Agbar Musa iMeter IMI-40-E User manual

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iMeter
Pulse collector for remote water meter-reading by GPRS
Agbar Mantenimiento, S.A.
Guidelines for setting up the iMeter and Operating instructions
Barcelona, August 2011
Models: IMI-40-E and IMI-40-E-Ex

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
2. IMeter deployment................................................................................................................4
2.1. Connection to a meter and pulse captor..............................................................................4
2.2. iMeter installation................................................................................................................6
3. iMeter setting up...................................................................................................................8
3.1. PaLFI dongle settings.........................................................................................................8
3.2. IMeter PDA manager to set up..........................................................................................10
3.2.1. PalFI iMeter configurator............................................................................................11
3.2.2. Connect to iMeter.......................................................................................................12
3.2.3. iMeter setup...............................................................................................................12
3.2.4. Activate iMeter...........................................................................................................14
4. Long term iMeter using......................................................................................................16

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1. Introduction
The present document is aimed at describing the main information for setting up the AGBAR
product named iMeter, and its basic operating instructions. The iMeter is a pulse collector and
logger, which is used for water metering sending the data by GPRS.
Figure 1. iMeter connected to a Sensus meter
The iMeter is a data logger which is connected to a water meter through a pulse captor. The iMeter
is wired to the pulse captor, and the pulse captor fixed on the meter. The iMeter collects pulses
according to the frequency displayed by its configuration, and delivers the data to the AGBAR
servers, where is collected and processed by AGBAR systems. This data is showed in the AGBAR
AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) webpage.
For the iMeter installation is needed a Palfi dongle and a PDA with the configuration manager
software.

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2. IMeter deployment
The iMeter is installed on site, where the meter is placed. Before the installation it doesn’t need any
process. The installer only need to know in which meter the iMeter is going to be installed to, in
order to have a pulse captor appropriate for the brand and model of the water meter.
The iMeter can be produced directly connected to the pulse captor, which makes easier and simpler
the deployment process. Also the waterproof properties are better guaranteed in this case.
There is a wide rage of types of places where the water meters are, but the main ones are:
boundary boxes in the ground, or on the buildings front wall or in meter chambers inside the
buildings. The iMeters are mainly used for isolated meters, or meters of special controlling interest
for its big water consumption, which ones are mainly in the ground boundary boxes.
2.1. Connection to a meter and pulse captor
When the installer is in the place of the water meter, the first action that has to be done is the wiring
between the iMeter and the pulse captor. The wiring has to be done according to the technical
characteristics of the pulse captor. It can be found in the pulse captor manual, and the wires must
be connected by functions. The iMeter wires functions are:
•Brown wire: Ground
•White wire: Pulses/Positive pulses
•Yellow wire: Direction/Negative pulses
•Green wire: Tampering (cable cut detection)
In the following chart there are the main brands and models of pulse captors used, with the color
wires already displayed:

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Type of pulse captor function pulse captor iMeter
GND brown brown
Itron Cyble 2 wires Pulses (BF) white white
GND brown brown
Pulses (AF) grey white
Direction yellow yellow
Itron Cyble 5 wires Cable cut
detection green green
GND brown brown
Sensus HRI-A1 Pulses (I1) white white
GND black brown
Pulses yellow white
Direction white yellow
Elster PR6-PR7 Cable cut
detection brown green
GND brown brown
Pulses white white
Sappel Pulsar 3 wires Tamper green green
GND brown brown
Pulses white white
Direction yellow yellow
Sappel Pulsar 4 wires Cable cut
detection green green
Table 1. iMeter and pulse captor connections by brands and models
The wiring must be done waterproof, using proper water protection connections. That is up to the
installer but we recommend making them with waterproof gel connectors, and placing the
connection inside a plaster waterproof box, with a high IP.
Notice that, in some cases the iMeters are manufactured directly connected to the pulse captors. In
this case there is no need to care about the connections, as they are already done and waterproof.
At this point the iMeter is connected to the pulse captor. The pulse captor must be placed on the
water meter. Each brand of meters has its own fixing system which normally is done by a screw on
the meter front.

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Figure 2. iMeter connected to an Itron meter
2.2. iMeter installation
In the case of the Boundary boxes, the placing of the iMeter depends on the type and shape of the
box. It can be placed on the wall or under the box cover. The fixing must be done putting screws in
the holes prepare for that of the iMeters. If the iMeter had the wiring with the pulse captor apart in a
waterproof box, it must be fixed to on the wall. In the following pictures there is an installation
example, in a ground boundary box.

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Figure 3. iMeter installed on site in a boundary box, connected to a Sensus meter
Figure 4. iMeter installed on site, connected directly to a Flow Meter

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3. iMeter setting up
Once the iMeter is physically placed and connected to the meter, the iMeter must be set up by the
PaLFI dongle and a PDA, which set the installation configuration to the iMeter, and starts the iMeter
up.
Figure 5. Tools to set up the iMeter: PDA and dongle
3.1. PaLFI dongle settings
The dongle is a short range frequency device used for the communication between the PDA and the
iMeter. The configuration is set up in the iMeter through it.
The dongle must be placed on the iMeter, on the upper front, close to the wire, as you can see in
the following picture. It also can be placed in the back part, and it can be placed even through the
cover of the boundary box.

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Figure 6. Optimal position for the dongle for installing
Figure 7. Dongle lights and button
ON/OFF button
Bluetooth light
Battery and RF activity
light

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The ON/OFF button is used to switch on the Bluetooth state and to switch off back to the low
consumption mode.
The Bluetooth light (green) can show the following states:
•OFF, when the dongle is low consumption mode
•Flashing, when the dongle is ON but it still doesn’t receive any Bluetooth connection
•Constant lighting, when the dongle is connected through Bluetooth to the PDA. In this state it
also show some intermittent lighting when there is data transfer
The battery and RF activity light (green/red), have several states:
•When the dongle is in the low consume mode and it is not charging, approximately every 5
seconds the red light flashes 1 to 3 times. The number of flashes shows the battery level of
the dongle (1: very low, 2: low and 3: normal).
•When the dongle is charging the light is in constant red.
•When the charging is over and while the dongle is still connected to the power (USB
connection), the green light is permanently on.
•The green light is flashing slightly in green when the dongle is on, and when there is Radio
Frequency activity.
For the installation, the dongle must be turned on, and placed on the iMeter.
3.2. IMeter PDA manager to set up
The configuration and installation is done by PDA software named WCEiMeterMgr, while placing the
dongle in the position showed above. The following part explains the main steps of how to use the
PDA manager to set up the iMeter. There is a user manual for the WCEiMeterMgr with further
information of the setting up of the Bluetooth connection with the dongle attached.

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Figure 8. Installation process using the PDA and dongle
3.2.1. PalFI iMeter configurator
After application starts, the main screen is displayed:
Figure 9. Screen capture of the main screen of the PDA software

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3.2.2. Connect to iMeter
In the main screen we can push the button Connect to iMeter to start communicating. The PDA will
try to establisg a Bluetooth communication with the PaLFI, and subsequently the PaLFI will try to
communicate with the iMeter. If the communication is successful, a screen with the iMeter serial
number and some other data about the last connection result is displayed:
Figure 10. Screen capture of the iMeter connection screen of the PDA software
3.2.3. Setting the iMeter up
Now we can push the iMeter Setup button to be presented with the iMeter configuration screen.
There are some parameters that should be manually selected or typed:
•Meter Reading: the current value of the meter must be typed in this field in liters, to ensure
the iMeter starts counting from the correct value.
•ID: the identification label.
•Pulse Weight: one value can be chosen from this drop-down menu, accordingly to the
meter characteristics:

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Figure 11. Screen captures of the iMeter configuration parameters of the PDA software
•Select pulse captor: press this button to actually select the pulse captor model that will be
configured to the iMeter. This shows the same screen but we can choose one value. As
before, note that the same value can be valid for several captor models. After selecting the
desired value, we push OK button to confirm the selection and return to the previous screen:
Figure 12. Screen capture of the pulse captor model selection

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3.2.4. iMeter activation
Now after the parameters are selected as desired, we can start the actual configuration process by
pressing the Turn on button. This makes the program send the configuration to the PaLFI to be
subsequently written in the iMeter. The screen shows the progress of the operation step by step:
•The steps currently being executed are shown in blue.
•The steps already completed are shown in green.
•If a step fails, it is shown in red with an associated message box:
Figure 13. Screen capture of activation process
The steps are:
•Synchronize time: this saves current datetime to the iMeter, taken from the PDA clock.
•Erase old data: remove data stored in the iMeter, it will not be sent to the server. This is a
conditional step (INI configuration).
•Send first configuration: writes the configuration to the iMeter.
•Connect to Server: makes the iMeter connect to the server via GPRS to send the files by
FTP. This process starts after a 30 second countdown, while the cover can be placed to get
the real signal rage.

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After countdown exhaustion, the iMeter performs the connection with the server. This process goes
through several states, which are displayed updating each few seconds:
Figure 14. Screen capture of activation process
If the process finishes correctly, the OK button will be enabled, allowing returning to the main
screen.
At this point the iMeter is correctly set up, and configured. The signal range is showed in a 31 scale,
which is a good installation when is upper than 8/31.

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4. Long term iMeter use
Once the iMeter is installed and the installation results were ok, the iMeter configuration is done
remotely with the AGBAR AMR website. There is no need to come back on site where the iMeter is.
The iMeter is controlled only by the internet webpage. In the configuration webpage is possible to
configure the reading and delivering frequencies, as the iMeter alarm settings.
Figure 15. AGBAR AMR system website
In case it is detected any bad performance, the iMeter would have to be checked on site with the
PDA and the dongle.