Additional Counters User Manual | Running Hours Module

Additional Counters (in version 2.664 and higher)

Additional Counters

TM Master v2 now supports additional counters, allowing several counters to be applied to each component and subsequently several counter intervals to be applied to component jobs.

To review all components in the system that currently have running hour counters or additional counters, you will need to go to the [Counters] module. (Click Inventory | Counters.)

The counters list, listing all components configured to receive running hours and additional counters.

Adding a Component to the Counter List

To be able to add a job with a counter-based interval, you must first configure the component to receive counter updates. There are several different ways to do this, and all will be addressed in this section.
 If the component has its own counter, you should add the component to the counter list directly, in the following manner.

1. Click Inventory | Components.
2. Double click the component you wish to add the counter list.
3. Click the “Additional Counters” tab.The “Additional counters” tab on a component.
   
   
   1. Click the  New Counter button
   2. Select the type of counter you wish to add.
   3. Click OK.
   4. Type a name for the counter
   5. Tick the “Component has counter” check box.
   6. Click Save and Close.
   7. Go back to the Counters module. (Click Inventory | Counters). If you don’t see your newly added component click the Refresh button, and it should appear.

Updating Counters Manually

Once a component has been added to the counters list you can start adding updates to it.

There are two different approaches to this:

Add counter updates, directly on a component.

1. Click Inventory | Components.
2. Double click the component you wish to add the counter update to à Click the “Additional Counters” tab.

Additional counters tab with two counters applied

1. If there is more than one counter listed in the left pane, select which counter you wish to update.
2. Click the […] button in the “Current count” field on the top right-hand side.   
3. Enter the counter value or the Count since the last update (in the ‘count since last’ field).
4. The “Adjustment value” is a pre-set value which is added to your entry. This may be the last value from a previous counter that has been replaced. More details on this setting can be found in the chapter “counter pre-set adjustment.”
5. Enter the date for the counter value. If you need to back date it.
6. Click OK.
   
   Update the running hours directly in the running hour list.
7. Click Inventory | Counters.
8. Select the counter type from the drop down at the top of the screen
9. Click on the [Edit in grid] button located in the top menu in the.  You should now see that the column “Counter” and the column ‘Count since last’ have now been opened for editing.
10. Click the row for the component you wish to update and enter the new value. 
11. The component running hours have now been updated. To close the two columns for editing click the Edit in grid button again.

Configuring TM Master V2 to Import Counter Readings from an External Counter System

TM Master v2 can be configured to import counter readings from external counter systems. Here is how to do it:

1. You need to configure your counter/automation system to export the counter readings to a folder on your network, where users of TM Master V2 can reach them. Consult your supplier of your counter system on how to do this.

System Settings in TM Master V2

1. Log on TM Master v2 using an admin account.
2. Click System | Settings | “General” tab
3. Select the ‘Running Hours’ sub tab on the bottom right of the view.  
4. Select the appropriate counter system, which is exporting the readings file.
5. Select the path to where the counter file is placed.

Enter the counter systems tag/code on the corresponding components in TM Master V2.
To enable TM Master V2 to import the correct readings to the correct component, TM Master will need to know the name, code or tag that the counter system uses to identify where the readings belong.

1. Double click the component in the counter list or component module.
2. Click the “Additional counters” tab.
3. Double click the correct counter in the upper left pane
4. Tick the “Automated update” check box.
5. Enter the tag that identifies this component in the import file.
6. Click Save.

The steps 6-10 must be done for all the components that will import counter readings.

How to import counter readings?

Once TM Master has been configured to import counter readings, users still need to initialize the import.

1. Click Inventory | Counters.
2. Click the  Import counter updates button found in the top menu bar.
3. A preview of the counter values that the user is about to import will appear.
4. Click OK and the components will be updated with the latest counter values.

The Counter master functions.
 In some cases there is a need to set up components to receive counter updates from other components that are elsewhere in the overall component structure (such as cooling pumps which are automatically started when an engine is started)

This is made possible in TM Master v2 by using the “Counter Master” function.

To configure a component to receive from elsewhere within the component structure, do the following:

1. Click Inventory | Components.
2. Double click the component you wish to assign to receive from another component.
3. Click the ‘Additional Counters’ tab
4. Double click the appropriate counter type from the upper left pane
5. Click the […] button in the field called “Counter master”
6. Select the component, from the presented list, that it should get it updates from.
   (Please note only components already in the counter list are listed)

Any counter updates added to the selected “Master” will now also be added to this component and its sub-components. Components with a counter master will not receive any updates from any of its parents (if any of their parents receives counter updates of that particular type), only its master.

Keeping track of which component is following which master is not easy, and can be time consuming, if you had to open each individual component to check. This is why components that have a counter master, are also listed in the counter list. Any component in the counter list that has a [+] sign in front of the component name has a counter “slave”.
 Click the [+] to show them. (ref. image below)
 The running hours view, showing some components that have been configured as running hour masters and their “slaves”.

Counter update history.

Every counter update to a component will be recorded in the counter history.
This history is available on the lower part of the Additional Counters tab, on each individual component.

Average Count

TM Master V2 calculates an average daily usage for all components that receive updates.

This average usage is used to estimate due dates for counter based interval jobs. By ticking the “Include est. counter due.”(Include estimated counter due) in the [Due] list, these jobs will appear according to the due calculation.

Counter pre-set adjustment.

In some cases the counter for a component stops working properly or not at all. This counter then needs to be replaced with a new one. Certain counters can be adjusted so that the counter value for the old counter can be transferred to the new counter. The new counter will then continue counting from the point where the old one stopped.

But if you are not able to change the start point for the new counter, you can enter the old counter value in the field called “Adjustment” found on the “Additional Counters” tab, on the component form.
 When updates from the new counter are imported or entered manually, the adjustment is automatically added to the counter value. This allows you to enter/import the actual reading of the new counter, without resetting your jobs, counter dues or manually calculating the components actual readings before they are entered in TM Master V2.

“Adjustment” + Counter reading from new counter = Component’s actual running hours

Applying a Counter Interval to a Component Job

As it is possible to have several different types of counters on the same component, it is also possible to add several intervals to a component job based on counters.

If you wish to add a new counter interval to an existing job, do the following:

1. Click Maintenance | Due.
2. Click Refresh.
3. Double click the component job you wish to add an interval to.
4. Click the ‘Counters’ tab.
5. Click the Add Interval button.
6. Select the counter type you wish to create an interval for.
7. Click OK.
8. Enter the interval value and pre-warning (if desired).
9. Click Save & Close.

The interval will then be added to the Counters grid for the component job. An indication will also be shown on the right-hand side of the General tab that a counter interval has been added.

Defining Counter Types

Defining Counter types is performed in Administration à Codes module using two separate code tables.

Component Counter Type

Component Counter UOM

Component Counter UOM values should be defined first so that they can be selected when defining the Counter types.  The counter types defined here are then available for use in the drop-down selectors of the Inventory à Counters and Maintenance à Due modules.