An Electronic Newsletter from

Power Management Products

Issue 1 - Spring 1999

Welcome to issue 1 of PowerNews!, a Power Management Products electronic newsletter designed to keep you posted on the latest happenings in our product line. Each issue will focus on five primary topics: Startup & Technical, Product Tips, Success Stories, Product Features and General Interest.

For additional information about any of the topics included in this newsletter, simply link to either the Internet URL or the Intranet URL provided. Both sites are maintained by Cutler-Hammer and contain the same PowerNews! information, but the Internet site is for those outside of our firewall and the Intranet site is for those within. In general, if you have a desktop PC in a Cutler-Hammer office, you can access an Intranet URL; otherwise please choose an Internet URL.

Now, on to our newsletter:

Stymied by the customer that says he has other vendor’s meters or a system from another company? PowerNet can integrate other vendors’ meters and systems!!! As an example, installations that use Square D PowerLogic Circuit Monitors have presented a problem, as the PowerLogic protocol is not published. Integrating those devices has required the purchase of Square D software. This software adds several thousand dollars to the cost of the project. Recently, Dave Loucks located a third party DDE server that understands PowerLogic protocol. It has been tested at the PMP lab and connects the COM port of the PC to the Square D Circuit Monitor (using an RS-232 to RS-485 converter). DDE Client programs, such as Enhanced Graphics and DDE Logger (new program just released) can retrieve data from Square D devices. This means that NetPower Bill (formerly called E-Bill) can now generate an energy bill from Square D devices. Also note that this server supports dial-up commands and can remotely poll Square D devices connected to auto-answer modems. For more info see Section 6 of the Connectivity Guide at:

Stymied by requirements to send our information over Ethernet? Supplementing the Ethernet Gateway (EGate), PMP has tested and approved a new method for connecting IQ devices to Ethernet. This new method uses a low cost interface that converts Ethernet (10BASE-T) to RS-232. The RS-232 port on this interface is plugged directly into the MINT, in effect putting the MINT directly on Ethernet. Benefits include its low cost (1/4 cost of Ethernet Gateway), but note that there is no local storage as is available on the EGate. For more info see page 30 in Section 3 of the Connectivity Guide at:

Here at the Power Management Application Support Center, a most frequently asked question deals with bringing our devices into Building Management Systems, Distributed Control Systems, PLC's and many other types of control and monitoring systems. These are lumped into the well traveled road of "Connectivity". All too often when the question is posed to the applications engineer, more questions are generated than answered due to the lack of information being gathered before the call. The call produces no answers, more questions, and is probably the beginning of a drawn out production rather than a quick solution.

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The Ford Oakville Assembly Plant located in Oakville, Canada, is achieving significant operating efficiencies and minimizing waste with Cutler-Hammer PowerNet, a plant-wide energy monitoring and management system. The Cutler-Hammer PowerNet system, which has been operational for a year, has already enabled the plant to reduce its overall electrical energy costs.

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NetPower Bill software provides facilities with the ability to accurately bill individual departments or third party tenants for internal energy costs based on actual consumption and demand charges. Enhancing the features of E-Bill software, NetPower Bill now also offers the capability to bill for both kVAh and coincident kVA demand. In addition, NetPower Bill offers a module that allows interfacing with many vendors’ metering devices. You no longer need to rely on proprietary communication systems and software that limit your choice to one vendor.

This is a timely new feature since many utilities are now building the power factor charge directly into the demand and consumption charges to their customers. These utilities are using kVAh and kVA demand as the basis of their bills.

NetPower Bill provides billing on kVAh and kVA demand as an option to users whose meters measure kVA and kVAh. Cutler-Hammer meters such as the IQ 200, the IQ DP-4000 and the IQ Analyzer all support both kVA/kVAh and kW/kWh billing.

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The Year 2000 is a term used to describe an issue found within any piece of equipment which contains a real-time clock. Depending on whether the original designer used two or four-digit values for the year, systems may fail in the upcoming century turnover. Cutler-Hammer's Power Management Products group has thoroughly tested all hardware and software products associated with an IMPACC or PowerNet system and reveals the compliance status on the company-wide Internet site.

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