User's Manual

THE PORTABLE INTERROGATOR User Guide
Revised July 2000
Page 32 of 63
If you choose Manual Read or Trouble Code, The Portable Interrogator 400 will return to
this screen once the reading or code is entered and stored. For example, if you choose
Manual Read and you have entered the manual read, The Portable Interrogator 400 will
display this screen again to allow you to enter a trouble code. Similarly, if you first
pressed the Trouble Code button and entered that code, The Portable Interrogator 400
will display this screen to allow you to enter a manual read.
When you have completed entries for this meter, press the Skip button.
Automatic Retry and Tamper Clearing
Two additional The Portable Interrogator 400 settings offer convenience in reading the
meters. They are:
• Automatic Retry for meters with a No Response status
• Automatic Tamper Clearing for meters reporting tamper conditions
If you have chosen Automatic Retry in the Settings, and The Portable Interrogator 400
assigns a No Response status, The Portable Interrogator 400 will automatically retry the
interrogation a second and third time. If No Response is received after three attempts,
The Portable Interrogator 400 keeps the No Response status, sounds the No Response
tone, and flashes the XMIT light red three times (on-off-on-off-on-off, ½ second each).
If you have chosen Automatic Tamper Clearing in the Settings and The Portable
Interrogator 400 assigns a tamper status, The Portable Interrogator 400 will automatically
attempt to clear the tamper by interrogating the transponder a second time and asking it to
clear its tamper. If the tamper is cleared, The Portable Interrogator 400 reports the status
as Tamper Reset, shows the green XMIT light, and proceeds to check if the reading is
high, low, or within limits. If the tamper is not cleared, The Portable Interrogator 400
reports the status as Tamper Failed to Reset and flashes the XMIT light yellow (on-off-
on-off-on-off for ½ second each).
Note that if you have chosen either the Automatic Retry or the Automatic Tamper
Clearing, The Portable Interrogator 400 will not show a status of any kind (audible tones
or light) until all of the automatic operations have completed. However, if an automatic
operation is in progress, the display will be updated to show that an automatic operation
is in progress.
Reading Dialog Meters
For interrogating Dialog meters, the reading process is started when either one of the
READ buttons are pressed, when the customer meter information area of the touch screen
is pressed, or when the DIALOG wand thumb button is pressed. The Portable
Interrogator 400 communicates through the wand to the module to receive the meter
reading information. The Portable Interrogator 400 follows a similar method of
processing a DIALOG meter readings as is used for TRACE meter readings:
• Determine if the message from the module was received correctly