Issue When trying to save a program in the Plain English editor, you receive the message "Infinity controller error: File took too long to open" Environment Plain English editor Cause This is typically caused because the program in the controller is busy executing a command that cannot be interrupted. Resolution A workaround for this issue is: Right-click within the PE panel of the editor Clicking "Configuration..." Set the program state to Disabled, click OK Save your program Repeat the steps above but select Enabled and then click OK

Issue What are the differences between Standard Continuum Import/Export and Continuum BACnet COV? What issues can arise from programming a Bacnet system if you are using the Continuum Import/Export concepts. Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Standard Continuum Import/Export Continuum BACnet COV Cause Information on Continuum import/export and BACnet COV concept to help select the method that meet the environment. Resolution Using standard Continuum import/export where one or more controllers reference a point from another controller creates a relationship in the controllers such that whenever the exported value changes (or exceeds the threshold setting), the point value will be sent out in a broadcast to the network and the controllers that are looking at that point will intercept this single broadcast message and use the new value in their programs. It is very efficient in that no matter how many controllers on the network require a point value from a single controller, only one export message is required. The down side of that is that if there was a network interruption when the message was sent, one or more of the receiving controllers may miss the data update. For critical data exchange, especially if the value rarely changes, such as a schedule point, the use of a refresh program should be used to occasionally retransmit the value by setting the refresh attribute of the point to true. BACnet utilizes Change of Value (COV) data sharing. The main difference here is that for every controller that references a point from another controller, an individual subscription for that point is registered in the exporting controller. So if 10 controllers wanted the same point exported from one controller there would be 10 subscriptions made to that controller. When the point value exceeds the COV Increment (which is equivalent to threshold) there are 10 individual point to point messages sent to the 10 subscribing controllers. The benefit here is that the delivery of the data to all the subscribers is guaranteed. The down side is that there is much more traffic on the network and much more strain put on the exporting controller. Although the data exchange is very reliable, if you were, for instance, to have an MSTP controller possess a global OAT sensor, and 100 other controllers wanted that value exported, every change in value would require 100 point to point messages to send it to the 100 subscribers. MSTP devices default to a Max_Info_Frames of 2, which means that the controller can only deliver 2 of these messages when it gets a chance to talk on the network. The MSTP controller only gets a chance to talk after every other controller on the network has had a chance to, plus the BCX controller which is interlaced between each MSTP controller when using enhanced MSTP. So, if there were 100 MSTP controllers on the network, the exporting controller could only send updates to two of his 100 recipients every 200 token passes on the MSTP network. The data would get backed up, especially if the value was frequently changing, so the updates may never get out. If this amount of data sharing is required in BACnet, the best method to perform it would be to first set the COV Increment to a reasonable number to limit the amount of exports required, and then map the point in one or more BCX level controllers which have much more bandwidth on the network and capability of data sharing and let them export the COV's to the required recipients.

Issue How do I share data between standard Continuum controllers and Continuum BACnet controllers? What communication method is used (COV, Import/export, or point to point)? What problems can I encounter? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Controllers (CX9200, CX9400, CX9900,CX9702, CX9680, bCX9640, ACX5720, ACX5740) Continuum BACnet Controllers (b4920, bCX4040) Cause All communication between Continuum controllers and Continuum BACnet controllers is done using point to point protocol. Since BACnet controllers do not support Import/export and Continuum controllers do not support COV, point to point is the only common method to communicate. Resolution The method of programming the data sharing can be the same as standard Continuum programming, however because of the point to point protocol a specific method should be used. Using typical Continuum programming techniques, you would create a mirrored point in the BACnet controller (a BCX for instance). You would then write a PE program in the BCX that mirrors the point, for instance: Line Mirror BCX DataPoint1 = CX/Infinet/DataPoint1 goto Mirror Line E: goto mirror This method would perform a point to point communication every BCX scan and retrieve the data whether it has changed or not. It will create a lot of unnecessary network traffic and slow the scans of both controllers. The line E is necessary because with a point to point communication, the program will disable if the target controller temporarily goes offline. Now consider if you were mirroring many points between the systems for instance you were using the BCX as a BACnet gateway for the Continuum system. That same program would have many points that are being transferred. You would also write multiple programs because of the number of points being polled. The net result of this programming method would be that the entire system would be brought to its knees! Extremely slow scan rates in both controllers because these point to point data requests have to be completed end to end during the scan. Congested Infinet communications because to get the Infinet points we go all the way down the 19.2K Baud Infinet to get the data. The system would just plain no longer function correctly. The only reasonable method to accomplish this type of data transfer would be for the owner of the data that you want to transfer to the other controller sends the data to that controller, and only on an as needed basis, such as a change in its value. Therefore in the scenario described above where you want to mirror points in a BACnet BCX from a Continuum system, you would write the transfer program(s) in the CX controller, and within that program use a local variable for each transferred point to allow you to know if its value has changed since the last transfer, and not retransmit if the value is the same, thereby significantly decreasing network traffic and burden on the system. This method has the added benefit of eliminating the need to clog up the Infinet network, because the program in the CX automatically creates an import/export relationship between the CX and the Infinet controller's points so the normal export broadcast will transfer the data to the CX. One example of the program in the CX to perform the data transfer is as follows: Numeric num1 Line Mirror If num1<>CX/Infinet/datapoint1 then set BCX dataPoint1 to CX/Infinet/datapoint1 num1 = CX/Infinet/datapoint1 endif goto Mirror Line E: if TS>5 then goto Mirror You could also streamline the programs using such methods as creating an InfinityFunction that would be called to minimize the redundant portions of the data comparison and transfer in the programs for multiple point transfers. The function could be named “Exporter” look like this: Arg 1 RemotePoint Arg 2 LocalPoint Arg 3 TestPoint If TestPoint<> LocalPoint then Set RemotePoint to LocalPoint TestPoint= LocalPoint endif Return And now any point that you want to be exported would call this function so the above program would be reduced to: Numeric num1, ..... numX Line Mirror Exporter (BCX dataPoint1, CX/Infinet/datapoint1, num1) . . Exporter (BCX dataPointX, CX/Infinet/datapointX, numX) goto Mirror Line E: if TS>5 then goto mirror After the initial scan when we send all the current data to the BCX, only changed data would be sent thereafter. This syntax would be repeated for each point that you wanted to mirror. This program is setup to be looping. You could create a similar program to be fallthru and trigger it from a minute or seconds system variable. If kept looping it would be recommended to go to a delay line between scans if there was a lot of data transfer going on. There should also be many programs like this if there is a lot of data to be transferred for a couple of reasons. First, if for some reason one of the points could not be transferred due to a temporary comm loss, the program would disable, go to line E and restart from the beginning, not executing any data transfer on the points below the one that failed. Second, if you were transferring many points, you would most likely exceed the maximum file size. Always be cautious as to how much data you try to transfer, and how often. There is no fixed limit per controller, but system performance will degrade proportionally to the speed and amount of data being transferred. As an additional note, it would also be extremely beneficial to put thresholds on the exported points to decrease un-necessary traffic.

Issue Problems and cautions when communicating with TAC (Viconics) Bacnet communicating thermostats Product Line Andover Continuum Environment BACnet Continuum Viconics Cause Need troubleshooting and cautionary information when working with Viconics Stats and Continuum Resolution Integrating SE/Viconics' Devices on an MSTP Network SE7000 Series Room Controllers do not support the COV service but SE8000 do support it. For the SE7000 controllers, special attention should be given to the polling time settings at the Supervisory Controller and Workstation level when using a graphic interface or an application program to read or write to a room controller object. Enhanced MSTP Continuum BACnet devices support enhanced MSTP, which is a proprietary service which allows the BCX level controller to receive the MSTP token between every MSTP controller on the network. This feature allows the BCX to have speedy access to send and retrieve data to any MSTP controller on the network for such things as graphics and data polling. The SE/Viconics stats, as well as any other 3rd party BACnet device, does not support this feature. So a network of stats will perform normal BACnet token passing and for instance, if you had 100 stats on the MSTP, the BCX controller would only be allowed to talk once for every 100 token passes on the network. This will make for slow responses to such things as graphics requests for data. Sending too many requests for data on the network will bottleneck the requests. Graphics Continuum graphics will poll the SE7000 series because they do not support COV. It is very important that you set the request interval on the Thermostat device object editor to a large number such as 5000 ms. This will avoid overwhelming the stat with poll requests. This becomes even more critical in area graphics where a single graphic might poll many devices. If proper poll rate is not respected, devices may be reported offline by saturating the traffic handling capacity of BACnet MSTP without COV subscription. Plain English programs As for the application programming, you should be very careful when programming things such as sending setpoints, or mirroring the Stat's points in the BCX controller for such things as trend logs or graphics polling. You will need to write the setpoint change programs to send only on change, and any data mirroring on a once in a while basis. Otherwise, any read or write request will occur at the controller's scan rate, which might be in hundredths of milliseconds. This can easily bog down a network as single commands can be sent to all ASC devices down the MSTP trunks every hundredths of milliseconds. Programs writing to the devices should have a structure similar to the following: Line setschedule Numeric ScheduleState Schedulestate = Schedule If Schedule = On then MV11 = Occupied If Schedule = Off Then MV11 = Unoccupied goto TestForChange Line TestForChange if Schedule <> Schedulestate then goto setschedule line E if ts>5 then goto setschedule Retries and Timeouts Another thing to look for in a BACnet integration is the Device object of the Supervisory Controller (and the Operator’s Workstation). This object contains the 2 following required properties: Retry Timeout: The Retry Timeout property specifies the time between re-transmissions if the acknowledgement has not been received. When you are experiencing problems with controllers dropping off-line, increasing this value may help. Number of APDU Retries: The Number of APDU Retries property specifies the number of times unsuccessful transmissions will be repeated. If the receiving controller has not received the transmission successfully after this many attempts, no further attempts will be made. For example, if one of the thermostats does not reply to a Supervisory Controller (SC) request, and the SC’s Retry Timeout is set to 2000 msec and the Number of APDU Retries is set to 1, then the SC will send one other request, 2 sec later. If the MSTP device does not reply, it will be considered Off-line by the workstation. So having a Retry Timeout value of 10000 msec and a Number of APDU Retries property set to 3 at the SC level may prevent device from dropping Off-line. These properties should also be changed at the Workstation device editor since the workstation will likely issue requests to any MSTP devices when the graphics are used. For more detailed information on programming for these stats see the installation guides and instruction manuals for these devices.

Issue Creating an object in a BACnet B3 or Infinet controller results in "Invalid Handle ID" or "Unable to insert row in Database Table" error Environment BACnet B3 Infinet controller i2 controller Cause Most commonly this is caused by having too many objects in a B3 or Infinet controller. There is a maximum amount of objects 255, Approximately 50 of them are reserved for system reserved variables and objects, leaving approximately 200 that can be user created in these types of controllers. Resolution One way to determine if this is the problem is to select the controller through Continuum Explorer and get an object count of how many objects are in the controller. If you are seeing roughly 200 objects then try and delete one object to see if you can create a new one. If you can then you have run into the above problem and you need to re-think the programming of the controller.

Issue Error connecting to webClient after upgrade: "Class factory can't supply requested class" Webclient/accmgr.dst line 13 (or similar) Environment webClient Cause This is caused by not rebooting the IIS server when requested during the installation of the software. Resolution Reboot the IIS server Make sure there are no other browsers connected to it Then re-install the webClient software

Issue Are 120 Ohm terminating resistors required on the IOU bus? Environment IOU Bus Cause Occasionally, customers have reported that unreliable communications with RS485 versions of IO Modules can be corrected by removing the 120 ohm bus termination resistors. The Continuum IO Module Install Sheet and the Continuum IO Systems Reference documents state that these resistors are required because it is recommended by the RS485 standard and by Echelon documents. These documents assume a perfect bus topology where there are no stubs, cable impedance is uniform throughout the bus, shielding is continuous, and each node's transceiver circuit presents the same load. Resolution The reality is that each installation of a Continuum IO bus is a little different with respect to these parameters and does not represent an ideal bus. A typical installation usually consists of clusters of modules plugged directly together and then connected to each other and the NetController by various lengths of shielded cable. Additional variations are introduced by the fact that multiple vendors and multiple generations of RS485 transceiver ICs are used in the Continuum modules. This means that each installation is in fact a little different and it is possible that the added load of the termination resistors can cause the signal levels on the bus to be ambiguous to some transceivers when the bus is idle. In these cases, removal of the resistors will make the bus more reliable. In summary, if you are experiencing IO Module communications problems, first check all connections per the installation instructions and ensure that the NetController and modules are properly grounded. If you are still experiencing problems try removing the 120 ohm resistors and check to see if reliable communication is restored.

Issue How to remove unwanted entries from the Alarm log, Access Event log, Error log, and Activity log automatically. Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum SQL Server MSDE, 2000, 2005, 2008 Cause Want to setup automatic truncation of event logs and unsure how to do this in an SQL Server environment. Resolution MSDE Engine For MSDE, you can go to our Exchange online site and download the Standalone MSDE Database Utilities from the Tools, Utilities and Service Packs section of the Continuum part of our Exchange online web site. This is capable of automatically truncating the logs, as well making automated backups, checking for low hard drive space, etc. SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 For full-blown SQL Server, you can easily create a scheduled Job. Details are described below. To create a scheduled Job that will truncate the Continuum logs in the SQL Server: 1. Open up SQL Enterprise Manager. Note that the SQL Server Agent service must be running in order to create a Job. 2. Highlight the Continuum database 3. From the Menu, select Tools \ Job Scheduling A wizard opens; "Welcome to the Create Job Wizard" Hit Next 4. Select Transact-SQL Command 5. Hit Next 6. For the Database Name, select ContinuumDB (or whatever the name of the DB is) 7. In the large white space for the Transact-SQL Command, cut and paste the code from our web site: /****** Replace 90 with the number of days to maintain in each log ********/ delete from accessevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from activityevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from alarmevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from errorevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 8. Hit Next 9. On the next screen, you are asked when you do want to run this job. Select "On a recurring basis" and hit the Schedule button. 10. On the Schedule page, set up whatever schedule you desire 11. Hit OK to close the Schedule Page 12. Hit Next 13. On the Job Notifications screen, you can choose (if you want) any email or net send alerts. This is optional 14. Hit Next 15. In the final page, you are given a summary of the Job you have just created and you can change the name of your Job to anything you want. It might be a good idea to give it a more descriptive name like "Weekly Log Truncation" 16. Click Finish and you are done. You should get a message that the job was created successfully. To verify that the Job is running correctly, you can go to the Enterprise Manager of SQL Server and click on the Management Folder, then expand the SQL Server Agent folder and click on Jobs. On the right-hand pane, you will see a list of created jobs. Scroll down and find the job that you just created. You can get information about the history of the Job, whether it ran successfully or not.   SQL Server 2008 1. Run Mgmt Studio and login as sa. 2. Make sure SQL Server Agent is running. Would expect it is by default. 3. Right-click on Jobs (under SQL Server Agent). Select New Job... 4. General tab - Name: TrimLogs // Owner: sa // Category: Database Maintenance // Enabled checkbox 5. Steps tab - New... // Step name: DateDiff // Type Transact-SQL script (T-SQL) // Run as: [null] // Database: ContinuumDB //Command: [pasted in code below]. Press OK. delete from accessevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from activityevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from alarmevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90 delete from errorevent where DATEDIFF(day, timestamp, getdate()) > 90   6. Schedules tab - New... // Name: Weekly // Schedule type: Recurring & Enabled // Occurs: Weekly // Recurs every: 1 week(s) on [whatever date and time]. Press OK. 7. Did not set up Alerts, Notifications or Targets. 8. Press OK. 9. Set it up to run a few minutes after creation. 10. After time passed, opened Mgmt Studio and double-clicked Job Activity Monitor. Saw TrimLogs had successfully run. 11. Ran query: Select count(*) from ActivityEvent to verify count went down.  

Issue How to tell if an AC-1 Plus card reader has been tampered with Environment AC-1 Plus card reader Cause Knowing whether a card reader has been tampered with is an important security measure. Resolution Set up an InfinityNumeric. Name it anything. Set its IOU number the same as the entry IOU (or exit IOU) of the door and set the channel number to 6. Set the direction for IOInput. The value of the numeric represents the status of the reader. 0 = Normal 1 = No Reader Present 2 = Reader Voltage problem NOTE: This only works on the AC1Plus access control module.

Issue What are the Plain English program limitations when it comes to number of characters in the program and line label sizes? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Plain English Editor Cause You must stay within the character limits of a Plain English program to have it execute without problems. Resolution Plain English program limitations for a CX9XXX level controller: Number of characters allowed in 1 line label: 16 Number of characters allowed per line: 140 Number of characters allowed in all lines labels (one program): 272  ** there is a 4 char overhead per line label Number of individual lines in (one program): 399 (including whitespace) Number of total characters: 31,728, approx. (this is really based on file size) Limitations for a Infinet/B3 level controller: Number of characters allowed in 1 line label: 16 Number of characters allowed per line: 140 Number of characters allowed in all lines labels (one program): 157  ** there is a 4 char overhead per line label Number of individual lines in (one program): 399 (including whitespace) Number of total characters: 10,725, approx. (this is really based on file size)

Issue How to recover I2 controller with auto started corrupt/bad PE program and flash backed up with this corrupt/bad program. Environment I2 Controller Cause If the program is in flash, and the ACCRestartMode is set to ACCWarmToCool and the ACCStatusFlash is set to AccValidFlash, you’ll find yourself in an endless loop when trying to power down and restart. What needs to be performed at this point is to get the corrupted/bad auto start program out of the backed up flash. The corrupted program can be one that has just been created/edited or imported and then saved to flash. Resolution Get the corrupt/bad program out of the controller and its flash: With the WS in offline edit, dump the corrupted program/s to file and then delete it/them from the controller. Now send the I2 controller to text file. Edit the controller and write down the parameters i.e.….Name, model #, commport, serial # and infinet ID. Then delete the controller. Bring WS online, manually create a new I2 with a temporary name, same serial #, same model #, same comport and an infinet ID that is not used… ie (if you have for example less than 100 infinet controllers use infinet id of 101) select apply. The temporary I2 just created should come online. Once online, delete it. (The reason for creating with a new temp name and Infinet ID, is that a newly created controller will create an empty controller and empty out the flash.) Now create a new I2 with the original name, commport, serial # and original infinet ID. Once online import the controller dump file we saved, reload and back up to flash if needed.

Issue Alarms cease to display and Continuum Workstation reports offline in the Workstation editor but appears as online to the CX controllers. Environment Continuum Workstation Cause On sites where this has been detected, there were alarms setup, the eventnotification settings were set for multiple entry, there was no recipient configured, and the deactivate settings required acknowledgement. This type of configuration will allow the active alarm count in the system to increase with each alarm. The active alarm buffer in the workstation by default is 3000 and when exceeded can cause the WS to appear as offline. Resolution NOTE: Before any query or access of a database make sure that you have a recent known good backup. To test for this situation, run the following query from the database: Select count(*) from alarmevent where active = 1 To fix this situation, correct the incorrectly configured event notifications to avoid the same problem. Shutdown all CyberStations. Run the following query on the database: Update alarmevent set active = 0 where active = 1 Restart Continuum.  

Issue How to configure a PinPoint Graphic to show both the Personnel Object Picture and the Video of the person entering the area. Environment PinPoint Graphic Cause A dual view of the person's credentials as well as a live feed of them entering the area is a good view for security personnel. Resolution Assuming the personnel and door objects and the pinpoint Graphic were created, also create: Create A Video Server From the root click new Video server, add the ip address of the Video Server and account info. Create A Video Layout From the root click on new Video layout. Edit the door in the selected area and open the alarm tab. Add Root\Door access and click enable. In the graphic box add the assigned graphic. In the Video Box add the Video Layout object. Edit the Door access Notification Actions. Add desired actions. Display Video, Display Graphic. Open Pinpoint Graphic.Insert Active component Personnel Picture Assign attribute LastPersonentrd

Issue Common Outlook errors with emailing of Reports in Continuum using the ReportCmdLine.exe Environment Continuum CyberStation WebClient Outlook Report ReportCmdLine Cause Outlooks default installation will block a lot of file extensions, especially in later versions. These are Microsoft Outlooks security features and has nothing to do with Continuum sending email attachments. Resolution The Continuum online help system describes how to setup scheduling of automatic reports The first thing to check would be to use the Outlook editor to send an email with a .htm attachment. If that is successful, then you'll know that you're not filtered at the exchange level. If you are filtered at that level then contact the system admin. The second check would be to make sure that your email from the ReportCmdLine.exe (with your report configured send htm or pdf attachments) is sending and receiving. If this is successful, but you cannot view the attachment then you're Outlooks local settings are most likely filtering the attachment. There are lots of articles on how to unblock certain file extensions. By searching on Google you can find more information than one would want to possibly know. In specific search for “Level1Remove”, you’ll find lots of information on how outlook blocks these file extensions and how to enable certain file extensions. In these articles you’ll see that in order to enable some of these extensions, you’ll need to add a registry key and in particular allow the .htm and .pdf file extension. There are third party tools available that you can do this with and not have to edit the registry directly. It is advised that you are very familiar with registry settings before ever editing them, as one mistake could corrupt the registry. Also on the Email accounts Microsoft Exchange Settings, deselect “Use Cached Exchange Mode” this will allow your settings to take place on the restart of Outlook.

Issue How to calculate the polling time at the netcontroller / OPC server? How many nodes/ controllers can be put on each netcontroller to get to specific polling time. Environment Netcontroller OPC Server Cause The OPC server was designed to be performance tuned. Resolution It is hard to determine just how many controllers / polling time. It would be determined better by looking at the programming of the controllers, for example, Inputs / Outputs how many points in each group and the interval of the data that is required to be received. The "OPC Server Guide" has performance options and guidelines on setting up an optimal system. You can also add another OPC server if you need to do load balancing.

Issue Sample Plain English program to set up a door to allow for either keypad OR card validation. Environment Continuum Plain English Infinity NetController Cause Allowing the NetController to respond to a keypad as well as a card reader allows for flexibility in the security solution. Resolution How do I setup a door for keypad OR card validation Create the following InfinityProgram in the NetController for each door. Change each program to the correct door name. NOTE: If using this program, make sure that you do not have validate pin mode selected on the entry reader tab of the door editor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Looping, AutoStart Program 'Change officedoor to the name of your door Watching: IF officedoor\doorfault IS 2 THEN '0 for normal operation 2 if Fault (Tamper) detected officedoor\entrynormmode = 8 'PINMode officedoor\entrynocommmode = 8 'PINMode GOTO Counting ENDIF Counting: IF TS > 5 THEN 'Wait 5 seconds before switching back to SiteMode + CardMode officedoor\entrynormmode = 3 'SiteMode + CardMode officedoor\entrynocommmode = 3 'SiteMode + CardMode GOTO Watching ENDIF --------------------------------------------------------------------- Press the # key once, it will place the door in PINMode (8) for the 5 seconds then back to SiteMode+CardMode (3). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the available EntryNormMode and ExitNormMode values SiteMode = 1 CardMode = 2 GeneralMode = 4 PINMode = 8 If you plan to use more than one add the two numbers together (Example: SiteMode + CardMode + PinMode = 11) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here are the available DoorFault values 1 = Database of doors, areas, and personnel is not functioning normally 2 = Entry Keypad is being tampered with 4 = Exit Keypad is being tampered with 8 = Entry Card Reader is being tampered with or has failed 16 = Exit Card Reader is being tampered with or has failed --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Test case: I created a person with a valid card and a valid PIN. When I used the card the door would open, after relock I pressed the # and immediately entered the PIN plus the #, the door unlocked. If you have a door switch you could probably use it instead of the 5 second timer this would give you a little more control over the door so that the next person in line (with a card) would not have to wait. CyberStation (v1.52.0.20021120) NetController (v1.520010) AC1 (v22) HID ProxPro with Keypad Note: this works on an ACX(5740/5720) also IMPORTANT: The sample PE program above only sets the EntryNormMode of the door. The program needs to set also the EntryNoCommMode and possibly the EntryNodataMode. If the door is a dual reader door then the corresponding attributes on the exit side of the door must also be set.

Issue Using Roam IO/2 through bluetooth on a PDA Environment Roam IO/2 PDA Cause Using the wrong comm port is a common issue after pairing up your Roam IO/2 with your bluetooth connection. Resolution Using Roam IO/2 through bluetooth on a PDA Once the pairing of the devices is complete as laid out in the instructions of either the infinet or Bacnet Service tool users guide. You'll notice that bluetooth device manager editors differ from vendor to vendor, but basically all have the same functionality. The PDAs will assign two comm ports for each bluetooth device. One for outgoing and one for incoming comm ports. When setting the comm port in the tools/preferences through the Roam IO/2 PPC software, you'll need to set it to the outgoing port that the bluetooth devices manager assigns.

Issue What is the difference between "Enhanced MSTP" and "Standard MSTP" Token Passing in Continuum BACnet? Environment Continuum BACnet Cause It is important to note that Only Continuum BACnet controllers have this feature. Any third party BACnet MSTP controller connected to a Continuum BACnet system will only perform Standard MSTP token Passing. In a network where you have Continuum B3 controllers and third party MSTP controllers and you have enabled Enhanced MSTP, you will have a combination of the two methods. The Continuum B3's will always pass the token back to the BCX, and the 3rd party controllers will always pass the token to the next ID on the MSTP. If you wanted the benefit of Enhanced MSTP on this type of a system, you could intersperse the MSTP ID's of the B3's and the third party so that you would have a more even flow of the token back to the BCX. Resolution Continuum Bacnet Controllers default to "Enhanced MSTP". What this means is that the Ethernet level controller (BCX or B4920) that manages the MSTP network sends out a message to all Continuum B3 controllers which tells them that after they are done with the token on the network, that they should pass it back to the BCX or B4920 instead of sending it to the next B3 down the line. The purpose of this is so that any user interaction with the B3 network such as graphics, listviews, reports, etc.. will be much faster. This Token passing scheme is similar to how Infinet performs. Standard BACnet MSTP token passing is done such that each controller on the MSTP network gets the token equally and this includes the BCX or B4920. So if you had 127 nodes on the network, the BCX controller would only get a chance to talk once after every MSTP controller had a chance to talk. The Continuum BACnet controllers can operate in either mode by setting this feature in the BCX or B4920 Web Configuration page. Each token Passing scheme has some benefits. If there were a lot of user interface type access needed on a system, the Enhanced mode would be preferable for speedy response. If there was very little or no user interaction but there was a lot of data sharing or alarm delivery from the MSTP controllers, the standard token passing would give all the devices on the MSTP network more opportunity to export their data.

Issue Issues have been reported with Continuum not starting after a fresh installation, and/or errors popping up when starting Continuum. One of the issues is accdataservices. Environment Installation with anti-virus software and/or firewalls enabled Cause There are many different anti-virus programs on the market and they all work a bit different. If the windows firewall is enabled it may block services within Continuum which does not allow it to start correctly. Resolution Disable any anti-virus programs and disable the Windows firewall while installing Continuum. After installation, enable the anti-virus programs and firewalls if necessary. If using the firewall built into Windows XP, go to the exceptions tab of the firewall editor and add services that are not starting to the exception list.

Issue Problems encountered when changing Data Types(Elec Type) with Bacnet Points and using programs to perform COV's on those points Environment bCX Controller CyberStation Cause Data type (elec type) is changed without sending to the bacnet side will create issue. Resolution Changing the Data Type (Elec Type) of a point on the fly can cause issues. Once a point is created on the infinity side and sent to the data base on the bacnet side and a point is referenced from one or the other and a data type (elec type) is changed without sending to the bacnet side can cause issues. One of the issues is that data could quit updating. Another issue and one that is more noticeable is that if a COV subscription is created from one of the points through a program, the program could disable for one and or the data would not be correct or updated. To get an understanding of what goes on under the hood. Lets create a scenario that is a typical setup to see what is really going on. ------------------------------- I have a BCX with a B3 controller and have a point in the bcx named bcxPoint (binary data type). I have a point in the B3 named localPoint(binary data type) and a program named MirrorPrg. localPoint = myNet\MyBCX\bcxPoint Save this program and send to database on the bacnet side. Open the bcxPoint on the infinity side... change the value from 1 to 0 and back and forth while watching the value update on the bacnet side's localPoint. All is well and works as expected. Now change the data type on the bcxPoint to Analog and apply. Change the point form 1 to 0 and back and forth, notice that the point on the B3 localPoint on the bacnet side is not updating. But check the program and it is still running.(But not working) Depending if you have other points in a program that sent a COV notification your program can disable. But for our test, we'll force a COV subscription by adding a blank line to the program and saving, notice the program disables. NOTE: the program will appear to still to be running until a COV notification is sent. This caveat if you think about it makes sense. We subscribe to a COV list, but one of the data types changes without being sent to the bacnet side. On a larger scale lets say you have multiple points in the mirrorPrg and the program disables, not good. In order to correct the issue we described above, we can set the BCX's bcxPoint back to a binary type and perform a send to database on the bacnet side. Open up the program and add a line and then save which recompiles and puts out a new COV subscription. Don't forget to enable the program. The above is a workaround in case you get into trouble. But if you have many points you have changed, I would suggest deleting the controller from the bacnet side and then reloading the controller and the performing a find new bacnet devices. This will ensure that you have all data types straightened out. But to be on the safe side, if you are going to be changing data types of points, I would suggest deleting the point on the infinity side and perform a send to database on the bacnet side. This will get rid of all instances of the point. Then create the point with the correct data type and perform a send to database on the bacnet side and make sure you check all programs referencing the point.