WS403/503 Parsing CAN traffic

[FluidPowerTom]

I'd like to lobby for a better solution for parsing CAN traffic for a WS403/503.  Right now I believe the only way to still do it is by working up the .xml file, correct?  So far the only project I've done this for was quite large (we literally used the max amount of messages), and it was incredibly painful work.  The weird little things like boolean variables having to be parsed in reverse order is a killer. 

How about you guys make up a nice GUI for this?  Right now it just plain takes too long, and I think it will hold back this product line.

[acmall]

I have to agree. We have one system in the field for testing and it was painful to get set up.

Something else annoying I also found was that when I uploaded a new .xml file I could not get it to parse any of the old data already logged, even through the values were in the existing logged data.

[Nilla]

Hi guys!

First comment from FluidPowerTom
We are together with Proemion working to release a PDC builder tool (desktop application) that will simplify the creation and management of PDC portal configuration. This tool has a visualisation included which makes life much easier while handling signals with bit length < 8 bits.

Second comment from acmall
If you uploaded a new xml file with a new UUID there is no link between the current and the previous, so no link between the old parsed data and the actual/future parsed data. If you need to update the xml portal configuration because you want to add the log of additional data, but wants to continue to have the history of the previous machine data, the xml must maintain the same UUID and indicate a different incremental version. Do not change any key labels assigned to the signals that are not updated, so the historical values of this signals will be available. The data before the date of the upload of the PDC are not available anymore for those keys where you´ve been changing the key labels from one PDC to the other.

If you feel there are issues with the solution I recommend you to contact us at plus+1helpdesk@danfoss.com .

Best regards
Nilla
PLUS+1 Helpdesk team

[acmall]

Hi Nilla

Thanks for the update on the PDC builder tool, good to know is will be getting easier!

Also thanks for the explanation about the UUID. The Data Logging Manual contains the following:- 

For each xml file we need a unique identification ID uuid. To implement a change it is needed to increment the customerVersion.

I incorrectly read the first sentence as meaning that each xml file that is uploaded needs a unique UUID. Perhaps this could be updated to make it clearer that it is each Machine Configuration that requires the unique UUID and not each xml file.

Alastair

[FluidPowerTom]

Nilla, yes thank you for the update.  Might this PDC Builder tool be something that will be out this year?  Coincidentally, I'm doing a sales call to one of our PLUS1 customers on Thursday, and I'd love to be able to tell him that he may not have to edit xml files.

[FluidPowerTom]

Any update on the PDC Builder Tool?  Honestly, we're looking at other telematics solutions due to how difficult it is to get a WS403 system up and running.

Also, I'm not sure if there's a good quick start guide out nowadays (not feeling like navigating the website to find out), but I remember this needing improvement as well.

[acmall]

Unforutnally based on a recent experience with having to contact support about an issue with the WS403 that we have been testing I don't think Danfoss are serious about Telematics. After in initial quick response from the Plus+1 help desk to say the issue had been referred to the Telematics team, it took 4 working days for someone to check that there were no issues at the portal side. Two further replies to this email asking for suggestions took 15 working days to get a response.

We discussed this internally and while we believe that Telematics will be a great benefit to both us and our customers and Danfoss is the obvious choice as we are using Plus+1 we have decided test solutions from other suppliers.

Alastair

[Nilla]

Hi all!

From a Helpdesk point of view we still need to ask the Telematics team for help when we get more detailed questions on our Connected Solutions products because of the complexity and for some of the components only the Telematics team have access e.g. the portal. Therefore, our response can be a little bit slower than normal.

When it comes to the Telematics team they have been forced to deal with some adjustments to their team recently. Therefore, a gap of coverage was created as they work to manage the additional workload with the remaining resources. There is a requirement out for this backfill, which will help to improve our coverage in the future and prevent similar issues.

Acmall is right, we didn’t respond as promptly as we should have. However, everything we reviewed indicated the device should be able to connect. We've asked for a video of the device to be able to take the next step for troubleshooting and read commands from the device.

FluidPowerTom unfortunately, we don't have any update on the PDC builder tool. There is a Danfoss Telematics Solutions - Portal manual that can be found here; https://assets.danfoss.com/documents/DOC177086484442/DOC177086484442.pdf . I think this is a good step-by-step instruction from logging in to the portal to how to understand and set up all of the available information.

We are aware of the troubles with finding your way or searching for information on our website and we are trying to contribute as much as we can to its improvements but the design is not up to us.

Please don't hesitate to contact us here on the forum or by our email plus+1helpdesk@danfoss.com!

Best regards
Nilla
PLUS+1 Helpdesk team