sdg.marinusvz
2012-04-24 09:19
For  those meters with dates in last year, it is possible that they were never  installed. For those cases, it is necessary to go back to the  original commissioning sheets, and see if they were really installed. 
I see that for ones you mention that only read up to 11th of April, the  modem for Rep place was still in CSD mode (for which we schedule no automatic reads on your server); instead of GPRS. So this  is something to check when it says 'Partial Read' on the Problem Meter  List.
I now switched this modem to be on Automatic mode again. Hopefully they will come in again before tomorrow.
As for the rest:
I've looked at a number of these meters, on  the bulk view (Tools->Problem Meter List); as well as the per meter  view (View->Meter Read Log).
The reason for the meter not  calling in is under the Problem column heading for the Problem Meter  List, and under the outcome column heading on the Meter Read Log.
Of the remaining ones, it is typically one of the following:
sdg.marinusvz
2012-05-09 09:11
Before I sent the electrician out to site I did check to see the “problem” as per your post you have sent me.  “or that the meter doesn't answer back at all (Could not find meter at address; Communication error, no answer back); in which case it could be the airtime, or the communication cable between the modem and meter not plugged in or not making contact”.
 
1.       The meter does have air time (I check all the meters on a weekly basis and the one’s which have less than R50.00, I “top-up”); so it can’t be that it does not have air time.
2.       I then sent Presto out to check the communication cable to see if it was plugged in and making contact and that is when they came back to me to say that everything was in order and that the meter is in working order. 
 
What else can be wrong if not the above, as I still can’t pull provisional bills for these meters.
sdg.marinusvz
2012-05-09 09:14
I see there are 5 meters at this small center, all of which are  not calling in. (They are all connected to the same modem)
Furthermore, I checked the 'Last Read Up  to Date & Time' , to see when they went offline.
It appears they went offline in 2 'groups':
From that it can be  seen that something happened just after 2011-12-31 19:30 to take 6390872  (Shop 4) and 63900852 (Shop 3) offline - at the same time.
The second event happened just after 2012-03-01 02:00, and it took down the remaining 3 meters - at the same time.
The fact that the meters didn't fail one at a time, implies that it  is probably a cable problem. The fact that Shop 4 and Shop 3 failed  first, probably means that they share a cable from the modem, that leads  to just them, or if all of the meters are daisy chained together, that  they are on the end of the chain, and that the specific cable that  failed first was the cable towards the modem from Shop3/4.
Then, on the First of March, something happened on site to make the cable leading from the modem to the first meter to fail.
Since  all of them are now failing - to make sure it is not a modem problem - I  went to look in the Meter Read Logs of one of the meters. I saw that the problem said 'Could not find meter at  address'. This means it is probably not a modem problem, since it at  least looked for the meter. If the modem didn't connect at all, the  problem would have been something like 'Cannot Connect'. We have to  connect the modem to the server before we can talk to the meter on the  other side of the modem, so we know the modem appears to be working - as  you've said, it has airtime.
Therefore, it appears that the problem is a cable problem. The fact  that Presto says it appears correct means nothing. The cable could be  pulled out half a millimeter - invisible to the human eye - and still be  electrically disconnected. The cable could have been bent out of shape  by a shop-fitter and the copper broken off inside the plastic where  no-one can see. 
The best is if Presto pulls out the cable and plugs in the cable again,  and hear the sharp 'click' sound when it does so. Have they done that?  Also check the point where the cable plugs into the modem: plug it out  and plug it in again. Check the cable over its whole length for breaks  or abuse of any kind. If they have fresh cables available that they have  verified works before going to site, try to substitute that cable  temporarily, and see if it works.
It is important that the technician that is on site must log on to  Plug and Play Scada whilst on site, as we've teach in our courses, and try the  communication there and then. This is part of the troubleshooting  process. Just to look at the cables and see if they appear fine at first  glance is not good enough.
The correct process is to first leave only the first meter plugged  in, while the others are plugged out, and try to read that one meter  (that is the simplest configuration: that therefore just checks the 1  cable from the modem to the first meter). If that then works, the other  meters must be added bit by bit by plugging in more cables, until it  stops working, at which point the electrician has found the cable that  is causing the problems.
And are you sure they have not just checked the Electrical cables?  They are electricians, so with them you have to be very specific and say  they must check the Communication cables.
sdg.marinusvz
2012-05-17 12:08
The fact  that Presto says it appears correct means nothing. 
Have they connected only the first meter to the modem, and checked,  while on site, that pnpscada communicates to the first meter? And if  not, have they disconnected and reconnect that cable at both sides, and  then checked the communication again, while on site?
 
If they have not done the above, they have not done enough.
Once they get the first meter working, then they move on to the next one and repeat the process, etc.
We have trained some Presto technicians to read in the meters while on site. This is a  mayor innovation of Plug and Play Scada, to get technicians to be more  effective. If Presto doesn't have enough trained personnel, (personnel  trained on pnpscada); then they must send them to get training. Clearly, the technicians that Presto sent out  to site has not been trained, or they have become lazy.