Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Installing and Configuring Email Service Accounts in Niagara G3 Environment Niagara G3 Cause The need for a quick reference guide Resolution The following document can be found at Niagara-Central.com as well.

Issue How to use RoamIO to set the Infinet ID of Infinet device to zero before re-deploying the device. Product Line Andover Continuum, EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Continuum Service Tool Cause Need a way to set the Infinet ID of Infinet device to zero before re-deploying the device. Resolution  This video demonstrates… Tell if the i2 device has an Infinet ID assigned by observing the TD/RD LEDs on the device. Use the RoamIO to connect directly to the i2 device and reset its Infinet ID to zero. Confirm by visual observation of the device's TD/RD LEDs that the ID has been successfully set to zero.

Issue Not sure how to configure sending emails to multiple recipients when an Input or Area goes into alarm. Product Line Security Expert Environment Security Expert SP-C-WEB Cause Correct formatting must be used when sending alarms to multiple email recipients. Resolution Separate each address with a semi-colon and surround the entire string with double quotes, see examples below.   Security Expert Navigate to Events | Actions, create a new Send E-mail Action and add your multiple addresses to the E-mail Address field. "address1@email.com;address2@email.com" Email Addresses The email address field is limited to a maximum of 128 characters. All email addresses must be within this 128 character limit to be sent correctly. SP-C-WEB To add multiple recipient addresses, navigate to Programming | Areas or Programming | Inputs. For an Area, select the Configuration tab and add a recipient email address to the command window and use the format:email:"address1@email.com;address2@email.com" For an Input, navigate to the Commands window for your selected input and use the format: email:"address1@email.com;address2@email.com"

Issue ES Database has grown to several gigabyte Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server Building Operation Enterprise Central Cause ES Database size can grow quite large when the ES crashes often. Open Software Administrator and find the location of the ES db folder. Below are two screen shots of the Logs and Crash Information folders. As can be seen, these dump files can increase the size of the database. Resolution Once the reason for the Enterprise Server crash is resolved, these files can be either be deleted or, preferably be moved to another storage/drive location. If the ES/EC is still crashing, all the core dumps should be collected and sent to to your local support team for processing. Due to the size of the crash dumps, upload to BOX or similar and provide the link to the support team.

Issue When upgrading an IMI Video system to the newer Datacard (ID Works) system, are there any files or utilities needed besides the ID Works software? Product Line TAC INET Environment I/NET Seven IMI Video system Datacard ID Works Cause Converting the IMI Video Badging system to Datacard system Resolution There are 3 files that you need. Click Convert.zip to download them. Also, INET Application Guide AG-2002-01.pdf has additional information on this process. When converting the IMI Video Badging system to Datacard system, the first step in the IMI system to begin the convert process is to re-index the database files before attempting to batch export the data. If you have multiple tenants you must perform this procedure for each tenant. ID Works ODBC String. Type the string as you see it including the case: UPDATE ACP001 SET FIELD16 = 'C:\Photo\' + cardnumber + '.JPG' Make sure the case and spaces are just like the above to avoid any problems. Make the path anything you like, but remember the C: string cannot exceed 50 characters.

Issue Controlli S300 Actuator Environment Controlli S300 Actuator Cause Controlli S300 Actuator terminal details. Resolution L=Neutral L'=230Vac B=Close signal from thermostat or control device R=230V to thermostat or control device V=Open signal from thermostat or control device To test: Place a wire link between R and B, the valve actuator will close, place a wire link between R and V, the valve actuator will open. If a auxiliary switch kit D22 is fitted, this can be used to signal the boiler/pump to start if the installation was a domestic. For the actuator datasheet click here.

Issue When creating a localized SEBA naming convention EBO displays local characters as a question mark (?) Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation WorkStation version 3.2 (and later)  Cause The CSV file used is in ANSI format and EBO requires UTF-8 format Resolution Ensure the file is saved in "CSV UTF-8" format rather than generic "CSV".      

Warning Electrostatic Discharge Required: Always discharge static electricity from your person by touching metal prior to handling any hardware. Failure to do so may result in damage to devices. Issue Introducing a previously commissioned Continuum IOU module such as an AC-1 to an Access Expert or Security Expert site can cause communication issues in the LON bus due to duplicated node id. Product Line Andover Continuum, EcoStruxure Security Expert, EcoStruxure Access Expert Environment Continuum AC-1 Continuum Net Controller Continuum Net Controller II Access Expert Controller Security Expert Controller Cause When IOU modules are commissioned in a Continuum system, the Net Controller assigns each module a Node ID, this is in addition to the LON Module ID that is unique to each module hardware, the purpose of the Node ID, is to decouple the identifier used by Continuum for communication from the specific piece of hardware, this in order to facilitate the replacement of a failed module without the need to change its Continuum identifier. The module stores the Node ID in nonvolatile memory so that it persists across power loss. If a Continuum IOU module is introduced to a LON network (Security Expert SP-AC1 or Access Expert AX-SSC) without clearing its Node ID, there is a risk of creating a duplicate Node ID condition that will prevent the LON network from operating properly. IMPORTANT This should not be an issue during the normal transition of Continuum site to Security Expert or Access Expert, as all the modules on the running LON bus should have unique Node IDs, this is only a problem when adding a module, or replacing a module with one that has been used before. Resolution In order to signal its presence on the LON network, each module will transmit on resetting its status network variable. If upon receiving this message, the Net Controller determines that the module is NOT in its local database, the controller will decommission the module by setting its Node ID to zero. Before introducing a Continuum IOU module that has been previously commissioned to the LON network of an SP-AC1 or SX-SSC controller, decommission the IOU module using the steps below: Attach the module to an empty Net Controller that is powered down with its battery removed. For a Net Controller II, in order to be absolutely sure that the Net Controller has an empty database, you may need to clear its backup in flash from a browser or by the use of the reset IP switch. See LL on how to use the controller's reset IP switch to clear its flash backup https://community.se.com/t5/Building-Automation-Knowledge/How-to-clear-the-controller-flash-backup-from-the-hardware-using/ta-p/5877 Power up the Net Controller Once the CPU led on the Net Controller starts blinking, press the 'Reset' button on the IOU module. Wait 30 seconds to make sure the decommissioning process has completed. Power down the Net Controller Remove the IOU module

Issue The Extended Trend Logs stop updating in Enterprise Server.  When the ES is rebooted the trend logs resume. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Enterprise Server Cause The Extended Logs Maximum transfer interval is set too low causing it to trigger again before it has managed to finish the last read. Resolution Increase the Maximum transfer interval setting of the Extended Log.

Issue Problem with Continuum controller being used to poll EMon Class 3000 MODBUS RTU Meters The Controller was unable to poll all of the meters installed on the field bus. Environment Continuum controller being used to poll EMon Class 3000 MODBUS RTU Meters Cause When connecting multiple Class 3000 meters to a field bus, ONLY the last Class 3000 meter in the field bus string should have the biasing resistor pack installed. Having multiple termination resistors will load the bus down. Resolution All other biasing resistors should be removed from J17 on meters attached to the field bus. If there is still a problem Change the E-Mon "key2000" to the RS232 protocol. Using the E-Mon Repeater will provide a stronger RS-485 signal to drive their devices. Put the X-Driver on an RS-232 port of the controller.

Issue Changing BACnet Port for Continuum Cyberstation Environment Continuum Cyberstation BACnet controllers Cause Changing the BACnet Port number that Continuum Cyberstation communicates on Resolution By default Continuum Cyberstation communicates on port 47808 in hexadecimal that is BAC0. The BACnet controllers BCX & B4920 have the ability to have their default ports changed. If you change the BACnet port of a BACnet master and want to communicate with the Continuum workstation, you'll need to make a registry change in each workstation. Changing the Continuum Workstation BACnet port This key location is different in 32-bit and 64-bit systems. In 32-bit; the key to change is located in the registry at the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Andover Controls\Continuum\Settings". In 64-bit; the key location is now under the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Andover Controls\Continuum\Settings\" key. Once you're at that path you'll notice a key named "Cyberstation Port" .The value is stored in hexadecimal, so to change it make sure that you enter your new value in hexadecimal. After changing the value in the registry, the Continuum Cyberstation will need to be restarted. Changing the BCX or B4920 BACnet port To change the port on the BACnet controllers either BCX or B4920, open the configuration page in Internet Explorer by putting in the IP address and edit the port settings to the port number that you are changing to. This number will be in regular decimal format. Once changed make sure you save your change and commit the changes to the controller which will restart the controller. Changing the Continuum Workstation BACnet port example. Open the registry editor from Start\Run and enter regedit from the workstation. and explore down to the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Andover Controls\Continuum\Settings and open the Cyberstation Port key and enter BAC1 which is hex for 47809. If you have the Continuum Cyberstation running you'll need to restart the Cyberstation Once restarted, open the continuum explorer and select the Root and right click and select find new BACnet devices. The controller you have changed will appear as will all of its MSTP devices. Changing the port on a BACnet master controller example. To change the BCX/B4920 BACnet port to 47809 which is BAC1 in hexadecimal. Then log onto the configuration page of the BCX and change the BACnet Port Number -UDP, notice it is displayed in hex but on the controller configuration page you'll change the number using regular decimal. We'll change this to 47809, apply our changes and then on the left hand side select commit and apply on the commit page, which will restart the controller and the new port changes will be in effect. NOTE: If you already have BACnet network established, first delete my whole BACnet side, since after making port changes you don't want other controllers making an attempt to communicate with the previous port number in its known routing table.  IMPORTANT: Anytime you edit a registry, make sure you have backed up the registry and have a contingency plan in case you edit or delete some that that you should not have.  

Issue Alarms need to be sent to specific Workstations and then escalated to other Workstations if they have not been acknowledged within a specific amount of time. Product Line EcoStruxure Building Expert Environment Security Expert Cause Documentation does not describe specific steps for how to configure alarm escalation. Resolution You will be able to do the alarm escalation with Security Expert by using the Alarm Routing options under the Events Menu. 1. Create your Workstations by going to Events | Workstations. The name of the new Workstation object in Security Expert will need to correspond to the actual Windows PC name for alarms to be routed properly. 2. After you have created all of the Workstations you will need to create Workstation Groups under the Events menu. One group for each level of alarm routing that you want to do. If you have three workstations and want to route from one to the next to the next, then you would need to create three Workstation Groups and add one Workstation to each of them. 3. Next you will need to create an alarm routing list under Events | Alarm Routing. On the Workstation Groups tab add the time for Transfer After (this is in seconds) which is when the alarms will be routed to the Workstations in the next Workstation Group. Set the Routing Order for those groups, the first group is 0. Next set the Transfer Priority if you have specific alarms that are to be routed to these Workstation Groups, leave blank if all alarms are to be routed. Set the routing group active to enable routing. 4. The last bit is to go to your Alarms that you want to route and add the routing list you created in step 3 to the Alarm Routing List field. This will now route these alarms to the Workstations you've configured.

Issue A third party BACnet device does not support segmented messages but the bCX4040 does. Can the two devices communicate? Environment Continuum BACnet MS/TP MSTP bCX Cause A third party boiler BACnet MS/TP interface card is having difficulty communicating with a bCX4040. The manufacturer of the interface card has commented that the Continuum bCX uses segmented packets and the Bacnet interface card cannot communicate with a segmented packet delivery system.  Are these devices incompatible? Resolution The problem should not be related to message segmentation. This is because the bCX will try to send a segmented message and the third party device should send a response to the bCX indicating that segmentation is not supported. The BCX will then send only non-segmented messages to the device. So, the bCX supports message segmentation but can do both segmented and non-segmented messages on the same MS/TP bus.  Get an MS/TP capture with both devices on the wire while doing a Find BACnet Devices request from CyberStation and send to Product Support for review.

Issue How to upgrade from Continuum v1.4 Product Line Andover Continuum Environment Continuum Cyberstation Cause What are the steps in upgrading from Continuum 1.4 Resolution For a smaller site it may be quicker and more reliable to install the current Cyberstation version, then upload from the controller, this has the advantage of ensuring you have a clean database. The alarms, workstations etc, would needs to be rebuilt from scratch. If the current database is clean (Passing continuum analyzer is NOT proof of a clean database, only a helpful initial step) and it is decided to upgrade the existing database from 1.4, you will first need to upgrade to v1.5x, then follow Upgrading Continuum from 1.5x to Continuum 1.9x. The overall process can be a little complex as various operating systems need to be available/installed. See the Continuum Compatibility Matrix for details for the PC and Controller firmware requirements Software and Firmware compatibility matrix for older versions of I/NET, Vista, Andover Continuum, Satchwell Sigma, I/A Series, and StruxureWare Building Operation See the Continuum installation guides for the PC hardware requirements The v1.4 graphics could be .pan or .pin files. The .pan would need to be re-drawn as .pin files, in order to be compatible Run Continuum Analyzer before/after each upgrade, also run Continuum to ensure it runs correctly.

Issue Default IP address of a SmartStruxure Lite MPM Product Line EcoStruxure Building Expert Environment MPM Cause What is the default IP address of a SmartStruxure MPM? Resolution Out of the box, the default IP is 10.50.80.3 subnet mask 255.0.0.0 This should be changed to suit the project requirement. Log into the controller using the default IP address. Edit the Ethernet setting, changing the IP address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway. Click save.

Issue Is it currently supported in EcoStruxure Building Operation to make EWS requests with users managed by Active Directory (Windows user)? Product Line EcoStruxure Building Operation Environment Building Operation Enterprise Server Building Operation Automation Server Cause The EcoStruxure Building Operation software provides two methods to log on to the system, as a Windows user or as an EcoStruxure Building Operation user. Windows User A Windows user account is mapped to a Windows Active Directory user account group. Log On as an EcoStruxure Building Operation User When logging on as an EcoStruxure Building Operation user, you authenticate yourself with an EcoStruxure Building Operation account user name and password Resolution EWS only supports login to SBO domains (with Challenge Response, RFC7616) and NOT Windows domains added into SBO. It is not possible for an EWS request to authenticate using a Windows user only an EcoStruxure Building Operation user.

Issue Xenta group bindings are used for group communication between Xenta group masters and members.  They also transmit TAC Network Variables between two programmable controllers.  Redoing group bindings is a common troubleshooting technique to address issues with these functions.  However, it can often be time consuming, especially if using LonMaker which requires the Visio drawing to be resynchronized.  Verifying that the Xenta group bindings in the device's address table are correct prior to redoing them can save time on an unnecessary troubleshooting step. Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista programmable controllers LonMaker, NL220 Cause Checking to see if the group bindings need to be redone instead of always using it as a standard troubleshooting technique can save time. Resolution To access the Device Address Table of an application device in LonMaker: Right-click on the controller in LonMaker and go to Properties. Go to the Address table tab. Look at the first two entries (0 and 1) and note the value in the ID column. Go to another controller in the same group and compare the values in the ID column. Every controller on a network should share the same ID in row 0. Every controller in a group should share the same ID in row 1. If the group bindings are correct, there is no need to redo group bindings.   To access the Device Address Table of an application device in NL220: Select the application device in the tree Press Ctrl+A keys or right click on it and select the option Network\Network tables ... in its context menu Select the tab Addresses    The grid contains one line for each entry in the address table. Index = The index of the address entry MT = Yes if the entry is reserved for message tags connection Type = Type of the entry, Unbound (Not used or "free"), Turnaround, Subnet/Node, Broadcast, Group Size = Size of the group (zero for a large group) and Used only if Type is Group Domain = Domain index (0/1) Mb/Node = Member if Type is Group (not used for a huge group), Node id if Type is Subnet/Node or Unused Repeat timer = Value of the repeat timer  Retries = Retries count Rcv timer = Value of the receive timer  Tx timer = Value of the transmit timer  Gp/Subnet  = Group id if Type is Group, Subnet id if Type is Subnet/Node or Unused   Refresh will refresh the table.

Issue Animations, gifs, updating values, hover overs or mouse event scripts work in Workstation but do not work in Webstation. Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista Webstation TGML graphics   Dynamic values       Cause Various reasons can cause TGML graphics to not function the same in TAC Vista Webstation as in Workstation. Typical reasons can be: Using "Static TGML viewer" vs. "Dynamic TGML viewer". Under Static view, all animations are prohibited. Using unsupported script functions can cause animation to not work in Webstation. Sizes and the number of animated .GIF images used on a single TGML graphic page. Resolution Check if the Webstation is running under Dynamics view. Go to Start->All Programs->Schneider Electric->TAC Vista Web Applications -> Vista Web Setting. (For Vista 5.1.3 or prior, go to Start->All Programs->TAC->TAC Vista Web Applications -> Vista Web Setting instead.) Click on "Graphics/TGML Views" in the left panel. Make sure the TGML View is either “AutoDetect” or “Dynamics” in the right panel.  If it is “Static”, click on the drop down manual and choose a different display viewer.   Check if using any unsupported Java script. Please reference Vista Webstation unsupported TGML functions for more information.   If a TGML graphic page contains many animated GIF images, it can cause the animation on that graphic page to run slow, discontinuously, or not run at all.  The amount of animated GIF images that can be put on one single TGML graphic page various case by case. Therefore, the best way to test it is deleting all animated GIF images and add them back on one by one.

Issue Getting error message when reloading a Continuum controller: "Unable to reload attributes for \ \ . Reload Object's Type mismatches with object's in WCU Controller. Please Reload WCU Controller." Environment All Continuum controllers Cause The most common cause of this error message is duplicate alias names. For example, a controller object named "W Lobby" and a door object in the controller named "WLobby" (without the space) will have the same alias (WLobby). Resolution Rename one of the duplicate objects so that the alias is unique to the system.

Issue Right clicking the controller and selecting "Distribute Personnel" results in NO distribution There is no error Product Line Andover Continuum Environment CyberStation Cause Corrupted Personnel Distribution table in SQL ContinuumDB Resolution Truncate table PersonnelDistribution and re-populate it, then distribute personnel once again. WARNING: Unless knowing exactly what you are doing, deleting entries from your database can cause irreversible harm to your database and can potential cause corruption. Make sure to perform a full SQL Database backup before attempting to make any changes to the database. (See Move / Backup / Restore a database on a Single User SQL2005 Express system for details on how to backup your database and if not already installed, where to get Management Studio from) Make a backup of the Continuum database as a precaution. Close ALL CyberStation workstations. In SQL Management Studio execute the following query. truncate table PersonnelDistribution Once the table is truncated it must be re-populated by one of the following methods... If the total number of personnel objects is reasonably small (in the hundreds) launch Continuum and bring a list view of all the personnel objects, select all then right click and perform a 'Send to controller' OR In SQL Management Studio Invoke the stored SQL procedure that initializes the PersonnelDistribution table using the query dt_DIST_Init_Personnel_Dist_Table IMPORTANT: Truncating the PersonnelDistribution table will remove all pending personnel distribution including personnel deletions; controllers could potentially continue to allow access to doors for the deleted personnel until reloaded. Conversely, removing a pending personnel distribution could potentially cause a person to be denied access at a door until a distribution is performed to the controller.