MI CROSTAR

Meter Reading & Programming Software

Meterview

User Manual






Nanjing Bluestar Electrical Meter Research Institute
Microstar Electric Company Limited

10 Dajiang Road Nanjing 210039, China
Tel: 86-25-86504148 Fax: 86-25-86601945

www.bluestarmeters.com
sales@bluestarmeters.com
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 2/24
Table of contents
1 Overview....................................................................................................................................3
2 Meterview Startup and main user interface.................................................................4
2.1 Meterview start up.....................................................................................................4
2.1 Meterview Main user interface..............................................................................4
3 Read data from energy meter............................................................................................6
3.1 Steps of reading data from energy meter..........................................................6
3.1.1 Step 1 Select meter type..............................................................................6
NB on meter types:....................................................................................................6
3.1.1.1 MODBUS Meter..................................................................................................6
3.1.1.2 DLMS Meter........................................................................................................6
3.1.2 Step 2 Select communication mode.........................................................7
3.1.3 Step 3 Select Meter reading node..........................................................8
3.1.4 Step 4 Start to read meter parameters and data................................8
3.2 Meter reading result..................................................................................................9
3.2.1 Correct result.................................................................................................9
3.2.2 Meter reading error message.................................................................10
3.2.2.1 No meter reading node selected.......................................................10
3.2.2.1 Communication error............................................................................10
4 Program energy meter parameters...............................................................................11
4.1 Steps of meter programming...............................................................................11
4.1.1 Step 1 Select meter type.........................................................................11
4.1.2 Step 2 Select communication mode.......................................................11
4.1.3 Step 3 Select Meter programming node...............................................12
4.1.4 Step 4 Modify and select programming data items.......................13
4.1.5 Step 5 Set meter into programming status.........................................13
4.1.6 Step 6 Start Programming......................................................................14
4.2 Programming result.................................................................................................14
4.2.1 Correct Programming...............................................................................14
4.2.2 Programming error messages...............................................................15
5 Export energy meter data.................................................................................................17
5.1 Steps to export data to Excel ...............................................................................17
5.1.1 Step 1 Select meter reading node or meter programming node.17
5.1.2 Step 2 Start export.......................................................................................18
5.2 Copy data to clipboard............................................................................................20
6. Meterview User Management.........................................................................................21
6.1 User Group Management .......................................................................................21
6.1.1 Add new user group.....................................................................................21
6.1.2 Delete user group..........................................................................................21
6.1.3 View password............................................................................................21
6.1.4 Save....................................................................................................................21
6.2 User management ....................................................................................................23
7. Technical support and bug report.................................................................................24
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 3/24

1 Overview

Meterview is software tool to read data from multifunction energy meters and
to program parameters of energy meters.

Meterview features the following functions:

Read data from meters

Configure energy meters parameters

Export data to Excel sheets

Meterview user and group management

Meterview I nstallation Requirement
Hardware
CPU: 1.8G or above
Ram: 256M lowest, 1G or above is highly recommended.
Hard disk: 50M above free space
Display: 1024x768 or above recommended
Software
Operating System: Windows 2000/XP, Win7
.Net Frameworks: Meterview is developed by Microsoft latest Visual
Studio 2005 .Net C# it runs on top of .Net
Frameworks 2.0, which can be found on installation
CD or can be downloaded from Microsoft
website. Please install Meterview after .Net
Frameworks has been installed on your computer.




MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 4/24
2 Meterview Startup and main user interface

2.1 Meterview start up
When Meterview starts, it will show the following log in dialog, only after
correct user name and password input can user log in and use Meterview.

When Meterview starts, in the login dialog it will list all existing users.
NOTE: Meterview supports empty password, i.e. to set no password, so just
click OK or push enter key will login;



2.1 Meterview Main user interface

1. Application name
2. Main menu
3. Toolbar buttons
4. Root node of Meter Reading
5. Meter reading nodes
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 5/24
6. Root node of Meter Programming
7. Meter programming nodes
8. Status bar including the log in user name
9. Meter reading or programming data area


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 6/24

3 Read data from energy meter
3.1 Steps of reading data from energy meter
3.1.1 Step 1 Select meter type




Select the meter connected to your computer from the Select Meter Type
combo box.
Meterview will record the selected meter type, and use the same meter type for
next time

NB on meter types:
3.1.1.1 MODBUS Meter
If MODBUS type meter is selected, then Meterview will force to open a
MODBUS registers definition file *.cfg, which lists all the registers information,
including data type, name, and ID etc. After open, user can choose MODBUS
slave (can be more than 1 slave) and data IDs to read from MODBUS meters.
3.1.1.2 DLMS Meter
If DLMS meter type is selected, then Meterview will try to open the DLMS tree
file, by default is LN.LN, in the same folder of Meterview installation folder, or
the one has been opened last time; for the first time running of Meterview
(there was no DLMS/COSEM tree file opened before), it is recommended to
open DLMS tree file installed with the software. To do this, go to menu: File \
Open COSEM tree file, then a open file dialog will pop up for user to select the
tree file *.LN. Then go to Meterview installation folder to open this file.
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 7/24
If there was no tree file opened before reading DLSM meter, then Meterview
will read this tree from meter, or user can click button Read COSEM to do this
too, and this will take a lot of time. If one tree file is opened before reading it
can save time by reading data directly.
If there was no tree file opened, Meterview display empty interface; if there is
COSEM tree file opened, it will display the tree data as following picture:

3.1.2 Step 2 Select communication mode
Select the meter communication port, serial port number or
Ethernet (TCP/IP).


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 8/24
3.1.3 Step 3 Select Meter reading node
Check any nodes of meter reading that you want to read data
If root node of meter reading is checked, then all meter reading nodes will be
checked.


3.1.4 Step 4 Start to read meter parameters and data
Click Read button on tool bar, or select menu Read\Start meter reading,
Meterview will start to read data from energy meter and display on the
interface.



MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 9/24

3.2 Meter reading result
3.2.1 Correct result
If all settings are correct and meter is properly connected with computer
communication port, Meterview will start to read meter data, and display on
screen; the node being read will be shown by bold font, and the data grid will
display data in blue font.




MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 10/24
3.2.2 Meter reading error message

3.2.2.1 No meter reading node selected
If there is no meter reading node is selected, then Meterview will display the
following message box to prompt user to select meter reading nodes.


3.2.2.1 Communication error
If communication can not be established with meter, Meterview will show the
following message box:


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 11/24
4 Program energy meter parameters
This function is to configure energy meter parameters and download into
meters.
4.1 Steps of meter programming
4.1.1 Step 1 Select meter type






Select the meter connected to your computer from the Select Meter Type
combo box.
Meterview will record the selected meter type, and use the same meter type for
next time


4.1.2 Step 2 Select communication mode
Select the meter communication serial port number;
Note: Ethernet port can not be used to program meter.

MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 12/24

4.1.3 Step 3 Select Meter programming node
Select the programming category node by checking the box in front
of it. If root node is checked, then all programming nodes are
selected.


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 13/24
4.1.4 Step 4 Modify and select programming data
items
As shown in above picture, each programmable data item has a check box, so
each data item can be selected independently to program or not.
If you want to modify one data item in meter, then you must check the box of
this parameter.

Click the root node of meter programming to view all the data items selected to
be programmed and its values, as shows in following:

4.1.5 Step 5 Set meter into programming status
Push meter reset key (red one) and hold for about 8 seconds until LCD displays
Prg, now meter it ready to be programmed by computer.
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 14/24
4.1.6 Step 6 Start Programming
You can click tool bar button Program, or you can click menu Program\Start
Program to start downloading parameters into meter.




4.2 Programming result
4.2.1 Correct Programming
If all settings are correct and meter is correctly connected to computer, then
Meterview will start to set parameters into meter and display the progress on
screen. The node being programmed will shown highlighted in blue font.


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 15/24



4.2.2 Programming error messages

4.2.2.1 No Programming node selected
If there is no meter programming node selected, Meterview will show the
following message box to ask user to select at least one meter programming
node.
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 16/24


4.2.2.1 Communication error
If communication can not be established with meter, Meterview will show the
following message box:



MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 17/24

5 Export energy meter data
Meterview export meter reading or programming data to Excel file for graphing
or printing; or it can copy data to clipboard.
5.1 Steps to export data to Excel
5.1.1 Step 1 Select meter reading node or meter
programming node
Check the box in front of meter reading nodes or programming ROOT node,
Meterview will export the data of selected meter reading data or all
programming data.

If meter reading root node is checked, it will select all meter reading nodes.
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 18/24


5.1.2 Step 2 Start export
Click Export button on tool bar



or right click mouse and choose menu Export.
MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 19/24


Meterview will start to export to designated Excel file and display the following
dialog after finish:


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 20/24
5.2 Copy data to clipboard
For fast data copy, Meterview also supports to copy data to clipboard. In any
meter reading data, select any number of cells, and right click mouse, select
menu Copy to Clipboard


This will copy all data to clipboard.
Or select any cells of data as following picture, and push key Ctrl+C to copy the
selected data to clipboard.


MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 21/24
6. Meterview User Management

To ensure system security, only super user is allowed to do user management
work.

Meterview user management includes the following 2 parts:

6.1 User Group Management
User group defines the properties of user groups to which the users belong,
including group name, group password level, and the password levels required
for all operations. Only after user group has been created then can a new user
be added to this group. User management function includes the following
(buttons on the toolbar):
6.1.1 Add new user group
After a user group has been added, all the properties can be modified and
saved again.
6.1.2 Delete user group
Only after all the users in this group have been deleted then the group can be
deleted. Because super user can not be deleted, therefore the group to which
super user belong can not be deleted.
6.1.3 View password
Meterview displays password in plain text shortly (about 10 seconds)
6.1.4 Save
To save user group information on computer.

Meterview user management interface is as follows:

MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 22/24




MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 23/24
6.2 User management
Meterview user management interface is as follows:




NOTE: The first user (No. 1) is super user, its user role and access rights can not be edited,
and it can not be deleted. By default super user can execute all operations; its other
properties like full name can be edited like other users.



MI CORSTAR Meterview User Manual Rev 1.6.18 2011.11.28
Page 24/24
7. Technical support and bug report

Please direct any of your technical questions regarding Meterview or bug report to the
following email address:
support@bluestarmeters.com