Evco RICS 4.30 User manual

RICS 4.30 WHAT IS NEW COMPARED WITH RICS 4.21

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CONTENTS
CONTENTSCONTENTS
CONTENTS
CONTENTS.........................................................................................................................................2
1.DEVICE SETTINGS: Network\addressing......................................................................................3
1.1Overview.....................................................................................................................................3
1.2Timeout.......................................................................................................................................3
1.3Autoretry.....................................................................................................................................4
2.DEVICE SETTINGS: Network\driver .............................................................................................5
2.1Overview.....................................................................................................................................5
2.2Driver info button........................................................................................................................5
2.3Disable write check box..............................................................................................................5
2.4Alternate driver checkbox...........................................................................................................6
2.5Find driver button........................................................................................................................6
2.6Vtp driver extentions...................................................................................................................6
3.DEVICE SETTINGS: Recorder .......................................................................................................6
3.1Recorder......................................................................................................................................6
3.2RECORDER ...............................................................................................................................7
4.DEVICE SETTINGS: Image............................................................................................................8
4.1Overview.....................................................................................................................................8
4.2Label\Include Name....................................................................................................................8
4.3Label\Include status ....................................................................................................................8
4.4Image\style..................................................................................................................................8
5.DEVICE SETTINGS: Alarms........................................................................................................10
5.1Show originated on PC .............................................................................................................10

1.DEVICE SETTINGS: Network\addressing
1.1 Overview
These new advanced settings have been added:
timeout msec
Auto-retry
In typical applications these values must not be changed, as wrong settings may result in bad
communication with the a single device or even with the entire network.
Nevertheless, in special cases, these parameters must be properly set or adjusted to have the network of
devices correctly working.
If the user changed them, without knowing exactly what are they about, it is suggested to restore them to the
default values shown above.
1.2 Timeout
It is the number of milliseconds RICS wait for the device to reply to a polling request, such as the reading of
the probe values. The slowest the device, the higher the value must be.

If the value is Default RICS automatically select a standard value, suitable for that device model. In many
cases this is something about 200 ms. Settings values below 100 ms is highly unrecommended.
Note that in normal circumstances lowest values will not result in a higher communication speed.
1.3 Autoretry
It is the number of times RICS automatically resend a polling request in case of transmission error or timeout
error.

2.DEVICE SETTINGS: Network\driver
2.1 Overview
The plug and play system for the Evco devices has been improved.
RICS can now offer a better basic support for device models for which a specific device driver has not yet
been included or installed in the RICS application itself.
This may happen in these cases:
Newer or special firmware releases of the controller, which are not recognised by the RICS
software version in use. Usually a RICS software upgrade can fix the problem, so the
generic driver is just a useful temporary solution.
A programmable controller, provided with a custom application software, for which a specific
RICS driver has not been developped by the application designer.
When the proper standard driver is not available on the system, RICS can be configured to load an
Alternate driver instead. Depending on the controller type, this is generally enough to check the fieldbus
level is OK (wiring, protocol addressing, communication quality) and to identify the firmware revision of the
controller and the needed driver name.
For some specific families of controllers RICS provides alternate drivers that can also offer basic features,
such as main sensors reading and storing or I/O status monitoring). In that case internal parameters or
specific statuses are generally not available.
2.2 Driver info button
The new driver info button directly recalls the device info page. The label on the button can be coloured in
orange or red in case of not normal configuration (I.e. red if the device driver is missing, the device model is
unknown etc).
2.3 Disable write check box
The Disable write checkbox prevents any writing access to the device from the PC. Note that it is not
possible to change the internal values of a device (i.e. parameters) if this option is checked.
This is not only desirable but also necessary in case a general device driver is used instead of the
standard one, to avoid a non perfectly compatible driver could lead to unwanted changes of internal
programming of the controller.

2.4 Alternate driver checkbox
This check box (automatically checked when RICS first loads an alternate driver) tells the software the
driver loaded must be considered NOT the standard one. This way the message 'Alternate driver' will be
permanently shown in the device status, reminding the user that the standard driver still have to be installed
on the system.
If the check box is not checked and the driver file is not empty it means that a custom device driver or an
alternate driver has been forced to be used for the device, regardless if this is appropriate or not.
See also Find driver
2. Find driver button
This button makes RICS find an alternate driver when needed. If the driver is already loaded it directly looks
for upgrades on the internet.
2.6 Vtp driver extentions
These fields are available only for some kind of controllers and are intended for future use. Leave empty.
3.DEVICE SETTINGS: Recorder
3.1 Recorder

The new tab On change has been added.
Groupbox Probes:
Record robes
Smooth varations
Now you can switch on or off the Variation recording feature for probes.
When On change\Record robes is not checked RICS just sample the probes (I.e.
temperature values read by the sensors connected to a device according to the sampling
interval of the device.
When the option is checked, these values are stored also after a certain change of the value
(see also Variation recording/Variation recording of the main robe), depending on the
Smooth variations setting.
If smooth variations is checked, probes are stored any time the value changes.
This results in the most accurate data recording and reporting as well as in more storage
memory occupation(Hard disk space . Handling a huge amount of data can also slow down the
operating system and/or the report generation, depending on the PC hardware in use.
If smooth variations is not checked RICS uses and internal algorithm to determine when a
probe must be extra sampled, depending on the variation, the device type, the device status
and the probe function. This way RICS is trying to balance the Hard disk space and the
accuracy in reports.
Note: The behaviour of RICS 4.21 is the same of RICS 4.30 with Record probes checked and Smooth
variations not checked.
3.2 RECORDER
This field are available only for some kind of controllers and are intended for future use. Leave empty.

4.DEVICE SETTINGS: Image
4.1 Overview
This page has been improved and it is now more user friendly.
Some features have also been added.
4.2 Label\Include Name
In previous RICS version the device label always contained the device name.
Now it is possible to prevent the device name from been shown in the main view.
See also include status.
4.3 Label\Include status
It is now possible to include the device status in the device label.
Note:If both Include Name and Include status are checked then a two line label is shown. In this case
the vertical label position might require to be adjusted.
4.4 Image\style
New images style has been added, included the No picture style.