Modero CV-12's and power interuptions

DHawthorne

I have a job with about a dozen CV-12's, most of which are powered b a single 30 amp supply in a mechanical room. I have a problem, however, with them reconnecting with the master when there is a power interuption. The supply is a bit big for a UPS (it bought the APC 7500 I tried it with to its knees), and I'm not very excited about breaking it down to smaller supplies and multiple UPS's. This would also not address a long-term outage.

What is happening is that when there is a power interuption at the site (usually a very brief one, sometimes even just a flicker, but once in a while an hour or two), the panels power back up but won't connect to the master. Oddly enough, a soft reboot will usually reconnect them, but I can power them up and down to my heart's content to no effect. Tech Support suggested the master needed to be rebooted after the panels came up, but trying that only caused worse problems with some of the panels continually going on and offline - which was fixed by soft booting them again.

I need a reliable way to make sure panels recover from a power outage. I put reboot butons on them all, but my customer complains he shouldn't have to do this, especially when it means running around a large house to a dozen locations. I sure don't enjoy making a service call (which I really have to do without charge) three times a week to reset them myself. To add insult to injury, the soft reboot doesn't always do it either, in which case I need to power down the reluctant panel individually, then immediately soft boot it. This means pulling it out of the wall, since killing the supply will just knock others offline again.

What it comes down to is determining exactly what is causing them to not communicate. Is it the fact that the power goes out at all, or is it a brownout condition causing it? It occurred to me after my last frustrating visit that the filter caps in my power supply might actually be contributing to the problem by effectively creating a brownout condition as they discharge. I haven't been back to test this - I could easily cut power on the output end to reset them instead of shutting down the supply.

Has anyone else run across this kind of issue with CV-12's? Have you any insights or ideas that just aren't occurring to me? I am trying to avoid spinning my wheels with solutions that have already been tried and aren't effective.

Kaptain Kaos

Modero CV-12's amd power interuptions

Dave,

Can you give some detail on the network configuration?

How are the Moderos configured to attach to the master etc.

Thanks

DHawthorne

They are all connecting via Ethernet with two D-Link 16 port rack mount switches; I'm using the URL method with static IP addresses on the masters, the Modero's themselves use DHCP. There are 7 masters in the system, but the majority of the panels connect to a central master (which will change by the time the project is complete, we are only finished with one of three buildings on the estate).

Joe Hebert

Originally posted by DHawthorne
...the Modero's themselves use DHCP.

Hi Dave,

Have you tried assigning static IPs to the Moderos? Is there a special reason why they need to be using DHCP? Is it possible that all the panels powering up at once and asking for an IP is causing some type of network issue? Just a thought...

Cheers,
Joe

DHawthorne

Originally posted by Joe Hebert
Hi Dave,

Have you tried assigning static IPs to the Moderos? Is there a special reason why they need to be using DHCP? Is it possible that all the panels powering up at once and asking for an IP is causing some type of network issue? Just a thought...

Cheers,
Joe

I could try that. It was done for ease of installation, and to avoid possible IP conflicts...I don't actually manage the network itself, and didn't want to block out too many static IP's in case they were needed. This is a big estate, and it's linked to the customer's corporate network as well. As a matter of fact, he has a 12 terabyte server array that mirrors his office setup. I may eventually just subnet our stuff out, but this was all done retro (the original job was CG-10's) and some of the wiring is no longer re-routeable.

Kaptain Kaos

Modero CV-12's and Power interuptions

I have multiple Modero panels and masters online in my home.
It is configured in the following manor with 100% reliability.

Masters and DNS, DHCP server are on power backup.
Masters and Modero panels have DNS entries and are DHCP.

When using DHCP I have found that using the URL list is not the most effective method of connection.

I have elected for the other method of connection.

No URL listing in the masters, except for other masters if needed.

Set the Modero panel in URL mode and either an IP address or the URL into the master connection setup.

Because I have DNS, I use a URL name, which is the host name of the master I wish the Modero to connect with.

Of course if the power is out so long that the servers go down you must be sure the servers boot prior to a NetLinx, Modero reboot.

Hope this helps

DHawthorne

I'm not using the URL list in the master; perhaps I wasn't clear. What I meant was each Modero has the IP of the master explicitly stated in its setup page, and all of the masters have static IP's. This should not, in effect, be any different from what you are describing, except it doesn't need the DNS server.

There must be something else going on in my system, and I'm starting to look funny at my power supply again. Perhaps it simply does not power on and off cleanly enough...