OPTA Comms - Crane Electronics Ltd

Quick Start Guide 

for 

OPTA Comms 

CRANE ELECTRONICS LTD 

NOTICE 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any part of this manual in any form whatsoever, 

without the prior permission in writing from Crane Electronics Ltd is forbidden. 

Copyright © January 2009 by Crane Electronics Ltd 

The contents of this manual are subject to change without prior notice.

Quick Start Guide for Opta Comms 

SECTION A – Setting up Opta Comms 

1. Once you have installed Opta Comms, you need to be in a directory with the Opta Comms 

executable (see icon below) or with a Shortcut to the executable. 

2. If this is the first time, when the executable is run it will create other files in the same directory as 

Opto Comms 

3. The next stage is to populate the database. Select Enter Administrator Password in the Tools 

tab. The default password is “craneadmin”. It can then be changed to another password 

afterwards. 

Common icons: 

Exit 

or 

Save 

Download 

If you leave the mouse over an icon, it will tell you its function with a tool tip. 

Some icons will be greyed out if the type of user logged in does not have the permission to use them. 

2


4. Decide where you would like your databases to be located and select Preferences in the Tools tab. 

Select Set Path for Database Files and navigate to required folder, then OK. 

5. To create a new database in the folder chosen, select Create new database in File tab. In this 

example, the database is called “JOINTS” 

The current database is saved when Opta Comms is exited and will be re-entered the next time Opta 

Comms is executed. The current database can be saved with a different name if required using 

Save current database as … in the File tab. 

It is possible to have more than one database and they can be opened by selecting Open existing 

database in the File tab. 

3


6. Create a transducer type by selecting Configure | Transducers | Add Transducer. This will bring 

up the configure transducer edit box. Choose the transducer type first as this will bring up different 

options. The example, below adds a 75Nm Opta Wrench. Click the save icon to save the 

transducer before proceeding. 

Note that it is a transducer type that is being defined, so if you have 5 off 75Nm IQWrench Opta 

using this database, you only need to define one 75Nm wrench transducer type. 

Once you have defined a transducer you can edit it or delete it as long as there are no jobs 

attached to it. 

In the main screen you will see: 

7. Create a job specification by selecting Configure | Jobs | Add Job. This will bring up the configure 

transducer edit box. The maximum size job name is 50 characters. The name can consist of 

capital letters, numerals and spaces. 

However if you are using a wrench with CMP-10 printer then would recommend that the job name is 

31 characters or less so that the label is printed correctly 

4


You will then be presented with a screen to configure the job, in this case called JOB 1. 

You can enter a Description, which can be shown on the Opta device the job is downloaded to. 

For example, if the job is downloaded to a wrench, then the description can be seen by using the 

right key in the job list. 

Make sure Data Enabled is ticked. 

Choose the number of Samples (readings) per subgroup, and the number of Subgroups per job. 

The maximum value for either of these is 200 but the total readings per job cannot exceed 1500. 

For simple jobs choose Subgroup = 1. 

5


Choose the Measurement Type (this will depend on the transducer chosen). In the example, Peak 

has been chosen, which gives the Peak torque achieved during the measurement cycle. 

Choose the Measurement Direction. This will determine in which direction torque (and angle) will 

be measured. 

Choose Cycle End Time. This determines how long the transducer will wait, once torque has 

returned below threshold before deeming that the cycle has finished and the results can be 

analysed / stored. 

The other settings in this page are advanced functions and can be left as default. 

Selecting the tab Settings #2 give the following settings. 

Note that the settings presented changed, depending on the transducer type selected, in this case 

an Opta wrench. 

You can choose the Display Units for torque. If you need to convert values from one torque unit to 

another, use the icon. 

If Use Control Limits is ticked, then extra limit fields will appear 

6


The program ensures that the limits are consistent before allowing the job to be saved. 

The Adapter Type field is specific for wrench transducer type. “Any Adapter” allows any adapter to 

be used with that job. The wrench would read the adapter ID and if it was in the downloaded ID 

table (see later) then it would work out the compensation for that adapter length. If “Adapter ID” is 

selected, then the job will only work on the wrench if that particular ID is used, i.e. it is forcing a 

particular adapter to be used with the job. 

Once the job setting have been entered, the job can be saved and you would see: 

Once a job is defined, it can be edited or deleted (if it has no data stored against it). 

You can see that the wrench transducer is locked to JOB 1, i.e. it is in use with JOB 1. This means 

the transducer cannot be deleted or its configuration changed unless all jobs that use it are 

detached from it and attached to another transducer. 

8. A set of users that will use the transducers and jobs needs to be defined. Create a set of User IDs 

by selecting Configure | User ID Table. This will bring up the User ID Configure edit box. Use the 

Add user icon to add a user. A box will appear allowing you to enter the user name (maximum of 

20 characters - if it is a wrench, limit it to 15 characters). Enter a password, which can be 10 

alphanumeric characters (it is not case sensitive and lowercase will be converted to uppercase. 

The superuser on an Opta Device has access to more functions. You can define more than one 

superuser, but only one superuser can be downloaded to an Opta device. 

Once a user has had results stored against their name for a job, then they cannot be deleted. 

7


9. If you have an IQWrench, you will need to define an ID. Click the adapter lengths icon 

There are 126 IDs available, this is because 

ID000 and ID127 are special cases. As an 

administrator you may have permission to edit 

the Adapter Length values depending on 

registry settings. Just select the ID and click 

the Edit button. You can choose a length 

between 0 and 200mm in whole mm. If the 

value 255 is entered, then that ID value will 

not be recognised in the IQWrench. Once the 

ID table has been set, it should only be edited 

with caution as it could be in wrenches in use. 

10. Opta Comms will communicate with a wrench via its cradle. The communication can be either 

RS232 or USB. Note: that if USB is used then the cradle does not need to be powered because the 

USB function derives its power from the PC. However you can tell that the wrench is fully inserted 

into its cradle because the charge light would come on if there was power. 

8


When using USB make sure that the USB cable is always put into the same USB port as would 

used when the USB drivers were installed. 

Go to Tools | Options. 

Set up the RS232 and USB ports for the PC. Then on the main screen, select either the RS232 or 

the USB icon (they are mutually exclusive). 

9


SECTION B – Operating Opta Comms 

10. Place the wrench in its cradle and should get a charge light come, indicating it is connected. The 

cradle should be connected to Opta Comms using either RS232 or USB and the appropriate 

Comms channel should be selected. Make sure the wrench is on and select the Comms function 

on the main menu of the wrench. The wrench will state “External Communications Ready”. 

Press the test link icon and the box below will appear on the main screen. It gives 

information about the wrench that is in the cradle. The release is the software version on the 

wrench, if this is an old version, please contact CEL if a newer version is available. The serial 

number should match the one engraved on the lid. The span is the maximum torque the wrench is 

designed to pull. It will also be used by the software to determine if a job is suitable to be downloaded 

to the wrench, because each job is associated with a specific transducer during set up. 

11. Select the jobs you wish to download to the wrench. You can do this by clicking on the jobs 

displayed in the central pane while holding down the “Cntrl” key. In this example, Jobs JOB1 and 

JOB2 have been selected. 

10


12. Press the Download Jobs icon . Confirm that the selected jobs need to be downloaded. 

A screen will appear showing the progress of the jobs download. 

At the end of the download, a screen will inform you what jobs were downloaded. 

The jobs that have been downloaded will have a padlock placed beside their name. This indicates 

that the job has been downloaded to a wrench. The padlock will prevent those jobs being 

downloaded to another wrench until the first wrench uploads its results and allows the jobs to be 

11


deleted off it. If it is required that the same jobs need to be downloaded to more than one wrench, 

then use the Tools | Remove Padlocks function to remove the padlocks on selected jobs. You will 

be prompted if it should be automatic or confirmed for each individual job. 

13. Once the jobs are downloaded, if Opta Comms detects that there are no users on the wrench, it will 

automatically present the User List function. If there are already users on the wrench, then you can 

still change the users by selecting Configure | User List or press the icon . 

Select a user in the left-hand table and click the > button to transfer into User List on right-hand 

side. Make sure Superuser is in first slot. You can use the Up and Down buttons to move users in 

the User List so as to change the order they will be seen in on the Opta Device. The maximum 

number of users you can have in the User List is 15. 

Press the download icon and then the exit icon to come back to the main screen. 

14. If Opta Comms detects that the wrench does not have an ID table it will automatically present the ID 

table function or it can be selected by selection the adapter lengths icon. Click the download button 

and the ID table will download to the wrench in about a second. Then click the Exit button 

to continue. 

12


15. The wrench can be removed from the cradle as it is now ready to perform the jobs downloaded to it. 

Once results have been gathered against the jobs downloaded onto the wrench, either complete or 

partial, then they can be uploaded back to Opta Comms to be stored in its database. 

Place the wrench back in the cradle and ensure it is in the Comms function. 

Highlight the jobs whose results you wish to upload back to the wrench (it does not matter if a 

selected job has no results stored in the wrench). Then click the Upload icon . 

The wrench will be interrogated and the following screen will appear. It will state what jobs are on 

the wrench (even if they are not in the current database). It will automatically tick the selected jobs 

but you can manually change that choice. If the Delete Jobs box is ticked, then those jobs will be 

deleted from the wrench after the data has been uploaded from them. 

When you exit from the upload selection screen, you will see a screen informing you of upload 

progress and finally you will get a screen informing you which jobs were uploaded. 

13


16. If you chose to delete the job you will see another symbol instead of the padlock. For example, 

JOB 1 shows that it now has data stored against it. 

Once a job has data stored against it, it cannot have its setting altered until the data is archived 

away. To archive data, highlight the job and select File | Archive. The data present symbol when 

then be removed. 

To view the data stored against a job, double-click the job and the view screen will appear. Select 

the right hand Data tab. 

This will bring up the last dataset stored. If you double click on a data set then you can view the 

readings within that data set. 

14


15

OPTA Comms - Crane Electronics Ltd

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?