Manage every meaningful sensor setting directly from the platform. Filter your fleet, edit individual sensors inline, apply configurations across multiple sensors at once, and tune the auto-diagnosis sample per device. This article covers the full configuration workflow for vibration analysts and reliability engineers managing Smart Trac, Energy Trac, and Uni Trac sensors.
Before You Start
Make sure you have:
Access to the Settings area of your Tractian platform.
Permission to edit sensor configurations. If you do not see the edit options described below, contact your workspace administrator.
A desktop browser. The Sensors Table is available on desktop only.
At least one sensor installed and reporting to your workspace.
Important: Sensor configuration directly affects how your data is captured, how alerts are generated, and how Insights are built for each asset.
Accessing the Sensors Table
The Sensors Table is the central place to view and configure every sensor in your fleet.
On the main navigation, click Settings.
Open the Monitoring section.
Click Sensors.
You will see a table listing every sensor in your workspace, with one row per sensor and one column for each configurable setting.
Finding the Sensors You Want to Configure
The filter bar at the top of the table helps you narrow your fleet down to the exact sensors you want to work with.
You can filter by:
Filter | What it does |
Asset / Location | Shows only sensors installed on a specific asset, or on assets within a specific site, area, or sub-location. |
Sensor version | Filters by sensor model (for example, Smart Trac, Energy Trac, Uni Trac) and hardware generation. |
Equipment type | Shows sensors installed on a specific type of equipment, such as motors, pumps, fans, or compressors. |
You can combine multiple filters at the same time. For example, filter by Location: Plant A and Equipment type: Pumps to see only the pump sensors at that plant.
💡 Tip: When managing a large fleet, filter first by location and then by equipment type. This usually narrows the list to a group of sensors that share similar tuning needs, making bulk configuration faster and safer.
Editing a Single Sensor
To change the configuration of one specific sensor:
In the Sensors Table, locate the sensor you want to edit.
Click directly on the cell of the setting you want to change.
Enter the new value, or select it from the dropdown that appears.
Confirm the change.
The new value is applied immediately to that sensor and the table updates to reflect it.
Available Sensor Settings
Every meaningful acquisition setting is available as an inline-editable field. The table below describes each one.
Setting | What it controls |
Uptime Threshold | The minimum activity level used to determine when the asset is considered running. This affects how operating hours are counted and when activity-based alerts are triggered. |
Sensitivity | How responsive the sensor is to vibration changes. Higher sensitivity captures smaller variations; lower sensitivity reduces noise on assets with naturally variable behavior. |
Monitored Axes | Which axes (X, Y, Z) the sensor uses for vibration acquisition. Adjust based on the mounting position and the failure modes you are tracking. |
Magnetometer | Enables or disables the magnetic field sensor, used to detect on/off cycles and rotation in specific applications. |
Always Listening | When enabled, the sensor continuously monitors for events instead of relying only on scheduled captures. |
Startup Delay | Time the sensor waits after detecting startup before beginning acquisition. Useful for assets with unstable startup behavior that should not be treated as normal operating data. |
Spectrum Sample | The configuration of the spectrum portion of the auto-diagnosis sample. |
Trend Sample | The configuration of the trend portion of the auto-diagnosis sample. |
Spectrum Range | The frequency range covered by the spectrum capture. Set this to cover the relevant frequencies for the asset's rotation speed and expected failure modes. |
Sample Duration | How long each capture lasts. Longer durations improve resolution but generate more data. |
Trend Filters | The filters applied to trend data to isolate the frequency bands relevant for each asset's behavior. |
Ultrasound Sample | Configures ultrasound capture, used for early-stage fault detection on bearings, valves, and compressed air systems. |
Gain | The amplification applied to the captured signal. Adjust when the default gain produces signals that are too weak or that saturate on a specific asset. |
Important: Changes to Sensitivity, Uptime Threshold, and Monitored Axes affect how alerts and operating hours are calculated for the asset. Validate the impact on one or two sensors before rolling out the same change across the fleet.
Applying the Same Configuration to Multiple Sensors
When you need several sensors to share the same configuration, use drag-and-apply. This replaces the older Sample Profile workflow.
In the Sensors Table, apply filters to narrow the list to the sensors you want to update.
Configure one sensor with the exact settings you want to replicate. This is your source sensor.
Click and hold the row (or the configuration handle) of the source sensor.
Drag it onto the sensors you want to update. You can drag onto a single row, a multi-row selection, or the full filtered list.
Release to apply.
After the action runs, you will see a per-sensor result report. Each target sensor is listed with its outcome:
Success: the configuration was applied.
Failed: the configuration could not be applied, with the reason shown so you know what needs review.
💡 Tip: Start with a small group (5 to 10 sensors) the first time you replicate a configuration. This makes it easier to confirm the change behaves as expected before rolling it out across hundreds of sensors.
Important: Common reasons for a sensor to fail a bulk apply include the sensor being offline at the moment of the change, or the sensor version not supporting a specific setting in the source configuration. Re-check those sensors after they come back online, or adjust them individually if the setting does not apply to that hardware version.
Configuring the Auto-Diagnosis Sample
The auto-diagnosis sample is the ongoing capture that feeds the Insights generated for each asset. Its configuration is now managed per sensor, directly from the Sensors Table.
Why configure it per sensor
Different assets behave differently. A high-speed motor and a slow-turning fan should not be captured with the same spectrum range. Per-sensor configuration lets you match the capture to how each asset actually operates, instead of applying a single profile to many devices.
Configure the auto-diagnosis sample per sensor when:
The asset operates outside the default rotation speed range and the standard spectrum window does not cover its key frequencies.
The asset has variable load patterns that require specific trend filters.
You want to align the capture with a specific failure mode you are tracking on that asset.
How to configure it
In the Sensors Table, locate the sensor you want to tune.
Edit the Spectrum Sample fields: a. Spectrum Range: set the frequency range that covers the asset's relevant operating frequencies. b. Sample Duration: set how long each capture runs.
Edit the Trend Sample fields: a. Trend Filters: define the filters applied to the trend data for this asset.
Adjust Ultrasound Sample and Gain if the asset requires ultrasound capture or a non-default gain.
The new configuration takes effect on the next scheduled auto-diagnosis capture for that sensor.
💡 Tip: To apply the same auto-diagnosis configuration to a group of similar assets (for example, all pumps of the same model at the same site), tune one representative sensor first, then use drag-and-apply to replicate the configuration across the others.
Scheduling a Sample for a Specific Asset
The auto-diagnosis sample handles the continuous capture that powers Insights. When you need a deeper look at a specific asset outside of that schedule, for example while investigating a developing fault, schedule a sample on demand from Analytics.
Scheduled samples and HD Samples
If you previously used HD Samples or daily samples configured through Sample Profiles, that functionality is now handled by the Scheduler. Existing manually configured daily samples were migrated automatically and continue running with the same configuration.
How to schedule a sample
Open the asset in Analytics.
Click Scheduler.
Configure the sample: a. Spectrum range and sample duration: define the capture parameters for this specific sample. You can use settings different from the asset's auto-diagnosis configuration. b. Recurrence: choose One-time for a single capture, or Daily to repeat the capture every day.
Confirm the scheduled sample.
When the scheduled sample completes, click it from the asset's sample list. The spectrum page opens with that specific sample selected, ready for analysis. The rest of your analytics view stays as it was, so you do not lose context from your ongoing investigation.
💡 Tip: Use daily recurrence while you are actively monitoring a developing fault. Switch back to one-time captures once the situation stabilizes, to keep the asset's sample history focused on meaningful captures.
Important: Scheduling samples is a desktop-only action. On mobile, you can view scheduled samples and their results, but you cannot create or modify them.
Reading Trend and Auto-Diagnosis Samples Together
In the spectrum view, Trend samples and Auto-diagnosis samples appear together on the same chart. There is no toggle to hide Trend points.
When you click a Trend point, the platform automatically opens the closest Auto-diagnosis sample's spectrum. This lets you move from a high-level trend reading into a full spectrum analysis in one click, without needing to manually correlate timestamps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Sample Profiles go? Sample Profiles have been replaced by per-sensor configuration in the Sensors Table. To replicate a configuration across multiple sensors, configure one sensor and use drag-and-apply to copy that configuration to the others.
My Scheduler is empty. What happened to my samples? Only manually configured samples were migrated to the Scheduler. If you previously had Sample Profiles created by a user (including daily HD Samples), they are now in the Scheduler with the same configuration. If you only had automatic samples that you did not configure yourself, those were removed and will not return. The auto-diagnosis sample now handles continuous capture.
Why can I no longer hide Trend points from the spectrum chart? Trend samples are always visible alongside Auto-diagnosis samples. Clicking any Trend point automatically opens the closest Auto-diagnosis sample's spectrum, so you no longer need to hide them to find the relevant capture.
Do bulk changes apply immediately? Yes. Once you release a drag-and-apply action, the configuration is sent to each target sensor. The per-sensor result report shows the outcome of each individual update.
What happens if a sensor fails to receive a configuration? The configuration is not applied to that sensor; its previous settings remain in place. The result report lists the reason. The most common causes are the sensor being offline at the moment of the action, or the sensor's hardware version not supporting a specific setting included in the source configuration.
Will changing the auto-diagnosis configuration affect past Insights or samples? No. Past captures, Insights, and analyses are preserved. The new configuration applies only to captures taken after the change.
Can I revert a configuration change? There is no automatic undo. To revert, edit the sensor (or sensors) again and set the values back to the previous configuration. If you may need to revert, note the original values before editing, or use drag-and-apply with a sensor that still holds the previous configuration as the source.