VB Online Communication Troubleshooting

Our company had to commission a project for an underground mine including mounting a VB Online unit (from GE_Commtest) and setting up a wireless link to connect VB online unit to the mine wide monitoring system.  Hence, we used a wireless access point (a router in our case). Reason that VB online unit had to be wireless is that it was installed on a tripper car: part of a belt system that is mobile (moves on rails) and include two pulleys and VB online unit provide temperature and vibration readings with an update interval each 10 minutes.  With some recent difficulties experienced on Wi-Fi start-ups, I put together a brief write-up to help with steps required to solve a specific problem we faced:

After getting the wireless link up and running between access point and the VB Online, the VB Online did not respond to Ascent; VB Online does not display in the right panel of the window of “Online device Setup wizard” page. Furthermore, when entering the VB Online IP address and port number in the remote IP address field on the same page, a pop-up message shows indicate that ‘”a firewall problem”  or “TCP/IP problem exists” that prevent from communicating to the VB Online unit or that “Non response from VB Online unit”.

Steps below assume that all IP address and Network SSID information (including WPA key and other security setting) are configured correctly in the VB Online unit and VB Online unit can be access using a serial cable, and/or the Ethernet/Wifi interface on VB Online unit can be configured via telnet session using an Ethernet cable or a wireless link.

First of all, try to connect to the VB Online unit using a non-network connection- E.g. using a laptop with (COM) port and RS232 cable as shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 Connect to VB Online unit#21944 using Serial Cable on COM port# 23

Once connected to VB online unit, the unit number and serial port number used to connect to the unit should be highlighted on the Online device setup wizard. Click on “Edit” button and the “VB Device Properties” page should come up. Under “Tasks” tab, look for “Reset Device” section and click the “Reset” button. Wait for a minute and note the led blink on the VB unit then a pop-up message shows indicating that unit has been reset, please see Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 VB Unit successful rest result

Next, we need to rest the Ethernet interface. This is very important to be done after a successful rest of the VB module; resetting only the VB module or only the Ethernet interface will not produce required results.  Under same “VB Device Properties” page, look for “Rest Ethernet Defaults” and click on “Defaults” button. A successful rest operation of the Ethernet interface is shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3 A successful Ethernet interface reset result

Once this is accomplished, then the VB module needs to be change from Serial port to Network connection through “change button” found at the setup tab under the “Change VbOnline: Wifi/Ethernet (Cabled Ethernet)” section. Make sure to connect the cross cable provided with the VB Online unit to Ethernet port on your laptop and to the VB unit before changing communication method. Press the “Change” button and a pop-up window “Change vbOnline: Wifi/Ethernet” dialogue shows. Select the “Cabled Ethernet” radio button and press “Ok” button; wait for the change to take effect as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4 Change vbOnline Wifi/Ethernet window with Cabled Ethernet radio button selected

Once this action on the change of the module communication method is confirmed with a pop-up message, the vbOnline is properly configured for Ethernet communication to the outside world.

Now, we try to change the way Ascent software communicate with the vbOnline unit. Under Setup tab, look for “Change Ascent-> vbOnline address” section and select the Ethernet radio button. Enter IP address of vbOnline device in the IP address field. If you know the port number the vbOnline is using, enter it in the Port field as shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5 Enter IP address and port number in the Change Ascent-> vbOnline address section

 Once this action on the change of the way Ascent software communicate with the vbOnline device you show see this reflected in the “Online device setup” page as shown in Figure 6.

 

Figure 6 Online device setup page showing unit # 21944 on an Ethernet Address

It is a good idea to perform some simple test like “Get Address” command under Setup tab or even go further and set a test route and collect some data using a sensor. If you wish to communicate with the vbOnline device using wireless communication then set up the vb module back to wireless communication using telnet or using the “Change vbOnline:Wifi/Ethernet” dialogue. Stay tuned to see how this is done in a following post.