PM8000 Power Meter From Schneider Electric

The PM8000 Power Meter has been enhanced to ensure reliability and efficiency of power-critical facilities.

Schneider Electric has announced enhancements to the PowerLogic PM8000 series meter. New features include low voltage control power capabilities as well as enhanced cyber security and web pages. The PowerLogic PM8000 series delivers superior revenue accuracy, and power quality compliance and analysis ideal for industrial and critical power facilities.

The PowerLogic PM8000 series meters simplify power quality compliance monitoring and analysis to rapidly pinpoint and address critical power issues. The meters’ extensive power quality analysis capabilities include EN 50160 compliance, sag/swell detection, waveform capture, disturbance direction detection, automated alarm configuration and trending, and forecasting, which help facility managers detect, mitigate and correct adverse conditions.

New models provide compatibility with 20V to 60V low voltage DC control power systems. DC control power schemes are becoming increasingly popular because they are safer for personnel and can be more reliable than an AC source because DC power can be provided by backup batteries during an outage. This allows the meter to continue monitoring when power fluctuates or shuts down.

Several enhanced features are now available as standard on new PM8000 meters or as a free upgrade to existing meters through a firmware download, including:

Improved cybersecurity: New features include strong password implementation and the ability to enable/disable any communication port. The PM8000 will log cybersecurity related events such as successful and unsuccessful log-in attempts, configuration changes, and resets along with date/time stamps in its event log. Data is then pushed to a network server from the meter using Syslog protocol, which enables IT managers to consolidate event information from across their entire network to better manage network availability and identify potential threats. This capability is essential for enabling NERC/CIP monitoring compliance.

Web page waveform data: Fully customizable web pages that show meter data will now display waveforms. All three phases for voltage and current can be viewed in any combination, with the ability to zoom in or out on the entire waveform. Access power quality data, including captured waveforms, in the meter's web interface without the need for additional software.

Expanded logging capability: With ~350MB of memory, each individual log is capable of logging up to 10MB allowing more data to be captured over a longer period of time or more frequently.

DHCP for IPv6: As facilities and campuses implement more Ethernet connected devices, the limited number of available IPv4 addresses are being quickly consumed. IPv6 provides a much larger address space and is now being utilized by governments, telecommunications, data centers and other criitcal power facilities. It also provides better end-to-end connectivity, faster routing, automatic device discovery and improved security.

"Power quality monitoring is crucial in enabling power-critical facilities like hospitals and data centers to avoid costly shutdowns," said Drew Reid, offer manager, Schneider Electric. "Recent enhancements to the PM8000 series provide improved cybersecurity, maximum power reliability and web access to additional power quality data. With highly accurate data collection and features like disturbance direction detection that helps identify the location of an event, power issues can be corrected much faster. Facilities can protect their infrastructure by addressing power quality issues before they cause problems that may damage expensive equipment or cause facility shutdowns."

Engineered on a compact, modular and flexible platform, the PowerLogic PM8000 series meters have the versatility to perform nearly any metering job at key points throughout a facility. Available in panel-mount and DIN rail-mount form factors with high-visibility color displays, the meters are additionally compliant with ANSI C12.20 Class 0.2, IEC 62053-22 Class 0.2S (real energy), and IEC 61557-12. This accuracy combined with the meter's extensive I/O options makes the PM8000 series meters ideal for unified metering of all WAGES (water, air, gas, electricity, and steam) utilities.