User's Manual

A3 ALPHA Meter/Collector PG42-1005A
6 July 2003
Call Initiation
The A3 ALPHA meter/collector can initiate billing, alarm, and outage/restoration
calls based on the customer program configured in the meter. The ILC1 option
board can initiate alarm to report the following conditions:
■ An additional REX meter has been registered to this A3 ALPHA meter/
collector
■ A REX meter's demand threshold has been exceeded (the REX meter must
be enabled to report this condition to the A3 ALPHA collector)
■ Power has been restored to a REX meter (the REX meter must be enabled to
report this condition to the A3 ALPHA collector)
■ Warning conditions related to REX meters with an internal service disconnect
switch (the REX meter must be enabled to report this condition to the A3
ALPHA collector)
For each of these exceptions, the ILC1 option board can be configured to initiate
a call at the following times:
■ never
■ immediately
■ after a configurable delay of 1 to 255 minutes
■ daily
Telephone calls initiated by the ILC1 option board use the A3 ALPHA meter's
alarm telephone number.
Power Fail
When there is a power failure, the A3 ALPHA meter initiates a shutdown and
stores the A3 ALPHA meter billing data and status information in EEPROM. All
billing data information stored in the ILC1 option board is stored in battery-
backed RAM. The A3 ALPHA meter's real-time clock and the data stored in the
ILC1 option board is maintained by the super capacitor and battery during a
power failure.
If the super capacitor and battery fail, all RAM in the meter and in the ILC1 will be
lost. Upon power restoration, the LCD will display a carryover error for both the
A3 ALPHA meter data (see the A3 ALPHA Meter Technical Manual TM42-2190)
and the ILC1 option board data (see ILC1 Option Board Error Codes).
Loss of Real Time
Within the network, the REX meters obtain real time from time signals sent by the
A3 ALPHA meter/collector. The ILC1 option board does not have its own real
time clock; instead, it obtains the time directly from the A3 ALPHA meter. There
are two ways the ILC1 option board can lose time from the A3 ALPHA meter:
■ A3 ALPHA meter has lost its timekeeping capability
■ the ILC1 option board cannot communicate with the A3 ALPHA meter
When real time is lost, all REX meters in the network revert to relative timekeeping
and store all energy data in the default rate. Additionally, the A3 ALPHA meter
LCD will indicate the ILC1 option board's loss of real time by displaying an error
code (see ILC1 Option Board Error Codes for more information).