Fluke VR101S User manual

®
VR101S
Voltage Event Recorder
System
Users Manual
December 1997, Rev. 4, 06/02
© 1997, 1999, 2002 Fluke Corporation. All rights reserved.
All product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

i
LIMITED WARRANTY & LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
Each Fluke product is warranted to be free from defects in material and
workmanship under normal use and service. The warranty period is one
year and begins on the date of shipment. Parts, product repairs and
services are warranted for 90 days. This warranty extends only to the
original buyer or end-user customer of a Fluke authorized reseller, and
does not apply to fuses, disposable batteries or to any product which, in
Fluke’s opinion, has been misused, altered, neglected or damaged by
accident or abnormal conditions of operation or handling. Fluke warrants
that software will operate substantially in accordance with its functional
specifications for 90 days and that it has been properly recorded on non-
defective media. Fluke does not warrant that software will be error free or
operate without interruption.
Fluke authorized resellers shall extend this warranty on new and unused
products to end-user customers only but have no authority to extend a
greater or different warranty on behalf of Fluke. Warranty support is
available if product is purchased through a Fluke authorized sales outlet
or Buyer has paid the applicable international price. Fluke reserves the
right to invoice Buyer for importation costs of repair/replacement parts
when product purchased in one country is submitted for repair in another
country.
Fluke’s warranty obligation is limited, at Fluke’s option, to refund of the
purchase price, free of charge repair, or replacement of a defective
product which is returned to a Fluke authorized service center within the
warranty period.
To obtain warranty service, contact your nearest Fluke authorized service
center or send the product, with a description of the difficulty, postage
and insurance prepaid (FOB Destination), to the nearest Fluke authorized
service center. Fluke assumes no risk for damage in transit. Following
warranty repair, the product will be returned to Buyer, transportation
prepaid (FOB Destination). If Fluke determines that the failure was
caused by misuse, alteration, accident or abnormal condition of operation
or handling, Fluke will provide an estimate of repair costs and obtain
authorization before commencing the work. Following repair, the product
will be returned to the Buyer transportation prepaid and the Buyer will be
billed for the repair and return transportation charges (FOB Shipping
Point).
THIS WARRANTY IS BUYER’S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY AND
IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF

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MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
FLUKE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES,
INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, WHETHER ARISING FROM BREACH
OF WARRANTY OR BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, RELIANCE OR
ANY OTHER THEORY.
Since some countries or states do not allow limitation of the term of an
implied warranty, or exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential
damages, the limitations and exclusions of this warranty may not apply to
every buyer. If any provision of this Warranty is held invalid or
unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, such holding will not
affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision.
Fluke Corporation, P.O. Box 9090, Everett, WA 98206-9090 USA, or
Fluke Industrial B.V., P.O. Box 680, 7600 AR, Almelo, The Netherlands
SERVICE CENTERS
To locate an authorized service center, visit us on the
World Wide Web:
http://www.fluke.com
or call Fluke using any of the phone numbers listed
below:
[phone] in U.S.A. and Canada
[phone] in Europe
[phone] from other countries

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Getting Started...............................................................1
Introduction.................................................................1
Features of the Voltage Event Recorder System....1
Safety......................................................................3
Plugging in a recorder.............................................3
Electrical Immunity..................................................4
Safety Inspection ....................................................5
Battery Care............................................................5
Maintenance ...........................................................6
Product Service.......................................................6
What You Need to Run Fluke EventView Software....7
What’s in the VR101S Package..................................7
Installing EventView software.....................................8
Setting the Time and Date........................................10
Chapter 2
Setting Up the VR101 ..................................................11
Introduction...............................................................11
Connecting the Optical Interface Cable....................11
Starting EventView...................................................11
Selecting a COM Port...........................................12
Opening the Site Report Window..........................12
Setting Thresholds on the Status Tab...................13
Viewing the Default Threshold Settings................15
Choosing and Saving New Default Threshold
Settings.................................................................15
Choosing Operating Options.................................15
Describing the Site................................................16
Viewing Realtime Readings of the Recorder ........16
Viewing Recorder Information...............................16
Sending the Setup to the Recorder.......................17

VR101S
Users Manual
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Chapter 3
Retrieving and Saving Events......................................19
Retrieving Events from a Recorder...........................19
Saving Events...........................................................20
Opening an Already Saved File.............................21
Chapter 4
Displaying and Printing Events.....................................23
Displaying Events .....................................................23
Viewing the Events Tab.........................................23
Viewing Events as a Bar Graph ............................29
(Quick Summary)...................................................29
Viewing a Single Transient as a Graph.................30
Viewing Events as an Event Distribution Graph....31
Changing Graph Styles.........................................33
Printing Events..........................................................34
Chapter 5
Troubleshooting............................................................35
Optical Interface Cable.............................................35
Printers .....................................................................37
Voltage Event Recorder............................................37
Technical Support.....................................................38
Chapter 6
Power Quality Issues....................................................39
Power Quality Background .......................................39
Why Is It Such a Concern?....................................39
Common Questions about Power Quality.............40
Power Quality Definitions and Standards .................41
Power Line Disturbance Definitions ......................41
How Bad is Bad?...................................................42
The CBEMA Curve................................................42
Causes and Effects of Poor Power Quality...............43
Causes of Poor Power Quality..............................43
How Power Line Disturbances Affect Your
Equipment.............................................................44
Performing a Power Quality Study............................45
Developing a Power Quality Monitoring Program..45
Now That I Have This Information, What Do I Do
with It?...................................................................48

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Chapter 7
VR101 Specifications...................................................51
Equipment Ratings...................................................51
Sag, Swell & Outage Measurement..........................54
Transient Measurement............................................55
Frequency Measurement..........................................55
Time Measurement...................................................56
Approvals..................................................................57

VR101S
Users Manual
vi

1
Chapter 1
Getting Started
Introduction
Features of the Voltage Event Recorder System
The VR101 Voltage Event Recorder, hereafter referred
to as the recorder, records sags, swells, transients,
outages, and frequency variations on the power line. It
is self powered and easy to use—parameters can be set
by a few easy keystrokes from your PC equipped with
EventView SoftwareTM.
The recorder can retain 4,000 events. The existence of
recorded events is indicated by the recorder’s flashing
light.
Communication between a PC and the recorder is
carried via the Optical Interface Cable. By using this
optical data transfer, the PC remains electrically
isolated.

VR101S
Users Manual
2
A Quick Overview
The following steps are discussed in detail throughout
this manual:
1. Read the next five pages on safety and battery
care.
2. Install EventView Software on your PC.
3. Plug the VR101 into the closest wall socket.
4. Connect your computer to the VR101 with the
optical cable.
5. Use EventView to adjust the settings on your
VR101.
6. Disconnect the optical cable and move the VR101
to the receptacle you want to monitor.
7. After monitoring, use EventView to download the
results.