In 2017, UMEME embarked on a new journey that would see the company transition from rolling out the popular CONLOG meters in favor of the new Hexing Yaka prepaid meters. The electricity distributor had a challenge with bulk consumers to utilize smart prepayment with functions of switching to postpaid metering and demand control.
Chinese company Hexing provided a mature smart metering platform to help UMEME achieve its target over setup series of anti-tamper C&I meter box and auto-recloser, communicating via cellular 3G/4G channel. According to the vendor company blog, this combination was enough to benefit UMEME to manage energy over a flexible infrastructure, reduce power outages, and optimize revenue collection. UMEME is sourcing more customer-centric Hexing Yaka Prepaid meters from the Chinese vendor for its current rollout since last year.
Most households have the CONLOG meters installed and now we see the company rolling our these Hexing Yaka Prepaid Meters. This what you have to know about these new electricity billing devices.
Overview of the Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter
The new Hexing CIU EV500 that UMEME is rolling out is a prepaid keypad meter designed for the purposes of prepayment. Its functions include energy measurement, data display, communication, prepayment, UMEME control, keypad input and inquiry, anti-tampering, etc.
Its prepaid mode solves the problem of difficult collection of Yaka fees. It’s based on Standard Transfer Specification (STS), which is an open secure transfer standard and the only international specification on the prepaid system. It has a closed type design which avoids external attack through an open interface. The Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter has an LCD display and keypad input which users will recharge using Tokens they buy.
The new 2019 Yaka meter has inbuilt systems to allow UMEME control and monitor usage with support cellular 3G/4G channel communication. It has has a rich event records system and support log off of meter and the credit balance can be returned to the customer.
The components in this Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter include:
- Energy measuring unit: voltage sampling, current sampling, measuring integrated circuit
- Data processing unit: MCU, memory
- Power supply unit: AC power supply, battery
- Input/output unit: LCD display, PLC/GPRS communication, optical port, keypad
- Load control unit: For UMEME to monitor.
LCD Display Modes
There are five types of LCD display modes: automatic scrolling display, push-button display, keypad display, power off the display, and meter abnormal display.
1. Automatic scrolling display
The Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter display mode is default as an automatic scrolling display when power is on. It shows (displays) the number of Yaka Units a user has. After the meter operates for a certain period, which is an automatic scrolling display interval default as 3 seconds, LCD display will switch automatically to the next page in sequential order. Maximum 32 display pages can be configured
2. Push button display
Once press the button in the front, the automatic scrolling display/power off the display will switch to push button display.
3. Keypad display
When the numbers in the keypad are pressed, the Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter will enter keypad display mode and display relevant numbers in LCD. If there is no keypad operation after 20 seconds, the meter goes back to automatic scrolling display mode (when there is power in the grid) or power-off display mode(when there is no power in the grid). When pressing the effective shortcut key or inputting a Yaka TOKEN and press ENTER key, the meter will display a relevant indicating message. After 10s it will go back to automatic scrolling display mode(when there is power in the grid) or power-off display mode(when there is no power in the grid).
4. Power off display
Here the Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter only displays credit of meter during power off.
5. Meter abnormal display
Once fault or damage of meter memory is detected, the automatic scrolling display will stop and LCD will be fixed to display abnormal code “Error”.
Standard Transfer Specification (STS)
STS is an open secure transfer standard and the only international specification on the prepaid system that will allow recharging, token management, modify security keys, test token, etc.
After a customer buys and inputs their token in the Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter, if its successful, it will display the units that have been purchased in Kwh. Different messages will also be displayed in case, token is wrong, token has been used, token is expired, security key has expired and finally when charging amount exceeds the accumulated charging amount limit.
When it comes to token management, UMEME is able to set maximum power, clear meter credit, clear event status, switch from prepayment mode to post-payment mode and vice verser.
Low Yaka Unit Alarm
In order to remind the user to recharge in time and to avoid the inconvenience of power disconnection, the Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter provides the function of low credit alarm, including a visual alarm and audible alarm.
Visual alarm:
Unlike the current CONLOG Yaka Meter, here is how the Hexing Yaka Meter handles alarms;
- When there is enough remaining credit, LED is green.
- When remaining credit is less than low credit alarm level 1, LED is red.
- When remaining credit is less than low credit alarm level 2, LED is red and flashes.
ALSO READ: How to silence that annoying Yaka buzzer beep
Audible alarm:
When the remaining credit is less than low credit alarm level 3, the buzzer is on. Customers can turn off the buzzer through manual token insertion i.e buying new Yaka Units. Unlike the CONLOG which keeps alarming 24/7, in consideration of not disturbing customers during rest time, the audible alarm turns off automatically from 20:00-08:00.
The Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter disconnects automatically and there is no power supply or when the remaining credit reaches zero. However, in case the customer needs power and cannot go to purchase power immediately, the meter provides the function of emergency credit. However, this function may not be activated now. UMEME would have to give a customer a short code say 811 to get emergency credit and restore the power.
Under the mode of emergency credit, the meter calculates the remaining credit as a minus value. When the remaining credit plus emergency credit reaches zero, UMEME can disconnect the Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter again. The maker of these meters says that this function of emergency credit can only be used once before the next recharge. Just like you borrow Airtime, the emergency credit will be deducted automatically during the next recharge.
Other functions
The Hexing Yaka Prepaid meter also has support for SMS recharge. It has a Lithium battery, with a capacity of 1,200 mAh. When there is no power, the meter starts to use the battery to maintain a real-time connection, LCD display, button operation, and event recording. Its lifetime is from 3 to 5 years if the meter works only with battery constantly. The battery is replaceable. Users can only replace the battery when the power is off. UMEME also has a smart card that will be used by customers for easy recharge.
