A meter should be added to Mabdeck so that you can bill consumption, receive readings and track the data coming in from the meter. A meter is added to a supply point on a property, so you will need to make sure that that meter you are adding is for the same supply type which is in the property.
If your Mabdeck dashboard is set up to receive automatic meter readings, the readings will start to go into Mabdeck as soon as the meter serial number has been added to the supply point.
Adding a meter
A meter can be added from the Hardware & Supplies section of the System Configuration page. Click Add Meter to open the setup form.
Select which property and supply the meter should be attached to from the dropdown fields, then select your meter type.
A domestic meter should be used for a standard meter within a property, bulk meter for a larger bulk meter which may reside in a plant room, and Heat Cost Allocator if a heat cost allocator is measuring consumption.
Domestic and Bulk meters will take in readings in the same way, but you will be able to link a bulk meter to any domestic meters which sit underneath it, and are part of the same site.
You can also add details relating to the Manufacturer, Model and Location of the meter to refer back to if an engineer visit should need to take place.
Meter Serial Number
The meter serial number is important as it will tell Mabdeck where to direct any automatic meter readings which are coming into the system. If the serial number is not exactly correct in Mabdeck, then our data robots will be unable to post readings to the meter. A serial number should be entered with 8 digits to ensure that the readings post correctly, if a meter has less than 8 digits then it should be preceded by zeros to ensure that there are 8!
Meter Manufacturer
Selecting the correct Meter Manufacturer is also a crucial step in ensuring that a meter can read through the Mabdeck platform through our data robots. Please ensure that when adding a meter that you correctly allocate the correct meter manufacturer for the meter make and model.
An example list of meter manufacturer and their manufacturer codes can be found on article page here:
Meter Manufacturers – mySycous Support
In the cases where the meter manufacturer is not known, or through a PAYG unit such as a Secure or Guru Hub please ensure that you select the 'UNKNOWN' manufacturer.
Child Meters
If you have meters which use pulsed inputs or outputs, you will need to specify this in Mabdeck. The meter which any pulsed input meters are feeding into will be the parent meter, and the pulsed input meters themselves will be the child meters.
If you're adding a pulsed input meter, make sure to add the parent meter first!
Specify that the meter is a child meter by selecting the Yes option. You will then need to select the parent meter that it is linked to, and the pulse input number. Please note when also adding the meter serial number for the child meter this can be the actual serial number of the pulse meter for best practice record keeping.
Pulse Input 1-3 can be selected which is specific to the pulse input values of the parent meter, please ensure that you select the correct one from the parent meters telegram to pull through the correct meter readings. Assistance can be provided to obtain this from Mabdeck support team.
Further Meter Information
You can also select your reading frequency on the Add Meter form. Please note that although this does not affect how often the meter does read, it will advise Mabdeck how often to expect a reading, so we can let you know if readings are missing.
If you have added a Heat Cost Allocator, you will need to specify the Reading Import Factor too.
Fill in the initial reading, offset and start date fields. The start date will be the date that the meter was installed in the property. If you are unsure of this date, just make sure that it covers the date you would like to bill or receive readings from at a minimum.
You can add a meter end date if the meter has been replaced. For details on how to complete a meter replacement in Mabdeck, check out our help article!
Click Add to save the meter to Mabdeck. . You can view the meter or amend any details by clicking the "show" button next to that property on the Hardware and Supplies page.
Adding multiple meters?
If you're uploading multiple meters all in one go, you may want to use a bulk import spreadsheet instead. This allows you to upload multiple meters into the system at the same time, which is especially helpful when you're setting up a network with multiple meters for the first time.
Our bulk import spreadsheets can be found on the second tab of the Mabdeck menu. Click on Meters to download a template. For more information on bulk importing data, check out our help article.
Next Steps
Now you've added some meters, you can add some readings!