Alarm/state configuration

You can configure alarms to alert you to technical issues with your blue'Log and its connected devices. The alarms can be viewed under Cockpit > Alarms/State (see Alarms/state) and email if you configure the email option.

You can configure the following alarms:

Device communication
Device alarm
Device state
Power control alarm

To configure alarms/state for digital inputs, see Status DI internal and Status DI external.

The following graphic illustrates the functions you can carry out under Plant > Alarm/state configuration:

Alarm_state configuration_part2.png — Alarm/state configuration

Item

Name

Details

1

Device communication

Activate the toggle to receive notifications about communication failures for RS485 or TCP/Ethernet.

Troubleshooting: Check if the device is working, if there is a cable connection, or if the device’s communication interface is configured and activated correctly.

2

Device alarm

Activate the toggle to receive notifications of devices connected to the blue'Log, such as inverters and meters.

Example (Sunspec alliance compatible inverter):

Event code: Inverter-Evt1-1
Notification: DC over-voltage

3

Device state

Activate the toggle to receive notifications of states of devices connected to the blue'Log, e.g. inverters and meters.

Example (Sunspec alliance compatible inverter):

Event code: Inverter-St-3
Notification: The device is starting up

You can view a comprehensive list of error and state alarms triggered by the devices. See (3) Device alarm above.

The comprehensive list of alarms generated by the devices can be viewed in the event list. For this, go to Devices > Inverters (or select another device) > Installed devices > Tick the relevant checkbox(es). To download the list, select Download events.

4

Power control alarm

Activate the toggle to receive notifications of power control issues. Here is a list of power control alarms:

Available alarms (select to expand)

Setpoint value cannot be determined as cable breakage was detected

Actual value for measured value feedback is missing

Automatic grid disconnection tripped

Limited frequency sensitive mode - overfrequency (LFSM-O) activated because the actual system frequency is above the configured frequency threshold

Limited frequency sensitive mode - overfrequency (LFSM-U) activated because the actual system frequency is under the configured frequency threshold

At least one slave has failed to connect to master

At least one slave has lost the connection to master

Power control not supported

Start/Stop not supported

Setpoint value for active power control is missing

Setpoint value for reactive power control is missing

Fail-safe operation was activated, and a system fallback value is used as setpoint until a valid setpoint is received

Setpoint value cannot be determined as transmitter fault (overcurrent) was detected.

5

Alarm filter

You can specify error/event codes to exclude from the notifications. This can be useful when a particular notification does not provide you with useful information. See Activate a filter for undesired notifications.

6

Active time of notification

Choose when alarm notifications are sent: always (default), between specific hours, or between sunrise and sunset.

7

Latitude and longitude

To send alarm notifications between sunrise and sunset, enter the latitude and longitude of the device’s installation site.

8

Offset

To send alarm notifications between sunrise and sunset, apply an offset in minutes.

Example: 6:00 AM - 6:00 PM with an offset of “10“ means that notifications are sent from 6:10 AM - 5:50 PM

9

Currently determined

View current notification period based on sunrise and sunset-

10

Add e-mail recipient

If the device is registered in VCOM, alarms are transmitted and visible in the VCOM alarm portlets.

If you do not use VCOM, you can choose to receive alarms via email and add multiple email addresses simultaneously.

11

Language

If you use VCOM, the language in which alarms are sent depends on your language settings in VCOM. English is the default.

If you do not use VCOM, you can choose the alarm language. English is the default.

If a connected device sends excessive alarms or states, the system will automatically disable alarm and/or state notifications. You will receive one of the following notifications:

ALARM_DB_FULL: alarm database is full / the device alarming was deactivated
STATE_DB_FULL: state database is full / the device alarming was deactivated
POWER_CONTROL_ALARM_DB_FULL: database for power control alarms is full

If you use VCOM, the smart alarms feature is an efficient means of handling unwanted alarms. See Smart alarms.

Activate an alarm and configure notifications

Prerequisites

Device state alarms: from Firmware 22.0.0 on.
Power control alarms: from Firmware 27.07 on. In firmware < 27.0.7, you can find the power control alarms under Device alarm.
All other alarms are available with all firmware versions.

Steps

Go to Plant > Alarms/state configuration.
In Alarm/state configuration, activate the desired alarm using the toggle.
To set the notification period, go to Active time of notification and choose an option. The default is 24h. If you select a period between sunrise and sunset, you must include your latitude and longitude along with the desired offset (e.g. minutes after sunrise and sunset).
For additional email notifications, go to Receive alarms additionally via email.
Enter email recipients, separating multiple recipients with a comma.
Select the language in which you want the alarms to appear.

Activate a filter for undesired notifications

If there are some notifications you do not want to receive, e.g. communication failure, you can filter these out. Example: NOCOMM_TCP.

Prerequisites

Device state alarms: from Firmware 22.0.0 on.
Power control alarms: from Firmware 27.07 on. In firmware < 27.0.7, you can find the power control alarms under Device alarm.
All other alarms are available with all firmware versions.

Steps

Go to Plant > Alarms/state configuration.
Select the filter icon next to the alarm type for which you want to activate the filter.
A window will appear. Enter the error or event code for the undesired alarms. You can find the relevant error or event codes under Cockpit > Alarms/state > Error code.

Alarm_state configuration_activate_filter_undesired_notifications.png — Activate a filter for undesired notifications