Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Use Modulus in Menta Expression Block. Environment Xenta programmables Xenta 280, 281, 282, 283, 300, 301, 302, 401, 401:B Menta Cause The Modulus operation in Menta is used to obtain the remainder of a division. If for example you want to perform 10 Modulus 7 the result would be 3. Resolution To perform this function in Menta, use an expression block with the contents of A%B. However, the built in Modulus function does not work with numbers larger than 65535. To perform the Modulus function with such large numbers, write out the Modulus calculation in the expression block instead of using the % symbol. This expression accomplishes the same thing: A-(B*INT(A/B))  

Issue I can not get my Xenta Groups to come online under my Echelon LTA in Vista classic or Xenta 911, or don't get any alarms from any of the Xenta's. The LTA is online and the LonWorks network is commissioned and online, but the Xenta groups will not come online. Environment Xenta Programmable controllers Xenta 280, 281, 282, 283, 300, 301, 302, 401, 401:B Echelon LTA Vista Classic network Cause The group master may be offline causing the entire Xenta group to also report an offline status. It may also be due to spaces in the naming conventions of the network. Resolution Verify that the Xenta group master controller is online Verify that no object has a name longer than 20 characters LTA name, LonWorks group name, or any Xenta group or Xenta name Verify that there are not spaces in the LTA name, LonWorks group name, or any Xenta group or Xenta name. Use underscores (_) instead of spaces. Verify that there are not \ or / in the LTA name, LonWorks group name, or any Xenta group or Xenta name. Use underscores (_) instead of back slash and forward slash.

Issue Modifying the bypass occupancy override duration of a Xenta 102-AX Environment Xenta 102-AX LNS Cause There are several locations to change the bypass occupancy override duration on a Xenta 102-AX. Resolution To edit the bypass occupancy override duration from the Xenta 102-AX Plug-In: Open the Xenta 102-AX Plug-In Go to the Operating Parameters tab Alter the value under Bypass Override Duration (Hour, Min)   To edit the bypass occupancy override duration from an LNS Browser: Open the LNS Browser The value is represented in the format (days, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds).  If it reads (0,2,0,0,0) that would be an override duration of 2 hours. Alter the hours and minutes to the desired value, but leave the days, seconds, and milliseconds at 0.   To edit the bypass occupancy override duration from the Vista Workstation: Navigate to the Xenta 102-AX in the tree structure. Open the VAV_Controller module. Double click the point named UCPTovrdDuration The description breaks out separate values for days, hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds.  Alter the hours and minutes to the desired value, but leave the days, seconds, and milliseconds at 0.

Issue Red X in Internet Explorer when attempting to view certain Menta objects in a Xenta 700 Environment Xenta Servers Xenta 701, 711, 721, 731 XBuilder Menta Internet Explorer Cause When importing a Menta object into a Xenta 700 XBuilder project from a file previously created in the normal version of Menta, be very careful with all the comment text within the file. All comment text has to have a defined text type in the file. For example say you had a Menta file with comments throughout that you set all of your font to Arial, bold and 10 point font. Then you created another file and copied the contents of the original file into the second file. You will lose the text attributes of Arial, bold and 10 point font but the normal version of Menta will still display the comments correctly. Now, if you import that second menta file into a Xenta 700 XBuilder database and download the Xenta 700, you will have problems. If any comment text does not have text attributes, Java can not load the file to be viewed in Internet Explorer / Menta viewer and you will get the red X when the file loads. Resolution Go through the entire Menta object in XBuilder, double clicking any comment. Focus efforts on any comments that are known to have been cut and pasted into the file. Check that a font, style, and size it attributed to each comment. Fix and redownload the XBuilder project.

Issue Upgraded Vista 3 to Vista 5 and Digital Points can not be changed on OGC graphic page Environment Vista 3 system upgraded to Vista 5 Digital points OGC Graphics Cause This behavior has only been seen after a upgrade from Vista 3 when following the recommended upgrade path and does not effect every single digital point. Resolution The inability to control a digital point in an OGC graphic page on Vista 5 Webstation can be fixed by opening the offending graphic page in the graphic editor and then saving it back to the Vista DB.

Issue "Network interface is being initialized" when using Remote Serial Port Driver in Vista Environment Remote Serial Port Driver (RSPD) Cause If using the Remote Serial Port Driver and seeing a "network interface is being initialized" error message in Vista when viewing points, then it might be an issue with the operating system and its Data Execution Prevention (DEP) setting. This problem is most likely found in Windows Server 2003 due to Microsoft using the wrong value as default in SP1. Resolution Verify that the Data Execution Prevention settings are configured for "Windows Services only" rather than "all programs" Reinstall the Remote Serial Port Driver program

Issue Creating Critical, Priority, Routine, Transaction event pages on a 527/731 Environment Xenta Server Xenta 527, 731 Cause When using Vista to access an I/NET network you have 4 views for the Alarms and transactions. To create these views on the web with a Xenta 527 or Xenta 731 you will need to create event pages with different filters. Resolution Add a new event page in Xbuilder and use the InetAMT filter file. Right click on the event page and select Setup Event Viewer. Click the filter icon in the top left corner and use the following guidelines for the type of page you are trying to create: Critical Alarms - Priority From 1 To 1 Priority Alarms - Priority From 2 To 2 Routine Alarms - Priority From 3 To 3 Transactions - Tenant: * Each event page will have a different filter. To match I/NET or Vista you will need to create four pages.

Issue OPCEnum not at remote OPC server Environment Vista OPC Server Cause Some times the OPCEnum will not exist on remote PC with server installed. In this case, Vista can not find the OPC server and DCOM can not be configured for OPCEnum. Resolution Download and install this small package, and you will have OPCEnum installed. http://ftp.softwaretoolbox.com/support/updates/OPCEnumInst.exe

Issue Monitoring duct temperature on a Xenta 102-AX without putting it into Morning Warmup (Central Plant Heat) mode Environment Xenta 102-AX Cause The Xenta 102-AX Plug-in allows you to configure the hardware inputs for several different purposes.  If you configure Universal Input 1 as a duct temperature, that is assuming duct inlet temperature.  Any time the duct inlet temperature is higher than the room temperature (suggesting that central plant heat is being provided by the air handler) the action of the damper will reverse and the box will show HVAC_MRNG_WARMUP as its application mode.  If it is really the duct reheat outlet temperature that is being measured, this could be an undesirable result. Resolution There are two options to read in a duct temperature without it affecting the internal logic of the Xenta 102-AX.  The recommended method is: Connect the temperature sensor to Universal Input 1. Configure the Xenta 102-AX Plug-in, Hardware Configuration, Input 1 Section to "None." This will continue to report the temperature on UnivIn1_Sense.nvoAuxTemp1 but will not affect the internal logic of the controller. The other option is: Connect the temperature sensor to Universal Input 3. Configure the Xenta 102-AX Plug-in, Hardware Configuration, Input 3 Selection to "OA Temp. Sensor." This will report the temperature on UnivIn3_Sense.nvoAuxTemp2 but will not affect the internal logic of the controller.  

Issue Xenta 102-AX goes to Unoccupied Minimum airflow setpoint instead of Heating Minimum airflow setpoint when in HVAC_HEAT mode Environment Xenta 102-AX version 2.17 and prior Cause Revision 2.12 of the 102-AX added the capability to do airflow reset in heat mode. To do that, it uses warmup high flow to create the range to reset. If that setting is lower than the heating minimum airflow setpoint, it does not know what to do and reverts to the unoccupied airflow setpoint. Resolution Set the warmup high flow setpoint to be greater than the heating minimum flow setpoint. The warmup high flow setpoint should not be set to 0 even if there is no warmup/central plant heat on the unit. Alternatively, upgrading the Xenta 102-AX firmware to version 2.18 or newer.

Issue Alarms in Menta not coming into Vista if the output is connected to additional logic. Environment Menta IV Vista IV Workstation Alarm Queue Cause Many times Alarms will be used to start backup systems in the event of equipment failure. This is commonly performed by attaching the output of an alarm to additional logic which will route needed information to the backup system. Resolution Add a DELB (binary delay) to the output of the alarm before connecting the additional logic. This will allow the alarm to show up in Vista Workstation.

Issue XBuilder will allow you to insert the Xenta group or LonWorks group found under the Xenta 901 port object, but when you add the second group it will add it as a totally separate tree object instead of integrating into the same tree. For example XBuilder will show you this: LON   -XG1 LON   -XG2 When it should look like this: LON   -XG1   -XG2 Environment Xenta 901 XBuilder 5.0.2 and 5.0.3 Cause If you have an older site that is still using a dial connection via a Xenta 901 from your Vista front end and you need to add a Xenta Server to the site to perform connection objects from Inovonics or a 3rd party interface and do not have the option of adding an IP connection to the site then engineering this can be problematic in Vista 5.0.2 or 5.0.3 due to Xbuilder limitations. Resolution To correct this problem, use XBuilder version 5.0.1 stand alone. This will allow you to make the proper tree structure when you insert the groups from Vista and create connection objects for your communication.  

Issue Vista 5 dongle install fails. It's looking for "aksusb.sys". Environment Vista 5 licensing Cause The correct drivers need to be installed to interface with the licensing dongle. Resolution Unplug the dongle. Click on this link - hasp driver Install the first one labeled "Sentinel HASP LDK - Windows GUI Run-time  Installer" Plug the dongle in again.

Issue Installing Vista 5.0.x on Windows Vista and it failed. Environment Windows Vista Vista 5.0.x Cause Vista 5.0.x is not compatible with Windows Vista Resolution First, uninstall anything Vista 4.3.x to 5.0.x installed including Microsoft SQL and Microsoft Visual Runtime C++ stuff. If they won't all uninstall, you may have to do a system restore to some point previous to the TAC Vista install. Next remove the c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data assuming that TAClogdata.* is there. It might be in MSSQL.2 or other. You should then be able to install.  

Issue A system with NIC852 keys has difficulty getting the Loytec Ports to come online after an upgrade to Vista 5.0.3. Environment Vista 5.0.3 NIC852 Loytec Ports Orion Stack Cause There was a product enhancement with 5.0.3 that Loytec PCI-709 network interfaces were replaced by NIC709-PCI100 (Vista Orion stack) Resolution Upgrade the LCONFIG software to the newest 3.0.1 version. This software is available from http://www.loytec.com.  

Issue Using addition in a JavaScript, but it is performing a string concatenation. Example: The value in the database is 3. value = value + 1; The resulting value is 31, not 4.  Comparisons are returning unexpected results NaN (Not a Number) resulting from a JavaScript function Product Line TAC Vista Environment TGML JavaScript Vista 5 Graphics Cause Values that are read into a JavaScript in a TGML graphic need to be cast to the correct data type. Some values may be read in as an ASCII string, and this can cause unexpected results. Resolution Cast the value being read to the desired data type. There are three options for casting values to numerical values that can then be used in mathematical operations. In the example below a variable named "value" reads a database value from a binding. No type casting is performed, so this value may be interpreted as an ASCII string. function OnSignalChange(evt){ value = evt.getValue(); } To ensure that the data are represented as numerical value, select one of the three options below. Replace the variable declaration (highlighted) with one that utilizes the appropriate type casting. Number() value = Number(evt.getValue()); The Number() function will treat the whole object as a number. Non-numerical characters will return NaN. parseInt() value = parseInt(evt.getValue()); The parseInt() function will convert the beginning of a string to an Integer value, ignoring any decimal points or any trailing non-numbers. parseFloat() value = parseFloat(evt.getValue()); The parseFloat() function will convert the beginning of a string to a floating point decimal value, ignoring any trailing non-numbers. Also check out the JavaScript Essentials - Episode 3 - Value Types Quick-Help video on the Exchange.

Issue Vista WebApps install incorrectly claiming that IIS is not installed Environment Windows IIS Cause On some custom configurations of Windows we have seen where Internet Information Services (IIS) is running on another driver letter and Vista WebApps is not finding the IIS operating directory and claiming that IIS is not installed. Resolution Open the Registry Editor (Start > Run > regedit) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\InetStp\ for the PathWWWRoot key. This registry key should show the directory that IIS is using for storage of the web server. (Default is C:\inetpub\wwwroot\) Correct the registry key with the correct path and the install should now succeed.

Issue "Field Unit Not Configured" when commissioning controller or network under a Xenta Server Environment Xenta Server Xenta 511, 527, 701, 711, 721, 731, 913 Cause The LonWorks Network object is not recognized correctly by the Xenta Server. Resolution Create a new device "Communication Port - Echelon - LTA". Drag the "LonWorks Network" object on to the LTA port. Then drag the "LonWorks Network" object back on to the Xenta Server object.

Issue Using Vista Classic with the Xenta 121 controller and ZBuilder will not open from Workstation Environment Vista Classic network Vista Workstation ZBuilder Xenta 121 Cause ZBuilder can not open if there are any spaces in the: Vista Server name Port name LonWorks network name LonWorks group name Xenta controller name Resolution Verify that there are not any spaces in any object names within the network. Always use _ (underscore) instead of spaces.  

Issue Trend Log pages, Time Object pages, Alarm pages and Value pages in a TAC Xenta 721 project. Environment TAC Xenta 721 Cause XBuilder allows for the creation of some additional objects in a Xenta 721 project for use with the OP7, not to be visible in a web browser or Vista Workstation. Resolution In the XBuilder 5.1.0 you can add Trend Log pages, Time Object pages, Alarm pages and Value pages in a TAC Xenta 721 project. These pages are only for use in the OP7. Unfortunately, they are visible in the TAC Vista database and the pages do not work in Vista. If you use IE to browse the Xenta 721, you can not see the pages. These pages should not be visible in TAC Vista. This was reported as a bug and will be corrected in later versions.