Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Configure a digital value to show as ON/OFF instead of 1/0 in a Xenta 5/7/9xx Value Page Environment Xenta Server Xenta 511, 527, 701, 711, 721, 731, 913 Value Page XBuilder Cause XBuilder Values Pages will read and display raw data from a variety of sources. It can be formatted in a graphics page or a third party interface to be displayed in any desired format, however, a Values Page is a simple drag-and-drop configuration. To alter the display, values must be routed through Signal objects in XBuilder. Resolution Use the Enumeration Function. To create an enumeration that shows ON/OFF: On the Tools menu, click Enumerations. Under Enumerations, click New. Type the name (ON_OFF) and then press ENTER. Under Definitions, click New. For the value 0, ‘OFF’ then press ENTER. Under Definitions, click New. For the value 1, type ‘ON’ and then press ENTER. Click OK. To use the enumeration: Create a signal in the System Pane for the point. Select the signal and find the property 'Enumeration' Click on the dropdown list and select ‘ON_OFF’.

Issue A SNVT_press_p in a controller shows the wrong value in Xenta 511. Lonmaker and Vista are showing the correct value. Environment Xenta 511 SNVT_press_p Cause If US measurement system is selected all SNVT_press (P and F included) will show up in graphic and on value pages will be shown as PSI. Vista and LonMaker default to "WC (inches H 2 O). Resolution The best way to change the unit is to create a signal for the object and change the unit to “WC (inH2O). Then you will get the pressure in "WC everywhere you use the signal. You can also change it for just one graphic or value page by changing the signal under the graphic/value page.

Issue Installing TAC Config on a PC that already has I/NET using MSDE SQL server installed. Environment PC that already has I/NET using MSDE SQL server installed Cause The installation will ask if SQL server is already installed. This can be confusing if it is previously installed for I/NET. Since a new instance is required, the correct procedure is to install new. Resolution When you install TAC config, the installation program will ask you if you want to install MSDE SQL server or "a Microsoft SQL server is already installed." You have to pick "Install MSDE SQL server..." even though you already have one instance of MSDE. TAC config will install a new instance of MSDE for Vista. You should only pick “a Microsoft SQL server is already installed” if you have another (not MSDE) SQL server installed on the machine that you want to use for Vista.

Issue The Function Block in LonMaker has a completely different set of SNVTs than the associated MTA file. Environment LonMaker Menta Cause It is possible to have 2 completely different TAC Xenta (300/400/280) controllers that have the same program ID. LonMaker will use the same template for all devices with the same program ID. To fix this you have to get a new program ID for one of the controllers. Resolution Follow the steps below to get a new program ID for your controller: Open the application from System plug-in by right clicking on controller and select configure-edit. To give the application a new XIF either add a “dummy” SNVT or go to device configuration and uncheck the tick box for “XIF header generated according to LonMark standard”. Hit F12, select commands and generate. Hit F12 again and save the application to the hard drive by selecting File-save as. In system plug-in, browse in the application that you just saved on the hard drive. Update TAC Network and TAC Database. If you are asked to resynchronize, do so. Download application and parameters to the controller.

Issue Limitation of Groups/Units in one Vista DB Environment Vista database Xenta groups LonWorks groups Cause Network design limitations, maximum number of controls used on a network. Resolution No more than 30 TAC Xenta groups per LonTalk Adapter. No More than 30 TAC Xenta base devices per TAC Xenta group. Maximum of 400 TAC Xenta base devices per LonWorks network No more than 50 LonWorks groups per network. No more than 64 LonWorks units per LonWorks group. Maximum of 1000 Devices using standard SNVT communications.

Issue Reverting to an older version of Vista / Downgrading Vista Environment TAC Vista Server IV Cause Typically done on an engineering PC, downgrading a version of Vista can result in problems since this is not a practice that is rigorously tested. Resolution When restoring a previous version or downgrading Vista the first thing to do is to delete the TAC Shared Folder (Program Files/ Common Files/TAC Shared). After the directory is removed then run the older version install files. If you are using Vista 4.3.0 or higher, be certain that your Computer Name in Instance field of Server Setup/SQL Server is correct, (ComputerName/TACVISTA). You can test the SQL connection to verify it is correct after the installation is complete.

Issue Displaying “??781”, “??782”, ”??787” or similar values. Environment Vista Workstation Cause The "??781," "??782," "??787" are in fact a Vista error codes, however, these codes are not documented. We have used the following approaches to get the device talking. Resolution In Vista right-click and upload parameters to the devices. Right-click > Properties > XIF File, browse in the XIF file to the Vista database.  In LonMaker Recommission the devices and Update the Vista Database. Try to delete the device from LonMaker, update the Database then reinstall the device. There is not a known proven method; these are things to try. Observe the results of the steps and please call if you are unsuccessful at seeing a change

Issue   LonMaker repeatedly prompting to drop items on a resynchronize command Environment Echelon LonMaker Cause When LonMaker resynchronizes there is an option that is sometimes overlooked to "Automatically add shapes to drawing." If this is unselected then the process may take a very long time to fix the drawing of large networks because of the manual placement of shapes. Resolution Select "Automatically add shapes to the drawing" in the Resynchronize prompt to avoid manually placing each new shape.  

Issue   Microsoft Visio will start stand-alone but will not start if launched from Echelon LonMaker Environment Microsoft Visio Echelon LonMaker Cause Without an administrative login, the software will have limited functionality or not function at all. Resolution Ensure the logged in Windows user has administrative rights.   

Issue Controlling a SNVT_Occupancy from a Vista Time Chart Environment SNVT_occupancy Vista Workstation Time Chart Cause Vista Server allows you to create local time charts that run a user defined schedule, however the output values of the chart are not directly editable and this can lead to a problem when you are trying to control an occupancy signal which expects a zero for an on value. Resolution To resolve this problem you can send the time chart output to a Menta program, however if you had a Menta application available you likely would have just created the schedule in the programmable controller. If a programmable controller is not available and you only have Vista Server and an ASC controller with an occupancy input you can follow these steps to control the input: Create a local time chart in Vista. Under the general tab change the Paired texts to "1,0" instead of "0,1". Create an object transfer object in Vista. Under the Transfer tab specify the time chart as the From object and set the property to "Auto Value". Set the To object to the occupancy input and the property to "Value". The destination of the object transfer will now reflect an occupancy value based on the time chart. Warning: Vista Server must be running for this connection to work  

Issue "TrendLogWizProfiles not found" error when trying to create a trend log Environment Vista Workstation Trend Log Cause This error can be caused when the Trend Log wizard profiles file has become corrupted. Resolution Browse to the TAC Vista directory in Vista Workstation Double click on the $TrendLogWizProfiles object. At the bottom is the "Source File Name". Click on the data field and click the browse button "...". Browse on your hard drive to $ini directory found in the Vista Installation directory (C:\Program Files\TAC\TAC Vista 4.5.0\$ini for Vista 4.5.0). Select the $TrendlogWizProfiles.xml file and click "Open" and then "Ok". The profiles should now be updated and you should be able to use the create trend log wizard again.

Issue How to create a link to an Alarm/Eventview in a TAC Vista graphic (OGC). Environment TAC Vista IV OGC Graphic Editor Cause This feature is really good if you have multiple sites in the Vista database and need to access events or alarms from one site from your graphic. Resolution In Graphic editor, create a link area. In the link area, browse other graphics. You can also manually write a path to an object. Write the path to your Event or Alarmview object Save the graphic to database Close the editor. Open the graphic in Vista Workstation, click on the link area and your personal alarm view will appear.

Issue Vista Workstation Alarm: "The SQL database size has fallen below the size threshold" Environment Vista Workstation Cause TAC Vista always monitors the database size of the SQL server and if the size grows bigger than the limit set in TAC Vista, there is an alarm (this is because the limitation in the free desktop version of SQL server MSDE). If the size has been above the limit and returns below the limit again, the alarm reads "The SQL database size has fallen below the size threshold." Resolution Sometimes this alarm will display in the alarm list even though the size never grew above the size limit. If there hasn't been any alarm that says that the size has grown over the limit, the alarm "The SQL database size has fallen below the size threshold" is nothing to worry about.  

Issue The global object $Eventview is missing in the TAC Vista database. How to recreate global objects: $Alarmview $Eventview Environment Vista Workstation Cause The alarm and event view global objects have been deleted or are missing. Resolution Login to the master server by using TAMAIN.exe (located in the TAC Vista program folder) and check if the objects are missing. If they are, please do as follows: Creating a Abstract object e.g. $Eventview in TAC Vista 4.3.1 and later To see the object global eventview in workstation you need to press shift+CTRL+refresh in the object window. Assuming TAC Vista is installed as default: C:\Program Files\TAC\TAC Vista 4.4.1\$cfg Find a file named objtmpl.cfg and make sure to make a copy of that file, just in case Edit the file with notepad and find the string eventview_gl, here you can see how this object is defined. Remove AB , (stands for abstract object), save and close. Open the TAC Vista database folder and open the subfolder called $thisdb. Change the name of the file TacVista.cfg, to TacVistaold.cfg Restart TAC Vista. Start the testclient (testclt.exe) in C:\Program Files\TAC\TAC Vista 4.4.1. Log in, open services, create, ID=EventView Type=eventview_gl push create. Now you have to change the name of the created object to $Eventview. In the testclient(testclt.exe) open services, access. Log in, open services, create, Enter ID=EventView.$name. Push request, now you should see the actual name in the value field. Write $Eventview in the New Value field, press poke. Reset AB for the eventview_gl object in the objtmpl.cfg (the one you removed earlier), save and close.

Issue I2V graphic conversion has unpredictable results Environment I/NET Site Cause Sometimes the graphics being generated by the I2V conversion do not seem to match the original I/NET graphic pages or include additional graphic items or the size and position of the recognizable I/NET page is significantly different. These problems are typically caused by hidden items in the I/NET graphic page. Resolution To verify if this is the case open the I/NET graphic page in the I/NET editor and use the View-Page Properties option to change the page size. By increasing the page size to 4 times the current values you should be able to see if any of the unexpected items are present. If these object should not be in the graphic then you can delete them and then reconvert the graphic page after returning the page size to normal.  

Issue An error occurred while installing DSS: The account already exists In the Windows event log, an error states the following: The account already exists. --Stacktrace-- at System.DirectoryServices.Interop.IAds.SetInfo() at System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry.CommitChanges() at TAC.DSS.Install.User.Create() at TAC.DSS.Install.UserInstall.Install() --End of stacktrace-- This error can be found when installing Vista 4.3.x or higher after selecting Vista Administration of the SQL database Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista 4.3.x or higher Cause The two accounts that Vista is trying to create for SQL database administration are already created on this computer and a different password is specified. The TACA_PCNAME and TACM_PCNAME use automatically generated passwords that cannot change for Vista to contact the SQL database. Resolution Remove the TACA_PCNAME and TACM_PCNAME accounts from the computer Install Vista Server once more.

Issue IP Packages are sent out on the wrong network interface. Environment PC configured to use more than one network interface (Multihomed) Cause When a PC should send out a TCP/IP network package to another device it will determine if the destination device is located on the same local network. If it is, the PC can address the message directly to the device's IP address. If it is not, the package need to be sent to a router that can route the message to its final destination using what is called a default gateway. This is normally no problem when the PC is connected to only one network but if it is connected to more than one network that uses gateways to route the traffic on the networks, the PC does not always know which network interface to use for messages that are not addressed to one of the local networks. Resolution Tell the PC which routing path to use for a destination address or a destination network. If your PC is configured to use more than one network interface (Multihomed) and your packages are not sent out on the correct network interface, you need to add a routing path for this or those destinations using the "Route ADD" command in Windows via the command prompt. Example: Add a route path for a network: route add 192.168.2.0 MASK 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1 ^ 1 ^ 2 ^3 1 = Network address where the devices are located 2 = Network Subnet mask 3 = IP address of the router (gateway) that should be used to forward the packages. Add a route path per device: route add 192.168.2.25 MASK 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.1 route add 192.168.2.26 MASK 255.255.255.255 192.168.0.1 ^ 1 ^ 2 ^3 1 = IP address of the destination device. 2 = should always be 255.255.255.255 3 = IP address of the router (gateway) that should be used to forward the packages. For more information of how to use this command, type "route help add" in the command prompt. Note that added route paths are not persistent by default and will be erased after a system reboot. To make them persistent you need to add the command -p route -p add 192.168........

Issue My TAC Vista 5 license that I created from my entitlement doesn't work, but the demo license works fine. Environment Vista 5 Cause Only the Demo license works without a License server installed. Resolution The license server must be installed on your TAC Vista Server machine even if it is a standalone server.  

Issue An error occurred while installing DSS: MSDTC The content of the dialog box or windows event entry starts with: System.EnterpriseServices.RegistrationException: Unable to open COM+ 1.0 catalog to configure components. ----> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x8004E00F): COM+ was unable to talk to the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista Installation DSS Cause This happens when there is a problem with Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MDTC) Resolution Go to Control Panel Administrative Tools – Services Check if MSDTC in running as a Service. The name that you should see in the service list is 'Distributed Transaction Coordinator' Make sure that this is Started, Automatic, Network Service (for XP and Win2003) Here is how to install it if it is not already running: Open cmd prompt Navigate to C:\Windows\%windir% Type "msdtc -install" which installs Msdtc. The service now appears under the 'Services' area. After installing follow the steps in Microsoft Technical Bulletin.

Issue What is the Vista Server LNS license? Environment Vista Licensing Cause Vista will automatically detect the presence of binding tools (LonMaker, Alex, Lonwatcher, and NL220) and properly communicate with the LNS server without the need of a specific license. However, if you have an LNS database but no binding tool then the LNS license will need to be ordered and installed. Resolution The Vista Server LNS license is used by Vista to enable LNS communication when there is not a binding tool installed on the computer. Note: Vista 5.0 had a bug and was incorrectly checking for the binding tool. This was corrected in Hotfix 14 and 17.