Troubleshouting


Troubleshooting



The operating span of a data logger seems to be more and more reduced although always fully charged batteries are used.

This problem may have several different causes. The operating span is influenced by the quality and in particular by the charging condition of the batteries used. Note that the effective capacity of the utilized batteries is critical for the operating span. The effective capacity of rechargeable batteries decreases inevitably over time, even with constantly thourough handling. Rechargeable batteries with an indicated capacity of 2000mAH, for example, will have an effective capacity of only about 1500mAH after permanent usage for two years. So, regardless of the quality of maintenance, the effective capacity is just about 75% of the original value. With insufficient care the effective capacity can even go far below 50% of the indicated capacity. Correspondingly, the operating span of the MOUSE-E-MOTION Universal Data Logger is significantly reduced when such batteries are used.
Please also refer to the section Solving the Problem of a Reduced Operating Span of our Technical Notes 1: Rechargeable Battery Maintenance.



After changing the baud rate to 115,200 Baud there seems to be a problem with the communication between data logger and computer. For this reason, the data logger cannot be reset to a lower baud rate.

If this very rare problem should occur the data logger can be reset to the default value of 9,600 Baud by pressing the buttons STOP, START and SHIFT simultaneously for at least 2 seconds (make sure the device is swichted on in advance). The success of the reset is signalled by succesive blinking of the LEDs on the front in the following order:

1. upright triangle LED
2. reversed triangle LED
3. square LED

The reset of the baud rate does not affect any other configuration parameters or possibly stored log data in the data memory.



Log data cannot be downloaded from a data logger with the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in because of a missing device key file.

To get access to a data logger from the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in, a device key is required for each single logger. This device key is stored in a file whose filename consists of the serial number of the data logger and the extension .dev (e.g. 1234-ABCD-5678-1.dev). If the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in is installed from the original installation CD these files are copied to the ‘Devices’ subfolder of the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in folder (normally this is ‘C:\Programs\Infra-E-Motion\Mouse-E-Motion x.y’ – where x and y are the version numbers). If this folder or files of this folder are deleted or moved to another location later on, a requested device key might not be available to the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in and access to the respective device is denied. The same situation might occur if a new installation, for example with an updated version downloaded from the website, is made.
If no device key file is found by the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in, an according message is shown and the easiest way to solve the problem is just to follow the ensuing instructions.
To enable access to additional devices with an existing installation of the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in follow these steps:

  • Insert the original MOUSE-E-MOTION installation CD containing the device key files to add into the CD-ROM drive of the computer.
  • In the Options dialog box, click the Miscellaneous tab and click the Device keys… button in the upper right corner.
  • In the Device keys dialog box, check if a path name occurs in the Location of the device key files: text box. If the text box is empty, click the Default button. Click the Select source folder and copy files to the above folder button, then select the Devices folder on the MOUSE-E-MOTION installation CD and click OK. The device key files located in this folder are now copied to the Location of the device key files target folder and the device keys are added to the existing device keys.

To manually solve the problem, copy the Devices folder on the original MOUSE-E-MOTION installation CD (including all the contained *.dev files) to the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in folder. If you have several original installation CDs, the device key files of all CDs have to be copied to the Devices subfolder of the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in folder. For simplicity, just replace all possibly already existing device key files.

You can although download the needed file here: Devices.zip



The attempt to synchronize the clock of the data logger with an internet time server always fails because of the server cannot be found.

For the synchronisation of the device clock of a data logger with an internet time server direct access to the internet is required. If your local network is connected to the internet via a poxy server you need to specify an internet time server of your local network. Ask your system administrator for the name or IP-address of a time server in your local network. Type one of these into the New time server text box on the time synchronization tab of the Options dialog box. Click the Add button to add the new time server to the list of available time servers. Move the entry of the new server to the top of the list to use it with the highest priority.
If you have direct access to the internet, check if the name or IP-address of a particular internet time server is still valid and if the server is reachable (for example, use the command ‘ping [name or IP-address of an internet time server]‘ in a console window). If necessary, choose another internet time server or add a new one (more information about internet time servers…).



The progress of a log data download is not refreshed if the data logger is connected to a computer using an USB-to-serial adaptor.

Normally, this symptom is only observed when a baud rate of 57,600 or above is used. The cause seems to be that the incoming data are buffered by the driver of the USB-to-serial adaptor and then passed as a whole to the COM port component of the MOUSE-E-MOTION Excel add-in. For this reason, the progress bar remains on 0% during the whole data download procedure and then suddenly jumps to 100%. Apparently, this seems to be a pure “cosmetic” problem, not influencing the functionality of the log data download.


Do you experience a problem with your MOUSE-E-MOTION data logger?
Please write to: Contact