Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Does Niagara G3 provide a way to resend an alarm to an email until it get acknowledged? Environment Niagara G3, ENS, ENC_520, ENC-410 Cause Want to keep sending an alarm notification email until it is acknowledged. Resolution Niagara G3 has a property called Escalation Level# which is located in the Alarm Class object. Alarm escalation is a feature that allows you to configure an alarm class so that unacknowledged alarms that are assigned to that class can be re-routed if they are not acknowledged within a specified amount of time. When enabled, this property allows for resending of an alarm notification if the alarm has not been acknowledged. The unacknowledged alarm notification can be resent up to 3 times. The EmailRecipient would be linked to a designated Alarm Class which is setup for email notifications you want to re-send until they are acknowledged. 1. Open the designated Alarm Class 2. Set the three “Escalation Level# Enabled” to “true”. 3. Set the three “Escalation Level# Delay” times to the time you want to what before the notification and therefore email is resent. 4. Save changes and then open the Wire Sheet that the Alarm Class is located on 4 Connect each of the output of the Escalated Alarms to the EmailRecipient        (You can connect all the Escalated Level output to the same EmailRecipient or multiple email recipients.) Again, the Alarm Class can be configured to send a notification up to a total of 4 times until acknowledged - the initial first notification email and 3 re-send of the notification if the alarm has not been acknowledged. No further notification will be sent once the alarm is acknowledged.  

Issue Cannot get the BACnet IP port to enable in a JACE-6 or JACE-6E controller. Environment I/A Series G3, JACE-6, JACE-6E, BACnet/IP Cause The JACE-6 and JACE-6E controllers include two Ethernet ports LAN1 and LAN2 and the user must select the appropriate interface adapter. Resolution The JACE-6 and JACE-6E controllers include two Ethernet ports LAN1 and LAN2 which represent Interface 1 (en0) and Interface 2 (en1).  The user must select the appropriate interface adapter.  To configure a BACnet/IP port: Expand the Ip Port in the property sheet view. Set the Network Number from “-1” to the BACnet network number for the network segment to which you are connecting.  If this is an existing BACnet installation, make sure to use the same network number already in use.  If this is a new BACnet installation, you can choose this number (for example: 100). Expand the Link component in the property sheet. Under Link, use the drop-down list for Adapter to select the network adapter to use. These adapters are automatically discovered and validated by G3. Review the Udp Port setting being used for BACnet communications.  By default, UDP port 47808 decimal (0xBAC0 in hexadecimal) is used. If your BACnet/IP installation is using another UDP port, enter this port number in the Udp Port property. Be sure to enable the IP port: right-click on the IP Port, go to Actions, then click Enable 

Issue StruxureWare Network 8000 conversion program is changing some "Logic" blocks to a block type called "Invert".   Could this be causing missing pointer issues? Environment SBO 1.2 and later Network 8000 conversion program with any Network 8000 GCM file. Cause This is as designed; see Resolution for explanation.   Resolution A Logic object is 'Migrated" as an Invert object if only used as a single invert gate. The other objects that reference that object as a pointer are changed also to reflect the block name 'Invert'. This is documented in the Technical Reference Guide in section 89.7.

Warning Electrostatic Discharge Required: Always discharge static electricity from your person by touching metal prior to handling any hardware. Failure to do so may result in damage to devices. Issue In some situations, there is a network connection problem or PC power management issue that causes the b3 firmware update to be interrupted. When retrying the controller update, an error pops up: "The Infinity2 controller is currently being flashed or reloaded." Resetting the controller and even doing a power cycle with the controller will not fix this problem. Environment BCX1 B3 Cyberstation Cause The update interruption may be because the b3 is busy. Resolution Take the workstation offline Delete the b3 controller Reset BCX1 from the editor and reload BCX1 Bring the b3 controller online Try to update firmware b3 again. It should be ok.

Issue Is there a Niagara G3 driver for communicating to Trane controllers? Environment Niagara G3 Cause Job Specification requirement Resolution Schneider-Electric does not have a proprietary driver for Trane control systems.  Historically, Trane has used open protocols like LON and BACnet both of which are available with Niagara.

Issue Is it possible to monitor TAC Vista 5.1.x active alarms in some third party system? Environment TAC Vista 5.1.x Cause The alarms in Vista is saved in a text file in the Vista database. But reading this file is not a good way for a third party system to get the active alarms. A better way is to use OPC. Resolution Install the Vista OPC server and use a OPC client to get the alarms from Vista in to a third party system.

Issue Device monitoring, alarm priorities and functionality. Environment Sigma versions 4.04 and later. Cause Can the Sigma Device Monitor alarm have its priority or functionality changed? Resolution On Systems using Sigma 4.04 or earlier an alarm produced by the Device Monitor is fixed to priority level 29 and cannot be changed. On Systems using Sigma 4.05 or later a file named deviceMonitor.xml holds timing, retry and other information including the Alarm Priority level as highlighted below: PollFrequency="1001" NumberRetrys="3" AlarmPriority="29" MaxDelayResponse="5000" LogLongDelays="0"> Note: do not change these settings without contacting PSS and fully understanding the implications. The Sigma server will need to be restarted for any changes to take affect. As the alarm is not controller based, it does not have the same functionality as a plant alarm, and therefore cannot be routed or have "actions" applied it. There is no object associated to each controller and therefore it cannot be placed on graphics or referenced in a control scheme. If the customer requires greater functionality, then the old method of controllers being monitored by other controllers, should be used.

Issue Trying to change the Priority level that the Schedule uses from the default 16 to a higher priority. Environment Continuum BACnet Schedule object Cause The Schedule object has not been discovered on the BACnet side. The BACnet attributes can't be viewed or modified. Resolution Find the Schedule on the BACnet side. Right-click Root and select Find New BACnet Devices. Right-click the Device in the BACnet Devices folder and select Send To > Database. Open the Schedule and change Priority from the default 16 to the required priority level.

Issue Upgrading the Automation Server firmware from version 1.0 to 1.2 or 1.3 fails Upgrading the Automation Server firmware from version 1.1 to 1.3 fails AS is going into failsafe when attempting to upgrade it to version 1.2 Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment StruxureWare Building Operation 1.2 and 1.3 AS-L AS-B Cause It is not possible to upgrade an AS more than one version at a time. Resolution Upgrading from 1.0 to 1.3 should be done as follows:: Install Device Administrator version 1.1 (if not already done) and upgrade the AS to firmware version 1.1 After the upgrade has finished and the AS is ready, upgrade to version 1.2 from Device Administrator version 1.2 When the AS is ready again, upgrade to version 1.3 from Device Administrator version 1.3  

Issue Is it possible to order a LON or MBUS base module separately after the main order of the heat meter is done, to complete the setup? Environment Multical heat meter heatmeter MAMBUSBASE  Replacement Mbus Base Module MALON BASE  Replacement LON Base Module Cause If the base module was not ordered during original purchase, it may be necessary to order separately. Resolution The base modules can be ordered separately afterwards to complete the setup: MAMBUSBASE - Replacement Mbus Base Module MALON BASE - Replacement LON Base Module

Issue Sigma CE files are not created. Environment Sigma CE 4.06 Sigma 4.06  Cause Sigma CE files are not created when BuildCE.exe is executed.. Resolution A Sigma service pack is required. Sigma 4.06 SP1 is attached. There is a readme.txt file for installation instructions included in the download.

Issue How to create i2xxx and b3xxx controllers from a CSV dump file. Environment Continuum i2xxx Controllers b3xxx Controllers Cause In this scenario they wanted to create the beginning of a site database from CSV dump files before deploying on site.  Resolution It seems that when creating an i2 or b3 object, the path is also required when defining the comm port. Make sure to add the path to the Port field and this should allow the controller object to be created. See the original CSV I exported below, how it was modified, and then imported back in successfully. Original Export to CSV InfinityInfinetCtlr Name,InfinetId,Port,DeviceId,SerialNum,Alias,CntrlType i2_850,32,Comm1,Network1\ACX11_10th,11111,i2_850,i2920 Modified Import CSV InfinityInfinetCtlr Name,InfinetId,Port,DeviceId,SerialNum,Alias,CntrlType i2_920,32,Network1\ACX11_10th\Comm1,Network1\ACX11_10th,11111,i2_920,i2920 Now, this import does complain about the CntrlType in the distribution Properties window but does create the controller and sets the type correctly. If you don't want any errors you can remove the CntrType attribute and the controller object will still be created but will default to a 240 controller. See below. Import CSV without CntrlType InfinityInfinetCtlr Name,InfinetId,Port,DeviceId,SerialNum,Alias i2_920,32,Network1\ACX11_10th\Comm1,Network1\ACX11_10th,11111,i2_920   This can then be changed to whatever controller you require through the controller Device object dialog.  

Issue When importing shortcuts the following warning/error occur WARNING: The property, Target, xxxxxxxx, which has been ignored. Binding Limitations across multi-server configurations Environment SmartStruxure 1.2 / 1.3 Cause Building Operation does not import bindings in a multi-server scenario. If bindings are included in an exported solution, Building Operation displays a warning that the references were not created during an import. Therefore, you must manually recreate referenced bindings: From the Enterprise Server to a value on an Automation Server From an Automation Server to a value on the Enterprise Server From an Automation Server to a value on another Automation Server As a shortcut is basically a binding between two objects, then this holds true in this instance. Resolution Although bindings can be created (hence shortcuts created) across multi-server environments once you export these objects and then attempt to import these at later time or import across a different server, these bindings will be removed. The import process will provide a message "WARNING: The property, Target, , which has been ignored"; these objects are listed in the warning box.  A "Copy to clipboard" option is available so that these can be copied to Notepad (or similar) and then manually re-entered. Refer to the following help topic (you will need to login to the Online help to view this information). http://help.sbo.schneider-electric.com/topics/show.castle?id=5528&locale=en-US&productversion=1.3&a=1  

Issue Xenta 301XT/N/P is not available Environment Vista Xenta Cause Xenta 301XT/N/P is a Xenta unit made for the US market where some facilities needed some extra range of temperature. The XT stands for Extended Temperature. Resolution This unit is obsolete now and can no longer be ordered.

Issue Notes from the field  on a Niagara R2 Modbus  RTU integration with an Eaton Series 2000 Xpert Power Meter. Environment I/A Series UNC licensed for the modbus asynch feature Eaton Series 2000 Xpert Power Meter Cause The 3rd party document is vague about  Modbus register-map differences between the IP and RTU protocols. Resolution 1. In order to obtain the Modbus RTU RS-485 map, you must look under the Eaton IQ-250/260 meter. The RS-485 map is NOT located anywhere under the Series 2000 meter. 2. There is also a utility in the "help" button when connecting to the embedded setup & monitoring software on the Eaton Power Meter. The Modbus map can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet, however, it is important to note that this map is the TCP/IP Modbus register map, not the RS-485 map. This can be accessed via a standard internet browser utilizing an Ethernet cable connection to the meter. The default IP address is 192.168.1.1. 3. The standard 5 digit Modbus register can be calculated form Eaton's Decimal register number by adding 40000 to the register number listed on their map For example, (register # 1000) (40000 + 1000 = 41000) for the Volts Phase A - Neutral value.  

Issue The FlexAnalog object in the I/A Series R2 programLib jar does not pass the NaN (not a number) to the link when the value at the FlexAnalog input is changed from a valid value to NaN. Product Line TAC IA Series Environment I/A Series R2 Cause The object was based off the standard Analog Input object where the object holds the last valid value when NaN is applied to the input. Resolution There is a jar available that has an updated FlexAnalog object that will pass the NaN to the link when the value at the FlexAnalog input is changed from a valid value to NaN (not a number).  Contact Product Support Services to obtain this jar.

Issue AS communicate to ES using Telephone line? Environment SmartStruxure site  Cause Allowing remote access where broadband/ethernet is not available. Plus redundant access when the LAN goes down. Resolution ES and AS communication with the current release requires Ethernet communication. The use of a modem or telephone lines for communication between AS and ES has not been developed. This however is on the roadmap and will be included in a future release. The AS does have USB ports facing down for future connection to external devices such as telephone modems, printers, memory expansion, and expansion modules.  

Issue Is there a limitation in number of lines in the TGML editor when running in source mode? Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista 5.1.8 TGML editor 5.1.8 Cause When a graphic is opened in the editor and Source mode is chosen it is possible to see the source code for the graphic and the number of lines in the source code. Resolution There is no known limitation on number of lines for a TGML graphic.

Issue EcoStruxure Building Operation Demo Database Package Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment EcoStruxure Building Operation site Cause EcoStruxure Building Operation Demo Database Package and going between releases. Resolution All current and previous sales packages/demo databases can be found on the Exchange for download. Note: The Demo Database package is a sales and marketing tool for your use "as is." It is not supported through Product Support Services (PSS). If you have product specific technical issues such as installing the software applications (e.g. License Administrator, Enterprise Server) PSS may be able to help. However, PSS does not support the Demo Database contents or features. The Demo Database can be re-installed to return to its original state.

Issue Some sites may want to have continuous recording at 1 fps (frame per second), motion at 10 fps and alarm conditions (live) at 30 fpx Environment Continuum Windows XP Windows Vista Windows 7 Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Cause An attempt is made to find a place in Continuum where the frame rate can be edited, but the location of the feature cannot be found. Resolution There is no place in Continuum to adjust the frame rate per second for different features for Digital Sentry or Endura. The only adjustment that can be made in Continuum is that on record video playback, the fast forward button can clicked several times in order to move faster. To go back to normal speed click the play button again. All other frame rate adjustments have to be made in DS admin for Digital Sentry or in Endura.