Newsletter April 2009

Lester & Barry’s Excellent Adventure

Outings in Oregon

In early March Abbey Systems attended the Oregon Association of Water Utilities conference in Sunriver, Oregon. Lester and Barry had a trade stand there along with 30 other manufacturers and a couple of consultant engineering firms. There were 400+ attendees from the 893 communities and 2,700 other smaller water utilities in the state of Oregon.

It was a small and friendly conference in the resort of Sunriver, which is on the eastern slopes of the Cascades - an 11,000 ft mountain range which runs down

Lester at Diamond Lake Pass, Oregon, USA

the middle of Oregon. Sunriver itself is about 4,500 ft in elevation and at that time of year there is still snow on the ground. To get there from California we had to go over Diamond Lake pass, which was deep in snow, and we had to buy chains just to be allowed to follow the snowplow.

We made a number of contacts at the conference and made arrangements to visit them over the following 10 days. The plan was to visit those contacts on the eastern side of the Cascades, cross the mountains and then visit those on the western side.

That was the plan. The reality was that people’s availability was such that we had to cross the Cascades every other day, crawling behind snowplows, putting on chains with freezing fingers, driving through 4 ft snowdrifts and then arriving at our destinations looking like abominable snowmen.

We made a good number of visits though, including seeing our existing clients in the state. We spent a day on the Warm Springs Reservation. They were looking for a telemetry system that would give coverage to all of their small water schemes spread over a huge and mountainous area that was largely wilderness. A high powered VHF system was the way to get the coverage that they needed. While checking out repeater sites we had to drive through herds of wild horses on land that overlooked the traditional hunting grounds which still had plentiful elk and antelope stocks, not to mention bear and mountain lion.

Snow and bears notwithstanding we had a very successful trip around the Pacific Northwest and have made moves to establish an office there because of the burgeoning sales and interest we are experiencing there. This high level in interest is largely due to our equipment’s ability to function in the wet and rugged terrain and long distances found in that region.

Lester Abbey

New Catalogue & Price List

A new 2009 Catalogue & Price List is released for our latest SCADA products and the legacy products that are still available. The catalogue includes FAQs, Terms, wiring diagrams for commonly used cables and a list of the current firmware versions available.

The last catalogue released was dated 2004 and last price list was dated 2006. The new Catalogue is timely as it lists all of our new products including the Topcat2. Updated prices will apply for all future orders received. Price changes vary across the product ranges; some remain unchanged, some have increased.

Outstanding Abbey Systems quotes will be honoured where orders are received within their 30 day validity period.

Recent Projects

RNZN Philomel 60Hz upgrade

NZN has recently purchased several new Navy ships. To accommodate them in port an upgrade of the 60Hz system at the Devonport Naval base was required. As part of this upgrade the SCADA Master has also received attention. The PC has been replaced and the SCADA software updated to Aspex from TM. Leonie Loewensteijn, Abbey Systems Applications Engineer, imported original TM screens and updated them to reflect the new plant and incorporate the new capabilities Aspex provides. Eric Williams of Control Systems installed the SCADA hardware on base for United Group, who were the prime contractor.

Chatham Islands Electricity SCADA system

We are pleased to report the recent commissioning of the Chatham Islands Electricity SCADA system by Eric Williams of Control Systems Ltd. The Chatham Islands have a number of Diesel Generators feeding an 11kV reticulation network. The SCADA project was part of an upgrade installing Reclosers into the network to minimise island-wide power outages and improve distribution. The SCADA architecture has also been set up for future expansion to include planned Wind and Hydro power generation plants.

Powerco Gas SCADA system

Our factory has recently been busy building up RTU enclosures for Powerco Gas's new cellular based SCADA system. The system, which uses an Aspex /Powerlink Telemetry Server, connects with Gas Distribution Regulator Switches (DRS) in Powerco Gas’s reticulation network, monitoring and reporting on flows and pressures.

The Gas SCADA HMI screens are interesting, as a number of the images used were generated by Powerco’s GIS data. This is imported directly into Aspex then edited to display site details or other features.

We're fortunate to have working on staff Graeme Clover, who installed part of Powerco’s original Gas SCADA system in a previous life and for a previous owner, before joining Abbey Systems.

There are a variety of Solar and Mains powered site enclosures involved depending on the location.

The Powerco Gas SCADA HMI screens were largely created from a GIS data export, so they are significantly different from the screens that many of you will have as a result of importing legacy TM graphics screens.

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Recent Orders

Carterton District Council

Abbey Systems is pleased to announce a recent order from Carterton District Council for a complete SCADA system to replace their aging iQuest DO System. Garry Baker, Carterton DC’s Asset Manager, confirmed the contract four weeks ago and work is already underway.

The replacement will use Abbey Systems designed and developed Aspex software and Swampfox RTU hardware at Carterton’s water and wastewater treatment plants.

A new radio repeater will provide telemetry coverage of the treatment plants as well as the township’s 12 sewage pump stations. These will be fitted with Swampfox RTUs which will run as Pump Station Controllers monitoring the site for alarms but also recording the site performance stats, inflow, run hours, number of starts, etc for management reporting.

Abbey Systems was delighted to receive the order and would like to thank Garry for Council’s support in choosing New Zealand designed and manufactured products for the job.

Aspex Updates

Since its release in March 2008 a large number of our customers have updated their SCADA systems graphics from Telemetry Mimic to Aspex.

Recent upgrades include: RNZ Navy Devonport, The Lines Company - Te Kuiti, Porirua City Council, Masterton District Council & Palmerston North City Council. US site updates include Holladay, Fillmore City, Panaca, Moapa, Lehi, Lindon and American Fork.

Overwhelmingly customers report that they like the vastly improved trending and also the ability to import images from GIS, drawing packages and photos to embellish their HMI screens.

Hardware Loans

Abbey System is often asked to provide loan hardware to customers. Often this is because spares are unavailable for a variety of reasons. Until now this hardware has been provided on a casual basis with no order in place covering the return time expectations of the loaned product or costs of providing the loan. As we seek to improve our service to our customers I'm pleased to report we now have a policy that will apply for all such future requests. This streamlines the process and prevents any future misunderstanding occurring.

In summary, in agreeing to the loan of equipment customers agree to the following terms:

The loan equipment supplied to the customer may be new or used but will be provided with the latest firmware, charged batteries and, to the best of our knowledge, a hardware build to suit the customer’s system.

An invoice for the goods will be sent with the goods at the time of despatch.

Customers may choose to purchase the goods outright at the invoiced price for use as spares or return them within the agreed time frame.

On their return a Credit Note for the goods will be raised, less any time and disbursement costs associated with the supply or restocking of the goods.

Goods supplied for emergencies or where our Applications Engineers wish to rule out a warranty issue, must be returned within 2 weeks. Late returned goods will incur a 15% restocking fee, in addition to any labour and disbursements charged.

A copy of the full policy document is available from Abbey Systems on request.

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Spares

We recommend customers periodically check their spares and update them where there is a shortage. Spares invariably find their way into permanent roles in a SCADA network and are often not replaced. We recommend all customers hold spares for each of the Master Central Site module types and RTU variants that they’re currently using in their system.

These should have the latest firmware loaded and in the case of Master Communicators also AGC upgrades fitted for improved performance. We also recommend checking and replacing batteries regularly.

It’s also worth considering the location of the spares. They need to be available for use in short order by Technicians and Engineers. On sites spread across the country it may be prudent to hold the same spares in several different locations.

When you send us your PC...

When customers send us their PCs or laptop PCs to have software loaded or hardware changes made, it helps us to turn the PC around promptly if the following parts are supplied at the same time. In order of importance these are:

1   Passwords for O/S, PL, TM if they have been enabled or changed

2   Manuals and CDs for extra devices like cell phones you want configured

3   Mouse

4   Manuals and CDs for the PC

5   Keyboard

Please contact Steve Dorrington with any questions arising from this issue
04 385 6611 or steve@abbey.co.nz

If you would like someone added to or removed from the mailing list, please contact cathy@abbey.co.nz

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