Lead Group : Level Two Profile

From the Lead Group,

Level Two compliance is intended to assure a minimum level of serviceability and discoverability. It is intended to satisfy several needs.

1. Adherence to Documented Protocols. All activity shall use documented messages and shall be transparent to the troubleshooter. The guiding principle is that the state of the entire system can be discerned entirely from the data log, with no hidden activity. This property is essential for system-wide troubleshooting and forensic analysis.

2. Standard Diagnostic Procedures. All products shall use the standard diagnostic messages. This is essential for consumer support.

3. Meaningful Messages. All data fields shall be used as intended, with no substitutions or changes. Measurements shall be scaled as the protocol indicates and shall measure what the protocol describes. Other flags and fields shall also conform to their descriptions.

The Level Two profile contains a number of tests which are very general in nature. Whereas most tests in most profiles are very specific, with particular commands and responses being called out explicitly, many of the Level Two tests require the monitoring of the product over all of its activities. Some require merely that certain messages are completely documented, and that document be available as part of the compliance certification report. Level Two compliance thus requires a substantially greater effort on the part of the applicant to fully describe the product, its operation, and the specific messages it supports.

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Level Two Profile.pdf94.73 KB

Clarification: Transparency

Clarification: Transparency of Control Activity

In Test 02A-S-11, Replace the text "If non-RV-C means of control are available, ... , all such operations are exercised."

with "For all ordinary operations, if non-RV-C means of control are available, ... , all such operations are exercised. This does not extend to diagnostic or configuration operations."

Justification: It is both impossible and inappropriate to expect all diagnostics and configuration possible "off-line" to also be possible over the network. It was never the intent for this test to include anything other than the normal use of the device.

"...Required Response: The

"...Required Response: The device shall resume operation in the same state as before the interruption, with the same settings. ..."

In the DC Power systems, there is the ability for some devices to follow the guidance of another node (example, and BMS sending out charging goals and an MPPT controller following those goals). In the case of rebooting, it may well be that the 'Goals have changed', or even that the BMS is not longer transmitting goals - and in those conditions, the rebooting node would likely enter a different state then before reboot. Example, perhaps during the reboot time, the BMS shifted from Charge Enabled to Charge Standby requests. Perhaps this will apply to other devices as well? Example, a slider is sliding out, is rebooted and during that time the switch has entered 'Stop'. upon rebooting one would expect the slider to respond to the Stop message, as opposed to start up the slider motor 1st (its pre-reboot state) and then shifting to a stop state.

Somewhat likewise, with network interruption, some devices may go into a fall-back mode during the interruption as opposed to stop.

Suggest the wording be changed to allow for:
1) Upon rebooting, device will resume exact state as before, or another state if working in conjunction with another node and the combined states has been modified during reboot time.
2) With network interruption, device will resume normal operation, but may enter a fall-back mode during interruption and upon network restore will resume normal operation, or another state if working in conjunction with another node.

Additional Test

Additional Test Profile
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Profile 02N : Non-Volatility

Compliance with this Level Two profile ensures the proper function of the device through power outages and network issues.

Test 02N-S-001
Datum: Reboot
Test: While in normal operation, power to the unit is interrupted long enough to force the device to reboot. The test shall be repeated in all of the device's normal operating modes.
Required Response: The device shall resume operation in the same state as before the interruption, with the same settings. The exception is that moving devices for which a timeout has been defined in a Level Three profile (e.g. slide rooms, awnings) shall stop all motion and not resume.

Test 02N-S-002
Datum: Network Interruption
Test: While in normal operation, RV-C communications to the unit is interrupted for at least five seconds and then restored. The test shall be repeated in all of the device's normal operating modes.
Required Response: The device shall resume operation in the same state as before the interruption, with the same settings. The exception is that moving devices for which a timeout has been defined in a Level Three profile (e.g. slide rooms, awnings) shall stop all motion and not resume.

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Justification

Some simple nodes may have no need for non-volatile memory, but for more complicated nodes the lack of non-volatile memory to store the current state and settings means that the device becomes inoperative if it gets rebooted. This might mean that user intervention is required, or that some other device must take action to restore the proper state. If this is the case, it is important that the installer or integrator be aware, as the consequences of an unexpected state change could be highly undesirable.

Note that it is not proposed that this profile be a prerequisite for Level Three compliance. This is a wholly optional profile, intended to clarify a product's feature set, not to mandate any particular feature.