Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Is it possible to Import / Export data from Excel into the StruxureWare Building Operation Spreadsheet view? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment SmartStruxure Spreadsheet View Microsoft Excel Cause Engineer must complete a survey of the existing plant before starting the upgrade and wished to export the StruxureWare Building Operation data into Excel. Resolution Importing and Exporting to Excel at release 1.3 is not possible, using copy and paste are the only options. These functions are described in StruxureWare Building Operation "Help" under "How To". Copying from MS Excel to Spreadsheet View Copying from Spreadsheet View to MS Excel

Issue Programmable controller does not get added. Progress window never closes Can not add programmable controller. Environment StruxureWare Building Operation 1.3 SP Function block editor TAC Xenta 301, TAC Xenta 302, TAC Xenta 401, TAC Xenta 281, TAC Xenta 282, TAC Xenta 283 Cause Check if there are any blocks named "version". This is a reserved word that is not allowed as a name Resolution Open Function block editor and search your application (F7) for the word version. Change version to something else

Issue What is the part number & price for a SmartStruxure/Network 8000 driver or a SmartStruxure/Signal driver? Environment SmartStruxure Network 8000 Signal Cause Job estimating Resolution There is no Network 8000 driver or Signal as there is with I/A Series Niagara. The conversion process is performed at no cost when converting an I/A Series R2 database,  Network 8000 GCM or Signal to SmartStruxure via the "TAC I/A Series Conversions Projects" link on the iPortal2 web site.

Issue When viewing Function Block Programs via the graphics viewer some values are not displayed correctly Environment SmartStruxure 1.3.0.938 and below Cause This is a known issue in 1.3.0.938 and below.   Resolution This is a known issue in 1.3.0.938 and below.  Upgrading to 1.3.0.10100 (1.3 SP1) or higher resolves this issue.

Issue When documents are edited from the system tree, on occasions any changes made can be lost. Environment Documents Changes not saved Changes lost Cause When documents are opened from system tree, and edited, after clicking save, and closing the word document, 20-30% of the time, SmartStruxure does not prompt to save the changes to SmartStruxure and the changes are lost.   Resolution This issue has been recorded in defect 21767, and is due to be addressed in release 1.4 SP1. There are two scenarios where this issue may occur; 1 - Changing windows and minimizing. Open document  from the system tree. Switch back to Workstation and minimize the window. Close the document currently being edited. In this situation, you are not prompted to save the document, and all changes are lost.   If the Workstation is minimized, SmartStruxure will not pick up the changes to the document. 2 - The second scenario relates to the "Save" prompts presented to the user. Open document and make changes. Close the document using the X You are presented with two prompts to save the document, the first is the original document name, and the second is the name given when added to the system tree. If "Yes" is not selected to both prompts, then any changes can be lost.  

Issue b3 Schedules Environment StruxureWare Building Operation site with b3 controllers Cause What actually takes place within the system to ensure the current weeks schedule is downloaded to the controller periodically and can this be adjusted by the user? The Enterprise Server and Automation Server may not even need weekly downloads of a schedule as they are of course servers, but b3 controllers will most certainly still require some kind of period download as they can only hold one weeks schedule at any one time. Resolution B3 devices hold their entire schedule configuration. All weeks, and all exception schedule events. The entire configuration is of a schedule is written to the device when it is modified by the user. There may be several schedule objects in the b3. As such, there is no periodic download. Note that compared to Continuum which performs a default download every Saturday at midnight and updates the schedule whether needed or not.  

Issue The SEQROT object in the Network8000 integration in the AS seems to work with constant input values but not reference pointers. Environment AS version 1.3.0 & 1.3.0 SP1 with Network8000 interface Cause After the object has been defined to use constant inputs those input values must be reset to Null before the reference inputs will be used. Resolution The Analog input constant can be returned to Null by highlighting the value it contains and clicking the delete key.  The field will be empty until a save is done.  With a digital input such as the Rotate stages constant simply highlight the value and click the delete key and it will change to Null.

Issue Is it a problem in StruxureWare Building Operation to start many trend logs at the same time? Environment StruxureWare Building Operation version 1.3 Cause When starting several trend logs at the same time the Servers will try to read all the logged values at the same moment which is causing a big load on the system. Resolution Starting several trends at the same time should not have a big impact on the rest of the system, and our internal thread management shall ensure that no logs are missed. But it could cause a big load on the field bus and field devices so this is something to consider.    

Issue Supported Version of Windows Server and SQL Server for StruxureWare Reports Server Environment Reports Server Cause Reports Server is only supported on a specific operating systems and SQL Server versions. Resolution SmartStruxure 1.4.1 and below  Windows Environment: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) SQL Software Options Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Advanced Services (64-bit) SP2 (Download Page - Direct link) Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard (64-bit) SP2 (Download SP2: Download page - Direct link)   SmartStruxure 1.5 and above  Windows Environment: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (64-bit) Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit) SQL Software Options Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express with Advanced Services (64-bit) SP2 (Download Page - Direct link) Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard (64-bit) SP2 (Download SP2: Download page - Direct link) Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express with Advanced Services (64-bit) SP2 (Download page - Direct link) Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard (64-bit) SP2 (Download SP2: Download page - Direct link)

Issue Importing a Menta application for a Xenta 301 controller cannot be saved. Environment Xenta 301 importing Save Saving Cause Importing a Menta application for a Xenta 301 controller, and then saving it, works correctly. If the application is modified in some way, requiring a second import, then this import cannot be saved. Resolution This issue has been assigned to defect 22178, which is due to be fixed in release 1.5. Work around. Delete the existing controller object, and then create a new controller object before importing the modified Menta application.

Issue Unable to migrate programming over from Continuum as program use Numerics configured as global arrays. How can arrays be used in StruxureWare Building Operation? Environment Enterprise Server Automation Server b3xxx Cause Under StruxureWare Building Operation, objects can no longer be setup as global arrays using manual log entries. Resolution You are still able to use local arrays in Programs and Functions. Modify your Pain English program code so that they use local arrays (defined within the Program or Function) rather than global arrays (defined in the numeric/input as a manual log).

Issue There's a need to understand how COV subscriptions are established and re-established when a controller goes offline and comes back online Environment StruxureWare Building Operation b3s Cause COV subscriptions get established with PE programming and with bindings Resolution The time to live for the subscription is 5 hours and gets checked every 5 minutes. If the b3 (client) goes offline eventually the subscriber server will stop the subscription after it sends out 4 messages every 3 seconds. If the acknowledge that the subscription isn’t received by the server device then it stops the subscription. The client subscriber is the one that determines the initiation of the subscription, so in this case once the b3 resets, either warm start or cool start and the program runs then the subscription would start again. A cold start would not start the subscription. If the target device goes offline, then it will be searched for with the ‘who-is’ service, and when it comes back online (the device replies with ‘I-am’), the COV subscription will be reestablished. A binding will also attempt to setup a COV subscription.  If the target device goes offline, then it will be searched for with the ‘who-is’ service, and when it comes back online (the device replies with ‘I-am’), the COV subscription will be reestablished.

Issue How to estimate the thermal load (BTU/hr) that your controllers and equipment will produce. Environment All electrical equipment. Cause Need to know what the thermal load of our equipment will be for calculating air conditioning capacity. Not all of our equipment has this information provided in data sheets. Resolution It is possible to calculate the thermal load based on the power consumption of each device. See here for an online calculator. You can calculate the BTU/hr using the following formula. BTU/hr = Power (W) * 3.1412141633 As an example, looking at the Continuum AC-1 I/O module's datasheet, we see that it consumes 2.6W without the attached reader (you would need to add the power from the reader as well if it is being powered by the AC-1). Which gives us; AC-1 = 2.6W * 3.412141633 = 8.87 BTU/hr Use this same calculation for any other devices that you require the thermal load for.

Issue User has a backup of my files that they have restored onto a new workstation PC but now they are unable to edit the files.  For example: A Continuum graphic needs to be edited and cannot save changes but can save as a new graphic. Environment Window OS Windows XP Windows 7 8 8.1 10 Windows Vista Cause This is caused by Microsoft Windows OS. Windows will automatically make a file "Read only" if it has been moved from another PC  Resolution The solution is to change the files back to read / write. Example: Open Windows Explorer and find the folder you want to change, for this example it is "Continuum graphics." Right click on the folder and select properties, which shows a tab that will be ticked next to "read only" deselect this tab and then select apply. Once windows has finished changing the folder and its contents to read/write the user will be able to go into continuum and edit graphics.

Issue Wrong username and/or password when logging into Webstation via a Magelis Opti PC Environment SmartStruxure Magelis Opti PC Webstation Cause Many Magelis are installed with an older Internet Explorer version i.e. IE 6.xx. Webstation requires a higher version of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer 7 is confirmed as ok, but later versions are recommended. Resolution Upgrade the Internet Explorer on the Magelis PC, sometimes this is not possible if it is not permitted to install software on the unit. This can be disabled by going to: Start > Programs > Accessories > System tools > EWF activator deactivator Set it as disabled (a reboot may be needed) Download the new Internet Explorer from Microsoft and install it. Enable the EWF activator deactivator again.

Issue Email alarms can be configured in the AS and ES and understanding that interaction is needed Environment SmartStruxure Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 Cause There is a need to know what happens when creating email alarms in the AS and ES Resolution The server (AS or ES) that has the email notification object will send the email. So if you want to be sure that the AS alarms still send emails even if the ES is offline, then you should have email notifications configured on the AS and not rely on a global email notification on the ES. If notifications are configured on both the ES and AS which triggers on the same alarm, then two emails will be sent. One when its triggered on the AS and one when the ES fetches the alarm from the AS. You may be able to manage the triggering of the AS alarm by a program that checks the online status or alarm indication of the ES being offline.

Issue Software Licensing for Continuum 2.0 & StruxureWare Solution Product Line Andover Continuum, EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Continuum Site integration with the StruxureWare Solution Continuum Cyberstation software & Licensing Cause Request for Software Licensing compared to the Hardware key.  Resolution There is a Ordering and Activation document available on the Buildings Exchange Download Center. A link is provided below: Ordering and Activation of Software License for Continuum v2.0 Software license is a dedicated license per workstation and locked to both the hardware and the operating system. Recommended not to install on old hardware. Software licensing is available for both new and existing installations after Continuum 2.0.  A Hardware key is required in order purchase a software license.  This is because the Continuum features and options are purchased with the physical Hardware key, not with the keyless license.   When purchasing the Keyless license, the serial number of the Hardware key is submitted along with a License Information file (c2v) that has been created on the workstation that is to be licensed.  The License Information file is created using the Hasp Key Utility.   Continuum installations pre version 2.0 (e.g. v1.94) who wish to upgrade to v2.0 and would like to benefit from Software Licensing feature must download and install the required files. Those are outlined in the document above. Note: For Continuum Interface for SmartStruxure Solution the demo StruxureWare Building Operation license has all required features. Your Continuum 2.0 key must have the Advanced Webserver feature enabled.You can use the Continuum Interface Server for any Continuum installation: Standalone or Multi-User (LAN). All existing Andover Continuum configurations are supported in the Continuum Interface Server.  

Issue Importing a Xenta 121-FC controller into StruxureWare Building Operation. Environment Xenta 121FC Cause How do you setup the Xenta 121-FC using StruxureWare Building Operation only, as all the config needs setting for 1 Return Temp. Cooling Only (AO type). Fan On/Off   Resolution The original process would require the use of LonMaker and ZBuilder to configure the Xenta 121-FC controller onto the LON network, before adding it to the StruxureWare Building Operation LON interface. Version 1.4 introduces LNS device plug-in support to configure LonWorks® devices. StruxureWare Building Operation v1.4 supports third party software: OpenLNS. OpenLNS is only required on WorkStation machines used for configuration of LON® devices (e.g. WorkStation Pro machines). Automation Server and Enterprise Server databases are updated with any changes created with the plug-in. With LNS device plug-in support, now ZBuilder can be used with SmartStruxure solution. Plus, all Xenta controllers are supported, including the X100 series – e.g. Xenta 121.

Issue The Web Server threw an exception. Please make sure the StruxurewareReportingAgent service is running and is set to run "Automatic" An error occurred on the Web Server while processing your request. If the problem persists, please contact your system administrator. Environment Webreport 1.4 upgrade Cause A WebReports installer must use an admin-level SQL Server Management Studio user account to log on to a computer running WebReports. This installer account also requires the addition of three database permissions that permit access to and control of the WebReports database during installs or upgrades. For example, an administrator can detach the database. In SQL Server Management Studio, verify that the Login Properties for the NTAuthority\IUSR and designated WebReports installer user accounts include the db_datareader, db_datawriter, and db_owner database role memberships. Resolution Use SQL management SQL studio and log in to the SQL. Use properties on the user NTAuthority\IUSR and make sure the following are included db_datareader, db_datawriter, and db_owner database role memberships.

Issue Is Microsoft SQL Server 2012 supported in Report Server 1.4?  Environment SmartStruxure Report Server Cause The Report Server 1.4 datasheet mention of SQL Server 2012 is an over sight. Resolution Report Server 1.4 does not support Microsoft SQL Server 2012.  When it may be supported is unknown at the time of this writing.