PowerChain Management solutions

Application note

Data Buffering with the

Power Xpert Gateway 600A
and Power Xpert Software
Introduction

Power Xpert Gateway 600A

Accurate and robust data logging is a critical component of a power

monitoring solution. The combination of the Power Xpert Gateway
600A (PXG600A) and Power Xpert Software (PXS) provides a new
solution that significantly reduces the risk of data loss in the event of
communication loss to the monitored devices. Legacy solutions have
focused on providing local storage as a way to reduce the risk of lost
data; however the PXG600A and PXS combine local logging with
alarming to provide a more reliable solution.

Background
Historically, the Netlink has been used to collect and store historical
data from downstream INCOM devices. In the event of communication loss with PowerNet software, the NetLink stores the data locally
until communication is restored and PowerNet uploads the data from
the Netlink. While this seems like a good solution, there is a shortcoming: there is no mechanism to notify the user when the communication link is down. In this case, the system will continue to run. If
the link is down for more than 30 days, the NetLinks local storage
can be exceeded and data lost. In addition, if the lost link is between
the NetLink and the device, no data is buffered and the user is not
notified of the issue. The end result is the loss of critical data.

Netlink wiring configuration

Power Xpert Solution

In the Power Xpert Architecure, the PXG600A and PXS combine to both provide local storage and
inform the user immediately, via e-mail, (or pager) and displays a warning in the PXS alarm page
that there has been a loss of communication with the PXG600A and/or one of its downstream
devices. This allows the user to take corrective action before the buffering capability of the PXG600A
is overrun and data is lost. While the data storage capability is not as great as the NetLink, the
ability to notify the user upon failure significantly improves the likelihood that communication will
be restored before the local storage limits are exceeded, thereby increasing the reliability of the
data logging process.

PXG600A

Power Xpert wiring configuration

The PXG600A has the ability to buffer up to 250,000 data points before it begins to roll off in
the PXG600As FIFO-based data log. Once the network connection between the PXG600A and
Power Xpert Software is restored, the buffered data will automatically transfer to the Power Xpert
Software. Based on a memory capacity of 250,000 data points, a typical system can buffer data
for 12 hours to 3 days, depending on the number of and type of connected devices.
The PXG600A stores two types of data in the event of a communication failure:
1. All alarm/event records are stored as they occur
2. Trended data (voltage, amps, etc depending on the device set up), stored based on the
rate of change of the variable.
Highly volatile variables are stored often, while stable variables are logged at least once per hour.
Therefore, the exact amount of buffer capacity in a PXG600A depends on how it is deployed and
system condition variations.

EATON CORPORATION

Data Buffering with the Power Xpert Gateway 60 0A and Power Xpert Software

PXG600A Alarm and Event Notification and Management

As previously described, the
PXG600A stores historical alarms
and events. This data is passed
to PXS or it can be downloaded
into a comma separated value
file (CSV) from the PXG600A.
Using Excel this file can be used
to perform analysis to discover
potential system issues or perform maintenance on a proactive
basis.
The PXG600A supports both
native device and threshold
alarms. A native device alarm
is an alarm initiated directly by
a device. A threshold alarm is
defined by the user by selecting
a parameter and specifying the
High and/or Low limits. An alarm
is generated when the configured threshold is crossed.
The PXG600A can either annunciate alarms using its own internal alarm engine and/or forward
the alarm information to PXS
which in turn can provide the
user notification. The PXG600A
can directly alarm via the following methods:
SMTP: to generate and deliver
alarm e-mail via mail server.
Web Page Alert: Presence
and details of any active
unacknowledged alarms will
be indicated on all monitoring
pages of the PXG600A Web
interface.

PXG600A Events page

Modbus TCP alarm flag. A Modbus holding register will be provided to communicate alarm status.
The PXG600A Event log contains data related to all alarms regardless of status. Information logged
for each alarm includes:
Alarm name (including the device that generated the alarm)
Condition present
Status
The time and date the alarm occurred
The time and date the alarm was cleared
The time and date the alarm was acknowledged
The event history log is viewable via the PXG600A Web UI or, as described earlier, it is exportable
by a save as button to a users computer in a CSV format.
The PXG600A provides a mechanism to acknowledge all unacknowledged alarms in the alarm log.
Acknowledging alarms requires administrator privileges.
User configured alarms are accomplished via the PXG600A Web interface, which requires the
administrator privilege in the PXG600A.
The PXG600A allows the user to:
Define threshold alarms
Assign description to threshold
Enter the e-mail addresses for notification, up to 10 available

www.eaton.com/powerxpert 1.800.809.2772

PXS Alarm and Event Notification and Management

Alarm and Event Notification in PXS are one of its major features. More information on this
capability can be found at: http://www.eaton.com/pxs
However a brief summary is provided below:
Web Page Alert: Presence and details of any active unacknowledged alarms will be
indicated on all monitoring pages of the PXS Web interface.
The user can install a small Task Tray applet that will blink whenever an alarm is raised in
PXS. This is very similar to the email alert provided by Outlook.
The PXS Notification System can be configured to send outbound emails, pages or other
direct commands based on configured alarms within PXS.

PXS Alarms and Events Web Page

Summary
When the PXG600A Gateway and Power Xpert Software are teamed up, they provide a more
reliable and powerful data logging system than the PowerNet/NetLink combination. Albeit the
NetLink has more local storage and can operate off line for longer than the PXG600A, the
lack of a mechanism to annunciate communication issues creates a situation where data loss is
more likely.

EATON CORPORATION

Data Buffering with the Power Xpert Gateway 60 0A and Power Xpert Software

UNITED STATES
1000 Cherrington Parkway
Moon Township, PA 15108
1.800.809.2772

Canada
Ontario: 416.798.0112
Toll free: 1.800.461.9166
LATIN AMERICA
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www.eaton.com/powerxpert

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Denmark: 45.3686.7910
Finland: 358.94.52.661
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Asia Pacific
Australia: 61.2.9693.9366
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HK/Korea/Taiwan: 852.2745.6682
India: 91.11.2649.9414 to 18
Singapore/SEA: 65.6825.1668
Eaton, PowerChain Management, Power
Xpert, and X-Slot are trade names, trademarks, and/or service marks of Eaton
Corporation or its subsidiaries and affiliates.
All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
2009 Eaton Corporation
All Rights Reserved
Printed in USA
AP02603003E
April 2009

www.eaton.com/powerquality 1.800.356.5794