User's Manual

58 TWACS
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-ORION
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for UMT Products User Guide
Performing Remote Analysis (TNS)
3. Check for TNS errors that may have occurred because of commands
time-out, or any software related issues in TNS that may have prevented
AMR commands processing.
For more information on time-out issues, see the Encode Command
Parameters section in the TNS System Maintenance chapter of the TNS End
User Guide.
4. Perform an On-Request AMR command to determine if the unit
communicates. (This command communicates to the unit by serial number
to eliminate a two-way addressing issue.)
For more information about On-Request meter reads, refer to the
appropriate sections in the TNS End User Guide and the TNS Operational
Process Guide.
A site visit is not required, and you may stop this procedure if the meter
communicates. If the meter communicates, check two-way addressing.
(For more information on two-way addressing, see the Function-Group
Addressing chapter of the TNS Operational Process Guide and the
Two-Way Addressing section in the TNS Generic Applications chapter of
the TNS End User Guide.)
5. Check for other TWACS meters that are reading on the same distribution
transformer, or a nearby meter to narrow the communication problem area.
6. Check the Customer Information System for a disconnected status that may
not have updated in the TNS database. If the meter was disconnected, no
action in TNS is required, but you may want to change the cycle number.
The TNS Operator must have some process for dealing with a meter that no
longer provides a read. The TNS Operator might consider setting up a
special cycle (e.g. cycle 99) for disconnects and continue reading the
meters. Having the disconnected meters in a special cycle allows the TNS
Operator to isolate meters to scan for usage. If a Customer Service
Representative re-activates the service and the notification fails to reach the
TNS Operator, or if a customer tampers with the meter and reconnects the
service, the TNS Operator can quickly identify a successful read in a group
of meters where reads should normally fail. Using this configuration, the
TNS Operator can quickly investigate the reason for the successful read of a
supposedly disconnected meter.
7. Check for switching events which may have occurred in the system that
possibly changed the communication path of the meter. (A communication
path may have changed due to a physical move or a temporary switch to a
different substation, phase, or other path component.) If the communication
path has changed, you can use Pathmaps to update the TNS database.
For more information on communication paths, see the Adding Meters
Interactively section in the Searching Meters chapter of the TNS
Operational Process Guide. For more information on Pathmaps, see the
Alternate Pathmaps Search chapter in the TNS End User Guide and the
Building and Searching Alternate Paths chapter in the TNS Operational
Process Guide.