Release Notes Metercat 1.95.

0 May 2006
Elster Electricity, LLC
Raleigh, North Carolina USA
support@us.elster.com
www.elsterelectricity.com
2006 by Elster Electricity, LLC
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States

Release Notes Metercat 1.95.0

Metercat Style Number format:
100G000R12 (released version)
100G000D12 (demonstration version with expiration date)
Upgrading from Earlier Releases
The Metercat Release 1.95 installation will automatically uninstall any earlier version of Metercat.
Database files (containing programs, system settings, etc.) from Metercat Release 1.9 and earlier can be
migrated to the Release 1.95 format by selecting Use Existing Database files during the installation.
New Features
New or changed Components
The Instrumentation Profiling Components for the A3 ALPHA and A1800 ALPHA meters are now separate.
Instrumentation Profiling for the A1800 ALPHA kVAR meters now allows the selection of non-
instrumentation quantities for profiling.
New or changed Tasks and Functions
The Read Tasks Internal LAN Controller (ILC1) reading parameters are now also used when reading the
Internal LAN Node (ILN1) option board of A3 ALPHA meters used as nodes in the EnergyAxis system.
To support A3 ALPHA Collectors with RS232 rather than ITM3 connections, the Program and Replace
Remote Tasks of Metercat now automatically synchronize the BAUD of the Internal LAN Controller (ILC1) to
the same BAUD rate specified for the RS232 connection.
The Program Task now allows the entry of ID2 (usually titled Meter ID) to be filtered by a mask in System
Preferences.
A new All Except LP selection is available for the Collector/Node Data option of the Billing and Diagnostic
Read Tasks.
When executing a Clear Data Task on a meter with an Internal LAN Node (ILN) or Internal LAN Controller
(ILC) board (an A3 Node or A3 Collector), the data in the ILN or ILC is also cleared. The data in the ILN
board of an A3 Node is also cleared when the Program Task is executed on a meter. Data in the ILC board
of an A3 Collector is not cleared during programming.
The defaults for a new Diagnostic Read Task have been changed to read 1 day of Load Profile, 1 day of
Instrumentation Profiling data, and all of the Logs and Self-Read data. Additionally, on new Metercat
installations, the system default Diagnostic Read Function has these settings.
Other additions or changes
Metercat now supports management of ALPHA Plus Passwords in anticipation of a future Alpha Keys software
release that will support the ALPHA Plus meter.
Functions containing Internal Cellular Modem (ICM) Tasks are now disabled for Direct and TCP/IP
Connections because the ICM module is mutually exclusive with the use of Direct and TCP/IP Connections.
Romanian language is now supported.
Issues Resolved
When CT, VT, and multiplier values are very large, the CT * VT Transformer Factor on the Constants View is
now displayed as positive.
When Direct Connect or TCP/IP communications are finished, the C12.21 protocol session is now terminated
instead of asking the meter to stay online like is done for a dial-up modem connection.
General Notes
Metercat 1.95 is a Windows

-based software application for programming and reading solid-state electricity

meters.
Computers running Windows NT 4.0 must have Service Pack 6 installed
Metercat 1.95 requires that you have Internet Explorer 4.0 or later installed.
For machines without an existing copy of Metercat, the default installation path is C:\Program
Files\Elster\Metercat\. For Metercat upgrades, the installation path will default to wherever the prior version
was installed.
Note: If you do not use the default path when upgrading an existing Metercat installation you will not
have access to the configuration files, readings, and reports of the earlier version unless you
manually move them to the new path after completing the installation.
Metercat Release 1.95 supports all currently known revisions of A3 ALPHA, REX and A1800 meter firmware.
As new revisions of meter firmware are introduced, you may need to upgrade your Metercat software. Refer
to the documentation provided with each new meter firmware revision to determine Metercat release
compatibility.
Instructions for installing the Metercat software, system requirements, and customer support information are
available in the Getting Started Guide on the Metercat installation CD-ROM.
When installing the software, enter the serial number exactly as it appears on the back of the CD jewel case.
This number will be requested when you call Elster Electricity Customer Support.
Adobe Reader is required to view and print the Metercat and AlphaPlus documentation in portable document
format (PDF) format. Adobe Reader 6.0.1 is supplied on the Metercat installation CD, but requires Windows
98 SE or later; Windows 95 or 98 (non-SE) is inadequate to run Adobe Reader 6.0. If your operating system
is not able to run Adobe Reader 6.0, you can download and install Adobe Reader 5.0 from the Adobe
website (http:\\www.adobe.com). Note: PDF files of the user guides are installed as part of the Metercat
installation.
Known Issues
Alpha Keys version 2.0 is incompatible with Metercat 1.95 systems where Direct Connect and/or TCP/IP
Connections have been defined. If you must have these Connections on the same machine where Alpha
Keys 2.0 will be run, contact Technical Support for a workaround.
Instrumentation Profiling for the A1800 ALPHA kVAR meter is not supported for D, T, or K A1800 ALPHA
meters. Instrumentation Profiling components will be automatically removed from programs for these meter
types as part of upgrading to Metercat 1.95.
When Metercat 1.95 is installed on a Windows 2000 or Windows XP machine, users with limited rights on that
machine may receive multiple installer errors each time they attempt to run Metercat.
If Metercat will be run from a Windows

user account without Administrator rights, the account must at least

have Full Access to the Metercat\Config, Metercat\Readings, and Metercat\Reports sub-folders (and their
sub-folders).
Attempting to install a DEMO version of Metercat 1.95 on top of a commercial copy of Metercat 1.95 results in
the removal of all Metercat shortcuts and program files from the computer. To resolve this, use Start >
Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and manually uninstall Metercat, then re-install the
DEMO version.
Metercat does not support short date formats with the month spelled out (e.g. "dd-MMM-yy" or "MMM-dd-yy").
If you receive the error: xx-xxx-xx is not a valid date and time where xx-xxx-xx is a date shown, you must
change your PCs date format to represent months numerically.
Attempting to edit or view more than six programs simultaneously causes serious demands on operating
system and database resources and may result in error messages such as General SQL Error: Can not
open any more tables.
Elster Electricity recommends using Small Fonts (Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display > Settings: Font
Size). Large Fonts may make the information in some Metercat windows difficult to read.
Technical Support
Contact Elster Electricitys Technical Support at +1 800-338-5251 (US Technical Support).