Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Entering values less than 1 in Zbuilder results in red error indication. If you enter ".05" or ".2" into a field in Zbuilder it won't accept it. Environment Zbuilder Xenta 121 Cause A period cannot be the leading digit in a numerical input. Resolution The first digit must be a number,  so you must enter fractional values with a leading zero. Example: "0.05" or "0.2"

Issue Forced inputs in Xenta 121s return to default values Environment LonMaker NL220 Cause Every time you hit "Apply" or "OK" in Zbuilder, the Xenta 121 will get a reset command. When the controller receives the reset command, the inputs lose their forced status and return to default values. Resolution After the Xenta 121 controller has been rest, the overridden points must be forced again.

Issue Trying to filter alarms on Vista Workstation 4.5. Is there a way to permanently set the filter to only display alarms with a priority of 1-8? Environment Vista Workstation 4.5 Cause Permanently setting alarm filters allow for creation of custom alarm views. Resolution In Vista 4.5 you can create user profiles, and assign a custom alarm view to the profile. For more information on how to set up user profiles and alarm viewers see the "TAC Vista IV, Administrating TAC Vista Workstation" manual. If no profile is specified for a user it will use the global object $UserProfile which uses the global object $AlarmView. If you make changes to those objects it will affect all users that are not using their own profiles.

Issue Xenta 102-ES Flow Calibration Plug-In Error An error message is generated that reads: Balancing Error Errors occurred during balancing and values for nciBoxScale, nciNomFlow and nciBoxOffset and values have been reset. This can be caused by air flow not being stable during the balancing process, or due to incorrectly measured values. Returned values were: nciBoxScale = XXX, nciNomFlow = XXX, nciBoxOffset = XXX. You should try doing the balancing process again.   Product Line TAC Vista Environment Xenta 102-ES Plug-In Cause If the Lonmaker plug-in for the Xenta 102-ES gets a negative result on nciBoxOffset during calibration, the "Apply" button can be hit and all works fine. However if the plug-in is closed and then re-opened, the flow page will show values that do not match what was calibrated to. Resolution Do not make any adjustments or changes after the device has been calibrated.   You should hit cancel if you go to the flow page after a box has been calibrated and not Apply. If you do hit the "Apply" button, it corrupts the data in the device and you will need to re-calibrate. Also if you want to check flow values on a box after a calibration has been done, do so in Vista or in the LonMaker Browser, not through the plug in flow page.

Issue Global Points not working after an Upgrade. Environment I/NET site with Global points Cause Issue with Global Points not working after an Upgrade Resolution Are you having an issue with global points not working after you have upgraded from I/Net 2000 to I/Net Seven? There are 2 ways that you can resolve this, first: On your PC, do you have a reference host IP in your active profile in I/O Server? Change the setting back to 0, shut down I/Net and I/O Server and then restart it again. Modify the profile and place the IP address of the NPR in the reference hosts IP. If you are using an NPR, change the settings back to 0, restart the unit and then put the addresses back again into the reference host IP. Check your global points and they should be updating now. Secondly, follow this example: Point address Example High 1 (Calculation taking the high value from 15 zones) Point address Example High 2 (Calculation taking the high value from 12 zones) Point address Example Avg. (Average of High 1 and High 2) Create a new point and create a calculation that looks at the point that was not updating. After: Point address Example High 1 (Calculation taking the high value from 15 zones) ***Existing points that did not change*** Point address Example High 2 (Calculation taking the high value from 12 zones) ***Existing points that did not change*** Point address Example Avg. (Average of High 1 and High 2) ***Existing points that did not change*** Create a new point called: Point address Example Avg. A (Calculation pointed to Example Avg.) Made the Example Avg. point internal and not Global LAN. Made the newly created point the Global LAN point.

Issue Launching I/NET automatically on startup of the PC. Environment Microsoft Windows I/NET Cause There is a feature where the user can automatically launch I/NET when they start their PC. This keeps operators from having to remember to start I/NET after a reboot or power loss. Resolution Go to Windows Explorer > C:/Documents and Settings/Users/[select the user]/Start Menu/Programs/Startup Create a shortcut for I/NET Select I/NET, right click and select properties, at the end of "C:\Program Files\INET Seven\INetW.exe" place a /winuser. Now it should look like this "C:\Program Files\INET Seven\INetW.exe" /winuser. Log off or shut down the PC Restart it again and I/NET should automatically be started.

Issue Multiple instances of Tacos running in Task Manager Product Line TAC Vista Environment TACOS.exe Vista Server Cause It is possible that Vista Server will try to start multiple/additional instances of Tacos.exe when starting. Resolution Re-register the service. This can be accomplished by executing Tacos.exe with command line switches.  End all Tacos.exe processes. From the Start Menu "run" command prompt perform the following: tacos.exe /unregserver (to unregister Server) tacos.exe /regserver (to re-register Server) This should re-register Server. If Server executes as a result of the command, you have most likely entered it incorrectly. Restart Server and observe. See Registering/Unregistering TAC Vista Server as a Windows service for more information on registering Vista Server as a service.

Issue Warning: Configuring HTTP and HTTPS on Xenta 511/527/913 Environment Xenta 511 Xenta 527 Xenta 913 Cause If the device reboots with both protocols set to the same port then it will become stuck in an endless reboot. The only way to correct this problem is to send the device back to the factory. Resolution When configuring the HTTP (80 by default) and HTTPS (443 by default) ports in the Xenta 511/527/913 do not try to set these two protocols to use the same ports.  

Issue Inovonics Wireless Interface problem Product Line Andover Continuum,TAC Vista Environment Inovonics FA7403 receiver Inovonics EN4000 Universal Serial Receiver Cause Inovonics provides an interface to access wireless temperature sensors. The FA7403 receiver can be used to interface with Xenta equipment or Continuum equipment, however these interfaces use different protocols. Resolution The Xenta equipment requires a hexadecimal protocol which corresponds to the FA7403 receiver. The Continuum equipment requires an ASCII protocol which corresponds to the FA7403-ASC receiver. If you have the wrong receiver for the equipment you are trying to interface with then contact Product Support for steps to reconfigure this device. Note: Inovonics EN4000 Universal Serial Receiver**, REPLACES FA7403  

Issue Vista receives an I/NET transaction from a Xenta 527 as an alarm but not as a transaction Environment TAC Vista Workstation Alarm Queue Event Log I/NET Transactions Xenta 527 Cause If your time stamp is in the future, the events window (transactions window is really a filtered events window) will not display them but for some reason alarms come through. Resolution Open the Xenta 527 from Internet Explorer. Open the Events folder under I/NET. Look for the transactions. Note the date and time. Make sure the date and time in your 527 are set correctly and that the time zone is right in regional settings. Even though the SCU time stamps the transaction, the 527 shifts the stamp according to it's own settings.

Issue Time stamps of I/NET transactions are off in the Vista event and transaction windows. Environment Xenta 527 I/NET Events TAC Vista Workstation Cause Even though the SCU time stamps the transaction, the 527 will shift it according to it's time zone and date settings. Resolution Make sure the time is set correctly in the Xenta 527. 

Issue Since I have upgraded my CyberStation it seems that my distribution of Personnel records takes a very long time. Also I have noticed that I am having intermittent communication problems with my field bus controllers, why is this happening? Environment Cyberstation Cause This could be caused by the new personnel distribution engine. The new personnel distribution system takes advantage of all the workstations running CyberStation to load balance the distribution so not just one workstation will do this. With this feature added it was also necessary to include settings to adjust to optimize the process. Below are the settings and where they can be found. Resolution Workstation preferences can be found on the Preferences tab of the workstation editor. Workstation preferences Line 19 (Added in the 1.62 Version of CyberStation) Enables and disables the immediate distribution of personnel records from this workstation to controllers on the local area network (LAN). A value of “True” is the default. When this feature is enabled, the workstation inspects the status of the database, and if there are pending personnel distribution transactions, it performs the distributions. When to disable this preference — Typically, you would set this preference to “False” if the workstation is running a lot of applications, such as graphics. If there are several workstations at this site, disabling it on the web server may result in better performance. It also gives you the choice of turning it off for a workstation that is shut down at the end of a day. When to enable this preference — Typically, you would set this preference to “True” for workstations that are dedicated servers (running 24 hours per day and seven days per week, typically in a back room) and for other workstations based on the number of distributions and throughput. The more workstations that are distributing, the faster the distribution occurs. NOTE: If you have too many workstations with the above set to true it could actually slow down the distribution to field bus controllers by overwhelming them from different workstations. This could result in slow or no response from field bus controllers when polling them for information. It also could result in very slow personnel distributions to the field bus controllers. It is recommended not to set this to true for all the workstations but only to set it true for a few. Workstation Preferences Line 20 (Added in the 1.62 Version of CyberStation) Enables and disables the immediate distribution of personnel records from this workstation to controllers on remote access services (RAS) networks. If there are no RAS networks on this site you want to make sure this setting is false, true is the default. This feature should only be set to “True” on workstations that have modems in them used to connect to remote sites. When this feature is enabled, the workstation inspects the status of the database, and if there are pending access distributions, it performs the distributions. General Preferences are found by right-clicking on the Infinity icon in the task tray and selecting General Preferences. General Preferences Line 12 (Added in the 1.73 version of CyberStation) Number of Concurrent Fieldbus Personnel Distributions — This is the number of concurrent personnel distributions that are sent from each workstation to controllers on each field bus network. The default (and minimum) value is 1. Maximum value is 4. This setting, which works in conjunction with setting 13, improves performance by preventing or large numbers of personnel records from flooding field bus controllers. General Preferences Line 13 (Added in the 1.73 version of CyberStation) Time Interval Between Fieldbus Personnel Distributions — This is the amount of time (in milliseconds) that CyberStation waits before it sends another personnel distribution to controllers on the same fieldbus network. The default value is 30. Minimum value is 0. Maximum value is 15000 (15 seconds). This setting, which works in conjunction with setting 12, improves performance by preventing large numbers of records from flooding field bus controllers. It is also useful when there are many workstations performing access distribution. (That is, set it higher if there are many workstations.)

Issue Access Event messages are showing that are say, "Access Mode NoDatabase." What does this mean? Environment Access Server Cause This means that the controller cannot get to the personnel database to validate a personnel record.  Resolution Generally this means that the controller has lost its personnel database and needs to be reloaded. Note: When you are in No Database mode your personnel records will be validated based on of how you configured the door to validate while in No Database mode.

Issue Some things to look for when you get ID 0 errors when doing a Save to Database Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Database Cause There are several causes such as date and time settings, scan variables, IP addresses, etc. Some troubleshooting steps are listed below based on different possible causes. Resolution Confirm that the date has been set in the controller. Edit the scan system variable and put a description in the description field. Doing this will update the LastChanged attribute of the Scan system variable. Verify that an IP address has been configured in the controller. If you are saving a remote site back that is earlier than revision 1.52 you need to set an IP address in the remote controller. Verify that the CX controller is at least revision 1.5 Verify that the controller is not reset. In some rare cases we saw that you would have a problem if you created the CX controller while offline editing. The correction in this case was to go offline edit, delete the CX in Cyberstation, go online, recreate the CX and then do the save to database. If the controller you are saving back has to go through a firewall and the firewall has blocked the access to the other IP addresses of the other controllers this controller knows about. Port numbers 33487, 33440, and 33456 are blocked in a router. Specifically port number 33456 is used for the save to database functionality. Make sure Firewall programs are not blocking the network connections. Disable any firewall programs before doing a “Send to DB”. Create a debug file (Acc_Dump_Debug.txt). See the Infinity-to-Continuum Upgrade document. Look in the debug file and see where it failed and act accordingly. 

Issue Change the LED pattern on card readers Environment Continuum Site Cause How to Change the LED pattern on card readers Resolution On the ACX line of Infinet controllers and also the AC1+ modules you can change the dynamics of the reader LED. The Alternate LED pattern is selected by creating a numeric point whose name is AccessLEDPattern. When this point exists, the Alternate LED pattern will be employed by the access controller. When this point does not exist, the standard LED pattern will be employed. It should be noted that cold-starting or resetting the access controller does not delete or destroy the AccessLEDPattern.

Issue How do I change out a failed B4920 or BACnet BCX controller? Product Line Andover Continuum Environment B4920 BACnet BCX controller Cause Failed device Resolution Place Cyberstation Offline. Edit existing B4920 or BCX Controller object on the Infinity side and note the following: ACC Net ID BACnet Device ID Network ID - UPD Network ID - Comm2 (MS/TP network ID) IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Router (Gateway) Address Name of the controller Physically disconnect power and MS/TP data cables from existing B4 or BCX Controller. Remove existing B4 or BCX Controller. Install replacement B4 or BCX Controller. Connect MS/TP data cable to the replacement B4 or BCX Controller. Connect power to the replacement B4 or BCX Controller. Use a web browser to connect to the login page of the B4 or BCX at IP Address 169.254.1.1. Use the controller configuration web page to configure the following values: ACC Net ID (enter the value from Step 2 a) BACnet Device ID (enter the value from Step 2 b). This is very important - do not use the new controller's serial number or you will likely have trouble communicating with the new controller on the BACnet side.  BACnet Network ID - UDP (enter the value from Step 2 c) BACnet Network ID - Comm2 (enter the value from Step 2 d) IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway Address (enter the values from Step 2 e) Name (enter the value from Step 2 f) If this device is a BCX, the user will want to reset the BACnet MAC ID - Comm2 value, if that value was non-zero in the device being replaced (there is no record of this value in Cyberstation). Click the Submit to Controller button then Commit Changes button and then CommitChanges/Restart Controller button. Allow sufficient time for the controller to restart. In CyberStation, on the Infinity side, edit the controller object and change the serial number to that of the new controller. Save the object.   Go back to Online mode in CyberStation. The new B4 or BCX should now be online in the Infinity view. Reload the B4 or BCX Controller. Verify existing Points and Programs are running correctly. Perform a “Backup to Flash” operation on the B4 or BCX Controller. Check that the controller is online in the BACnet side. Note that the Device Node ID on the BACnet side is the serial number of the old (replaced) controller. This is as it should be since we do not want to create a new BACnet device; we just want to replace the controller hardware. Edit objects on the BACnet side to verify that there are no errors.   Test alarms, graphics, communication to b3's/3rd party devices, etc. 

Issue An ACX781 controller or AC1 IOU module keeps locking up and going offline. What can be done to determine why this is happening? Environment ACX781 AC1 IOU module Cause The most common cause of communication problems is electrical noise getting to the controller. Resolution Rule out any kind of hardware failure The most common scenario resulting in electrical noise and controllers going online and offline is that there are no 39v MOVs installed at the door strikes. The reason for needing these MOVs is that when the door strike relay de-energizes it creates a field collapse electrical spike that can travel back down the output wiring to the controller. When this happens, it generally will not damage any of the hardware in the controller but it could cause it to reset or cause its memory to get scrambled. Generally a reset and reload of the controller clears out the problem. It is strongly recommended to put MOVs on all outputs that have relays on them.  Put the MOVs at the end device and not the controller end.

Issue Access Event messages say, "Access Mode Normal." What does this mean? Environment Access Event messages Cause This is generally seen after you see either "Access Mode No Database" or "Access Mode No Communications" messages and the problem has been corrected. Resolution This means the system is running Normally again. Note: When in Normal mode, personnel records will be validated based on how the door is configured to validate while in Normal mode .

Issue What is the difference between Remote validation and Local validation of personnel records? Environment Personnel Records Cause Differences in remote and location validation scenarios. Resolution The difference between Remote and Local validation of personnel records is: Local validation - the personnel records are validated at the controller itself Remote validation - the personnel records are validated at the workstation.

Issue Dell Optiplex GX 620 and GX 520: When logging into Vista the PC reboots. Environment Dell Optiplex GX 520 Dell Optiplex GX 620 Cause On some Dell computers, there is a problem with the graphics hardware acceleration. Resolution Adjust these setting with the following instructions: Right click on the desktop Select Properties Click on the Settings Tab Click the Advanced Button Select the Troubleshoot Tab Adjust the slide bar of the Hardware Acceleration down from Full two or three bars Click OK Click OK Again Now you should be able to open Vista without the PC Rebooting. This problem is experienced on Dell Optiplex GX 620 (TPI C-88-1-F-97) and Dell Optiplex GX 520 (TPI C-88-1-F-95)