Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue SmartStruxure uses two different function block programs. Menta Editor is used for Xenta programmable controllers while Function block editor is used in the Automation or Enterprise server. The two programs are not interchangeable and do have several differences. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Function Block Editor Menta Editor Cause There are several differences between Function Block Editor and Menta Editor that are important to know. Resolution Download the relevant version of the Function Block Editor and Menta Editor Difference Guide from Exchange. This guide will cover the following topics: An overview of Function Block programming The programming differences Function Block Editor and Menta Editor differences Program Conversion Importing Xenta programmable controller programs Building function block programs to I/Os Binding values Binding values using a binding template Time schedule and alarm blocks Trend logs Overview of Function Block Editor Block differences

Issue In Webstation, when clicking on a hyperlink located on a TGML that references another TGML, nothing happens. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Webstation Cause Sometimes when a graphic is saved, it gets compiled incorrectly. When this happens, the graphic will generally work inside Workstation because Workstation is a closed environment and much more forgiving then Webstation. Resolution Edit the graphic that you cannot open Save it again It will get recompiled correctly

Issue ES does not start. In the error log, the following errors are present: nsp.util.SQLite SQLite: Error. Error code: 778 nsp.util.SQLite SQLITE: Unrecoverable error. Will exit(1).' Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Enterprise server Cause If the hard drive is damaged or full, the Enterprise Server will not be able to write data to the disk and the error log will contain error 778. This error means: (778) SQLITE_IOERR_WRITE The SQLITE_IOERR_WRITE error code is an extended error code for SQLITE_IOERR indicating an I/O error in the VFS layer while trying to write into a file on disk. This error might result from a hardware malfunction or because a filesystem came unmounted while the file was open. This error should not occur if the filesystem is full as there is a separate error code (SQLITE_FULL) for that purpose. Resolution Change the hard drive or clear out some data depending on what the issue is.

Issue After creating the MSTP network under the BACnet interface and changing the MAC address from its default of 0 (zero) to a different value, learning b3 devices and finding third party BACnet devices resulted in a very unstable MSTP network with issues such as devices going offline etc. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Automation Server - AS Cause The b3s are NOT designed to use MAC id zero even though it is a valid device ID per the BACnet protocol, in versions of SmartStruxure prior to 1.5 if the MAC address of the MSTP network was changed to something other than zero the learn process would assign MAC id 0 to one of the b3s in the network which in turn would cause the b3 not to communicate properly and could even bring down the MSTP network all together. Resolution In SmartStruxure versions prior to 1.5 DO NOT change the MAC id of the MSTP network from its default of zero. If the ID was changed and one of the b3s took id zero, remove then proceed as follows: Power down the b3 with MAC id 0. Change the MAC id of the MSTP network in the AS back to zero. Warm start the AS Power up the b3 (make sure it is connected to the MSTP) on power up the b3 will detect that ID 0 is now in use and will clear its own id and stay off the network. Perform a b3 learn, the b3 should automatically be assigned an ID other than zero.

Issue If a Standard Network Variable Types (SNVT) in a Functional Block program is copied and renamed, when commissioning the local node with an LNS tool the node, the copied SNVT keeps its original copied name. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment StruxureWare Building Operation site Cause The XIF file in the device is not getting updated when the signal name changes. An LNS management tool will upload this XIF file and use it to see the values. Resolution This has been reported as bug in software and will be resolved in an upcoming release.

Issue Programming or points in the AS can not be bound to control LCM blocks. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment AS Network 8000 interface Cause The AS Network 8000 interface replicates the function of a GCM and a GCM's blocks are not able to link directly to LCM blocks. Resolution The AS Network 8000 interface replicates the function of a GCM. As such the LCM blocks in the AS can be monitored, manually commanded and bound to share within the AS, but cannot be bound to AS points or logic for control. This is as it would be with an actual GCM and the LCM's connected to it. As with the GCM, the SGCM block is available in the AS and can be used to send data in the AS to the LCM for use in the LCM's logic. The LCM must contain the RGCM block and the use of the data received is determined in the LCM logic.

Issue Is it possible to create history buttons in a TGML graphic that navigate forward/backwards through previously viewed graphics? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation, TAC Vista Environment TGML graphics editor Cause Not all systems want to use the history buttons in the menu. Some user only have access to graphics. Resolution There is currently no supported way to do create a "back" or "forward" button natively inside the TGML. Options to the customer are: Use the History buttons in the header menu Use hotkey combinations: ALT+Left Arrow goes back one page ALT+Right Arrow goes forward one page

Issue Automation Server is going online and offline when viewed from an Enterprise Server. NOTE: Depending on the network setup/IP switch arrangement, having a duplicate Automation Server (AS) IP address can manifest itself by the AS continually resetting itself (Status LED going red, then flashing green, then solid green, followed by red again) over a 1 to 2 minute cycle. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment SmartStruxure Enterprise Server StruxureWare Building Operation Workstation Automation Server Cause Duplicate IP address assigned to the AS. IP conflicts will cause the AS to go offline in the ES. Resolution Check that the AS has a unique IP address on the network. If not, consult the IT department to verify that they can provide a unique static IP address. Also, isolate the AS temporarily using a switch and see if the issue stops.

Issue Needs to know how often offline BACnet devices are polled to check if they are back online?. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Enterprise Server, Automation Server, AS, AS-P, AS-B BACnet Cause For troubleshooting reasons it may be good to know how often offline BACnet devices are polled (by EcoStruxure Building Operation Servers) to check if they are back online?. Resolution EcoStruxure Building Operation Servers checks once per minute, using the BACnet "who-is" service to locate the device, so even if its MAC address (or IP address) has changed, the BACnet Device will be found. A user can initiate the recheck, by selecting the "device offline" alarm and choosing "recheck" from the alarm command menu

Issue CE Declaration of Conformity Certificate for manufactured cables for interconnecting EBO modules. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Cabling Cause No CE Declaration of Conformity available for the SXWSCABLE10001 and SXWSCABLE10002 that connects EcoStruxure Building Operation AS-P and IO modules when fitted for example: when modules need to be mounted on separate DIN rails. Resolution CE Declaration of Conformity certificate is not required for an item e.g. premanufactured interconnecting wiring that has no functionality or is inert to the operation of the system.  Europe – CE Marking In general, CE Marking Directives are aimed at products, not at components, although there are some exceptions. Wire and cable products are one of those exceptions that stand out. On its own, wire or cable has no defined use or application, in that it must be built into something to be useful.

Issue Can not import double-byte (2-byte) character from third party BACnet device receive error "Property invalid datatype" Character support in Building Operation Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment StruxureWare Building Operation 1.2 and above Cause Building Operation supports various language characters as part of Unicode. These characters are usually received in UCS-4, UCS-2 or UTF-8 and sent in either UCS-2 or UCS-4. Double-byte format such as JIS X 0208 character set is not supported. Here is a reference posted on Microsoft Developers Website: Double Byte Character Sets. The note (second paragraph) of this reference indicates that new applications should use Unicode and that DBCS is a legacy protocol. Resolution There are no plans to support double-byte characters. It is recommended that a Unicode standard (UCS-4, UCS-2 or UTF-8) be used.

Issue Capability to import a BACnet device objects via an EDE file? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment StruxureWare Building Operation site with BACnet Cause Questioning if StruxureWare Building Operation has the capacity to import a BACnet device objects via an EDE file? Resolution We do not support importing from EDE files. We would like to have a good solution for pre-engineering 3rd-party BACnet devices. This is a problem that R&D has looked at on several occasions. The Engineering Data Exchange (EDE) concept is one way to address this issue. Although the BACnet community is in favor of solving this problem, they are not aligned on using EDE files as the solution. The EDE file concept was introduced through the BACnet Interest Group Europe (BIG-EU) by Siemens as an attempt to mimic LonWorks functionality. For worldwide adoption it must become an official extension to the BACnet standard as an approved addendum via the ASHRAE BACnet committee SSPC 135. The BACnet committee has reviewed the EDE file concept and feels that the solution does not fit in with the BACnet roadmap and is not technically ideal. The EDE file is a CSV format and the BACnet committee favors a more modern standard that has extensive self-describing features such as with XML or JSON. For example, BACnet Electronic PICS (EPICS) and BACnet Web Services is XML based and their is an active XML Working Group within the BACnet committee. We understand the BIG-EU is looking to ASHRAE for guidance on this issue and would like to be aligned with the standard going forward. There is a deeper issue beyond adoption by ASHRAE and the technology choice. The reliability of the EDE file cannot be guaranteed. The BACnet Device and Network IDs and objects contained within must be set exactly in the EDE file or configured offline to match the actual device in the field. If these BACnet addresses and objects don't match you will most likely end up with major problems when the database is brought online. Packet captures will reveal duplicate messages and excessive network traffic and references will fail to work. EDE Files for application specific (ASC) devices are likely to have a longer shelf life then EDE files for free-programmable building controllers. However, if an ASC has it's firmware updated, even an ASC EDE file will become outdated and useless. It is rumored that EDE files have been used successfully in the field but want to point out that this is not a fail-safe method nor is it tested and supported. As we continue to participate in the ASHRAE BACnet working groups, we will activity engage ourselves in the pre-engineering solution discussions. Our hope is that a universally accepted solution that can address most of the concerns can become an approved addendum to the ASHRAE BACnet standard.  It turns out that the ASHRAE BACnet committee is further along than reported above. ASHRAE 135-2008 Addendum which added the XML file formats to the standard addresses this application: http://www.bacnet.org/Addenda/Add-135-2008t.pdf Looking at the rational section of this addendum you will see a list of the intended applications: This syntax is intended to be the core data representation for the following use cases: An electronic version of a PICS document, consumable by workstations and other tools, to describe the capabilities of a device. An XML version of an EPICS, defining not only the capabilities of the device, but also including the complete test database and other test-oriented data. An "as built" description of a deployed device, distributed either as a separate file or as a File Object resident in the device itself. Descriptions of proprietary objects and properties and datatypes (in any of the above three uses). These descriptions may be minimalistic, providing basic data sharing capabilities, or extremely rich, providing complete descriptions of the meaning and usage of the data to enable a comprehensive user interface, including the capability of providing such descriptions in multiple human languages. An export format for tools and workstations to export or publish their knowledge of the arrangement and configuration of a device or a complete system of devices and networks. Web services that exchange complex or constructed data With an official ASHRAE BACnet solution it is just a matter of determining which method to go with. Despite the format, it is possible to have a utility application that can automatically generate an export file. It would even be possible to convert an EDE file to XML. Albeit, I believe the EDE file would be less descriptive then an XML file generated from the actual device. It may be better to natively import via XML. We would then either get a BACnet XML file from the vendor or have a small external utility gather from the live device or convert an EDE file.

Issue Collecting String data from third party BACnet systems where they do not support BACnet String Objects Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Third Party BACnet systems Continuum Text/Strings Datetime Cause BACnet String and Date (characterstring-value and datetime-value) objects are not included in some BACnet systems eg. Continuum. Continuum supports these objects types in a proprietary manor but not as BACnet objects, therefore these values cannot be simply collected by EBO Resolution A simple method of collecting text strings from Continuum is to convert each character to its ASCII equivalent number, then pass these values via BACnet Analog Values, then convert back to a string in EBO The simplistic PE program below shows conversion of the first 8 characters of "String8Character" Object to 8 Analog Values "StringChr01-08", these are collected by EBO The Script Program below converts the Analog Values back to a Text String  

Issue Desire to create a Panel in a subfolder, such as BACnet Application folder. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment StruxureWare Building Operation 1.0 and higher Cause For navigability from the Workstation, it may be desirable to nest a Panel graphic display directly underneath the BACnet controller it is displaying information for. Resolution Panel(s) and inability for creation in the BACnet Application folder is intentional. The BACnet Application is mostly reserved objects which are visible to BACnet (Points, Values, Alarms, Trends, Schedules, etc), and also non-BACnet objects that you might use with BACnet objects (Graphics, Extended Trend Logs, Charts and Lists). Things that are related to applications. The Panel object is related to the Workstation and its layout, not the application. Panel objects also cannot be created inside of any other communication protocol interfaces (LonWorks or ModBus, for example).  

Issue There is no quick and efficient way to configure a TAC Xenta 102-AX controller after adding it to a LonWorks Network in Building Operation. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Workstation Cause The TAC Xenta 102-AX controller is typically configured using the LNS plug-in that is currently not available in version 1.4.0 and newer. Resolution As an alternative to the LNS plug-in, the graphic page available on the Community [1] can be used. This zip file contains the TGML graphic, binding template, and a full import file with a Xenta 102-AX that is already bound. [1] Xenta 102-AX SXW TGML Plugin v1.6.1 (SBO 1.8.0 to 1.9.3) Example Plug-in TGML Graphic Page

Issue Failed to reload b3 controllers, The information for device commission detail indicates "the Object Identifier already existed". Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation, Andover Continuum Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server Building Operation Automation Server Premium Building Operation Automation Server Continuum b3 Controllers Cause There are one or more database conflicts in the AS. Resolution Right Click AS and select "cold restart" Wait for AS come back online and try to reload the b3 controllers. The issue may return, but the solution can help you download the b3 controller and will not impact the b3s' performance.

Issue Where can I download SmartStruxure V1.5 software and manuals? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment SBO version 1.50 software Cause Download location required. Resolution The following link is to all documents and software associated with V1.50 release. Or go to The Exchange Download Center and search on the tag: relsbov1.5 (short for: Release SBO V1.5).

Issue The LON network is experiencing high bandwidth utilization identified by problems with commissioning devices and intermittent communication loss. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation LON devices Cause There can be many causes for high bandwidth utilization, including configuring change of value trend logs directly to points on the LON devices without using the local node. This causes Building Operation to poll the values constantly to see if there has been a change which in turns impacts the communication. Another cause can be graphics pages with a very large number of points. Even pages with many hidden layers will poll every point including the hidden layer points. It is important to bind any values coming into the Automation Server through the Local Node. Another cause can be the lack of proper LON interface configurations such as Bandwidth Throttling. Resolution The best option is to modify the Change of value logs to the type Interval logs. If it is a graphic causing the issue, then reduce the points on the graphics page. If these options are not suitable then using the local node option described below will help in reducing the bandwidth. Utilize the Local Node Create a Local Node underneath the LonWorks Network in the Enterprise or Automation Server. Create a SNVT underneath the Local Node that matches the one you want to log or bind. Make a SNVT binding from the Device to the SNVT created under the Local Node that triggers on change. For more information on Lon interface configuration settings, see LonWorks Interface Properties – Advanced Tab.

Issue Can the XIF be generated for an AS? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Automation Server Cause Want to add AS into another system and need XIF Resolution In version 1.4.0 and below the Automation Server can not be integrated into other systems using LonWorks. From version 1.4.1 and up, you can configure an "Externally Managed LonWorks Network" to the Automation Server, and as a result use the Automation Server in e.g. LonMaker or NL220. The Automation Server supports "Upload from device", but if you need the xif file, you can refer to the following guides available on the Community. Generate XIF file from SmartStruxure AS - LonMaker Generate XIF file from SmartStruxure AS - NL220.

Issue When TAC Xenta 421-A is used as stand alone LonWorks node, a value read from an 0-10 VDC or 4-20 mA is sent only as 0-100%. Is it possible to send as engineering values? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation,TAC Vista Environment TAC Xenta 421-A Cause Then the TAC Xenta 421-A is used as a stand alone LonWorks nodes, the values from an analog input is always sent as nvoAnalog1-4, in 0-100%. Only exception is then using thermistor inputs, when the measured temperature is sent out as nvoTemp1-4. Resolution TAC Xenta 421-A used as stand alone LonWorks node, the values from an analog input is always sent as nvoAnalog1-4, in 0-100%, unless the input is configured from 1.8 kOhm or 10 kOhm thermistors..