Building Automation Knowledge Base

Issue Running AVIs in I/NET 2000 Environment I/NET Site Cause Running AVIs in I/NET 2000 Resolution Though It has been done, this feature is not officially supported.

Issue How can an NPR password be removed? Environment I/NET site Cause How to remove the password for NPR Resolution Within the password editor of NPR, enter the Old Password, and leave blanks within the New Password and Verify Password fields.

Issue My IDisc Wand does not work when trying to enter individuals. I have verified that the AC Reader Type and AC Reader Port fields are correct within the Configuration Profile. Environment I/NET Site Cause My IDisc Wand does not work when trying to enter individuals. I have verified that the AC Reader Type and AC Reader Port fields are correct within the Configuration Profile. Resolution Go to the Access Control – Options editor and make sure the “Supply card number from reader” checkbox is enabled.

Issue What is the difference between expansion board P8UI8DO and P8UI8DOSO? Environment I/NET site Cause What is the difference between expansion board P8UI8DO and P8UI8DOSO Resolution The P8UI8DO is a baseplate mount with discrete outputs that are relay type. The P8UI8DOSO is a standoff mount with discrete outputs that are 24vdc.

Issue Do I need to purchase NPR's to put I/NET on the local network? Environment I/NET site Cause Do I need to purchase NPR's to put I/NET on the local network? Resolution Your local I/NET host(s) merely need to have NIC (network interface cards) installed and working. You will need to obtain properly assigned, static IP addresses from the network administrator. The only time you will need an NPR, is if you have controllers in stand alone mode, with Ethernet connecting them to I/NET hosts. If you do not wish to have a host near the controllers, you can situate an NPR to act as an Ethernet tap

Issue How to set momentary duration (pulse duration) on a 7780? Environment I/NET site Cause How to set momentary duration (pulse duration) on a 7780? Resolution Using a Hand Held Console: Press [Code], then type 07 and press [Enter] to set momentary duration. The current momentary duration in milliseconds displays. Enter the desired delay in milliseconds and press [Enter]. The range is 0-255 (0-2.55 seconds). For example, entering 100 from the HHC results in a one-second pulse to the relay to turn it On or Off. When using a standard 7780, the momentary duration value should be set to a minimum value of 10 (0.1 seconds).

Issue What order of operation does the event sequence use? Environment I/NET site Cause What order of operation does the event sequence use? Resolution The event sequence runs in a linear manner. They must run from the first item in the sequence through to the last item in the sequence. Once started, the sequence must finish before it may be called again.

Issue Problems accessing graphics that are stored on a MMC card in a TAC Xenta 511. Environment TAC Xenta 511 MMC memory card Cause Users must be granted read access to the MMC card. Resolution If you store you graphics on a MMC card, give the users read access to the MMC card as well as to the folder where the graphics pages are stored.

Issue Using periodical reports with message objects. Environment TAC Vista Workstation Cause Periodic reports that need to run whenever an alarm is tripped should not monitor a Message Object. Resolution If you need to run a Periodical Report only when a Tripped alarm occurs or only when a Reset message occurs then you should not monitor a Message object. Instead you should monitor an Alarm object, Time Event object, or Time List object which each has the ability to differentiate between the Tripped and Reset states. If the specific messages you want to monitor are currently being sent to a Message object then you need to utilize the redirection of alarms functionality found in TAC Vista Server to send those alarms to an Event object of a different type.

Issue How do you change the default colors applied to the value of points placed on a graphics page? Environment I/NET Site Cause How does one change the default colors on a graphics page? Resolution Go into the graphic properties editor and choose one of the following: Text Pen - Use this option to choose a default foreground color for point text. When you select this option the system displays the color dialog. You can choose a standard system color or you can define a custom color. This setting will be ignored if you have activated the Use Object Pen option described below. Use Object Pen - When activated this option causes the default color for point values to be the color defined within the points font properties. Otherwise point values are displayed in the color you choose using the Text Pen option described above. The Use Object Pen settings do not affect the color of text objects or markers. It also has no affect on points that have already been placed on the graphic page.

Issue Using AVI files with Link Areas in I/NET Seven Environment I/NET Site Cause How does one use AVI files with Link Areas in I/NET Seven Resolution AVI files are not officially supported in I/NET Seven but the following functionality does exist. Link Areas act a bit differently when layered on top of an AVI file in an I/NET Seven graphic page. Normally link areas are always visible on top any other graphic page object if the link area is clickable for page navigation, but when used in conjuncture with an AVI file the image of the AVI file are visible on top of the link area despite the fact that the link area is the functional item that is interacted with when you click in that area on the live graphic page. Because of this behavior you can use a link area that contains no text and make a user defined area of the AVI movie act as a link to another page.

Issue Individual Activity Manager (IAM) Environment I/NET Seven Individual Activity Manager (IAM) Cause Individual Activity Manager is designed to automatically disabled tenants if they have been dormant for a user configurable length of time. Resolution I/NET displays this editor when you select the Individual Activity Manager Configure button from the Access Control Options editor. The parameters in this editor allow you to enable and configure the Individual Activity Manager (IAM) system. This system monitors specific tenants for individual activity. If an individual of a monitored tenant fails to use their key/card within a specified duration, the individual automatically becomes disabled. The time for these parameters to take effect is the day it is scheduled to start + 24hrs + the duration. Formula = Start date Midnight + 24hrs + the configured duration = Inactivity duration disable. Use this editor to specify tenant(s) that this host workstation will monitor for individual activity. You can also specify the duration of inactivity that will cause a user to become disabled. The tenant selections that you make in this editor are not globalized; therefore, you must visit this editor and select the appropriate tenants on each host workstation that will monitor DPU activity. Caution: An I/NET host workstation can only monitor activity at a DPU if the appropriate tenant is selected in the IAM editor and at least one of the following criteria are met: The messages masking you’ve defined for your system allows the host workstation to receive transaction messages from the DPU. - OR -   The host workstation shares the same file master as another host workstation that receives transaction messages from the DPU and has the appropriate tenant selections. In this case, the DPU activity is globalized daily at 12:30 AM. An individual can become disabled because of inactivity at "monitored" DPUs, even though the individual has had sufficient activity at un-monitored DPUs. Ensure that your system's message masking or file equalization allows for proper monitoring of DPU activity. Configure individual activity management as follows: Within the list of tenants, select () each tenant that this host workstation will monitor for activity. You can use the All Yes and All No buttons as necessary to help speed the selection process. Specify the Duration of inactivity that will cause individuals to become disabled. Choose a duration setting of None, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly. NOTE: If you choose None, no activity monitoring will be performed. Choose a Duration Interval setting. The available range for this value varies depending on the duration you specified in the previous step. Regardless of which duration setting you chose, the maximum limit is equivalent to 4 years. Select OK to accept these settings. The configuration parameters that you select apply to all tenants selected. You can not configure different durations per tenant. If you would like to exclude specific individuals from activity monitoring, you can use the Individual Parameters Editor to set the individual's IAM parameter to Graced. Here is an explanation of how the IAM works: Configure IAM in the AC Options editor. If that is off, nothing will happen other than the update of the CurrentMaxIamEventID (described below). A tenant selection is then required for configuration. Every individual in that tenant will have IAM turned On and will automatically be included unless the graced checkbox for IAM in the individual editor is checked. If it is checked, that individual will not be disabled due to IAM. As a day goes along, people make card reads at doors and the transactions are stored in the Events table. Every morning at 12:30am IAM saves the last CurrentMaxIamEventID as the minimum index to check. It checks where the current Events table index is and saves that as the new CurrentMaxIamEventID. It then goes through all of the events between those two indices (starting and stopping points) and looks for individuals that are in the IAM tenants and not graced. It puts those individuals in the IamUser table along with the time and date of the last transaction. Next it runs through a test to see if the individual has been dormant for the specified time that is set for IAM. If it finds any that have passed the expiration, then it will check the Disable checkbox in the Individual table and remove the entry from the IamUser table. If an operator turns ON the IAM at an arbitrary point after I/NET has been running for a while and accumulates transaction events, only those transactions that occur after turning on IAM will be able to be affected by IAM. No events before the most recent 12:30am rollover will be checked because they are already out of the range of the IAM test. IT is highly recommended that DCU synchronization is enabled for each access controller. IAM uses the host PC's clock (not the controller clock) to calculate the start time and stop time in the IamUser table. It is possible for the two clocks to get out of sync and cause problems. To test IAM: Give a minimum of a day and a half before reading test cards after initial setup. Use 4 cards - 2 graced, and 2 non-graced. Set up IAM and then read all 4 cards for reader entry. Wait two days to re-read.  It is not recommended to attempt to speed up the test by altering the PC and controller clocks. Changes are, the IamUser table will get scrambled and require a TAC Software engineer to fix the table.      

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 How to Reset a 7798 Controller Environment I/SITE LAN 7798 / 7798B / 7798B1 Controllers Cause The following steps will give end users the ability to reset a 7798 Controller. Resolution Unplug all terminals on the controller i.e. Power Connecter first, then Sublan Connector and LAN if there is a CLX card present. Place unit on static free, flat surface with front face down away from any electrical devices. Now, looking down at the unit there are two capacitors (C2 and C3) just above the battery. Take a paper clip or small piece of wire and place it across the capacitors. First short C2 and then C3 (do not go from one leg of C2 to one leg of C3). Now, place all terminals back on the controller, make sure power on and start I/NET. Go to Edit, Host Computer, Network Configuration and save the controller. Go to Edit, Host Computer, Software Restore and restore the bin file to it and database if there is one. Verify that the unit is on, communicating and all points are displayed.

Issue Do you have graphic pages and lines that do not update after an upgrade? Environment I/NET Seven Windows PC Graphic pages Cause The following is the minimum requirements for any PC that is going to run I/NET Seven. Pentium IV (2.500 MHz). 1 GB RAM. 3 GB of available hard drive space. The Hard Drive should be 120 GB or more. Resolution  There is one primary reason for this: Insufficient Memory: - Check the memory of the PC and verify that it is sufficient for the I/NET Seven Application. Explore into the hard drive C. Go to Properties and look at the physical description of the drive.

Issue Running I/NET Seven with a case sensitive SQL collation causes errors. Environment I/NET Cause A collation issue has been identified with foreign language versions of Microsoft Windows. If InetDb is backed up from a PC using SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS to a PC using a different collation then creating archives will fail. If I/NET is installed on a PC with any case sensitive collation (CS) then DbCreate will fail to create InetDb. This problem will be fixed in I/NET Seven 1.17 and 2.01 Resolution Upgrade to a version of I/NET Seven greater than 1.17 or 2.01

Issue Access Initiated Control with Anti-passback (APB) /Anti-tailgate Product Line TAC INET Environment I/NET Cause Application Assistance Resolution Please see the following link: Access Initiated Control & APB/Anti-Tailgate.doc

Issue Print Tap Configuration Environment I/NET Site Cause The Printer Tap provides communication between controllers and a printer without the use of a host. Resolution Use the following procedure to configure a Printer Tap. Select Edit Tap Printer from the main menu. The system displays the Printer Tap Configuration editor. Enter the Tap Name (up to 16 characters). Note: The Firmware Status part of the screen shows the current revision number and date the revision occurred. These fields are display only, you cannot edit them. Using the spindial, choose a Baud Rate. Choose a CTS Handshake from the pull-down list. Using the spindial choose the number of Data Bits. Using the spindial choose the number of Stop Bits. Choose a Parity from the drop-down list. Set the Group Masks as required. Select the OK button to save the settings and exit this procedure.  

Issue Getting Database values despite Workstation being in Operating Mode.    Server is indicating Engineering Mode is active by the Red X in the task bar icons for Server and Workstation  Product Line TAC Vista Environment Vista Workstation 4.3.1 and later Cause Vista 4.3.1 introduced a change in the way Operating mode works in Server and Workstation. Previously there was only one Operating mode which was defined in Vista Workstation, however if someone logged on to do some changes in engineering mode this effected the ability for Vista Webstation to serve users over the ethernet. They would not be viewing live data, but database values from when the operating mode was changed. In Vista 4.3.1 and later, there is a Server operating mode and a Workstation operating mode. The Workstation operating mode will only affect the instance of Workstation that specified that mode allowing other users stay in Operating mode in Workstation or Webstation. Workstation Operating mode is still controlled from the Workstation user interface as normal. To change the Server Operating mode use Workstation to access the $system object in the root directory visible in Workstation. Resolution In Workstation, navigate to the root TAC Vista Double click the $System object in the root folder Check the box for "Operating" to set the server to operating mode.  

Issue Sub-Lan Interface (SLI) Not Available. Environment I/NET site with SLI Cause Controller is not available to translate a big card number when it has been read at a card reader. . Resolution If you are using Access control and wondered what "SLI Not available" means or how it should be used when setting up Messages on the Door Point, the following description should clear up any misconceptions about it. "SLI Not Available" means that the controller is not available to translate a big card number when it has been read at a card reader. This can be set up as a Transaction or an Alarm. A Transaction will be displayed in the Transaction Window whenever this occurs. An Alarm will be generated if this is selected but it has to match the settings that are selected for the various Alarm type and distribution masks.

Issue If creating a new "Utility" in Workstation it is possible to create a object called " Object Creator". This object is not documented. Environment WorkStation version 1.7.1 and earlier Cause There is no documentation for this object, as it is an internal test object that should not be used in the field. visible and if you use it wrong it will crash. In 1.8 it is removedIt’sIt’sIt’s actually a internal test object used to quickly  create a folder structure. It shouldn’t be used as it isn’t supposed to be  visible and if you use it wrong it will crash. In 1.8 it is removed actually a internal test object used to quickly  create a folder structure. It shouldn’t be used as it isn’t supposed to be  visible and if you use it wrong it will crash. In 1.8 it is removedactually a internal test object used to quickly  create a folder structure. It shouldn’t be used as it isn’t supposed to be  visible and if you use it wrong it will crash. In 1.8 it is removedIt’s actually a internal test object used to quickly  create a folder structure. It shouldn’t be used as it isn’t supposed to be  visible and if you use it wrong it will crash. In 1.8 it is removed Resolution The object is removed in version 1.8