Please note important bug number 6 at the very bottom of this page.

Bugs 1 and 2 below apply to the following firmware versions: Input unit version 1.1, Display unit version 1.1, Computer interface version 1.3

1. "Days since equalized" timer did not work. These are display functions AD26 and AD27. These are supposed to be timers that accumulate time with resolution of .01 days which are manually resettable to 0. However they always remained at 0 days. This bug was discovered here . It should be eliminated in "firmware version 1.2" for the "PentaMetric input unit".

2. Relay control does not always work properly. First reported by S.M Dodd, April 2, who is the first recipient of $100 "bug bounty". Occasionally the relay goes on or off randomly when it shouldn't. We have verified this bug and determined its cause. The "firmware version 1.2" for the "PentaMetric input unit" has this bug removed. If you have one of the first units and are using this function you should contact us for an immediate upgrade to the firmware.

The following bug number 3 applies to firmware version 1.2 of the PentaMetric Input unit:

3. The "days since equalized" for battery 1 (display AD26) still does not accumulate time. The display AD27 "days since equalized" for battery 2 makes up for it by accumulating time at twice the correct rate.

Firmware version 1.5 (latest version) of the PentaMetric Input unit adds the following features and eliminates these bugs from versions 1.3:

4.Several additional logged data options was added to the "periodic logged data": "Volts 2" and "Battery % full" data are additional options. In addition the information that the "charged criteria" was reached is also recorded in the data. The speed of the PentaMetric clock has been corrected so that it does not lose 1 minute/day.

Important: If you upgrade to PentaMetric Input unit version 1.5 you should also download the version PMComm69 software (from this website) if you are using the computer interface. The older PMComm versions will not display the new periodic logged data correctly.

The following bugs were fixed in version 1.7 of the PentaMetric Input unit: 5. In some cases in the "Battery efficiency" calculation of "Self Discharge amps" the calculation is done improperly when the total net amp hours becomes high. This applies usually only with the "15 cycle" calculation. So if this column has a low value of discharge current compared with the "1 cycle" or "4 cycle" column (using the computer interface), this is probably why.

6. A serious problem was eliminated in the "PentaMetric input unit": When using the "100A/100mV" shunt with Amps channels 2 or 3 the values of Amps may not read properly above 50 Amps. (With the 500A/50mV shunt it may not read above 500A) This requires not only new firmware version 1.7, but also a change of one part (resistor). This will be fixed under warranty for anyone for anyone with these units.

The following bug will be fixed in version 2.0. This is the second PentaMetric bug found by a customer, who has received the $100 bug bounty:

7. The following will affect only a few, but it is serious if you are attempting to use the compensation for “assumed compensation for battery self discharge current”, which is program number P35. (It does not affect the “assumed battery efficiency”, P34.) This bug , discovered by L. Jensen in November, 2007, causes this data to compensate quite wrongly. The PentaMetric is supposed to SUBTRACT a constant current value (amps) that is programmed into P35 from the “amp hours from full” display to compensate for self discharge of the battery. It turns out that the bug ADDS the value instead, thus causing very confusing and wrong compensation to both “amp hours from full” and “battery % full” displays. In addition, this compensation is added only once per 3 hours—thus causing a confusing “jump” in amp hours every 3 hours or so—which is now in the positive direction instead of the negative direction.

End of bug list. If you have units with one of these bugs, at your request we will send you updated firmware, and also for bug 6 repair your unit with these bugs removed.