This training guide has been put together to help with troubleshooting hubs that are installed and in the field and may need some form of maintenance or remedial works carried out on them.
Introduction
We have tried to think of every scenario that you might encounter in the field and show you how to rectify these issues. There may also be scenarios where you will have to swap out a unit because you cannot fix the problem and have to return the unit to Guru.
In some cases, you will need a Guru Champion within your company or a Guru technician on the other end of the phone that can carry out some checks for you on Guru Pay.
What is the Guru Hub?
The Hub is a smart metering device, that allows landlords to monitor up to 5 utilities, it uses the mbus protocol to read the meters that are monitoring the utilities.
The Guru Hub itself does not read consumption directly at the source, it just requests the data off the meter. As with all meters they have to conform to the MID (Measuring Instruments Directive). Normally these come in three classes, 1-3, 3 being the lowest accuracy. You would typically find a class 2 meter installed in the dwellings which are over the specified requirement as 3 is stated in the Measuring Instruments Directive.
What is a Zigbee/Digimesh network?
Zigbee/Digimesh networks are two different types of wireless mesh radio protocols. Zigbee operates in the 2.4Ghz frequency, Digimesh operates in 868Mhz frequency.
Hub I uses the 2.4Ghz protocol and is now deprecated within Guru’s design and manufacture process.
Hub II uses the new and improved Digimesh protocol and is far superior with network stability and robustness.
Both technologies allow for meshing but are not interoperable.
When we speak about meshing, this means that all devices that share the same network will use each other’s radio antennas, on the hubs it can see around it. The best way to describe a mesh network is like a spider web, whereby the web lines are signals and the intersecting areas are where a node (Hub) is.
Commissioning a hub
In order for a hub to do its job correctly, it needs to be commissioned. To commission the hub, you will need the following:
Requirements
- A Guru commissioning cable (available from Guru Systems)
- A valid. p12 security certificate (available from Guru Systems)
- A portable computer with the latest version of the Java Runtime Environment (available from www.java.com). If you’re unsure whether this is the case, please ask your systems administrator.
- The latest FTDI driver for use with the Guru commissioning cable. This should automatically install on first use of the commissioning cable. If you’re unsure whether you have the latest drivers, please ask your systems administrator.
Before you commission
Before you commission any Hub, you must ensure that:
- The Guru Base Unit has been installed in accordance with the Guru Hub Installation Guide
- The “mains present” LED is illuminated (See figure 1 Arrow 1).
- The mains cover plate is in place and has been secured with the screws provided with the Guru Base Unit. (See figure 1 Arrow 2).
If you discover that any of these is not the case, then inform your manager and stop the commissioning process until the problems are corrected.
Once you’ve done the basic checks above, prepare to commission by doing the following:
- Attach the Top Unit to the Base Unit using the ribbon connector and put the Top Unit in the offset position as described in the Guru Hub Installation Guide.
- Plug the Guru commissioning cable into a USB port on your portable computer. Connect the other end of the cable to the debug port on the Base Unit (see Figure 1 Arrow 3).
- Run the Commissioning Tool by double-clicking on the “CommissioningApp.jar” file in its folder on your laptop If you’re unsure where this is, please ask your systems administrator. You should now see the screen as shown in Figure 2.
- Choose your security certificate by navigating to and selecting it (Figure 2) and enter your passphrase. This passphrase is unique to your certificate and click OK.
Figure 2 – Certificate selection and password entry window
- Connect to the Guru Hub by choosing the correct serial port in the drop-down and clicking “connect”. If you receive a “device not responding” message, you probably need to try another serial port to choose from the drop-down list. You should now see the screen as shown in Figure 3. You’re ready to start commissioning.
Figure 3 – Hub window on the commissioning app
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Basic commissioning
The easiest way to commission and test a Guru Hub is to use a configuration script. These are electronic files provided to you by your IT team/Guru Champion, alternatively, you can use process in Config Script building.
The basic steps below assume you are using commissioning scripts. If you aren’t, please go to section Manual commissioning
Commission the Hub by doing the following:
- Enter the name of the Hub into the “Location Name” text box and click “set”. It is typical practice for the name to correspond to the flat number or plot number.
- Load the config script by clicking on the “Load Config” button and navigating to the file provided by your IT team. Once loaded, click “Run Configuration”. You should receive “Success” at the end of the script. If this is not the case, please refer to the person responsible for writing the scripts in your company.
- Click “Set Time from Gateway” to set the time and ensure that a) the Hub is connected to the wireless mesh network and b) can see the Gateway. (This can take up to 3 minutes on Hub II due to the way the network joins new nodes.
- Once the configuration script has been successfully run, you can create and save a summary report in the following way:
- Click “Initialise Report” to create a report header in the output window of the “Hub” tab.
- Run configuration as above.
- Click “Save Report” and choose a suitable location for the output file.
- Disconnect from the Hub by clicking on “Disconnect” in the commissioning app.
- Attach the Top Unit to the Base Unit as shown in the Installation Guide and apply tamper-proof seals (recommended).
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Manual commissioning
If you aren’t using config scripts or if you need to manually configure a Hub, you can do so using the other tabs on the Commissioning Tool.
Following manual commissioning, ensure that you disconnect from the Hub by clicking on “Disconnect” in the commissioning app. Then attach the Top Unit to the Base Unit as shown in the Installation Guide and apply tamper-proof seals (recommended).
Configuring accounts
Click on the “Accounts” tab. You can select an account to configure in the “Select Account” dropdown.
For each account, the following items are configurable:
- Account Name (Hub 2 only)
- You can name the account here e.g. heat account
- Account active tick box
- Sets an account to the active or inactive. When inactive, all items for an account are greyed out.
- Utility type drop-down
- Sets the type of account, for example, Heat/Electric/Water
- Utility unit’s drop-down
- Sets the unit of measurement for the utility you have selected in the step above, e.g. kWh for heat, m3/h for water
- Primary relay drop-down
- Sets relay that the shut-off valve is connected to for the utility you are configuring.
- Please refer to site documentation for the correct option as this can differ from site to site.
- If the correct relay is not selected then if a tenant goes into an “Exhausted Credit” state on the Hub then their supply will not be shut off.
- Secondary relay drop-down
- Typically not used. May be used in the case where two relays are used to control a single valve.
- Shut-off Mode drop-down
- Sets the way in which the shut-off valve works. “Primary off enables” will leave the utility supply connected until the account is in use.
- Please consult the shut-off valve manufacturer’s documentation for the required setting.
- Meter
- Report Period drop-down
- Sets the frequency with which data is sent to Guru Pay.
- 30 minutes is recommended.
You can also perform the following actions:
- Enable manual control of relay
- Use this to test the Shut Off valve is functioning correctly.
- Automatically update the display of meter readings
- This area will display the details in real time from the meter.
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Configuring a meter for an account
Mbus meter
Click on the “New MBUS meter” to add a new meter, also see document Recommended Heat Meter Commissioning Guidelines for the correct settings for the meter types supported by the Guru Hub.
There are two ways to add a meter: manually or by doing an automatic scan.
Manual add
- Click manual add and enter the Mbus address of the meter
- Click OK
- The Mbus address should now show in the left-hand column
- Clicking on the address in the left-hand column will read and display all values in the right-hand pane
- Click OK
Automatic Scan
- Click on “Start Scan”
- The scan will progress through each Mbus address.
- Once the scan reaches the address of the meter, the address number should appear in the left-hand column.
- To stop the scan, click on “Start Scan” a second time.
- Click ok.
If the meter does not respond to pings then you will have to enter the Mbus address manually or scan for the meter.
Choose the correct Baud Rate for the meter as per the Recommended Heat Meter Commissioning Guidelines and also the recommended Minimum Read Interval depending on battery or mains powered meters.
Once you have applied the correct settings, click OK.
You should see meter readings being received from the meter at the bottom of the window
Pulse meter
- To configure a pulse meter for the account you need to know some information relating to the meter itself.
- You will need how many pulses are triggered per unit of consumption, for example, the pulse meter might be 100 pulses per m3.
- Once you have this information, then simply enter into the meter field on the account page
- Pulse/0/100 *where 100 is the pulse count per m3. Or simply click the add pulse meter button and enter the value there.
Viewing logs
You can see alarms and events generated by the Hub by clicking on the “Logs” tab and selecting either the System or Security Log in the dropdown.
Scanning and manually joining a radio network
Click on the “ZigBee” (Hub 1) or “Digimesh” (Hub 2) tab to view information on the current radio network or to see networks that may be available to join.
Information about the current ZigBee network includes:
- Joined (yes/no)
- This indicates whether the Hub has successfully seen and joined the ZigBee/Digimesh network.
- Connected (yes/no)
- This shows if the hub is currently connected to the ZigBee/Digimesh network. Note, a Hub may be joined to a network, but not currently connected.
- Channel *
- This indicates the channel of the currently connected network, this should match up with the Gateway’s operating channel.
- Pan ID
- Indicates the short Pan ID of the current radio network.
- Extended Pan ID *
- Indicates the long Pan ID of the current radio network.
- Preamble **
- This is unique to each gateway. It should be a value between 1 and 5.
* Hub I only
** Hub II only
You can scan for available networks by clicking “Rescan for networks in range”. This will display all visible ZigBee nodes, which may be on one or more networks. For each node, the following information is displayed:
- Channel *
- This indicates the channel of the currently connected network, this should match up with the Gateway’s operating channel.
- Pan ID
- Indicates the short Pan ID of the current radio network.
- Extended Pan ID *
- Indicates the long Pan ID of the current radio network.
- Link Quality
- Indicates the strength of the signal [between the Hub being commissioned and the node displayed in the Networks. 255 is the best possible link quality.
- Level (dBm)
- Indicates the strength of the received signal at the location of the Hub being commissioned. A level of more than 85 dBm indicates a weak signal level, which should not be relied upon to form a stable network.
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Joinable
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This will indicate whether you can connect to this hub as part of the ZigBee network.
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You can join an available network by clicking on any node to highlight and then clicking “Connect to selected network”.
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You will then be prompted for a link key for the selected network.
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Enter the link key and click OK.
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- Only attempt to join an available network if you are an advanced user and know the link key for the network you want to connect to.
- Attempting to join a new network will cause the Hub to unjoin any network it’s currently connected to, even if it does not successfully join a new network.
- Hub I needs to be in range of its required network, if this is not the case, network reinforcement will be required. You cannot run a config on a hub that does not see its network as it will forget its settings and never join.
- Hub II can be commissioned without a gateway present, this means that there is also the opportunity to commission mostly offsite and then when on site you can configure the meter(s) to the Hub.