Issue
This is related to EPO/PSO ION driver communicating with ION7650 and PM8000 meters over ION protocol. This is applicable to the meters' firmware which supports standard and advanced both security options. If the user selects the standard security on meter side, and enters wrong password on EPO side the meter will start logging front panel auth fail errors and locks out eventually. In standard security mode we have only one user in meter, so this stops the user from accessing the meter front panel but we can connect to the meter using telnet/SSH.
Meter status still shows good quality on EPO side even though the password entered is wrong.
Environment
EcoStruxure Power Operation/Power SCADA Operation with ION driver and PowerLogic or ION meters with firmware supporting standard security version
Below is an example architecture where multiple devices are communicating to EPO/PSO over ethernet via ION protocol and upon this scenario, the operator may not be able to access front panel once its locked out.
Cause
The meter expects correct username and password for the corresponding UserID. For example, below is wrong password set (correct one was 0) on citect.ini parameters for UserID 0 which is used in ION7650 meter
There is setting in the meters which governs lockout and can be seen below for ION default is 8 attempts after which it locks out. Settings can be accessed from setup assistant and edit security settings.
Resolution
While setting ION protocol in EPO/PSO, set the below citect.ini parameters correctly as per meter userID and credentials. Note that ION7650 uses UserID 0 as default and PM8000 uses UserID 1. Meters have default passwords 0 but it should be confirmed on meter side for the current credentials.
Also, it is possible to set ION protocol INI parameters for the entire Power Operation system or for a specific cluster or IO server or device if different credentials are used for different devices.
Example:
PROTOCOL.MYCLUSTERNAME.IOSERVER.DEVICE_Name
[ION.MYCLUSTER.IOServer.DEVICE_A]
UserID=0
Password=0
And for entire PO,
[ION]
UserID=0
Password=0
Upon using the correct credentials, meter logs show no more auth fail errors and prevents lock out.
