Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue What is the requirement of the PC when installing TAC Vista software? Environment TAC Vista Cause Minimum and recommended hardware and software requirements for installation of TAC Vista and its components. Resolution All minimum requirements are listed in the data sheets for each component respectively. All TAC Vista data sheets and other related documentation is available for download on The Exchange Download Center. Navigate to TAC Vista within The Exchange Download Center Narrow results by Asset types (Manual, Specification Sheet, Release Notes, etc...)

Issue Installed I/A Series G3 Workbench on a new computer with Windows 7 Professional 32-bit and the host ID changes each time Workbench is started.  This has been seen on new Dell laptops and computers that have been provided a replacement hard drive with Dell operating system (Microsoft OS) installation disks. Environment I/A Series G3 build 3.4.xx, Enterprise Server, Workbench Cause Host IDs continuously change as the software does not have rights to write the encrypted host ID key into the registry. Resolution Locate the Niagara service and Workbench executables (niagarad.exe and wb.exe).  These files are located under the niagara's directory (bin folder).          Example: \niagara\niagara-3.x.xx\bin Right click and select properties for each executable. Select the compatibility tab and check the "Run this program as an administrator" privilege level checkbox.  The host ID is now allowed to be written to the registry by the software.

Issue Controller error log reports the following modbus error codes.  0x0000f806 0x0000f808 0x0000f80c   Environment Modbus RTU Stop Bits Cause Incorrect comm port configuration. Resolution Changed the comm port configuration from 1 stop bit to 2 stop bits.

Issue How to dump object from a PE program Environment CyberStation Cause Documentation Resolution Use the DUMP keyword to dump objects from a PE program running in CyberStation. Example: Dump MyNetwork\MyController\MyObject to "C:\Temp\MyObject.txt" The object will be exported in DUMP format, there is no way to do the same in CSV format.

Issue What is the maximum allowable distance between two Lon devices on a lon network? Environment TAC Vista 5.1.X  Lon devices such as Xenta 2/3/400 FTT10-A either free or bus topology Cause The physical layout of a building may require nodes to be installed far apart. Resolution The maximum distance between two devices (nodes) is 320m. No node may be more than 320m worth of cable from the bus termination (if bus topology is used). More information can be found in the Lonworks Installation Handbook, chapter 5 "Physical Network Structuring".

Issue What is the best way to integrate StruxureWare Building Operation with a hotel booking system?   Environment StruxureWare Building Operation version 1.2 Cause The way to integrate with a third party hotel booking system is in the most cases to use Web services. Web Services are programmable applications accessible from standard Internet protocols. You can use Web Services to consume information, such as temperature from a weather service over the internet. Resolution In most cases the best way to integrate StruxureWare Building Operation with a hotel booking system is to use Web Services. 

Issue Performance of the Netcontroller could be slow because of the scan rate Environment All Netcontrollers Cause Programs and functions that are polling data frequently can drive up the scan time Resolution The scan cycle has the following components to evaluate and process: System variables, download schedules, update inputs, run programs, update outputs, process alarms. Any of these can drive up the scan, but typically there is a program that is requesting polling updates on child controllers (infinet, mstp, modbus) that is driving up the scan. To troubleshoot this, disable all of the programs and enable them one by one to determine which programs are driving up the scan. Once that is determined, focus on adjusting the program accordingly. Performance of the system can be affected by a slow scan time and normally as the scan rate goes up, the performance goes down. An extremely high scan rate would be 50 where the performance is unusable, but could still be working. A scan rate of less than 1 second is ideal, but the real measure of the acceptable rate would be determined by the end user. A scan time of 5 seconds may be acceptable. The scan rate is similar to CPU utilization on a PC, so that high utilization over long periods of time will be more taxing on the controller.

Issue Knowing just the serial number of a controller, how to determine the options configured. Environment CX, bcx Cause How to determine a controller's configured options when only knowing the serial number. Resolution When a controller is online with CyberStation simply run ContinuumExplorer, navigate to the controller, select and right-click on the controller and select Edit. Look at the Options tab. However, if the controller is non-functioning then contact the US Repair Dept at (978) 475-9600 Press 2 then 3 or via email at tacus.WLCrepair@schneider-electric and provide them with the serial number and controller type. They can look up the options that have been configured.

Issue After installing Continuum, on launching Cyberstation Continuum does not display the logon dialogue box.  Cannot launch the logon dialogue manually because no Continuum icon appears in the notification area of Windows task bar. Environment Cyberstation Continuum Logon Cause Problem with the OS installation or the corporate image that was used to install the operating system. Resolution Following a reformat of the workstations hard drive and reinstallation of the operating system, Cyberstation installed properly. 

Issue Where can I find the current I/A Series product line training schedule? Environment I/A Series product line Cause Field office training requirement. Resolution The complete training catalog for Schneider Electric Buildings solutions can be found at the Buildings Business Training Center.

Issue How can a 16 bit signed integer value be displayed correctly? Environment Modbus IC IC3 16 bit Signed Cause A Modbus value is displayed as 65???. Resolution With a 16 bit signed integer value, the range used is +/- 32767, and seeing a value of 65??? indicates a negative value. The easiest way to read this value is to use a lookup table. The table should be added as follows. 0          =      0 32767 =      32767 32768 =    - 32767 65535 =    - 0  

Issue Does Schneider Electric offer replacement labels to convert the Smart Thermostats to other languages? Environment Viconics T-Stats French, German, Italian, etc. Cause It is desired to have labels on the wall mounted thermostats that are in the native language of the installation site. Resolution Unfortunately, there is not an offering for labels for the sensors for any other languages.

Issue How much future schedule data can be put into a BACnet Schedule and stored in the controller. Environment Continuum BACnet Cause Need to store a years worth of Exception events in a BACnet controller and unsure if the BACnet Schedule performs the same as the Infinet where it only stores 7 days of events going forward. Resolution Unlike Infinet controllers, BACnet controllers will store all the Exception events in there schedules. This includes past as well as future exception events. (It's important to clear out the past events to free up space on the controller.) The total number of exception events depends on the amount of memory available in the controller being used. In Continuum v1.94 with the latest build of v4.5 firmware, we find that a Schedule in a b3 controller has the following memory requirements. 1. Blank b3 had 46624 bytes available. 2. Each BACnet Schedule object will consume 416 bytes. 3. Each Exception Event will consume 60 bytes. 4. Each Time Value in the Exception Event will consume 12 bytes. 5. Exception Events can be created (and saved to the controller) up until 1-Jan-2105. These events, all the way up to 2105, were stored in the controller. In this example, and only using an ON/OFF time value pair for each Exception Event, you will (theoretically) be able to store a bit more than 535 Events in a single Schedule (If this was the only created object in the controller.)

Issue Since the TA224 controllers are obsolete, a replacement is requested Environment TA224V 2241030000 TA224VL 2241040000 Cause No current products are listed as replacements for the obsolete TA224 controllers. Resolution No direct replacements are available- Free programmable Xenta controllers would probably be the only way to replace these old style controllers

Issue Continuum logs clear logged data when size or interval is changed. Environment All Continuum CXs i2 devices Cause Function as designed. Resolution Continuum logs automatically clear any existing logged data if the size of interval are changed.

Issue Modbus RTU enabled on controllers comm port, loaded with correct XDriver, and configured correctly but does not communicate. Environment bCX1 Netcontroller II Cause There is a rare occurrence where older implementations of Modbus RTU upgrade cookies may not be properly installed even after seeming to uprev properly. Enabling both the Modbus RTU and Modbus IP bits in the upgrade file seems to resolve this. The upgrade procedure has now been changed and all future implementations of Modbus will have both the Modbus RTU and Modbus IP options enabled on the comm port being upgraded. Resolution For existing controllers that have already had the Modbus RTU option added to the comm port but have not validated that it works and are now seeing this problem, obtain a new upgrade cookie from Repairs requesting that both the Modbus RTU and Modbus IP options be enabled. All new orders for Modbus RTU or Modbus IP will have both options enabled on the comm port so this problem does not occur in the future.

Issue Continuum Standalone system use SQL Express without function of maintenance, So other method need to be implemented  to do this task Environment Cyberstation SQL Express Cause Require to backup the database with a record. Resolution Install SQL Server Management  Studio Tools for SQL Express Backup the database to specify path, such as "D:\backup\ContDB_Mon.bak" Run SQL Server Management Studio Express and create a new query Copy the following SQL syntax and paste in this new query then  run it EXEC Sp_Addumpdevice 'disk', 'ContinuumDB', 'D:\backup\ContDB_Mon.bak'   Create another new query called ContDB_BU_Mon.sql, copy the following SQL syntax and paste in the query  then run it Select getdate() as "ContDB backup startTime" go BACKUP DATABASE  [ContinuumDB]  TO [ContinuumDB] with Format, INIT,NAME= N'Contdb_Mon Database Backup', SKIP, Norewind, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10 go select getdate() as "Contdb Backup Endtime" go  Close the query above and save it to D:\backup\ContDB_BU_Mon.sql Create a .txt file with the following command then save it as .bat file OSQL -S(Local)\SQLEXPRESS -E -i  "D:\backup\ContDB_BU_Mon.sql" -O  "D:\Backup\Contdb_BU_Mon.log"   From Windows Control panel > Performance and Maintenance > Scheduled Tasks, Add Scheduled Task, select the "Browse" button, find the .bat file you want to run, then set the time schedule you desired. After the scheduled task created successfully, the database backup will be executed scheduled with record. the record was written in the file Contdb_BU_Mon.log.

Issue Get error message "Could not open or load translation table" when trying to save a Menta file after having edit it in StruxureWare Building Operation. Environment StruxureWare Building Operation version 1.2. Cause Error in the installation of the German Language pack. Resolution Reinstall the language pack.

Issue Need to restore or do a clean installation on the Magelis Opti PC Magelis Opti PC has crashed or Windows don't load properly Magelis Opti PC has become very slow or unresponsive Product Line Other, TAC Vista Environment Magelis Opti PC Windows XP Embedded Cause Just like a regular PC the Magelis Opti PC may crash due to software errors, and it may also become slow after long time use. Resolution The procedure "Restoring the Operating System" is described on page 7 (pg. 11 if go by PDF page numbers) of the Magelis Opti PC Installation Guide (also available on the supplied DVD) Caution! Back up all important data on your primary drive before restoring your system. Restoring will delete all data on your drive, and your Magelis Opti PC will have the same software and data configuration as when it was delivered. Hardware required Reinstallation DVD-ROM: Magelis Opti PC Restore & Documentation DVD. An external DVD drive with USB adapter. USB keyboard. Restoration On Magelis Opti PC: Connect the external DVD drive to a USB port on the Magelis Opti PC. Power on the Magelis Opti PC. Press DEL to run the BIOS setup. Insert the restore DVD into the DVD drive. In the “Advanced BIOS features” menu, under “First boot device,” select “USB-CDROM.” Press F10 to save and exit. Select “Yes” when prompted to save your changes. At the MS-DOS C:\> prompt, type “RESTORE” and select your configuration. When the message “Proceed Restore [Y,N]” appears, type “Y.” The following message will appear to indicate restore was completed successfully. ***** Restore OK **** Restore may take several hours depending on the speed of the DVD drive. If any other message appears, contact your approved Schneider Electric technical center. Remove the DVD and press “CTRL+ALT+DEL” to restart the machine.

Issue Since all actuators listed in the V392 documentation are obsolete, a replacement is requested.  Environment Valve V392 M5C M15C EM5C M44 M42 EM42 TAC Forta Cause Obsolete actuators need to be replaced Resolution The Forta series actuators are suitable as replacements. Make sure the correct size is chosen for the application.