With the advancement of remote reading systems and the increasing cost of on-site readings, data obtained via the Mbus interface has become increasingly important. For the proper functioning of the Mbus interface, it is essential that there are no short circuits in the system, and all Mbus circuits on the line must work properly to obtain reading service offers at more competitive prices.
To provide some examples of the most common issues, one of the general problems with Mbus-interface water meters is battery consumption. With the Apator JS series water meters provided by QMET, we anticipate a battery life of 10-12 years. In widely used modules in the market, low-capacity batteries like CR2032 button cells are often used, which typically provide a battery life of 10 years when powered on the Mbus line and 2 years when disconnected. In the field, the most significant issue encountered is the premature battery depletion due to Mbus converter overheating, which occurs when these connections are disconnected from the meter.
Index shifts originating from pal wheel water meters. Pal wheel water meters are designed to generate a signal at certain liter transitions. This signal is collected by the connected pal counter or usually an heat meter, and the water meter index is recorded as this. In readings made via Mbus, inaccuracies may occur in the data provided by the heat meter, where the data from the hot and cold water meters are incorrectly collected. The reason for this is that during installation, the serial number of the water meter should be written to the pal channel to which it is connected, along with the pal values, and the device type data should also be processed into the heat meter. Mbus protocol includes definitions for all meters such as heat, gas, hot-cold water, electricity, etc. Efficient use of this protocol prevents confusion. In addition, pal wheel meters may experience pal skipping problems depending on the quality of the sensor. These problems accumulate over time, causing significant deviations between the data obtained from the heat meter and the mechanically read data from the water meter.
