As an administrator, you can define counter types and add counters to assets from the administration panel.
If you can't access the administration panel, please contact a Railnova administrator at your company who will be able to set up counter types and counters for you.
Counters can easily be created on the Railnova platform via the admin panel. They can either be associated with telematics data and updated automatically (in real-time), or maintained manually by user input.
If the locomotive is equipped with a Railster, the counter will update automatically as soon as a corresponding message is received.
Counter types
To create your preventive maintenance plan and/or counters, you must ensure the counter types you need are available.
Go to the administration panel and click “Counter types” in the “Assets” section.
Check if the counter types necessary for your maintenance plans are already available. (Examples of such counter types are engine hours, engine MWh, km, etc.). A few counter types are already available for all customers, but you can always add your own if needed.
Available public counter types
wheel_diameter: manual counter, in mm
engine_mwh: manual counter, in MWh
locomotive_hours: manual absolute counter, in hours
loco_hr: incremental counter, based on the data "period_engine_hours" in the message type "merged". Note that this is the same counter type as "engine_hr", but with a different name.
engine_hr: incremental counter, based on the data "period_engine_hours" in the message type "merged". Note that this is the same counter type as "loco_hr", but with a different name.
gps_km: incremental counter, based on the data "period_km" in the message type "merged".
Adding a new counter type
If you need a different counter type, click on the “add counter type” button in the upper right corner of your screen.
On the next page, select the unit you want the counter type to be in (hr, km etc.) and choose a data source. This source can be manual (leave the data source empty) or telematics data (select the source from the drop-down menu).
If you select "Ascending", the counter value will increase over time (km, hours, etc.)
The counter statistics are recomputed as needed:
Manual counters are updated every time a new reading is created.
Telematic counters are updated every night.
Next, you can also enter a minimum and maximum daily average value. This will prevent the average usage from dropping too low or even to zero, resulting in preventive maintenance operations being planned in an infinite future.
Save your new counter type. Note that it will only be available for your company.
Counters
Adding a new counter
Once you have ensured that the necessary counter type exists, go to the admin panel in the "Assets" section and click on "Counters". Then, click on "Add counter" on the top-right corner of your screen.
Select the counter type and add a serial if necessary.
If your company isn't using the Components module, simply select the asset from the Asset drop-down menu and click on "Save".
If your company is using the Components module, choose either an asset or a component and click on "Save".
Note that a counter cannot be assigned to both an asset and a component.
Replacing a counter after an engine swap
If you have swapped the engine on a locomotive and would like to continue tracking the engine hours, but your company doesn't subscribe to the Components module, you will need to:
create a new engine hours counter for the new engine,
transfer the values from the date the engine was changed to today into the new counter, and
deactivate the old counter.
Indeed, engine hours can only increase, so if you have operation groups based on an engine hours counter, the next maintenance operations may not be scheduled properly if the engine hours values are inconsistent (fluctuating up and down).
Follow the steps above to create the new counter, choosing the exact same counter type as the counter you want to replace.
You must fill in the "Serial" field, for example with the engine serial number or with a text like "new engine" or "new counter". This field cannot be left blank if it's already blank in the existing counter, otherwise you'll receive an error message when trying to save your new counter.
Scroll down to the "Counter readings" section and add all counter values read on the new engine from the date it was swapped until today, then save your new counter.
Go to the old counter, untick the "Active" box at the top, and save.
Note that you cannot keep both counters active, as this will interfere with maintenance scheduling.
Support
Do you still have questions? Go to the Railnova platform and click "Contact us" for help!
