Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue In WorkPlace Tech, monitor tags can not be placed into the open application. They disappear and there is no error message. Product Line TAC IA Series Environment WorkPlace Tech Cause A layer being turned off in error and need to configure the layer setting to Visible. Resolution Below are steps to resolve the issue: Close WorkPlace Tech. Using Windows Explorer locate the VSD file, right click it, and clear the read-only and archive flags.   Open the drawing in Visio. Select "Customize" from the "Tools" drop-down menu. Highlight "Menu Bar" on the Toolbars tab of the Customize window and pick "Reset". Close the Customize window. Select "Drawing Explorer Window" from the "View" dropdown.   Expand Foreground Pages - Device Definition - Layers. Right-click RealTimes and enable Visible.   Close the "Drawing Explorer Window". Save and close the file. Insert monitor tags will now work.

Issue How can a WorkPlace Tech application be identified as created/edited with version 3.2sp1 (or older) so it can be converted by WPT 4.x or WPT 5.x? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment WorkPlace Tech Cause Jobsite with an installed base of MNL or MNB controllers but the version of WorkPlace Tech used is not known. Resolution NOTE: Do not allow the application to be converted, if so prompted. Open the application file in an appropriate version of Visio. (WorkPlace Tech not needed). While holding down the left-shift key, right click on the background of the application and select "Show ShapeSheet", holding the left-shift key down until the ShapeSheet window is displayed. Verify that the text table window that is opened shows the file name followed by "". If not, close the shapesheet window and repeat step 2. The left-shift key must be held down until the ShapeSheet table is displayed. Look for the "User-defined Cells" table in the displayed information and verify that an entry named "User.wptVersion" is shown. This field will show the version of WorkPlace Tech that created the application. If either the "User-defined Cells" section or the "User.wptVersion" field are not displayed in the shape sheet, the application was created / edited with a version of Workplace Tech prior to version 3.2sp1. Close Visio. Respond by clicking NO if Visio prompts to save the document. In Visio 2010, the ShapeSheet is located on the Developer tab, which is not displayed by default. To show the Developer tab, do the following: Click the File tab. Under Help, click Options. Click Customize Ribbon. Under Customize the Ribbon, select the Developer check box. To open the ShapeSheet, do the following: On the Developer tab, in the Shape Design group, click the arrow below Show ShapeSheet and then do one of the following: To open the ShapeSheet for a selected shape, click Shape. To open the ShapeSheet for the active page, click Page. To open the ShapeSheet for the entire drawing, click Document.  

Issue Is there an easier way to get log information out of a Niagara R2 Enterprise Server station other than by using a web browser, saving the data, and importing it to Excel? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series R2 (Niagara) station with logs. Cause Tech tip. Resolution There is no easier way to get log information than to use a web browser, save the data, and import to Excel. However, by default, a query to the archived log limits the number of records to 2500. This limit can be changed by adding $limit=xxxx.  Note:  Attempting to query a large number of records (> 7500) may cause the process to fail due to timeouts. A review of the cloudscape2excel document provides some details.

Issue Configuring LON tunneling in Niagara G3 Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Niagara G3 Cause See below to watch a video document (vdoc) explaining the process to configure Lon tunneling in Niagara G3. Resolution The purpose of this video is to show you how to configure Lon Tunneling in G3. It's already assumed that there is a LON network that has been installed, commissioned, and discovered in the G3 ENC.  

Issue What Niagara R2 UNC license features are shown with BACnet MSTP? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Niagara R2 UNC BACnet MSTP Cause The Niagara R2 UNC checked in the license.properties file, and if the line BACnetMSTP trunk is absent, the default is 1. Resolution Each UNC-520 is licensed for LonWorks and BACnet IP / BACnet Ethernet as a standard feature. Even though the license defaults with the number of BACnet/MSTP trunks = 1, the user must purchase an IA-DRV-MST-P for each BACnet/MSTP trunk required. The BACnetMSTP feature will be added to the license.  

Issue Getting "invalid status error 503" when trying to access a Niagara R2 UNC station remotely Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Remote I/A Series R2 station Cause Issue is due to large number of UNCs on site, and / or high browser traffic. Resolution This is an issue seen from time to time on sites that either have many UNCs present or see lots of browser traffic. Check the system.properties file. There is a line that reads:  webServer.threadPoolSize=15 .       This is the number of web server threads that can be opened to the UNC station.  Each station to station connection takes up one thread, as does a web browser connection.  I believe the JDE takes up three threads when it connects to the UNC station.  If the UNC station runs out of available threads you will see the "503" error. Change that number to 25 or 30 and reboot the UNC. If the problem persists, then change this line to false: ie.activex.activation=true

Issue In Niagara R2, how are special events configured within a schedule? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Niagara R2 Cause Define a single day, consecutive days, or combination of days as special-event days to override weekly and holiday schedule. Resolution Click below to watch a video document (vdoc) explaining the process to configure Special Events.

Issue In Niagara R2, how can alarms be viewed and acknowledged using a web browser? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Niagara R2 Cause Incorrect URL (Alarm Summary) in the address bar of the browser will not display the alarm summary page. The alarm summary page provides a view of exist unacknowledged alarms. Resolution Click below to watch a video document (v-doc) explaining the process of how to View and Acknowledge alarms using Niagara Servlets.  

Issue How do I Create or Edit a schedule in Niagara R2? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Niagara R2 Cause Instruction on setting up schedules object. Resolution This presentation will show you how to use servlets to view and acknowledge Niagara Framework alarms from your internet browser. We'll also look at two other useful servlets. Servlets are designed to give the user access to information via the web browser.

Issue Can one common transformer be used to power full-wave and half-wave devices? (For example, a MNB-1000 controller and a DuraDrive actuator) Environment Full-wave and half-wave devices Transformer Cause Use a common transformer to power full-wave or half-wave devices. Resolution Ensure that the transformer's power rating is greater than the power requirements of both loads. To prepare for the installation of any power wiring, review "EN-206 Guidelines for Powering Multiple Full-Wave and Half-Wave Rectifier Devices from a Common Transformer" (F-26363) as a reference.

Issue Is there a way to convert a Trane BCU (BMTW or BMTX) from BACnet/Ethernet to BACnet/IP for integrating to a Niagara R2 UNC? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Trane BCU (BMTW or BMTX) Niagara R2 UNC Cause There are two components required to change over the BCU from BACnet/Ethernet to BACnet/IP. Resolution A special serial cable is required to download the BCU with the new configuration. Below are the pin outs to make the cable:     Access to the Tracer Summit software. Here are the steps for running the BCUconfig.exe program to change over the BCU from Ethernet to IP: Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Tracer Summit\Bin Double-click on BCUconfig.exe Enter the information and select download. Note - This is where you must have the Trane serial cable. The BCU will reset. Now change the Connection type in the Tracer Summit software to IP connection: Open the Tracer Summit software and select Connect. The Site connection Wizard will appear. Select the BACnet/IP radio button. From the Ethernet Configuration window, select the 'open on startup' check box. Select the 'Use BBMD connection' from the BACnet/IP configuration window. Specify the IP address of the BBMD BCU and the UDP port which is the BACnet port. Select Finish.

Issue Unable to upgrade a JACE 8000 to I/A Series Niagara 4.8 or later due to insufficient memory allocation. Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series Niagara 4 I/A Series JACE 8000 Cause I/A Series Niagara 4.8 or later running on a JACE 8000 will consume approximately 40 MB more memory than Niagara 4.7 due to new features including a new OS (operating system) and JRE (Java Runtime Engine). Resolution The following information will help identify if there is sufficient system memory to upgrade to Niagara 4.8 or later and if not, how to tune memory parameters to increase required system memory. Use the following analysis to determine if a Niagara 4 platform, operating at release 4.7 or earlier, requires a memory allocation adjustment PRIOR to upgrading to version 4.8 or later. Determine the amount of Free Physical RAM in the embedded platform while running the current release (prior to a 4.8 or later firmware upgrade) Open the embedded platform with the Niagara Platform Administrator tools. Check the amount of Free Physical RAM that is currently available. The image below displays where the information is located. If the amount of Free Physical RAM is greater than 40,000 KB (40 MB), the JACE 8000 platform is ready to perform an upgrade to Niagara version 4.8.  If the amount of Free Physical RAM is less than 40,000 KB (40 MB), the platform will require adjustment to the NRE Memory allocation using the steps below. Determine the amount of memory allocation required Subtract the current amount Free Physical RAM (MB) from the required 40 MB allocation. In the example above, 40 MB – 26.3 MB = 13.7 MB. Round this value up 14 MB. Next, add a buffer value of 10 MB to the previous result for a new total of 24 MB. System memory will be freed by reducing size of RAM disk used for histories. Ensure that /mnt/aram0 contains at least this “allocation adjustment” free space.  Using the above example, there is 326,944 KB (approximately 326 MB) of available memory that can be re-allocated to satisfy the additional 24 MB requirement.  Note: If there is not enough free space available in the /mnt/aram0, please contact Product Support for more options. Adjust the NRE Memory allocation Use the Platform Administrator tool to locate and select the Configure NRE Memory button as shown below. Record the current memory allocations for Heap Space and Meta Space by reviewing the memory sizes shown below. Increase the Meta Space by using the Meta Space slider to provide additional working space. Slide the Meta Space adjustment shown below to add 40 MB to the existing value of 48 MB increasing the Meta Space to 88 MB. Increase the System Reserve by the required 24 MB calculated in the example above. Slide the System Reserve adjustment shown below to set the value to 24 MB. Return (increase) the Heap Space back to the original 384 MB size by adjusting the Heap Space slider shown below. The final adjustment will bring the Meta Space back the original 48 MB size by adjusting the Meta Space slider shown below. Save the changes and reboot the JACE 8000.  Using the information from Step 1, verify that the Free Physical RAM is now above 40 MB.  If confirmed, the JACE 8000 platform is ready to perform an upgrade to I/A Series Niagara version 4.8 or later.

Issue There are missing serial ports (COM ports) when viewing the 'SerialPortService' under 'PlatformServices' in a station. Some or all COM ports will be missing. Local serial ports and/or serial ports of the attached modules do not function. Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series AX Jace 8000 Cause This could show up for several reasons. This was found during an upgrade to Niagara 4.2. It was also experienced when converting a Jace8000 running N4.2 (or lower N4 version) to AX. This can occur with a new out of the box J8000 to AX conversion if you do not first commission the Jace8000 to Niagara 4.4 or above before converting to AX. All of these problems are due to older version USBbinary files not being properly updated during commissioning. The LON option module (side-car) might stop communicating on the LON trunk due to the same binary file issue. Resolution This can be fixed via serial shell; either by direct connecting with a mini-USB cable or via ssh after it is enabled from the Platform Administration view. It is recommended that PuTTY.exe be downloaded and used as the terminal program to access the shell. The directions below are CASE-sensitive and must be entered exactly as shown. We recommend that you do not type these commands, but rather use copy-and-paste to avoid typographical errors. This is especially true of the usbSerialNumber itself -- it is case-SENSITIVE. By default, PuTTY.exe uses mouse-left-click-drag-and-highlight as an automatic shortcut for copy. Mouse-right-click is the automatic shortcut for paste. Once logged in type: Display the USB serial number(s) sh [hit enter] $ ls /etc/usb [this will display the USB serial number(s), if nothing displays see the note* at the bottom] 85091090FPGGS41 [this is an example serial number] Display the available binary files $ ls -Rp /sys/images/usb [this will display the available binary files] /sys/images/usb/applet-flash-sam4s16.bin* /sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2404/Tridium232-1_r03.bin* /sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2425/Tridium485-2_r04.bin* Note: You could also see '_r05' instead of '_r04'. If this is your result, make sure to update using the line below. /sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2425/Tridium485-2_r05.bin* The USB ports unavailable is due to the 'Tridium485-2_r04.bin' (or Tridium485-2_r05.bin) file was not written to the USB serial number file. This can be corrected by updating the USB serial number file with the correct binary file using the statement below. Make sure to replace the X in the statement with the highest number binary found in 'STEP 2' above. $ echo /sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2425/Tridium485-2_r0X.bin > /etc/usb/<usbSerialNumber> Update the binary file Using the example serial number and USB binary file found in STEP 2: $ echo /sys/images/usb/vid03eb/pid2425/Tridium485-2_r05.bin > /etc/usb/85091090FPGGS41 Make sure to use the serial number found when 'ls /etc/usb' was called. If there is more than one serial number found, write the command multiple times, once for each serial number found. Also, make sure to use the highest USB binary file number found. Currently r05 is the highest number. If '_r05' is returned as the available USB binary file, make sure to use '_r05' when updating the USB serial number. After a reboot, check the SerialPortService to confirm the ports are restored. *Note: if no usb serial number was found using ls /etc/usb another method would be to call for the slog by typing: $ sloginfo An error would have been logged here during the last startup and will display the serial number; example output: Oct 10 13:42:06 1 6 0 serusb_is_device_supported: Device 2 on bus 0 unrecognized. Using CDC-ACM Class Oct 10 13:42:07 4 11111 0 error opening /etc/usb/85091090FPGGS41 rc=-1 In addition to the symptoms listed above, the inability to communicate with the LON option module may cause the any of the following messages in the Serial Shell and/or the Platform Administration System Logs: error opening /etc/usb/<serial number here> rc=-1 U50Read returned unknown rc = 8!!! io_write failed ldvRC=7, length=<various numbers of bytes> The Station will most likely show that the LON network is up, but the LON devices are down. The device fault cause may show "unable to write" or something similar.

Issue BACnet tuning policies improperly applied can cause BACnet network problems Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series G3 ENC I/A Series AX / N4 Jace Cause Configuration parameters in the BACnet tuning policies can initiate high polling rates, force high volumes of writes, reads, and apply confirmed COV to BACnet proxies in the Jace / ENC. Resolution The following video will help us, Configure the "DefaultPolicy" as well as creating additional tuning policies for BACnet proxies   Apply tuning policies to regulate BACnet network utilization

Issue How to configure BACnet networks in an IA Series Jace Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series G3 (AX) ENC (Jace) I/A Series N4 ENC (Jace) Cause Need for a detailed approach to IP and MSTP network setup. Resolution This video explains the steps necessary to configure a JACE to Communicate with BACnet IP and MSTP controllers.

Issue What is the procedure for upgrading firmware in an I/A Controller? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment Workplace Commissioning Tool I/A Series MNB Cause Improvements to MNB firmware require upgrades to be made periodically to the controllers. Resolution This video demonstrates how to upgrade MNB devices with the I/A Commissioning Tool.

Issue How can I derWho-is broadcasts are causing a large amount of BACnet network traffic Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series MNB I/A Series WorkPlace Commissioning Tool Wireshark Cause Experiencing network issues caused by Who-is broadcasts.  Resolution This video demonstrates how to... Troubleshoot a Who-is Broadcast Understand what initiates a Who-is Broadcast

Issue How can Workplace Commissioning Tool be used to backup projects and restore of I/A devices? Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series WorkPlace Commissioning Tool I/A Series MNL controllers I/A Series MNB controllers  Cause Define the procedure for backups/restore in Workplace Commissioning Tool Resolution This demostration shows how to perform backup and restore procedures using Workplace Commissioning Tool

Issue Who-has Broadcasts are causing a large amount of BACnet network traffic Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series MNB I/A Series WorkPlace Commissioning Tool Wireshark Cause Determining BACnet network issues caused by Who has? broadcasts Resolution The objective of this video are to Demonstrate how to troubleshoot a Who-has Broadcast Explain what initiates a Who-has Broadcast

Issue Digital SAT outputs are not available when using the EBO MN-HPFC object Product Line TAC IA Series. Environment I/A Series Network 8000 MN-HPFC Building Operation Automation Server Premium Building Operation Automation Server Cause The standard MN-HPFC device object in EBO cannot be used when the device was previously configured for Satellite Mode used in a Network 8000 system or R2 integration. Resolution Use the MN:MicroNet 2000 Generic object to interface to an MN-HPFC when configured for satellite mode.  This object provides a set of generic inputs and outputs that map over to the satellite controller points.  See the attached MN-HPFC Reference Manual that details the inputs and outputs starting on page 6-11.   DIN6 ( Digital Input 6 ) controls DO1 Sat Cmd DIN7 ( Digital Input 7 ) controls DO2 Sat Cmd DIN8 ( Digital Input 8 ) controls DO3 Sat Cmd