Whether you just installed and assigned a Railster to your asset and you're having issues preventing the installation from being validated, or an already installed Railster stopped communicating or doesn't send all the data, here are the first essential steps to follow.
If you're troubleshooting a Railster and you don't receive all the data, please don't de-assign and re-assign the Railster on the platform. This does not help with connection or data issues.
Is the asset immobilised or in use?
If the asset isn't moving (parked, in maintenance,...), it's normal that it doesn't communicate. It will start communicating again as soon as the asset is in use again.
If the asset is in use and the Railster doesn't communicate, please follow the steps described below.
Railster installation page
If you receive some data but not all, you can check the Railster installation page while the asset and the Railster are ON by going to the "Equipped assets" page, searching for your asset, and clicking on the link in the "Validation status" column.
Note that this page shows the status of all measurements on the asset in real time. If the asset is off, the page will be completely red.
If the asset and the Railster are on, and you see that some rows are green and some are red, please check the steps indicated in the red rows in order to correct the issue (e.g. if the engine row is red, check the engine connection).
Visual inspection
The Railster installation page can already point you to the issues, but it's always best to go on the locomotive and perform a visual inspection.
Check the circuit breaker to ensure the Railster is getting power.
If the Railster sends some data but not everything, please verify the cabling, especially the connection where data is missing (DCPU, battery, engine, etc.).
verify that it is wired correctly, especially the power supply and the antenna.
Activity LED (ACT)
Once the Railster is installed and powered up, the system status LED should be lit in steady blue. This LED is located below the "ACT" mark on top of the Railster front panel. Every 10 seconds, it will blink 3 times to show 3 statuses (GREEN/RED). This sequence is continuous while the Railster is ON.
This is how the main LED reacts once the power is on:
In order to have a fully functional Railster, all 3 blinks must be GREEN with the external power supply connected and ON.
If any blink is red, please check the appropriate cabling and connections.
If the LED is not lit at all, the Railster is on battery. In this mode, the LED will only turn ON when the Railster wakes up periodically for a few minutes and will then turn OFF again.
In this case, please verify the power supply circuit and connectors.
UIP LEDs (U1 - U5)
A few minutes after powering up the Railster, any connected [U1->U5] input activity LED should be lit in steady blue, indicating that these ports are correctly configured (see example below with U1 and U3).
The LEDs of the UIP connectors blink more or less quickly, depending on the data transfer speed.
Blue: the UIP is powered
Green: the data is correctly received
Red: only invalid data is received
Orange (or alternating red and green): some valid and invalid data is received
If the UIP LEDs are red or orange (or red and green) because invalid data is received, please double-check the cabling according to the cabling schematic that was provided.
After checking that the wiring is correct, the Railster needs to be restarted manually as follows:
switch off the locomotive;
wait until the Railster is completely switched off (LEDs off), this takes about 5 minutes;
restart the locomotive.
Support
After ensuring that the provided installation procedure has been followed and the cabling of the Railster you're installing or troubleshooting on is correct, but the Railster still can't communicate, please get in touch with us via the chat function on the Railnova platform or by emailing support@railnova.eu.
In your message, please include the following information:
asset number and Railster number and
the issue you're having and
the status of the ACT (activity) led (blinking, colour) and
the status of the connected U ports (flashing, colour) and
if possible, send us pictures or a video that clearly show the wiring on the Railster side