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Technology to Empower Utilities

A Multi-Faceted Focus on Metering

The diamond in our logo symbolizes quality, strength, trust, and service. We invite you to discover the unique qualities of the Elster diamond. Youll find in them a value that is priceless. Contact us today, or visit our Web site for more information on Elster Electricitys A1800 ALPHA meter.

Our Product Portfolio


Elster Electricity, LLC offers a comprehensive portfolio of innovative, cost-efficient electronic and electromechanical meters for residential, commercial, industrial, generation, transmission, distribution, and submetering applications. Our products include single and polyphase electromechanical meters, advanced electronic revenue meters, high function electronic meters for advanced power quality applications, and communications technologies ranging from standard telephone lines to intelligent, two-way RF-based communications.

Customer Focused Innovation


Our integrated suite of metering products, systems, and services are customized to fit each customers individual needs. Engineered to provide exact, reliable metering, our products deliver quality data measurement, reliable reads, timely billing cycles, and maximized revenue collection. A highly service oriented organization, Elster provides sales and technical support, order tracking over the Internet, training for installation and meter software, technical manuals, and user guides in print or electronic versions.

Elsters Quality Initiatives


At Elster Electricity, our systems reinforce total quality processes to ensure reliable products and services. We achieve quality assurance through a dedicated, skilled, and highly trained workforce and by implementing improvement initiatives including state-of-the-art automation, statistical process control, high first-time yield, and Six Sigma activities. The process controls and continuous improvement procedures at Elster are all encompassing. Our procedures include annual ISO 9001 internal/external audits, quality inspection of incoming materials, first piece inspection of new tooling, evaluation of supplier performance, computer-monitored preventative maintenance processes, and the use of custom-designed calibration equipment to provide userfriendly, real-time data for customers and internal quality assurance.

As a world leader in advanced electricity metering, Elster Electricity, LLC understands the critical importance our customers place on accurate, reliable, robust, and secure metering. Elster Electricity has successfully addressed these needs in our design of the A1800 ALPHA meter. Built on the patented strengths of our world-renowned ALPHA meter, the A1800 ALPHA joins a family of advanced meters with over three million commercial and industrial installations worldwide.

We have engineered the A1800 ALPHA meter based on our extensive metering technology and global metering standards knowledge. The A1800 ALPHA is a world-class, highly accurate, robust, systemready meter that is ideally suited for advanced commercial, industrial, and substation metering applications. Using an open protocol and supporting a variety of communications methods, the A1800 ALPHA meter is integral to any metering system.

A System-Ready Meter
Sophisticated in its system-ready capabilities, the A1800 ALPHA meters easily upgradeable design offers our customers the flexibility to keep pace with their changing metering requirements and business growth. The A1800 ALPHA meters robust power supply supports communications options, including RS-232, RS-485, and internal modem,1 as well as future options developed by Elster and our business partners. With a communication port that has two interfaces on the main circuit board, the A1800 ALPHA meter removes the guesswork needed to support different communications needs. There is also an option to install a second, independent communication port. The meters open protocol provides easy, remote access to the advanced functions of the meter.

Robust and Reliable Meters


Meters are routinely subjected to a diverse range of harsh environments, including extreme temperatures and dust. Even meters installed in indoor industrial environments or inside cabinets can be exposed to severe conditions. Elster has addressed these demanding requirements by designing the A1800 ALPHA meter with many of the robust features used in our outdoor electronic meters. Encased in a rugged polycarbonate enclosure, the A1800 ALPHA meter functions reliably within a wide operating temperature range of -40 C to +85 C (inside the meter) and a wide operating humidity range of 0 % to 100 % non-condensing. The A1800 ALPHA meter is IP54 compliant for water, dust, and sand resistance.

Advanced Meter Functionality


The A1800 ALPHA includes all of the high functionality that our customers have come to expect from an Elster meter: four-quadrant metering, active, reactive, and apparent energy and demand measurements. Standard event logs and time-of-use metering are also available. The 16-segment character LCD with optional backlight1 provides a flexible interface to the user for displaying meter data. Additionally, the A1800 ALPHA meter features optional upgradeable memory for both billed and non-billed interval data. Our power quality monitoring (PQM) option is an efficient, cost-effective means of monitoring the power quality and service status without the need of a separate and expensive external device. Elsters A1800 ALPHA meter with PQM may be programmed to test such parameters as high or low voltage, high or low power factor, high harmonic distortion, current imbalance, voltage imbalance, and voltage sags. Each of these measurements has programmable thresholds. The meter will automatically log both the time and duration of power quality events.

Technical Details
Available in class 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 Transformer-rated and self-contained1 Wide operating voltage range 46 V to 528 V Wide operating current range 1 mA to 10 A (CT-connected) Four-quadrant metering kWh, kVARh, kVAh, kW, kVAR, kVA Instantaneous volts, amps, power factor, phase angles and more Load profile Instrumentation profile Relays Event logs Windows-based software with language support2

Revenue Protection
Multiple anti-tampering and advanced security features have been built into the A1800 ALPHA meter to ensure revenue protection for our customers. The meters site diagnostic capability continuously monitors the service, verifying that all phases are present and that the wiring configuration is correct. Adverse or abnormal conditions, such as phase outages and reverse energy events, are logged. In addition to logging, the meter can generate an alarm. The meter can be programmed to record cumulative demand to help monitor potential tampering. The history log provides an audit trail of dataaltering or program-changing events within the meter. An always run positive security feature enables the A1800 ALPHA meter to calculate the absolute energy value per phase. We also offer an optional write-protection feature that disables the meters ability to be re-programmed in the field. Additionally, the meters enclosure has two detectors that log the occurrence and signal an alarm if the main cover or terminal cover is removed. Throughout every step of our manufacturing process, Elster Electricity has built reliability and quality into every component of the A1800 ALPHA meters design, making it a truly world-class meter.

Enhanced Features and Functionality


Programmable thresholds to monitor PQ events Upgradeable memory Transformer and line loss compensation Available symmetrical or sequential wiring configuration1 Optical port (available in the ANSI and IEC standard) Up to 32 programmable channels of instrumentation profile data Auxiliary power supply support1 Easy battery access 16-segment character LCD Backlit LCD1

A System-Ready Meter
Available with up to 2 remote communication ports Available with RS-232 and RS-485 Available with internal telephone modem with outage reporting capabilities1 Supports external modems1 Open protocol

Revenue Protection
Terminal and main cover opening detection Site diagnostics History log records all changes in the meter program and meter data Phase voltage outage recording Reverse energy warnings and recording Cumulative demand calculation Positive energy records absolute energy value for each phase individually Write prevention lock Multi-level passwords

Exceptional Environmental Performance


Wide operating temperature range: -40 C to +85 C (inside the meter) IP54 enclosure Optional internal industrial grade modem with wide temperature range performance1 UV protected polycarbonate meter enclosure Wide current and voltage ranges

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Contact Elster Electricity for feature availability. Contact Elster Electricity for supported languages.

Specification Data
Absolute Maximums Voltage Surge voltage withstand Continuous 528 VAC Test performed Oscillatory: IEC 61000-4-12 Fast transient: IEC 61000-4-4 Impulse voltage: IEC 60060-1

Results 2.5 kV, 60 sec 4 kV 12 kV @ 1.2/50 s, > 450 (8 kV with option boards) 4 kV, 50 Hz for 1 minute

Current

AC Voltage (Insulation): Continuous at 10 A Temporary (0.5 second) at 2000 % of maximum meter current

Operating Ranges Voltage Current Frequency Temperature range Humidity range

Nominal range 58 V to 480 V (any phase) 0 A to 10 A Nominal 50 Hz or 60 Hz 5 % -40 C to +85 C inside meter cover -40 C to +60 C outside 0 % to 100 % non-condensing

Operating range 46 V to 528 V

Operating Characteristics Power supply burden Less than 3 W Accuracy Active energy: 0.2 % (IEC 6205321) 0.5 % (IEC 6205321) 1.0 % (IEC 6205322)

Reactive energy: 2.0 % (IEC 6205323) Actual accuracy is better than 0.5 %

General Performance Characteristics Starting current CT-connected 1 mA Direct-connected < 40 mA (Ib=5 A) Creep 0.000 A (no current) No more than 1 pulse per quantity, conforming to IEC 62053 requirements Primary time base Crystal oscillator if line frequency of the isolated power system is considered to be too unstable for use as clock frequency. Power line frequency (50 Hz or 60 Hz) is selectable. Secondary time base Meets the IEC 61038 requirement of 5 ppm drift per day at room temperature using 32.768 kHz crystal. Outage carryover capacity LiSOCl2 battery rated 800 mAhr, 3.6 V and shelf life of 20+ years. 5 years continuous duty at 25 C. Supercapacitor is expected to provide carryover power for all normal power outages. The battery is not under load except when supercapacitor is discharged or when a programmed meter is stored for an extended period without line power. Based on this low duty cycle, the projected life of the battery in normal service is expected to be greater than 20 years. Communications Optical port 1200 bps to 28,800 bps IEC 62056-21 or ANSI C12.18 Optical port protocol ANSI C12.18 and C12.19 Serial ports 1200 bps to 19,200 bps Serial port protocol ANSI C12.21 and C12.19

Discover the value of the diamond

Elster Electricity, LLC Raleigh, North Carolina, USA support@us.elster.com www.elsterelectricity.com

2005 by Elster Electricity, LLC. All rights reserved. Information herein is subject to change without notice. Product specifications may change. Contact your Elster Electricity representative for the most current product information. Produced in the United States, March 2005.

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