GmbH, Stettiner Str.
38, D-33106 Paderborn
MBSheet
Read-out software for M-Bus meters
Version 1.6
Content
1 M-Bus read-out with MBSheet......................................................................................2
1.0 What is MBSheet? .................................................................................................2
1.1 Installation..............................................................................................................2
1.2 Usage.....................................................................................................................2
1.3 Basic entry fields and buttons ................................................................................4
1.4 Modem ...................................................................................................................8
2 MBSheet operating example ........................................................................................9
MBSheet operating instructions 10.05.05, Version 1.6 1
GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
1 M-Bus read-out with MBSheet
1.0 What is MBSheet?
MBSheet is an easy to use PC software for the read-out of meters according to the
EN1434 standard in an M-Bus network. MBSheet supports all Relay level converters.
MBSheet has the following features:
- automatic network meter search
- manual editing of the meter list
- selectable meter data sets
- periodic readout of network meters
- data export in EXCEL CSV format
- data print-out
- modem support
1.1 Installation
MBSHEET_SETUP.EXE automatically installs MBSHEET on the harddrive of the
computer. The user has the choice to create a startmenu program group and a desktop
icon. After installation an English and a German language version is available.
1.2 Usage
At program execution the operator can use mouse and keyboard or a keyboard only.
Hints are shown when moving the mouse pointer on a program entry field or button.
Grayed fields or buttons are disabled. Most labels of entry fields and buttons have an
underlined character. Typing this character in combination with the keyboard [ALT]-
button sets the input cursor into the entry field or invokes the function of the program
button. With [TAB] and [Shift][TAB] the operator can walk forward or backward through
the control elements of the program. Check boxes can be marked (unmarked) with the
space bar. Pressing the [ENTER]-button activates the control element with the current
focus.
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
In the upper right corner of the program window you can find a combobox for the choice
of com-port connected to the level converter. In the neighbourhood, some buttons for
meter search and data read-out are placed. The upper table window contains the
description of meters found by automatic search. Meter read-out data is shown in the
lower table window. Below both table windows there are buttons for saving, loading and
print-out of table contents. A coloured indicator shows the program state. A green
indicator means that the program is in idle state and is ready to accept new commands.
When searching for meters or reading out data the indicator has a red colour (busy
state). This state can only be left by pressing the stop-button or ist automatically left at
the end of the command.
The user can enter a description for the installation location of each meter in the first
column of the meter table. This location will be displayed in the data table at read-out
time. The second column of the meter table contains the primary address of each meter
in the range from 0 to 250. A meter which is found at search by ID operation gets the
primary address 0. Meters with the primary address 0 will be addressed by their ID at
read-out time. Meters with a primary address between 1 and 250 will be addressed only
by their primary address at read-out time.
The other columns in the meter table contain the baud rate, manufacturer, version and
the measured medium. The second last data set of each meter contains the M-Bus
state. In the second last column of the meter table the user can choose the data sets to
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
be displayed at read-out time. But caution, the numbering of the data sets must be in
ascending order. The last column of the meter table contains the COM-port number
where the meter was found during slave search. Pressing the modem-button opens a
window with input fields for the phone number and the modem configuration string and
a dial/hangup-button. The modem must be connected to the serial port configured by
the COM-port field in the upper right corner of the program window.
Pressing the right mouse-button in the meter table opens a context menu with additional
commands. The user can insert or delete meter entries, single meters can be tested or
read-out and new primary addresses can be written into meters. The test command can
retrieve the ID and the number of data sets of a meter with a known primary address.
The table of meters and the data table can be sorted by clicking on a column header.
Further sort criteria can be used when holding down the <shift> key.
1.3 Basic entry fields and buttons
COM-port defines the serial port of the PC connected to a level converter with
a 1:1 straight forward RS232 cable or a special M-Bus modem for
remote data transmission. At program exit the selected port is
automatically written to the ini-file.
Search baudrates determines the baud rate of the M-Bus port during meter search.
Most meters support 2400 baud but there are some older meters
communicating only at 300 baud. The user can choose the setting
"2400+300" if the baud rates of installed meters are unknown. In
this case the meter search is performed first with 2400 baud and
then with 300 baud. Meters supporting both baud rates will be found
twice. At program exit the selected baud rate is automatically stored
in the ini-file.
Search Addr. starts an automatic primary address search for connected meters in
the M-Bus network. Primary addresses between 1 and 250 are
successively tested at search time. The applied baud rate will be
taken from the "search baudrates" field. Found meters are
appended to the meter table. When invoking the command "Search
addr." the program asks the user whether the current meter table
entries should be deleted.
Search id starts an automatic secondary address (id) search for connected
meters in the M-Bus network. Secondary addresses between
00000000 and 99999999 are tested with a special method. The
applied baud rate will be taken from the "search baudrates" field.
Found meters are appended to the meter table. When invoking the
command "Search id" the program asks the user whether the
current meter table entries should be deleted.
4 10.05.05, Version 1.6 MBSheet operating instructions
GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
Read M-Bus starts a data read-out from all meters of the meter table. Baud rate,
address and relevant data sets will be taken from the meter table.
Meters with a primary address 0 are addressed by their secondary
address (id). The read-out data is written to the data table.
Poll M-Bus starts a periodic read-out of the M-Bus meters. The cycle time is
taken from the field "Time interval". At every read-out old data is
overwritten by new data.
Log M-Bus starts a periodic read-out of the M-Bus meters. The cycle time is
taken from the field "Time interval". At every read-out new data is
appended to the data table.
Stop terminates search for meters as well as data read-out. The indicator
will change his colour from red (busy) to green (idle) as soon as the
running operation is terminated.
Time interval [s] is an entry field for the time period between M-Bus read-outs in the
polling or logging mode.
SND_NKE is a control field which enables / disables the output of a M-Bus
normalization command SND_NKE to a meter before reading this
meter. Meters with multi telegrams can be switched to the first
telegram with the SND_NKE telegram.
Zoom data opens an extra window for the data table. This window can be sized
up to full screen.
Print slavelist sends the meter table entries to a printer.
Save slavelist writes the meter table entries to a disk file in EXCEL-CSV format.
Load slavelist reads a meter table file in EXCEL-CSV format from disk.
Delete doubles deletes double entries of a meter in the meter table. This command
is helpful when same meters are found at different baud rates or at
different search methods. The first entry remains in the table.
Print data sends the data table entries to a printer.
Save data writes the data table entries to a disk file in EXCEL-CSV format.
Load data reads a meter data file in EXCEL-CSV format from disk.
Clear data deletes all data table entries.
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
CSV separator is an entry field for the field separator char of the EXCEL-CSV
formats when writing data or meter entries to disk.
Write log to file is a control field which determines the M-Bus logging strategy.
When unmarked and issuing the "Log M-Bus" command all M-Bus
data is appended to the data table. Because the RAM storage
capacity of a PC is limited, an increasing data table slows down the
performance of the PC. When marked, all M-Bus data read from the
M-Bus meters will directly be written into a disk file. The program
data table then only contains the data of the last read-out.
Modem opens a modem dial-window. If the connection to the modem at the
level-converter side is established the program has the same
features as in a local connection (see chapter "Modem").
Clicking the right mouse button on the meter table opens a context menu with the
following commands:
Insert slave creates a new meter entry in the table. The insert position is above
the selected row. The new meter gets the primary address 0, ID
00000000 and 2400 baud as baud rate. These values can be
modified in the table grid. With the knowledge of the primary or
secondary address (id) and the "Test slave" command the meter
line can be completed.
Append slave creates a new meter entry at the end of the table. With the
knowledge of the primary or secondary address (id) and the "Test
slave" command the meter line can be completed.
Delete slave deletes the selected meter entry in the table.
Test slave retrieves all M-Bus parameters of a selected meter as long as the
primary address or secondary address (id) and the baud rate is
known.
Read slave reads the selected meter and appends it's data sets to the program
data table.
Clear list deletes all entries of the meter table.
Set prim. addr. programs the primary address of a selected meter. The meter will
be addressed with the table baud rate and it's secondary address
(id). Attention, some meters don't understand this method. Also
write-protected meters don't accept the new primary address.
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
The communication between the program and the M-Bus meters is shown in the log-
window. As soon as the maximum capacity of the log-window has been reached no
more data will be displayed. For more data the user has to clear the window with the
"Clear log" button.
More buttons:
Register opens a window for the software registration of the program. An
unregistered version of the program runs as a restricted demo
version with disabled print and disk functions.
Clear log empties the log-window.
Exit terminates the program and writes the actual configuration to the
ini-file. The recent slavelist will be stored on the disk in the file
"slaves.csv". At program restart the configuration and the last used
slavelist will be automatically loaded.
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
1.4 Modem
MBSHEET can communicate with a level-converter using a special modem connection
(e.g. the Relay M-Bus Modem). The "Modem"-button opens a dial-window. The user
can enter a modem configuration-string and a telephone number. Dialing is started by
pressing the "Dial"-button. If successfully connected to the level-converter modem, the
dial-window can be closed. Now all operations can be started as usual. After all
operations are done, the user has to press the "Modem"-button again and then the
"Hangup"-button in order to terminate the modem connection. Attention, changing the
COM-port will terminate an existing modem connection.
Modem
configuration is an input field for the configuration-string of the PC modem. This
string will be sent to the modem before dialing. Example:
"ATFU1^M" is the initialization of the Relay M-Bus Modem at PC
side (^M is the symbol for a carriage-return).
Phone number is an input field for the telephone number. Pre-dial numbers of
privat branch exchange have to be inserted.
Pulse dial is a checkbox for pulse dialing.
Dial sends the configuration-string to the modem and starts dialing the
phone number. The label on the "Dial"-button changes from "Dial"
to "Hangup". The state of the modem-connection is displayed in the
status-window.
Close closes the dial-window.
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
2 MBSheet operating example
Let´s consider the following situation:
An M-Bus installation with 60 meters has to be put into read-out operation. The bus
wiring has always been done. We use the Relay level converter MR004C (PW60)
connected with an RS232 cable to a PC as M-Bus master equipment. It´s very helpful to
create a site plan of all meters with their addresses and IDs during the installation. We
need it later for the revisal of the slavelist after searching.
Now we install and start the MBSheet software on the PC. First we have to configure
the program:
1) The „COM-Port“-field has to be set to the used serial port number (i.e. „COM1“).
2) Most M-Bus meters can be readout with 2400 Baud but some old models only
support 300 Baud. Without knowing the baud rates of the connected meters the
setup of the "Search baudrate"-field should be "2400+300".
3) If primary addresses were assigned to all meters before installation, the primary
address search can be started with the button “Search Addr.“. Otherwise you can
start a secondary address search by pressing the button “Search id“. But caution,
some older meters might not support this function.
4) Now follows some manual work. By pressing the button “Print slavelist“ the list of
found meters can be send to a printer. After that you compare the number of found
meters to the number of actual installed meters. If there are meters missing in the
meter list, you can search for meters again with a second search method (primary or
secondary). In order not to loose the already found meters, the question about
deleting the actual meter list should be answered with “no“. Afterwards multiple
entries of meters can be deleted with the button “Delete doubles“. Or you can
eleminate them individually using the context menu. For this you mark the the line in
the meter list by pressing the left mouse button and then open the context menu by
pressing the right mouse button. After that you choose the option “Delete slave“ and
the meter is eleminated. If there are still meters missing in the list, you can insert
them with help of the context functions “Insert slave“ or “Append slave“. It is possible
to put in the address of the missing meters line for line. Eventually you can adjust
the baudrate and then complete the line automatically with help of the button “Test
slave“. Should a meter not reply, you have to check the wiring in place for errors.
When all meters appear in the meter list it can be stored to the hard disk by the key
“Save slavelist“.
5) Now a first readout can be started by pushing the button “Read M-Bus“. The M-Bus
meters are then selected in the order they are stored in the meter list. After readout
the state indicator changes from red (busy) to green (idle). A meter that does not
answer or does not answer correctly creates the output “error“ in the value column of
the data table.
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GmbH, Stettiner Str. 38, D-33106 Paderborn
6) For a periodic readout, you first have to insert a cycle time in seconds into the field
“Time interval[s]l“ (e.g. 3600 for hourly readout). The time controlled readout is then
started by pushing the button “Poll M-Bus“ or “Log M-Bus“.
With every readout the poll function overwrites the data table and so offers a clear
representation if only the last and actual readout is interesting. When using the log
function all read data are added to the list without deleting older data. It must be
noted that the storage capacity of the data table is not endless and that table
operations become ever slower with increasing data sets. Help for this problem
offers the marking field “Write to log file“. If this option is selected, readout M-Bus
data are directly written to the harddisc. The screen, similar to the poll function, only
shows the last readout data.
10 10.05.05, Version 1.6 MBSheet operating instructions
