battery discharge if it occurs and records all voltage, temperature and current data during the discharge. You CAN tell Cellwatch when to perform its ohmic value test - any time of the day.
Can we get more information on the RS485 communications from the iBMU to the control unit. Is it two or four wire? The communications between the iBMU and all the CUs is two wire RS485 (and must be a screened twisted pair). There may be two additional wires that run from the first CU back to the iBMU where they feed power to the RS232 to RS485 converter. This is the only time that 4 wires are used, otherwise two data wires and a ground wire are used.
What languages is Cellwatch available in? Presently, Cellwatch software is available in both French and English versions. Temperatures can be set to display in Degrees F or C and dates are in either American or International format depending on the settings of the iBMU. The user handbook is only available in English right now.
Why is the Cellwatch program not run as a 'service'? A service run under Windows can either have access to a console and keyboard and mouse (the GUI) or have access to the network. It cannot have both. Cellwatch requires both to enable the user to see what is happening on the Battery Monitoring System and to allow others to see the web page, receive the MODBUS data and have remote control via PcAnywhere or Remote Desktop (Terminal Services).
Can my I.T. department put a password on the iBMU for security reasons? The Cellwatch iBMU already has a secure user-ID and password. The system is a carefully built and configured, 2U high, rack mounted PC running a modified 'image' of Windows XP. The modifications are aimed at making the system very reliable and more secure. One of these modifications is to make the system auto-logon (without user intervention) even though the system does have a user-ID and password. This is deliberate and leads many people to think that it does not have a user-ID or password. It is done to make sure that the system will reboot, log-on and run the Cellwatch application in the event that there is ever a total power failure or the power to the system is removed for any reason. Their should only be one user set up on the system - Cellwatch and that user has administrator rights. If your system asks for a user name or password it is because the system has been either logged-off in which case Cellwatch will have stopped running, or someone has changed the password or rights of the Cellwatch user account. This should not be done for reliable operation.
What is the scan speed during a discharge? During a discharge, if the time and current criteria are both met, Cellwatch becomes a data logger for each and every cell, jar or bloc (measurement points or MPs) that Cellwatch is attached to on the battery. The speed of that data capture depends on a number of criteria but is typically between 15 milliseconds and 40 milliseconds for each and every measurement point. On small system (less than 10 MPs), due to 'overhead' this can be longer and as much as 150 milliseconds each for just 8 MPs.
What size will the iBMU hard disk drive be? The Hard Disk Drive or HDD varies by year of manufacture but in early 2007 it was 40 GByte. NDSL strives to build with the most reliable and cost effective components and avoids items that are likely to be at the outer edges of technology and hence reliability. The 40GByte hard drive is sufficient to store thousand's of years worth of Cellwatch data - a 80 jar system's history file is 500 KBytes. A system with 12 UPS, each consisting of 4 strings of 40 jars (1,920 jars) has an annual history file of 10 Mega Bytes.
What are Log Files and how long are they kept on a system? A very useful but underused feature of the Cellwatch system is the text record of every event that occurs with the system during every day. This keeps a log on the iBMU date stamped for every day of all system behaviours, including system starts and stops. This provides a useful record for the system owner to see what happened historically with the Cellwatch system. On older systems, due to the file structure limitations of the Windows operating system, these were purged 90 days after they were written. On these older systems it is advised to back up these files every 60 days or so. |
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Mon November 23, 2009, 9:44 pm
