Commissioning the M‑Center: the first steps

Overview

What do I need for commissioning?

A laptop and a network cable are enough for the first steps. The M-Center sits on the DIN rail and is normally supplied with 230 V AC.

• 230 V AC supply (100–240 V AC, at least 1 A) on the Supply terminal at the bottom left
• Laptop with a network port and a current browser
• Network cable (RJ45) for the service port
• Meters with M-Bus, Modbus RTU or Modbus TCP, for example EMU Professional II, Helvatron H2O or Helvatron DELTA III
• Licences for the number of devices and protocols you need – expandable later as well

Go to: Overview Service port M-Bus Modbus MQTT Joulio-Web Firmware Configuration Users

The type of supply determines how heavily the M-Bus may be loaded. For large M-Bus installations we are glad to advise you on choosing between 230 V AC and 24 V DC.

Step 2

How do I read in the M-Bus devices?

The M-Center searches for the connected meters itself. It is important to set time and time zone correctly first – otherwise the time stamps will be wrong.

Good to know

• The default readout cycle is 15 minutes. If a complete pass takes longer, choose a longer interval or set it per device.
• The M-Center reads only the licensed number of M-Bus devices. Any further devices on the bus are ignored but still add to the load.
• For newly added EMU Professional II meters, the M-Center reads the entire data logger once – about eight days of data per hour at a 15-minute interval.
• If a device does not appear in the expected category, its medium can be changed afterwards.
• Star, bus and tree topologies are possible, a ring topology is not. Keep cables as short as possible.

Step 4

How do I set up MQTT?

MQTT in brief

MQTT works on the publish and subscribe principle. The M-Center publishes its measured values to a broker; dashboards, control systems or cloud services subscribe there to exactly the topics they need. Sender and receiver do not need to know each other.

• QoS 0 – at most once: without acknowledgement, fastest, usually sufficient.
• QoS 1 – at least once: with acknowledgement; a message may arrive twice.
• QoS 2 – exactly once: highest delivery guarantee, most overhead.

TLS encrypts the connection and uses a certificate to check that the broker is genuine. The insecure connection option switches this check off – only use it if there is no other way.

Maintenance

How do I update the firmware?

• Online: Under Settings → System Information you see the installed and the current version. From firmware 250116, if the version on the update server is outlined in red, click the update button. The M-Center then restarts by itself.
• Offline: In the firmware update settings, upload the firmware file, wait for the checksum and start the installation.
• Versions older than 250116: update by USB stick or through the EMU help desk.

In detail, with all three methods: EMU M-Center – firmware update.

Security

Users and passwords

Change the factory password right after the first login: under Profile at the bottom left. An admin can create further users and change their passwords under Settings → User Management.

• Admin: access to all functions and settings.
• Operator: sees all devices and measured values and can export, but cannot change settings.
• User: sees only the devices assigned to them – for example for tenants or external service providers.
• At least one user must always remain in the Admin group on the M-Center.

Forgot your password?

The password can be reset directly on the device. You need to do two things at once: hold down the Recovery key on the M-Center and start the reset in the web interface.