Reference Guide

Reference Guide
Revision September 3
rd
2008







ii
COPYRIGHT © 2004-2008 Commtest Instruments Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of Commtest Instruments Ltd.
For information, contact:
Commtest Instruments Ltd
Level 2, 22 Moorhouse Avenue
Christchurch
New Zealand
E-mail help@commtest.com
Printed in New Zealand.
Disclaimer
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Names and data used in examples are fictitious unless otherwise
noted. This document is distributed as is, without warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, respecting the contents of this
document, including but not limited to implied warranties for the
documents quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any
particular purpose. Neither Commtest Instruments Ltd nor its
employees, dealers, agents or distributors shall be liable to the user
of this document or any other person or entity with respect to any
liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by this document.
Trademark Notice
AscentView, AscentWatcher, OnlineManager, AscentOPC,
vb5, vb6, vb7, vb8, vbBalancer, vbBalancer+,
vbXManager and PROFLASH are trademarks of Commtest
Instruments Ltd.
Ascent
®
, Commtest
®
, vbSeries
®
and vbOnline
®
are registered
trademarks of Commtest Instruments Ltd. Other trademarks and
registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.





iii
Contents
Section 1: Before you Begin ........................................1

Overview of the Online System .............................................. 2

vbOnline System Configurations ................................................. 3

System Requirements ................................................................. 6

Standard Kit Items ....................................................................... 7

LED Status Indicators.................................................................. 7

Section 2: Hardware Installation ...............................10

Supported Sensor Types ..................................................... 10

Speed Sensors .......................................................................... 12

Mounting Sensors and Cables ............................................. 13

Permanent Mounting ................................................................. 13

Cable Types, Grounding and Routing ....................................... 14

Long Cable Runs (Accelerometers) .......................................... 15

Long Cable Runs (Speed Sensors)........................................... 16

Installing a vbOnline Device................................................. 17

Choosing a Location.................................................................. 17

Housing Enclosure .................................................................... 18

Mounting .................................................................................... 18

Removing a vbOnline Device from a DIN Rail .......................... 19

Connecting Analog Inputs ......................................................... 19

Sensor Types and Connections .......................................... 21

Dual Channel Recordings ................................................... 23

Connecting Tachometer Inputs ................................................. 23

Single Tachometer - Multiple vbOnline Devices ................. 24

Keyphasor® Sensors .......................................................... 25

Connecting Relay Outputs......................................................... 26

Network Connection .................................................................. 26

Earthing/Grounding ................................................................... 26

DC Power Supply ...................................................................... 27

Hazardous Locations ........................................................... 27





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Section 3: Software Installation and Setup ..............32

Installing the Software.......................................................... 32

Uninstalling the Software........................................................... 33

Creating Machines and Measurement Setups...................... 34

Using the vbOnline Setup Wizard ........................................ 34

Step 1: Set up Communications........................................... 35

Making a Direct Connection via Serial Comms ......................... 37

Connecting via a Network.......................................................... 37

Connecting via a Cross-over Cable........................................... 40

Connecting via WiFi................................................................... 40

Troubleshooting Wireless Connections..................................... 44

Step 2: Configure Sensors ................................................... 45

4-20 mA Sensor Sensitivity and Offset...................................... 49

Detecting a Faulty Sensor ......................................................... 49

Step 3: Assign Channels to Measurement Locations ............... 51

Copying Items to Multiple Locations.................................... 53

What Happens when a Faulty Sensor is Detected.................... 55

Step 4: Configure Recording Intervals.................................. 56

Taking Dual Channel Recordings.............................................. 64

Step 5: Configure Online Relays .......................................... 65

Measuring Motor Current, Temperature and Other Signals.. 67

Creating Numeric Data Schedule Entries............................. 68

Creating/Editing Alarms for Numeric Data ................................ 70

QuickScan Schedule Entries................................................ 71

Creating Alarms for QuickScan Schedule Entries..................... 75

Speeding up QuickScan ............................................................ 75

Criteria and Conditional Monitoring ...................................... 76

Validity Period and Retry Interval .............................................. 77

Creating Criteria ........................................................................ 78

Assigning Criteria ...................................................................... 80

Variable Speed Machines.......................................................... 81

Editing Recording Intervals and Criteria ............................... 82

Dynamic Criteria .................................................................. 84

When Should I use Dynamic Criteria over Initial Criteria? ........ 88

Editing Dynamic Criteria ............................................................ 88

Configuring Tachometers/Speed Sensors............................ 89

Linear Speed Machines............................................................. 91

Creating a Structure Report ................................................. 92





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Section 4: Testing your System ................................94

Testing LEDs and Relays..................................................... 94

Taking Recordings Manually ................................................ 96

Testing Sensor Connections ................................................ 97

Aborting a Recording ........................................................... 99

Adjusting the Connection Speed Settings .......................... 100

Section 5: Taking Recordings - OnlineManager ....102

Managing many vbOnline Devices ..................................... 102

Using Auto Save ................................................................ 103

Using the OnlineManager .................................................. 104

Starting Recording Automatically ............................................ 105

Stopping the OnlineManager................................................... 106

Selecting a Different Database................................................ 107

Resetting Relays Following a Machine Shutdown .............. 107

Lo