2006/05/01 Caterpillar

Excavator:

5130 (S/N: 7TJ1-UP; 5ZL1-UP)

5230 (S/N: 7LL1-UP)

Off-Highway Truck/Tractor:

784B (S/N: 5RK1-UP)

784C (S/N: 2PZ1-UP)

785B (S/N: 6HK1-UP)

785C (S/N: 1HW1-UP; APX1-UP; 5AZ1-UP)

789B (S/N: 7EK1-UP)

789C (S/N: 2BW1-UP)

793B (S/N: 1HL1-UP)

793C (S/N: CBR1-UP; 4AR1-UP; ATY1-UP; 4GZ1-UP)

797 (S/N: 5YW1-UP)

797B (S/N: JSM1-UP)

Track-Type Tractor:

D10R (S/N: 3KR1-UP; AKT1-UP)

D10T (S/N: RJG1-UP)

D11R (S/N: AAF1-UP; 8ZR1-UP; 9TR1-UP; 9XR1-UP; 7PZ1-UP)

D9R (S/N: ABK1-UP; ACL1-UP; 7TL1-UP; 8BL1-UP)

D9T (S/N: RJS1-UP)

Wheel Dozer:

854G (S/N: 1JW1-UP)

Wheel Loader:

992G (S/N: 7HR1-UP; AZX1-UP; ADZ1-UP)

994 (S/N: 9YF1-UP)

994D (S/N: 3TZ1-UP)

Description of Change: There is an enhancement to the VIMS-PC (version 2006A). This enhancement includes:

• User defined path for unmerged files. The directory from which the files are merged can now be changed to any directory, including a network drive.

• User defined path for backup files. The directory to which the files are backed up can now be changed to any directory, including a network drive.

• A new feature has been added to automerge the downloaded files at a selected interval. When automerge is turned on, the files in the downloaded directory are picked up at a predefined interval and are merged into the database.

• The database is now Access 2000, increasing the maximum data that the default database can hold to two Gigabytes.

• A new feature has been added to move the corrupted files during a merge from the unmerged folder to the corrupt file folder.

• A driver patch is provided with this release to support the USB to Serial adapter

• The message box informing the user of an empty file or duplicate records during the merge process is disabled in this version.

• A new Event Summary report is added. User can generate the summary of events that occurred within the selected time range; user can also specify events that have to be in the report.

• User is restricted from adding special characters while changing the serial number using VIMS-PC.

• The date when the Snapshot occurred, along with the time, is added to the snapshot graph.

• A new ASCII header, containing some of the important machine information, is added in the downloaded file. User can now see machine information by just opening the downloaded file in a text editor such as Notepad.

• The additional machine information in the ASCII header was also added to the binary header. However this additional information is not currently being merged into the database.

• Changes have been made in this version of VIMS-PC so that it supports the changes that were made in VIMS-PC 10.5 Onboard.

Note: When installing VIMS-PC (2006A), it is highly recommended to allow the installation to install to the default directory. Issues have been identified when installation occurs in a different directory. Resolution is scheduled for a future release.

Application Notes

Defining paths for Unmerged and backup files - The default paths for Unmerged Files and Backup files can be set in the Setup default paths dialog. This dialog can be obtained by selecting the Default paths button in System preferences dialog box (setup, System preferences menu). When data files are downloaded from the machine they are placed in the unmerged directory. When a file is merged in to the database, a copy of the file is placed in the backup files directory. See Illustration 1.

Illustration 1	g01260679
Default Paths for Unmerged Files

Automerge the downloaded files - The automerge capability is not turned on by default. To automerge files, the enable automerge checkbox would have to be selected in the System Preferences dialog box. See Illustration 2. The time interval between two merges can also be set here; the minimum time interval is five minutes and the default time interval is 15 minutes. When the automerge check box is selected, a Start Automerge option will be added to the merge downloaded files menu (File, merge downloaded files, Start Automerge). See Illustration 3. If the start Automerge menu is selected, automerge will be started and will be run at the selected intervals. Manual merging is still possible through the selection of the Select Merge menu item. Once the automerge is started it can be stopped using the Stop Automerge menu item (File, merge downloaded files, Stop Automerge). See Illustration 4.

Note: The Stop Automerge menu item will be visible only when the automerge is active. When the automerge process is active, the Start Automerge menu will not be visible.

Illustration 2	g01260681
Automerge Selection

Illustration 3	g01260685
Start Automerge Selection

Illustration 4	g01260662
Stop Automerge Selection

2GB database limit - Previous versions of VIMS-PC used an ACCESS 97 database with a maximum allowable database size of 1GB. This version of VMIS PC uses an ACCESS 2000 database with a maximum database size of 2GB.

Moving Corrupted Files - A new folder, Corrupted files, is created in the VIMS-PC downloaded directory. While merging files, if VIMS-PC encounters any corrupt file, this file is moved to this new folder for further investigation.

USB to Serial adaptor support - A patch file PL-2303 Driver Installer.exe for the USB to Serial adaptor is included in the installation disk of VIMS-PC (2006A). Without this patch, VIMS-PC would produce an error while downloading data files. If you do not have a serial port on your PC and need to use a USB to Serial adaptor, you will need to order a 237-7541

Empty file or duplicate records Message box disabled - In previous versions of VIMS-PC if either the file being merged is empty or if it has any duplicate records, a message box was displayed. This message box is not shown anymore, but the information will be logged to the MergeErrors.txt file located in the "VIMS/errorlog" folder.

Event summary report - This is a new report that was added in this version of VIMS-PC. User can now get the summary of events that were generated in the given time range. See Illustration 5.

Illustration 5	g01260667
Event Summary Report

Special characters in serial number - In previous versions it was possible to enter special characters as part of the serial number while updating the serial number using VIMS-PC. Some of these special characters were causing the application to crash. With this new version, these special characters are not allowed.

Date and Time in snapshot graph - Along with the date and time at which the snapshot occurred is also displayed in the snapshot graph. See Illustration 6.

Illustration 6	g01260671
Snapshot Graph

ASCII header in the downloaded file - The files downloaded with this new version of VIMS-PC will have an additional ASCII header as shown in Illustration 7. This is provided so that instead of merging the file into the database to view the machine information the user can open the downloaded file in a text editor such as notepad, and view the machine information.

Illustration 7	g01260674
ASCII Header

Additional machine information in a downloaded file - Along with the ASCII header in Illustration 7, new machine information is now being added to the downloaded binary file, but this information is currently not merged into the database. The following represents new information:

• Source code part number

• Configuration part number

• Equipment number

• Hardware part number

• Hardware version

• Target payload

• Payload overload percent

• Second gear reweigh

• Conditional DLOG

• Conditional DLOG time

• Scoreboard setting

• Last pass indicator

Changes for VIMS onboard 10.5 - The latest version of VIMS onboard has changes related to the Histogram values and software enabled attachements. This new version supports all of these changes that were made to the onboard application.

Adaptable To: The enhancements related to the VIMS-PC (2006A) are adaptable to the following: