Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Is there a replacement cable for the Echelon 73200R PCC-10 (PCMCIA) FT-10 network interface card to MNL series controllers? Environment MNL controllers, Echelon 73200R PCC-10 (PCMCIA) FT-10 network interface card Cause Cable has failed - requires replacement. Resolution Part number: WPIA-CBL-2 This cable is available via iPortal.

Issue When a Bacnet alarm from BACnet controller (BCX and b3 controller) is acknowledged,  alarm recipient Continuum WS sends out Change-Of-Bitstring packet to the 3rd party BACnet Operator Workstation (BOWS) when the 3rd party BOWS is registered as one of the recipients in the EventNotification of the alarm. Environment Continuum WS. BCX. B4920. B3 controllers.. Cause This packet shows some proprietary behavior of Cyberstation we refer to as the "workstation to workstation ack", that happens in addition to the normal workstation to controller acknowledgement. Cyberstation uses the information in the Recipient List of the NotificationClass object of the original alarm to determine which other devices receive the original alarm, and therefore, should receive the proprietary alarm ack. Resolution As a workaround is as below: From the existing EventNotification, remove all the 3rd party devices from its recipient list. Create a new EventEnrollment & EventNofitication for the same alarming point, and add only the 3rd party devices to its recipient list.

Issue When a value from a object in one Vista server should be transferred to a object in a value on another Vista server, Is it possible to use object transfer? Environment TAC Vista 5.1.x Cause In general a minimum of communication between the Vista servers should be used as it is much slower then internal communication within the server itself. But it is possible to do. Resolution Yes it is possible to have a object transfer between objects in different Vista server nodes.

Issue Device Monitor stops working. Environment Device Monitor Sigma 4.07 Cause There is a defect in Sigma 4.07 which can cause the Device Monitor to stop working. Resolution This issue will only occur under specific circumstances, and it is very unlikely that it will be experienced. A defect "QT no 3693400117  Sigma 4.07 Device Monitor stops working" has been reported. This defect has been investigated and the following recorded. When, from the DOS command prompt, a valid IP address is continuously pinged, Device Monitor will suspend pinging at the next absent device. Device Monitor resumes scanning if the DOS ping is stopped. Device Monitor operates correctly when the DOS ping is to an absent IP address. There are two possible scenarios when this issue could be seen. When using the DOS "Ping" command. When using the Remote Alarm Manager interface for monitoring devices.    

Issue How to read the Setpoint potentiometer of a TSMN-90250-850 room sensor in an MNL-800. Environment MNL-800 TSMN-90250-850 room sensor Cause Need to scale the voltage inputs in the AI object in the MNL-800 application. Resolution Connect: SP+ to the 5.1VDC source on the MNL-800 SETPT to the INx input on the MNL-800 COMMON to C on the MNL-800. Might need to adjust the UI configuration in the MNL-800,  here's starting point: Add the SP to a UI on the MNL-800.  In the AI object  with Low Value = 0, Scaled Low value = 94.7 deg; High Value = 5 , Scaled High = 47.1 deg F.  

Issue Upgraded to 1.94 SU on new Workstation PC.  Alarm events are no longer displayed in Active Alarm Viewer.  Environment Continuum Cyberstation Continuum Network Cause Continuum Network and an InfinityController shared the same name. Resolution Changed the name of the Continuum Network to a unique object name.

Issue Valid access events not showing up in Event Viewer, List Views or Door AccessEvents tab. No issues with other events such as Invalid Attempts, Momentary Unlock etc Environment CyberStation CX9900 CX9702 CX9680 ACX5720 ACX5740 Cause Department point associated with door has been deleted. As of CyberStation 1.94 the point must be removed from the department point field of all doors before it can be safely deleted.      2.   A department point has been configured at a door using a point that resides in a controller that is in a different Continuum network. Resolution 1. Assign a department point to the door, note that it does not have to be the original point that was deleted, any point will do. 2. Remove the department point from the door.

Issue One of many methods that can automatically backup SQL Express 2005 databases Product Line Andover Continuum Environment SQL Express Continuum Cyberstation Standalone Cause Some customers are looking for a way to automatically have a database backed up on a schedule. Since the free limited version of SQL express that comes built into Continuum for smaller site setups does not come with a front end, backups of the database must be performed via windows command line utility. There are commands available to run at the windows command line but this article will help with performing this operation automatically and on a schedule of your choice whether is be daily, weekly, monthly. This is accomplished by creating a  batch file and using the windows task scheduler. Help on using the task scheduler and also creation of batch files can be found on a simple Google search. In the resolution section below we give one example of how to set this up. Resolution Open up notepad and paste in the sample query below. Please note that you may need to change the query a bit to adjust to your sites needs. Here is the query. Please note the bold and underlined text. You will need to put your machine name and also your SA password in the bold and underlined sections. Also notice where the words backup database continuumdb is in the query. Your database might be named something else, but you can find that out by viewing the database tab of the Continuum database initializations workstation editor. Lastly notice that the location of the backup and the name. In this example there is a directory named DBbackup that you'll need to create for this example or create your own directory and change the path in the query. The name of the backup file is called MyBackup.bak. You will need to change this name to something that is meaningful to your site. The switches below are -S for the servername and in the case of type of command line query -S is your machine since it is the server locally. The switch -U is username and we are using the System Admin account for SQL that was created when the instance was created. The switch -P is password and in this example we are using the sa account so please put in the sa password that you created when first installing SQL express 2005. The switch -Q means command line query and notice that everything in double quotes will be the query. Also notice the single quotes for the path that the database backup will be created at.   sqlcmd -Sputyourmachinename\sqlexpress -Usa -PputyourSApassword  -Q "backup database continuumdb to disk='C:\DBbackup\MyBackup.bak' with init"   Once the query and been corrected and pasted into notepad, save the file as something meaningful like DBbackup.bat notice that the notepad file is not saved as text but as a *.bat file which is a batch file that can be double clicked on to execute. It is advised to test this batch file now to make sure it works. Go to your backup directory and check to make sure you have a backup file. Now the only thing left to do is create a windows scheduled task.  In order to accomplish this you will need to Select Start/All Programs/Accessories/system tools Click on Task Scheduler (this path may vary depending on which windows OS you are running). Under the Actions menu item select Create basic task. Follow the prompts giving your newly created task a name, date to run, time to run Select program and browse to the location you have saved your DBbackup.bat file to. Once created it will run on the time and dates you have selected. You can also select your task in the Task scheduler and right click to run now for a test. IMPORTANT NOTE: Please keep in mind that automatically backing up the database using this method will continue to replace the old backup and create a new backup. it is highly suggested to always verify the backups and maintain enough disk space to complete these tasks.

Issue There are BACnet/IP devices on several different IP subnets. Each subnet has one BACnet/IP device setup as a BBMD, however when doing a discover, no BACnet/IP devices from the different subnets are not being discovered. Environment Niagara G3, ENC-520 Cause Setting up the BBMD in the ENC-520 is as simple as Changing its “Ip Device Property Type” from its default of “standard” to “Bbmd”. Once the ENC is configured as a BBMD device, then the BBMD’s required Broadcast Distribution Table (BDT) is automatically created. The ENC’s BDT includes its own IP address and Broadcast Distribution Mask (BDM), as well as the IP address and BDM of all other BBMD devices on the other IP subnets. The BDT allows for manual editing. We have found in some cases that the BDMs were being confused with the IP address subnet mask. The BDMs were being changed to reflect devices’ IP address subnet mask, which were something other that the standard BDM of 255.255.255.255. BBMD devices’ BDM must be set to 255.255.255.255. Resolution The Broadcast Distribution Mask must be set to “255.255.255.255” for each BACnet /IP Address listed in the ENC’s Broadcast Distribution Table. This is also true for other BACnet/IP devices configured as BBMDs on the other subnets. 1. Expand the ENC’s BACnetNetwork 2. Expand Bacnet Comm and then expand Network 3. Expand Ip Port and then expand Link 4. Expand the Broadcast Distribution Table 5. Expand any devices listed and set their Broadcast Distribution Mask to 255.255.255.255 for any one not listed as such. Save changes. Try and discover again.  

Issue Issues communicating with a Continuum controller after controller hardware replaced. The replacement controller has been assigned identical IP address and ACCNet ID as the controller it replaced. Environment CyberStation CX controller Cause Cached ARP table at gateway device (Router, Switch) contains old MAC address for the controller. Each controller has a unique MAC id that can not be changed. Network gateway devices use special tables to map IP addresses to physical MAC addresses and use the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) to keep such tables up to date. When a device is replaced, the cache ARP table in a router may for a while contain the physical (MAC) address of the old controller associated with the IP address, this will cause communication problems until the table is updated via ARP (Routers periodically update their ARP tables) or is manually flushed to force an update. Resolution Wait for the gateway's ARP table to update or manually flush the table.

Issue Displaying live or recorded video associated with a door. Environment Video Integration Cyberstation Cause Advice on linking video to access control. Resolution Create your Video Server for your Pelco DVR and find all the cameras. If you have created an Active Event view and added the doors you wish to monitor in that view, you should start to see the events appear as required.   Now to link this to Video Layouts, create a Video Layout by right clicking on the root and select New Video Layout. Select the layout view required, probably a single camera view would be best for 1 door. Right click on the black camera screen, select the Video Server you have previously created with the camera you require for that door. Select the live button and this should show up the image from that camera. Now Edit the Door object, go to the Alarms tab. Click on the ... button next to the Video: field. Select the new Video Layout you have created for that door. Open the Active Event viewer; swipe some cards to get some events in the window. Select one of the events from the door you have setup and then click on the Video icon above, the Video layout for that door will show. You can link each door to a different Video Layout to show the correct camera view. Note: The Active Event View is a view of live information as it happens, once the window is closed the view will be lost. Historical/ logged access data can be viewed from the Event logs and video via the Pelco video system.

Issue Site has many Infinity schedule objects that must be individually edited every year to enter the company's holiday schedule. Environment CyberStation Cause System design Resolution Unfortunately there is no way to share a master holiday schedule, each Infinity schedule object must be configured with the holidays.

Issue Second Continuum SU workstation that had been online now cannot connect to the Continuum database.  Environment Firewall Cyberstation ODBC Cause Firewall was turned enabled on the ContinuumDB workstation. Resolution Turn off firewall on Continuum Server workstation.

Issue Plain English reports programs generate "Object cannot be located in database" when referencing objects in controllers that other workstation can reference. Version number in Controller editor Details page shows 0. The Supported Services field on the Controller editor Details page is empty. Environment Device Node ID Cause In this case the a problem occurred during creation of the workstation.  This may have been due to the fact that a device node ID of 7001 was used in the Workstation configuration.  Resolution From another workstation in offline mode, delete the problem workstation from the Continuum Explorer network view.  Create a new workstation using Continuum DB Initializations Workstation initialization.  Make the Device Node ID equal to the ACCID. If there are any BACnet systems that read or write points to this workstation, the points will have to be remapped once the new node has been created.

Issue Is trend logs saved in the SQL server or Vista database? Environment TAC vista 4.3.0 and later versions. Cause All trend log values are sent from the Vista server to the $queue folder in the Vista database and then a service called TAC DSSwriter is taking the trend log from the $queue folder and transfer them in to the SQL database.  Resolution All trend logs and events are stored in a SQL database.

Issue When using the old part no for ordering, it's no longer valid. Environment SHD100 006902320 006902321 Cause Revised version of sensor Resolution Due to a revised and improved version of the sensor, the part number was revised from 006902320 to 006902321.

Issue How to change the domain on a lonworks network in classic scenario Environment TAC Vista Cause want to change the domain on the network Resolution Right click on the network and select properties Click on the domain tab Change the domain and click ok, NOTE you have to use capital letters.

Issue Can't find my controller firmware version on the Exchange Online. Controller firmware version has a very high number (1.2009921 instead of 1.2000021) Environment All CX controllers All b3 devices All i2 Infinet controllers Cause Beta version R&D produces special beta versions of the firmware to address specific issues found in the field, these beta versions are identified by the insertion of a high digit in the drop part of the version number (typically a 5, 7 or 9). Typical beta version of NC2 might look like 2.009044 or 2.107033 Resolution Beta versions are sent out on a per case basis and are not posted to the Extranet. Any fix or fixes addressed in a beta version is then included in the next release of the firmware following rigorous regression testing by the SQA department.

Issue Is there a limit to how much CPU power the graphics editor can utilise? Environment Tac Vista 5.1.X Graphics Editor TGML  Cause The graphics editor appears to be limited to a maximum of 25% CPU usage, which means that some heavy operations take a long time. Resolution There is no limit to how much CPU graphics editor can utilise. However each thread can only use 100% of each CPU core, so a quad-core CPU would allow for a maxim of 25% total CPU usage per thread.

Issue Site has many IP level BACnet devices from different vendors and want to separate them into different folders. Environment CyberStation Cause Documentation Resolution Unfortunately there is no way to segregate the IP level BACnet devices in CyberStation. The 'BACnet Devices' container is managed by the system and the user is not allowed to create or move  folders under it.