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| MORE than a supplier | HV Power Customer Newsletter April 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Optional 5-year Product Warranty from A.Eberle | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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In this issue: 
Commentary Warwick Beech Conformal coating and the weakest link We all know the saying that a chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so what is the real value of conformal coating, if it does not address the ‘weakest link’? Both of our major suppliers, Siemens and A.Eberle, have recently confirmed their position on conformal coating. It appears that a US-based competitor is selling this as a ‘value-added feature’, with all-encompassing benefits. Both Siemens and A.Eberle do not recommend this as an option. Their MTBF and return figures do not indicate a need or deficiency that needs to be addressed. You might ask, well, what about areas with high hydrogen sulphide levels? Siemens, ever-diligent, have undergone product testing of SIPROTEC relays in extreme hydrogen sulphide environments and still do not see conformal coating as adding tangible value. As you will read in the main section of our newsletter, A.Eberle have an option to increase their product warranty to 5 years, showing belief in their product design and manufacturing. Siemens also offer an option with SIPROTEC 5 to extend the 5-year warranty to 10 years. So what about the weakest link? Simply given that edge connectors, switches, jumper pins, LCDs (and the many other bits in a typical product) cannot be conformal coated, what is the point in only coating half the product? Siemens products also undergo sub-assembly testing using ‘bed of nails’ test fingers, so conformal coating of products would eliminate the ability to do these important manufacturing quality steps. While conformal coating sounds like a benefit, personally, I would not let this sway my purchasing decisions. Regards Warwick |
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| PQ-Box 100; More Memory & Calibration Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||
With the large number of PQ-Box 100’s being sold and supported in Australia by HV Power, existing customers in NZ will be interested to know that, a major customer (and a major user) has their own traceable standards lab and have purchased the A.Eberle PQ-Box 100 calibration tools to support their significant investment in PQ-Box 100s. They do offer their calibration services to third parties on a commercial basis, and HV Power is able to offer this service to our customers. HV Power will take care of getting your PQ-Box 100 and clamps to Australia, calibrated and returning them to you. A calibration report will be issued for the price of NZ$1,800+GST (incl freight and handling). Turnaround time is 2-3 weeks. This price compares extremely favourably to the calibration service we have been offering from Germany, and has a shorter turnaround time. Please contact us for further details.
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| Innovative I/O! | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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It might be that one of Siemens new ‘transducers’ is the solution you didn’t know you were looking for. Here are some highlights, but please feel free to contact us, as several of these have more options and capability for even more versatility! 7XV5674: 12 x mA inputs to MODBUS RTU or IEC 61850 GOOSE  Figure 2. 7XV5674: 12 x mA inputs to MODBUS RTU or IEC 61850 GOOSE.
7XV5653: 2 input/2 output binary transducer Transmission link monitoring and power supplies monitoring is integrated.  Figure 3. 7XV5653: 2 input/2 output binary transducer.
7XV5673: 6 input/6 output binary transducer (with IEC 61850 GOOSE)
The 7XV5673 also has a built-in Ethernet switch allowing units to be daisy chained, without need for an additional Ethernet switch. The 7XV5673 works nicely with Siemens SIPROTEC Compact feeder protection relay 7SJ80 to provide distributed relay I/O, for example, allowing you to mount the I/O out at an outdoor substation junction box, etc.  Figure 4. 7XV5673: 6 input/6 output binary transducer (with IEC 61850 GOOSE).
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| Tekron GLONAS Antenna | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tekron’s GPS antenna is about to undergo a change. The new antenna is not just a GPS receiver, but also a GLONAS receiver. GLONAS is the Russian satellite version of the American GPS satellite system. The new antenna is a slightly different shape, but remains compatible in its connection and mounting. The new improved antenna is soon to be supplied with all clocks, just to make inventory handling simpler. The new antenna are 100 % compatible with existing clocks, if a replacement is ever needed, but you will need a new model of clock if you want to access GLONAS satellites. Future models of clocks are likely to allow the user to select GPS and/or GLONAS reception.  Figure 5. Tekron old GPS antenna (left) and new GPS/GLONAS antenna (right).
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| Upcoming HV Power Training | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Please see our website training page for course descriptions and further information, or contact Vladimir to book your place on one of these courses.
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| Services Section 1 | Voltage Regulation: HV Power’s guide to ‘Time Programs’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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As an aid to our customers, HV Power is writing documents covering the basics of voltage regulation using A.Eberle’s REG-D & REG-DA’s. These describe (in New Zealand English!) the internal operation of the REG-D/DA. They are ideal for those wanting to know more about the settings and operation of the regulators. Access our website Technical Library now, to download: Last month we released the first of these documents, the overview of regulation schemes. In this newsletter we announce the addition of a document on ‘Time Programs’. The selected time program is responsible for determining how fast the voltage regulator responds to voltage exceeding the bandwidth setting. The Integrator and Trend Memory functions are also explained. We’ll let you know about new guides in future newsletters, so keep an eye out.
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| Services Section 2 | DIGSI 4.87, 4.87+SP1 vs 4.88 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Service Pack 1 (SP1) for DIGSI has been available since April 2013 which includes a fix for DNP allowing the class to be changed in the routing matrix. The SP1 download is approx. 1.1 GB, so don’t download this just before you need to rush out of the office. DIGSI 4.88 was released in Sept 2013, and contains the DNP fix of 4.87+SP1, and others, but introduces a limitation of not permitting scaling of the DNP values. Until this is resolved, we suggest you contact us to discuss your needs and to see what DIGSI version is the best for you. Remember, it is always best for all users in an organisation to upgrade at the same time, allowing settings to be freely interchanged.
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| Copyright 2014 HV Power Measurements & Protection Ltd | |||||||||||||||||||||||
