Spec Sheets:

BASIC METERS:

 

EKM-15E: 120 volt 18mm External CT

EKM-15IDS: 120 volt Pass Through Basic Meter

EKM-25IDS: 120/240 volt Pass Through Basic Meter

SMART METERS:

 

EKM-Omnimeter: Universal Meter Single Phase or 3-phase 120-480 volts 50 or 60Hz

EKM-15IDS-N: 120 volt Pass Through Smart Meter

EKM-25IDS-N: 120/240 volt Pass Through Smart Meter

EKM-25EDSP-N: 3 x Pulse Input Smart Meter - 120/240 volt External CT

Installation:

HIGH VOLTAGE WIRING:

Always turn the power off before installation -installation should only be performed by a qualified electrician

These meters should be installed in a protected location. Such as a sub panel or electrical enclosure. If you are planning on using your own enclosure, we supply 3” pieces of DIN rail ($2) that make for an easy install. Once your meter is properly wired, you can clip the meter to this DIN rail. We also provide indoor and outdoor enclosures: Available Here

Each meter draws less than 1 watt of power

Our EKM-Omnimeter is just one meter model that can be used to meter a range of metering system types and amperages. Use the videos below to demonstrate proper wiring for each electrical system.

 

WIRING VARIATIONS:

120 volts 1 hot and 1 neutral - the CT goes around the hot wire (usually the black wire, check this to make sure) Requires 1 CT

120/240 volts -- 2 hots and 1 neutral - the CT goes around the hot wires (usually the black and red wires, check this to make sure) Requires 2 CTs

3-phase 3-wire -- 3 hots - the CT goes around any 2 of the hots Requires 2 CTs

3-phase 4-wire -- 3 hots and 1 neutral -- the CT goes around all 3 hots. Requires 3 CTs

 

VIDEO DIAGRAMS:

120 volt 2-wire or 230 volt (foreign) 2-wire: Video showing the proper EKM-Omnimeter wiring of a 120 volt 2-wire system

120/240 volt 3-wire: Video showing the proper EKM-Omnimeter wiring of a 120/240 volt 3-wire system

3-phase 3-wire: Video showing the proper EKM-Omnimeter wiring of a 3-phase 3-wire system

3-phase 4-wire: Video showing the proper EKM-Omnimeter wiring of a 3-phase 4-wire system

 

OTHER SMART METERS:

EKM-25ESDSP-N Pulse Input Meter for Remote Metering of Water and Gas install as a 120/240 volt meter

The pulse output wires go to ports 14, 15 and 16 on the meter for the 3 separate pulse inputs, all of the ground wires go to port 13. These wires can be up to 200 feet long.

Water and Gas Meter plumbing installation is a simple matter of inline plumbing for a qualified plumber.

See it on our website: Available Here

 

VOLTAGE REFERENCE:

The electrical meter needs a power connection coming from the main lines you are metering. This can be 16 AWG stranded copper wire. The meter itself draws less than a watt of power. A 1amp inline fuse is recommended in the hot lines that power the meter. This would be a precaution to protect your meter from spikes that might cause damage.

For the voltage reference, CT wires and communication wires: Make sure when you are connecting this wire to the meter, to first back off the screw all the way then insert the wire then tighten down the screw, sometimes it is hard to notice you have the wire on the wrong side of the terminal clamp.

CT 1 Should be on Line 1 and the meter should also get its LIne 1 voltage reference from Line 1, Same for Line 2, etc.

Wiring diagrams are laser printed on the body of the meter and are supplied with the spec sheet for each meter.

CT Wires and Electrical wires should be protected from the elements and the sun by using electrical conduit. A meter enclosure is also recommended.

 

Communications:

RS-485 INSTALL:

RS-485 Wire -- We use twisted pair wire, you can find 4 pairs of 24 AWG twisted wire inside of a CAT5 cable. CAT5 is perfect because it is easy to find, comes in 1000 foot rolls, its cheap, and easy to pull the wire for installations. Stranded CAT5 is the best, but solid copper can also be used. Use one of the twisted pairs, then you will have some extra wires to use in the future. RS-485 allows you to daisy chain up to 256 meters together on up to 4000 feet of wire. Use one twisted pair of wire for your RS-485 system. One wire is RS-485 A+ (solid orange) and the other is RS-485 B- (white with orange). Make sure when you are connecting this wire to the meter, to first back off the screw all the way then insert the wire then tighten down the screw, sometimes it is hard to notice you have the wire on the wrong side of the terminal clamp. For very long runs in electrically noisy environments, it will be better to use shielded twisted pair wires. Some installations require a 120 ohm terminating resistor, we have not found this to be important for most installations.

 

TWISTED PAIR WIRE CONNECTIONS:

iSerial: Connect RS-485 A+ on all meters to T+ on iSerial, Connect RS-485 B- on all meters to T- on iSerial, GND is not necessary.

RS-232 Converter: Connect RS-485 A+ on all meters to A on RS-232 Converter, Connect RS-485 B- on all meters to B on RS-232 Converter

USB Converter: Our new tiny USB Converter works well with all meters, A+ connects to A+ on the meters. B- on the USB converter connects to B- on the meter.

See our RS-485 Converters: Available Here

 

Reading the Meters:

Reading on the face

More information on the meter values that are displayed on the faces of our meters: Available Here

 

EKM Reader Software

We have free EKM Reader software (PC, Mac, Linux) on our website for you to try. If you download it on our website you can see that it is possible to read our meters over the internet here at EKM Metering. Once the EKM Reader software is installed, do not change anything, click "Read all Meters", you will read our meters here at EKM. The free version will also let you read your own meters locally or over the internet, with the proper converter.

Download the free version of the v.3 EKM Reader: Available Here

You can also try the older free version v.2 EKM Reader: Available Here

We also have a $30 version of our software (PC, Mac, Linux) that will let you log the meter use. You can also set it up to make a monthly bill or report on any day of the month. The software can automatically generate a bill and email it to your tenant / user.

Download the Paid Version of the EKM Reader: Available Here

 

SETUP TO BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE:

PC/WINDOWS USERS:

1. Download the EKM Reader software

The icon for the EKM Reader software is a Red round circle

2. Open the EKM Reader

Open the EKM Reader Software - don't change anything at first, click "read all meters" If you have an internet connection, you will read the preconfigured meters here at EKM. If you see an "OK" at the lower right hand side of the screen, this indicates a successful read. An "X" indicates a bad read. You can use these preconfigured meters to help set up your own meters.

3. Set up your communication devices - go to File>Preferences> COM Port Setup

You will see the two top lines are preconfigured for the 2 meters here at EKM. Each line represents a communication device. Each device can support up to 256 meters.

The line number is the number you will use later in the main window for the TCP# or the COM#

Select your meter model from the drop down menu. The EKM-Omnimeter is v.3 all other EKM Smart Meters are v.2

Select your communication device. If you select iSerial (or TCP/IP, they are the same) then you will enter the IP address and port number.

Your IP address of the iSerial is preconfigured to 192.168.1.125. You can go to this address in you web browser to make changes to the IP address or the Port.

When you are in your iSerial- under UART make sure the settings are 1200 baud for v.2 meters and 9600 baud for v.3 meters. Also the settings for these meters should be: RS-485, 7 data bits, Even Parity, 1 Stop Bit, No Flow Control

The COM Port Setup window settings should be complete, click "Save". Note which COM device (string of meters) is on which line #. You will use this number later.

4. Main Window Setup - Under the "Read One Meter" Button enter the meter number of the first meter. This is the number that is printed on the face of the meter, right under the LCD screen.

Add the TCP#: this is the number you had noted from before, associated with the line # in the COM Port Setup Window.

Click "Read One Meter"

The meter data should successfully enter into the fields

5. Setting Multiple Meters - Go to the Edit Menu Click "Add Row Below" - This will give you a new line in the lower list box. You can then enter your COM Device #, Meter Location or Name, and Meter Number.

Do this for all of your meters.

Click "Read All Meters" - If everything is setup correctly, an OK will appear to the right of each meter. This indicates a successful read for each meter.

6. Troubleshooting Error Messages:

“TCP/IP Unable to connect” -- This means your computer is not accessing the iSerial properly, IP settings in the iSerial or IP settings in the EKM Reader may be the cause of this error. Or there is an issue with your internet connection or LAN connection.

“Unable to get a reading from this meter number” -- This means you are communicating through the iSerial or Other Converter, but there is a setting that is wrong inside the iSerial, or the meter number you gave is wrong, or the RS-485 twisted pair wire is connected wrong.

 

MAC OSX USERS:

1. Download the software

The icon for the EKM Reader software is a Red round circle

2. Open the EKM Reader

Open the EKM Reader Software - don't change anything at first, click "read all meters" If you have an internet connection, you will read the preconfigured meters here at EKM. If you see an "OK" at the lower right hand side of the screen, this indicates a successful read. An "X" indicates a bad read. You can use these preconfigured meters to help set up your own meters.

3. Set up your communication devices - go to EKM Reader>Preferences> COM Port Setup

You will see the two top lines are preconfigured for the 2 meters here at EKM. Each line represents a communication device. Each device can support up to 256 meters.

The line number is the number you will use later in the main window for the TCP# or the COM#

Select your meter model from the drop down menu. The EKM-Omnimeter is v.3 all other EKM Smart Meters are v.2

Select your communication device. If you select iSerial (or TCP/IP, they are the same) then you will enter the IP address and port number.

Your IP address of the iSerial is preconfigured to 192.168.1.125. You can go to this address in you web browser to make changes to the IP address or the Port.

When you are in your iSerial- under UART make sure the settings are 1200 baud for v.2 meters and 9600 baud for v.3 meters. Also the settings for these meters should be: RS-485, 7 data bits, Even Parity, 1 Stop Bit, No Flow Control

The COM Port Setup window settings should be complete, click "Save". Note which COM device (string of meters) is on which line #. You will use this number later.

4. Main Window Setup - Under the "Read One Meter" Button enter the meter number of the first meter. This is the number that is printed on the face of the meter, right under the LCD screen.

Add the TCP#: this is the number you had noted from before, associated with the line # in the COM Port Setup Window.

Click "Read One Meter"

The meter data should successfully enter into the fields

5. Setting Multiple Meters - Go to the Edit Menu Click "Add Row Below" - This will give you a new line in the lower list box. You can then enter your COM Device #, Meter Location or Name, and Meter Number.

Do this for all of your meters.

Click "Read All Meters" - If everything is setup correctly, an OK will appear to the right of each meter. This indicates a successful read for each meter.

6. Troubleshooting Error Messages:

“TCP/IP Unable to connect” -- This means your computer is not accessing the iSerial properly, IP settings in the iSerial or IP settings in the EKM Reader may be the cause of this error. Or there is an issue with your internet connection or LAN connection.

“Unable to get a reading from this meter number” -- This means you are communicating through the iSerial or Other Converter, but there is a setting that is wrong inside the iSerial, or the meter number you gave is wrong, or the RS-485 twisted pair wire is connected wrong.

 

Changing CT Ratios:

1. The EKM Omnimeter can have its CT ratio be changed to work with the variety of CTs that EKM Metering supplies. The CT ratio can be set from 100 amps to 5000 amps in software. The EKM-Omnimeter come preset to 200 amps.

2. Establish connection to your meters using the steps above.

3. Go to Configure Meters> Set Meter Number and Password

Enter password (default is “0”)

Enter Meter Number and TCP#

Change CT ratio to the CTs you are using (example: for 400 amp CTs like BCT-025-400 set the CT ratio to 400)

 

Six Months of Monthly Reads:

1. Our communicating smart meters store 6 months of monthly kWh reads inside the meter. These are taken on the last day of the month at midnight (this day and time is onboard the meter which can be changed if you want this value to come on a different day of the month), these values are stored inside the meter.

2. Establish connection to your meters using the steps above.

3. Go to Reports> Read 6 Months’ Records

Enter Meter Number and TCP#

 

Firewalls and DynDNS:

Configuring your firewall and DNS for reading over the internet:

To be able to read your meter(s) over the internet, you will need to make settings in your firewall (usually this is your router) at the site where the meters and iSerial are installed. To make it possible for requests coming from a remote computer to reach the iSerial, your router needs to be set to allow the incoming requests to pass. This is called opening ports in the firewall, and is sometimes referred to as port forwarding of Most routers

485BEE:

Our 485Bee will create a wireless link and replace the wired RS-485 twisted pair link that is normally used. The 485Bee can be located anywhere along the wire. You will need at least 2 of the 485Bees in any system to create the radio link. You can have clusters of meters connected to each 485Bee.

See the 485Bee page: Available Here

 

EKM-iSERIAL SETUP:

Plug an ethernet cable into the iSerial and into your router or LAN. Connect power to your iSerial. Type: 192.168.1.125 into the URL or your web browser (this is the default IP address). This will take you to a page that asks for your User ID and Password. Default User ID: admin Default Password: admin

For EKM-Omnimeter v.3 meters make sure the settings are: RS-485, 9600 baud, 7 data bit, even parity, 1 stop bit

For all other meters (v.2) make sure the settings are: RS-485, 1200 baud, 7 data bit, even parity, 1 stop bit

You can choose to change the default IP address if you choose, be sure to keep track of the new IP address as you will need it to read your meters with the EKM Reader and may need it in the future to access your EKM-iSerial.

More information is in the user manual for the EKM-iSerial: Available Here

Change the serial settings under the UART menu.

Do not click on “Firmware Update” or “Bootloader Update”! This will make your iSerial unusable and we have no way to restore the iSerial for you. Only do this is you are sure you know what you are doing.

 

Forum:

We have created a forum where people can ask and answer questions, share experiences, and discuss related topics. We hope that this we be an informative tool that will help you learn more about metering, about installing metering systems, and about reading your meters. Click Here to go to the Forum