Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Integration issues between EcoStruxure Building Operation and Power Monitoring Expert/Energy Expert are often complex and may require more the one PSS Team to resolve.  Investigations may begin on the BMS side but then may move quickly to the EMS team so it would be helpful at that point to gather helpful Diagnostic Data on the PME/EE system Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation, Power Monitoring Expert, Energy Expert Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server Integration Cause Existing KB articles on EBO and PME/EE integration generally focus on troubleshooting or investigating the EBO side and little data is available in KBs for direct PME/EE investigation. Resolution EMS Support have their own structure of useful FAQs rather than KBs and in this situation there is an FAQ article which details how to extract very useful Diagnostic Date from the PME/EE Server which can be obtained before the support case is escalated to the EMS Expert Team: https://www.se.com/ww/en/faqs/FA275753/   There is also a search function where you can browse through other potentially helpful FAQ articles.

Issue When attempting to register a system, an error page is shown indicating a server error in the /ebo application   Error Text: Runtime Error An application error occurred on the server.  The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security settings).  It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.  Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment WorkStation Registration Windows Server 2012 R2 and above Cause While the error message points to an error in the back end server, it is actually due to a setting on the client PC. Enhanced security configurations in Internet Explorer on Windows Server systems, is blocking required content from being run. EcoStruxure Building Operation WorkStation uses Internet Explorer as the built-in browser and is therefore affected by this. Resolution While the enhanced security measures can be disabled altogether, the resolution with the smallest impact is to add the URL of the registration portal to trusted sites in Internet Explorer. Open Internet Explorer Open Internet Options Select the Security tab Click Trusted Sites Click Sites Enter the registration portal URL: https://registration.smartstruxure.schneider-electric.com Click Add Click Close Click OK After doing so, restart WorkStation, and attempt the registration again. For more information, refer to the WebHelp topic EcoStruxure Building Operation Registration Page is not Displayed.

Issue When using a calculation method on a trend log list or trend chart with the period "Month" the timestamp is always on the 16th of each month. See the example below: Why is the time stamp always the 16th and is it possible to change the collection date Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Workstation Cause When doing a calculation in a trend log list or trend chart the timestamp will always be in the middle of the chosen period. Resolution This is currently not possible to change in EBO. Alternative ways of presenting the data are to use Dashboards or Notification reports

Issue Bindings made under the Infinet interface using Import/Export system (IE) stop updating. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Automation Server Premium Continuum i2920 Controller Cause Objects under the Infinet interface sometimes lose their Object IDs for reasons that are not yet fully understood. The issue has been seen during up revision of the AS-P from 1.9x to 3.x Resolution Under the Infinet interface, right-click on the Application folder of the AS-P or Infinet device and select "Resolve object ids" The system automatically re-assigns the missing ids Download applicable i2 devices

Issue Importing Infinet devices into AS-P fails with the following error "Invalid Data Error: Invalid_Data (0x10000) in module Coml(11). "Invalid cast from null": CreateObjectRequest".  Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Automation Server Premium Cause Infinet devices have a space character within their names Resolution Remove the space character and use an underscore in its place.

Issue After starting the Enterprise Server(ES), the memory usage increase constantly until it finally hangs, which happens in a couple of days.  Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server version 3.2.x Building Operation Automation Server 3.2.x Cause Running a Notification report including many trend logs can take a long time to finish; for example, a report including 91 trend logs can take up to 10 minutes. If the Notification report is triggered more often than 10 minutes, reports will start to queue up, making the memory usage for the ES increase over time, and it will finally hang. Resolution When having a Notification report which includes many trend logs, make sure that it is not running too often as it is a rather slow process to create a report including many logs. Example: A Notification report which includes 91 trend logs with 168 log records takes 10 minutes to finish.

Issue After a successful commission of MP-x SmartX controller, the device is online and operating properly but fails to come back online after a warm start. The issue is seen more often when MP-x device is configured for DHCP but can also happen when configured for static IP address. (See the attached video which demonstrates the issue) Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation SmartX IP Multi-purpose Controller (MP-X) Building Operation SmartX IP Room Controller (RP-C) Building Operation SmartX Controller IP-IO Series Cause Communication settings out of sync between the physical device and configuration database Resolution To synchronize the IP settings between the device and the configuration database follow these instructions from the online help  Discarding MP Series Controller IP Network Settings Changes

Issue Webhelp and the Technical Reference Guide supply information for using the AS-P/B DHCP server option, however, a number of relevant questions have not been answered. Product Line EcoStruxture Building Operation Environment Building Operation Automation Server Premium (AS-P 0.62 hardware) Building Operation Automation Server Bundled (AS-B) Building Operation SmartX IP Multi-purpose Controller (MP-X) Building Operation SmartX IP Room Controller (RP-C) Building Operation SmartX Controller IP-IO Series Cause There are typically a number of options to configure DHCP servers, but since the DHCP server included with the AS-P/B is very basic and NOT configurable, it's important to understand which options are and are not available. Resolution Webhelp has some helpful information about the DHCP Server Options. The AS-P/Bs built-in DHCP server assigns unrouted IP addresses within the range of addresses from 10.110.210.2 to 10.110.210.254. This was developed to allow for a quick configuration of a private MP-X/RP-C network. The AS-P/B DHCP server can be disabled and another DHCP server can be used. Here is a list of other questions and answers that may come up based on typical options in other DHCP servers: Can the scope of the IP range be configured? There is no way to configure or limit the range of the standard IP address range or to have multiple scopes. Can IP exceptions be configured? There is no configuration option to prevent the AS-P/B DHCP server from assigning a specific IP address. The AS-P/B DHCP server is unaware of static IP addresses, so if a switch or other device has a static IP set in the 10.110.210.2 to 10.110.210.254 range, you run the risk of having the AS-P/B DHCP server assign an IP address twice which can cause a number of issues. Can a Default gateway be configured? Not configurable Can a Subnet mask be configured? Not configurable Is IP6 supported? No Can lease types be configured? No Can multiple DHCP servers be installed on the private LAN? No Should MP-X/RP-C IP level devices only be hosted within the private AS-P/B network? Most site IT departments prefer that the BAS networks be isolated, however, if the network switch (Not the AS-P/B) is used for assigning DHCP IP addresses, it could hand out addresses to the AS-P/B and the MP-X/RP-C devices if they are on the same subnet. A managed (RSTP Enabled) switch can reside as a client to the AS-P/B. This is due to how the Private DHCP option is advertised. On-site IT departments may not want the switch on the customer's LAN so it is placed in the private AS-P/B network. Does the AS-P/B DHCP server assign addresses to 3rd party devices? Yes, if the 3rd party device supports this. This would be a configurable option in the device.

Issue BACnet AlignIntervals Error when downloading b3 controller after a Continuum conversion Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Continuum conversion b3 Controllers Cause After a Continuum conversion the b3 controllers will not download correctly and AlignIntervals error is seen. Resolution This is most likely a result of have older firmware in the b3 controllers. No exact EBO supported version is stated for the b3 controller, but it is advised to always use the latest firmware version. Early versions of SBO (v1.0 to v1.9) would have been tested with v4.500064 (June2010) and v4.500076 (Mar2014). Most EBO testing being done at v4.500077 (Nov2017). It is likely a b3 with firmware v4.500049(Jul2009) could operate correctly.   It is advised to use the current version of firmware in a b3 controller.   Continuum Conversion Tool Notes See Known Issue v3.0 See Known Issue v3.1 So for Continuum conversions, EBO v3.0.x, v3.1.1 and v3.1.2 up to CP4 should avoided. The work around for these versions is to convert using v2.0 then upgrade to the required version. Or for v3.1, use v3.1.2.6000 CP5 or later. The issues are fixed in v3.2.

Issue How to get the data to display automatically (expanded) when running the Trend Log Comparison report. When running the Trend Log Comparison Report, the data is not shown in the tabular format automatically, and the + must be clicked on to expand this table to show the values.  Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation WebReports Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder Cause When either using a Dashboard report or Exporting reports, some situations require the data to be expanded automatically when generating the WebReport.  The following discusses the changes required to be made to this report to allow this to happen.  Resolution To have the report automatically display this data fully expanded, the default WebReport "Trend Log Comparison" needs to be edited using Microsoft SQL Server Report Builder.  See the following online Help Topic for additional detail on using Report Builder with Reports. Open the Trend Log Comparison report using Report Builder. Scroll down to the bottom section of the Report and select (left-click) the DateTimeStamp field Under the Row Groups, Right-Click on [DateTimeStamp] and open Group Properties. Select the Visibility and change this option to Show  Save the file - It is recommended to save the report with a new name and not alter the default factory report.  This new report must then be deployed to the WebReports Server.  This is done by Synchronizing the new report as detailed in the online help: Synchronizing WebReports with a New Report. Running the report should now automatically have this data expanded.  

Issue The hard drive fills up with logs generated by PostgreSQL/Timescale. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server Cause Trend meta table missing information Resolution In the ES, go to the TimeScaleDB configuration. Set Trend and Event storage to false and click save. Set Trend and Event storage to true and click save.

Issue Faulty operation of BMS equipment due to electrical interference from other equipment can be difficult and costly to identify and fix.  Guidance is required for the best installation practices to minimize the source of the interference and to protect against it when it occurs. Product Line Andover Continuum, EcoStruxure Building Operation, Field Devices, Satchwell MicroNet, Satchwell Sigma, TAC IA Series, TAC Vista Environment All electrical equipment Cause Poor installation can cause equipment to generate high and low-frequency electromagnetic interference that can disrupt the operation of other systems. Resolution Schneider Electric has produced a document Practical Installation Guidelines which discusses the theory and offers practical guidelines to protect against and minimize the generation of, electromagnetic interference.

Issue What utility in Windows XP can disable items in Startup? Environment Windows XP Cause Items that run on startup can sometimes make the boot up process for a PC very slow. Depending on which applications have been added to start automatically on startup, it can also cause problems if things load in the incorrect order. Resolution Click the Start button in Windows XP Select Run Type msconfig and click OK.

Issue How to find the IP address information on a PC? Environment Windows Operating Systems Cause Need to identify the IP address of the workstation (PC). Resolution For a Windows 95/98 PC, go to a DOS screen and run WINIPCFG. For a Windows NT / XP / Windows7 / Server 2008 PC, run a CMD window and run IPCONFIG.

Issue When opening (pull up) sunblind, it stops at the end of runtime and then rolls back down. When closing (pull down) sunblind, it stops at the end of runtime and then rolls back up. Environment Lonworks devices including REG-N MSE4 (SVEA 32237-346) Sunblind actuators Cause The sunblinds only have UP/DOWN functions, and there is no panel angle setting. The sunblinds are not venetian, just simple sunblinds. The sunblind actuator is preconfigured for use with venetian blinds. For example when driving down completely first the motor is energised for the time configured in UCPTdownDriveTime, then stops a short moment and then turns the angle of the lamella by energising the motor for the time configured in UCPTpanelTurnTime (dependent on the value of parameter UCPTdownPanelAngle). Resolution When not  using venetian blinds the parameters UCPTdownPanelAngle, UCPTupPanelAngle, UCPTpanelTurnTime and UCPTpanelTurnTimeBottom should be set to zero. Commands to the sunblind actuator then should as well have the value of zero in the rotation part of the SNVTsetting command.

Issue Change an IP address on Windows 8 to a static address. Product Line Other Environment Windows 8 Cause Changing the IP address of a PC is often done to ensure it resides on the same subnet and network as the system or devices it is trying to communicate with. Resolution From the Start Menu (Tiles), open the Charms bar by moving the mouse to the right bottom corner of the screen or press the Windows Key + C and click on Search. Highlight Settings. In the Search box type Network to search for any network related options From the list options choose Network and Sharing Center. From the View Your Active Networks section, select Local Area Connection. Go to Properties. Result: The Local Area Connection Properties screen appears. Highlight Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click on Properties. Result: The Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties screen appears. Click Use the following IP address. Complete the configuration fields as shown below. This part of the configuration requires attention to detail, because one error will prevent you from getting on the network. Be sure you have this information at hand when you start to configure the TCP/IP protocol: IP Address: x.x.x.x Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Default gateway: x.x.x.x  Enter these numbers in the appropriate fields and click OK. Continue to click OK or Close as appropriate until you return to the Network Connections screen. The Local Area Connection icon text should now say "Enabled". To test the new IP address: Open a command prompt in Windows 8 Swipe to show apps screen Scroll down and locate Windows system section heading Under Windows system, press or click on Command Prompt (a new Command Prompt window will open up on the Desktop.) You then can type in IPCONFIG then hit Enter and look for the new IPV4 address. You can also try to type in PING (IP ADDRESS) that should reply with the new IPV4 address if set correctly.

Issue Some helpful basic IP commands. Product Line Other Environment Computer with IP NIC or Network Cause Need for basic IP configuration or IP address Resolution Go to start, click run and type in "cmd". This takes you to the command prompt. Type in: "ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" to see if your device is online and its response time. Make sure you put the space between "ping" and "xxx". "ipconfig" and hit enter to get the info of the computer you are currently using. You'll get the IP address, subnet mask and the gateway. "ipconfig/all" and hit enter to get more info on the machine your using. It will give you all the above and then some including the DNS server addresses. "tracert xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" and hit enter and you can see the servers that you are going through to get to your destination. This can be used when connecting to a Loytec or a iLon and the IP address is being presented to the L-IP or iLon is unknown. Connecting through a firewall/gateway/NAT server, you are not presenting the PC's address - when you do the tracert you will go through your gateway and the next address will be the IP you are presenting- Use this in the iLon as the LNS server address.

Issue Is it possible to set software permissions for a Public Value in a Menta or Function Block program in EcoStruxure Building Operation (EBO)? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Workstation Cause Public values in Function Block Programs (FBP) or Menta programs are not seen as objects but as attributes of the FBP or Menta object. Resolution It is not possible to set software permission on point level for a Menta program or Function Block Program, only on the Module level. One workaround is to create a Search or Watch View and add the signals the user should be able to change or add the points to a graphic. Set permissions to the Search, Watch window, or graphic.

Issue What is the limitation on the number of COV subscriptions an RP-C can handle? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Room Controller (RPC) Cause When setting up a binding to an RP-C to read a value from another device or transfer a value in the RP-C to another device COV subscriptions are often used.  Resolution The number of subscriptions an RP-C can support is limited primarily by the available resources of the controller. An RP-C with a single point can support thousands of subscriptions but that’s not a realistic configuration on a live site. If resources were allocated to support a defined number of COV subscriptions, this would lock down those resources (primarily memory), making less room for other applications. Since the maximum number of subscriptions depends on how many available resources the controller has at the moment when a subscription is made, there is no guaranteed number on how many subscriptions an RP-C can support.

Issue How to connect a 4 wire PT100 or PT1000 sensor to a 3-wire RTD input. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation I/O Module 16 Ch RTD Cause Some PT100/PT1000 sensors have only 3 terminals to connect to. Resolution The wires to the sensor are often color marked in pair, like two red cables and two white cables. As we only have 3 terminals to connect to, the solution is to only connect 3 of the cables, and not connect the 4th cable.   As the RTD device also measure the resistance of the cables, to make a correct temperature reading, it is important that all three wires used do have the same length and resistance. Therefore, the fourth wire should NOT be connected in parallel, it has to be un-connected.