Maestro CDMA to Allen Bradley.

Hey guys, good stuff here ! I'm looking at going with the Maestro M100 CDMA connected to the Micrologix 1100 over (maybe Verizon) cellular network in my area. Will be for alarming purposes on several municipal water well and lift stations. I can't find any setup documents on the CDMA version ! Anyone work with it ? I saw a thread on the Mastro GPRS here, is it the same ? Thanks.

Maestro doesn't seem to want to get into the details on how to use your modem, but here is the basic setup guide:

http://www.mastec.co.nz/Maestro/Fargo Manuals/FARGO MAESTRO 100_20 user guide Rev00.pdf

Basically you will have to get your PLC to emulate a terminal program not unlike Windows Hyperterm. In fact, practicing in a terminal first will help to get your commands correct.

But for an in-depth explaination of the command setyou will need the command reference:

http://www.gprsmodems.co.uk/xtend/AT Commands Interface Guide for Open AT Firmware 7-43.pdf

Reading the M100CDMA quickstart guide, it references you to "AirPrime Q26 Elite" guides for your documentation (now that's what I call product support! Not!)

From the Quick Start guide:

"The M100 CDMA use a Sierra Wireless Q26 Elite module, so please refer to the Sierra Wireless User
Manual and Applications Notes list below for further details, on:
– How to use the CDMA specific AT command: AirPrime Q26 Elite Software User Guide and AT Commands Interface Specification.
– Apps notes on CMUX features: AirPrime CMUX Feature for Q26 Elite.
– Apps notes on network registration details: AirPrime Q26 Elite Activation on the Sprint Network and
AirPrime Q26 Elite Activation on the Verizon Network.
You can find those documents in the package given by Maestro Wireless Solution, or directly for the Sierra
Wireless website: http://www.sierrawireless.com/en/si...ads/AirPrime/Q_Series/AirPrime_Q26_Elite.aspx"

Thanks, that helps!
Yeah I saw the reference in the manual "How to use the CDMA specific AT command: AirPrime Q26 Elite Software User Guide and AT Commands Interface Specification"
I had tried searching that before my post and could not come up with it. But I did finally get it to come up in a search after goofing around with the wording, and its a 269 page manual !
So, I was hoping to use the Micro-Maestro setup to individually send a voice-mail, a text message, and an e-mail.
Does that sound reasonable to you with this equipment ?
Bruce

BASIC ELECTRICAL TEC said:

Thanks, that helps!

Click to expand...

Anytime!

BASIC ELECTRICAL TEC said:

So, I was hoping to use the Micro-Maestro setup to individually send a voice-mail, a text message, and an e-mail.
Does that sound reasonable to you with this equipment ?
Bruce

Click to expand...

If you can get it to work within a comm program such as Hyperlink, then it should be a (quasi-simple) matter of having the PLC output the same instructions over the serial port.

Any modem that you are going to get is going to present a challenge being used in a PLC. PLC's don't tend to be ASCII friendly. But that won't change based on your modem choice (the same thing applies to interfacing barcode readers, etc., to a PLC - it can be a bear). So this one should be fine.

But I'm a little leery of any device that the manufacturer sends you elsewhere to get detailed instructions for its use. What if that website went down? Five years from now this could be a serious issue...

Yea, I totally agree with you on them referencing the manual through anohter site. But, the AirPrime is the electronics inside of the Maestro, so if they go, then Maestro has a real issue, right ?

Your link to "http://www.gprsmodems.co.uk/xtend/AT...are%207-43.pdf" has mine beat at 936 pages !

Does anyone have any input on using Verizon for this service ? We don't really have a Verizon store here, just a Radio Shack, and fyi, the folks working our R-S are really limited in knowledge. I called up there yesterday asking about this anyway. After my questions, they thought I was trying to hack the system, and promised that I would be arrested if I were to continue.

I see Red Lion is advertising a M2M cellular modem. Anyone use it yet ?

Might check this link using a Sierra Branded Raven

BASIC ELECTRICAL TEC said:

I see Red Lion is advertising a M2M cellular modem. Anyone use it yet ?

Click to expand...

Thanks that was indeed a valuable bit of info.
I don't think my setup would be that complex.
I'm looking for a basic alarm message like 'PUMP STATION SIX POWER FAIL' to be transmitted as a voice message over the cell network to land line number. And then do a separate cycle to transmit that same message as text to three cell phone numbers. And then a separate cycle to transmit that same message to an e-mail address for logging these events.
By the lack of responses here, seems I'm going to be the expert at this after the fact, lol !

i have wired alot of water and sewage lift stations. we always used a "Barnett Engineering PROTALK CV2/3(cellular) or PROTALK PLUS (landline) for phoning our alarms out. that would work great for your first part, as it has voice recordings of each alarm, depending on which input is true. however i dont know about the texts and emails part. i would be curious to talk to someone from Barnett Engineering about it, maybe they do have something that will fulfill your needs. what i can tell you is that i love their equipment.

EDIT: after looking at their website they do offer products to do emails and sms. the PROTALK LINK. i would recommend giving them a try. they tend to have detailed instructions. and would save you the headaches, Here is a link to their website on the product:
http://www.barnett-engg.com/Products/B1285/Pages/B1285_Main.aspx

Thanks for that info !
Any idea on the price of one main module, one telephone module, or one cellular module ?
I'm looking at the Maestro for under $200. I could live without a voice messager for that price.