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USER GUIDE

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NiagaraAX BPort (C-Bus) Driver


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CONTENTSFEATURES ................................................................................................................................................. 4Supported Platforms ..................................................................................................................................... 4

BPORT NETWORKS ................................................................................................................................ 6Adding A Network ......................................................................................................................................... 6Configure Network Serial Port....................................................................................................................... 7BPort Network Poll Scheduler....................................................................................................................... 7

Properties................................................................................................................................................. 7Poll Scheduler Actions ............................................................................................................................. 8

Network Properties ....................................................................................................................................... 9

BPORT NETWORK DEVICES ................................................................................................................ 11Device Discovery .......................................................................................................................................... 11BPortNetwork Actions ................................................................................................................................... 11Device Add.................................................................................................................................................... 11Device Properties.......................................................................................................................................... 13

BPort Controller Specific Properties......................................................................................................... 14Alarm Polling Mode .................................................................................................................................. 15

Device Actions .............................................................................................................................................. 17

DEVICE/CONTROLLER CLOCK............................................................................................................ 18Read/Write Controller time............................................................................................................................ 18

Use Current Server Date / Time............................................................................................................... 19Manually Enter Date / Time...................................................................................................................... 19Automatically update with Server Date / Time when ever diff exceeds.................................................... 19

Daylight Saving ............................................................................................................................................. 20

FLASH FUNCTIONALITIES .................................................................................................................... 21Store/Erase Applications............................................................................................................................... 21Reload Applications ...................................................................................................................................... 22

POINTS ....................................................................................................................................................... 23Points Manager ............................................................................................................................................. 23Point Discovery ............................................................................................................................................. 23Point Properties ............................................................................................................................................ 24Point Read/Write ........................................................................................................................................... 25Point Attributes.............................................................................................................................................. 25

Point Attribute Polling ............................................................................................................................... 26Point Attribute Write ................................................................................................................................. 27Point Attribute Actions .............................................................................................................................. 27Point Attributes AlarmStatus and OperatingMode.................................................................................... 28Point Attribute Point Mode Linking ........................................................................................................... 28

Points Match / Synchronization with Controller ............................................................................................. 29Sync after Point Add in CARE.................................................................................................................. 29Sync after Point Rename in CARE........................................................................................................... 32Manual One-To-One Point Matching ........................................................................................................ 33

SCHEDULES.............................................................................................................................................. 34Schedules Loading ....................................................................................................................................... 34Time Program View....................................................................................................................................... 35Edit Data Points View.................................................................................................................................... 36Schedules Tabbed UI .................................................................................................................................... 36

Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 36Today Override ......................................................................................................................................... 38Daily Schedule UI..................................................................................................................................... 39Weekly Schedule UI ................................................................................................................................. 43Yearly schedule UI.................................................................................................................................... 44Holiday Schedule UI................................................................................................................................. 45

PARAMETERS........................................................................................................................................... 46Parameter File Discovery .............................................................................................................................. 47Parameter File Naming ................................................................................................................................. 48Parameter Discovery..................................................................................................................................... 49Parameter Naming ........................................................................................................................................ 49


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Parameter Actions ........................................................................................................................................ 51

ALARMS ..................................................................................................................................................... 51Local Vs Remote Controller Alarms.............................................................................................................. 51Alarm Console Recipient .............................................................................................................................. 52Alarms Details Dialog ................................................................................................................................... 54Alarm Record................................................................................................................................................ 56

LIMITATIONS.............................................................................................................................................. 59Communication ............................................................................................................................................. 59Device ........................................................................................................................................................... 59Point .............................................................................................................................................................. 59Alarms........................................................................................................................................................... 59Parameters ................................................................................................................................................... 60Schedules ..................................................................................................................................................... 60

APPENDIX.................................................................................................................................................. 60


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The NiagaraAX BPort (C-Bus) driver communicates to a C-Bus network through serial RS-232 communication to a NiagaraAX600700 series controller (JACE). The RS-232 connection is made between the JACE RS-232 port and a C-Bus controller’s BPort. This directly connected controller (the local controller) acts as a portal to the C-Bus and allows communication to remote controllers.

FEATURESDriver features include:

• Connection to a C-Bus controller (local controller) through serial port.• No additional hardware required – connection is made with a standard null-modem cable• Discover/Add remote C-Bus controllers to the C-Bus network• Save/Reload/Erase Applications onto Flash• Discover points • Read/Write points • Read/Write attributes of points• Discover parameter files/parameters• Read/Write parameters• Read alarms fromcontroller• Get alarms from local controller as unsolicited messages • Modify Time programs/schedules – Includes Today Override, Switch points, Daily Schedules, Weekly Schedules, Holiday and

Yearly schedules• Read/Write Controller time, periodically synchronize controller date/time with JACE time through a Real Time Clock View• Set Daylight savings on Controller through a Real Time clock View

Fig. 1. Overview

Supported Platforms

JACE Platforms

1. JACE 600 Series (license required)2. JACE 700 (license required)

NiagaraAX

NiagaraAX 3.5.34

CARE Database (Local Controller)

CARE database version 8.02.01 or later

XL5000 Firmware (Local Controller)

1. Only one local Controller: all Firmware versions are supported2. Local Controller with BPort and CBus connection to remote controllers, the local controller requires the following Firmware

versions (min):• XL50 / PANTHER and XL500 : Version 2.06.12 or greater.

MCR32862

JACE 600/700 XL50/100/500/600/800

XL500/600/800/100/ZONE MANAGER

C-BUS

RS-232

COM1 B-PORT


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• XL800 / LION: Version 3.01.02 or greater.

Minimum firmware version of 1.00.30 is required for remote controllers

NOTE: A Zone Manager cannot be used as a Local Controller.

Supported XL5000 Series Controllers:

1. XL5000 Controller Model (Local Controller)• XL50 / Panther

• XL100

• XL500/600

• XL800 / Lion

2. XL5000 Controller Model (Remote Controllers)• XL50 / Panther

• XL100

• XL500/600

• XL800 / Lion

• Q7750A Zone Manager

NOTES:1. The local controller will not support an MMI (local command/display) because the driver uses the same port as the

MMI.2. Controllers generated with CARE versions prior to 4.0 may have reversed engineering units on digital input points.

The point structure for digital input points changed when CARE was updated to version 4.0.3. If the controller is generated with an incompatible version of CARE, the controller will be marked as down.


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BPORT NETWORKS

Adding A NetworkAdd the BPortNetwork from the BPort module palette as shown below to the Drivers folder.

Fig. 2. Create BPortNetwork

NOTE: Driver supports only one BPortNetwork per JACE


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Configure Network Serial PortBy default COM port number is set as 1 as shown below in BPortNetwork Property Sheet.

Fig. 3. Configure Serial Port

If the local controller is connected to JACE through a different COM port, update the port number. Once the driver starts communicating and is connected, “Health” will change to “ok” and Status will display “ok” or “unackedAlarm”. Initially when network is added, the baud rate is set to 9600 as shown in the Baud Rate property. The local Cbus controller must also have its BPort baud rate set to 9600 when the initial connection is made. Once the network communication health status isok, the baud rate is set to 38400. Once the driver starts communicating, if the local controller has a connected MMI, the MMI gets locked out, and themessage “External MMI in Use”is displayed.

BPort Network Poll Scheduler

PropertiesBPortNetwork will have its own poll Scheduler and by default, the poll scheduler is configured with following poll rates.

• Fast Rate: 20 seconds• Normal Rate: 1 minute• Slow Rate: 2 minutes


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Fig. 4. BPort Poll Scheduler

When a point is added to the database, the poll frequency is set to fast, normal, or slow. By default, digital inputs are set to fast poll frequency and analog outputs are set to normal poll frequency. All other point types are set to slow poll frequency rate by default. If the poll frequency is to be changed, it can be done on a per point basis at the point proxy extension level or a group level from Point Manager view. In addition to the default Basic Poll Scheduler properties, BPortPollScheduler has the following specific properties

• Fast Average Poll Time: Average Poll Time taken by the poll scheduler frfrom the time poll message is sent to the controller to the time the point value is updated

• Normal Average Poll Time: Average Poll Time taken by the poll scheduler from the time poll message is sent to the controller to the time the point value is updated

• Slow Average Poll Time: Average Poll Time taken by the poll scheduler from the time poll message is sent to the controller to the time the point value is updated

These average values are updated once every 10 seconds.

Poll Scheduler ActionsActions are invoked by right-clicking on the Poll Scheduler in the BPortNetwork Property Sheet and selecting the Actions menu. The following actions are available:

• Enable – Enables Communication on the BPort Network• Disable – Disables Communication on the BPort Network• Reset Statistics - Resets the poll scheduler statistics and restarts calculations.


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Fig. 5. Reset Poll Scheduler Statistics Action

Network Properties

Fig. 6. Network Properties

In addition to the poll scheduler and serial port configuration, several properties at the network level are available to optimize performance:


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1. Tuning Policies: Under Tuning Policies, “BPortPointTuningPolicy,” is available. In this policy all write properties are set to false by default. The default policies set up for BPortTuning policy are recommended settings. This policy is assigned to all points that are added from any controller.

2. User Debug: This option is used for debugging purposes. Set to false by default.3. Local Response Timeout: Response timeout for the local controller. Defaults to 5 seconds.4. Remote Response Timeout: Response timeout for the remote controller. Defaults to 10 seconds.

NOTE: The values configured in the Local or Remote Response Timeout properties are reflected in the “Response timeout” slot of the individual controller.

5. Max No of Outstanding Requests: This determines the number of requests that are sent to the local controller before responses are received. The default value limits the number to 15 to avoid overloading the controller with too many requests at the same time. As the number increases the user will start experiencing protocol handshake issues with the controller.

6. Band Width status: The local C-Bus controller can work with a maximum of 1024 outstanding messages at any time. If the number of messages exceeds this limit, bandwidth status is set to “overloaded”. If the status changes to “overloaded”, reduce the number of poll requests/write operations and wait until the status changes to normal.

7. Band Width Usage: Band Width Usage indicates the usage of bandwidth/load in percentage on the controller at a given time. This property and the “Band Width Status” are correlated as follows:

NOTE: If Band Width Status shows as “High” it means the controller is loaded with the maximum number of messages and the user should not perform any new operations. If the bandwidth stays at Overloaded for a long period of time, the local controller may stop responding causing all the devices to be reported down in driver. In that case, the local controller will need to be restarted and the communication load has to be brought down.

Band Width Usage Band Width Status

0-15 Low

15-30 Medium

30-50 Normal

51-99 High

100 Overloaded


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BPORT NETWORK DEVICES

Device DiscoveryDouble click on the BPortNetwork to get the device manager view. Click on the Discover button to discover controllers on the network as shown below.

Fig. 7. Device Discovery

To add devices to the network, select the devices in the upper Discovered pane, and click the Add button to add them to the Database.

BPortNetwork ActionsThe following actions are available for the BPortNetwork:

• Ping: If network status is ok, then this action does nothing. If status is not ok, then it reinitializes the communication handler and pings network devices.

• Upload: Not used for BPortNetwork.• Download: Not used for BPortNetwork.• Reset Communication: Abandons all outstanding messages and reinitializes the communication handler.

Device AddThe Controller connected to the JACE is referred to as the local controller and other controllers on the network are referred to as remote controllers in this document. When a device is added to the Niagara database, a prompt dialog box is shown as below. The Local property in this UI denotes whether the device is local or remote. By default, the device is configured as remote. If the device being added is the local device, then set the Local property to “true”. If the local device is added with Local set to “false”, the Local property will automatically be set to true after a few ping cycles.

NOTE: If there is only one controller connected to the JACE and there are no other controllers connected to c-bus network, the user has to manually set local to true before adding the device to Niagara database or the device will never come online.

NOTE: It is possible to add the same device more than once. This should be avoided.


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Fig. 8. Device Add Prompt UI

Once the device is added, the “Device Cache Job” will start which will get device details such as points, engineering units (analog, state texts), schedules etc. While the device cache job is progressing, the device’s Communication Status is displayed as “busy” as shown below. During the busy period, do not initiate any other jobs like points, parameters, or time programs (schedules) discovery. The time taken for this job varies from minimum 20 seconds to 10 minutes, depending upon the traffic on network.

Fig. 9. Device Cache Job and Device Communication Status


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Once the Cache job is completed, Communication Status becomes “Idle” as shown below.

Fig. 10. Device Communication Status

Once the communication status becomes “Idle,” any other job can be started.

Device PropertiesOnce the device is added and communication status becomes Idle, different poll features can be configured. By default, Alarm polling is “disabled” as shown below. Point attribute polling is “enabled” with a default frequency of 1 hour. Parameter polling is “enabled” with a default frequency of 5 minutes. The Device Cache polling for information such as engineering units, point names, alarm texts, point descriptors, point characteristics etc. is also configured with 1 hour poll frequency by default.

Fig. 11. Device Properties


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If for any reason the driver is not able to communicate with the device, the appropriate fault message is displayed in the health slot under the device.

BPort Controller Specific PropertiesAlarm Source Info:The default alarm source info routes the ping success/failure messages belonging to BPort network and BPort devices. These are Niagara framework generated alarms and are not related to the alarms generated by XL5000 series controllers.

Alarm Device Ext:

• XL 5000 Series controllers send system alarms and point alarms.• Baud rate configuration changes, power failure, application load status –generate system alarms. Point values exceeding

configured high/low limits and point operating mode changes [auto/manual] generate point alarms. Point alarms further can be classified as critical/non-critical alarms.

Sys Alarms, Critical Alarms and Non Critical Alarms:These are alarm device extension slots for the XL5000 series controller. The Alarm Class in Niagara framework is used to group alarms that have the same routing and handling characteristics.

Users can define alarm classes under alarm service as shown in the figure below and then assign them the alarm device extension as shown in Fig. 13.

Fig. 12. Alarm Classes Configuration


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Fig. 13. Alarm Device Ext slots

Alarm Polling ModeXL Series controllers support different classification to query for alarms.

• pointAlarmsOnly - poll for all point alarms in the history buffer.• pointAndSystemAlarmsAl—poll for all alarms in the history buffer.• pointAndSystemAlarmsNonRead—poll for non-read alarms.

NOTE: When connecting to controllers with older versions firmware and CARE, the pointAndSystemAlarmsAll option may be necessary to receive all alarms.

Fig. 14. Alarm Polling Mode Selection

Local: Indicates whether the controller is local or remote controller.

Parameters: Parameters represent the RACL parameter files and Parameters on the device.

Fig. 15. Parameter slots

Parameter File Ord: When defining the project file through CARE tool, a parameter text file is generated and stored along with the other project files. This parameter text file contains a list of parameter files and a list of parameters under each parameter file, and must be copied to a directory in the JACE if it is to be used. If this slot is set with a valid parameter text file path, the driver populates parameter file names, parameter names, and parameter numbers. Since the controller does not store the parameter file names, we depend on the external parameter text file for mapping parameter numbers and their names.


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Fig. 16. Parameter File Selection

Parameter File Selection: If this slot is enabled, the user will be asked to choose the parameter file path whenever a parameter file discovery is initiated. This chosen file path can be different from what has been configured in the Parameter File Ord. By default this is set to false.

Parameter Poll Enabled: Boolean property which determines whether the poll is enabled or not. Default value is set to “true.”

Parameter Poll Interval: Poll interval/duration for parameter polling. User can set this interval to seconds/minutes/hours duration. Default value is 5 minutes.

Alarm Poll Enabled: Boolean property which tells whether the alarm poll is enabled or not. By default value is set to “false.”

Alarm Poll Interval: Poll interval/duration for alarm polling. User can set this interval to seconds/minutes/hours duration. Default value is 2 minutes.

Attribute Poll Enabled: Boolean property which tells that whether the attribute poll is enabled or not. Default value is set to “true.”

Attribute Poll Interval: Poll interval/duration for attribute polling. User can set this interval to seconds/minutes/hours duration. Default value is 1 hour.

Attribute Alarm Status Operating Mode Poll Enabled: Boolean property which determines whether the attribute’s alarm status and operating mode poll is enabled or not. By default it is “enabled.”

Attribute Alarm Status Operating Mode Poll Interval: Poll interval/ duration for attribute’s alarm status and operating mode. User can set this interval to seconds/minutes/hours duration. Default value is 1 minute.

Device Cache Poll Interval: Poll interval/duration for device cache polling. User can set this interval to seconds/minutes/hours duration. Default value is 1 hour. Refer to the Reset Cache section for more details.

Response Timeout: This value is affected by the “Remote Response Timeout” property of BPortNetwork.

Controller Name: Indicates the name of the controller, programmed by CARE.

Program Name: This value is read from the controller upon a successful Ping response.

Controller Number: This value is read from the controller upon a successful Ping response.

Controller Status: This value is read from controller and can have one of the following values: ControllerStateOk, NoValidApplication, DownloadInProcess, ApplicationNotCompleteValid.

Firmware Version: This value read from the controller.

Download Time: This value is read from the controller and is the controller time stamp of the last application down load. It is updated whenever the last block of any application part is received by the controller.


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Controller Type: This value is read from the controller and can have one of the following values: XL50/PANTHER, XL40/TIGER, XL800/LION, XL500, XL100.

Country Code: The value read from the controller and specifies the character set and the date format on MMI. It can have one of the following values: Undefined, US, Ger, PRChina, Taiwan.

Language Code: This value is read from the controller.

Bsl (Boot Strap Loader) version: This value is read from the controller.

Schedules: Schedules read from the controller.

Communication Status: Toggles between Idle and Busy. By default the status is Idle. When a device gets added, the controller data gets read and cached by the driver. During this time the status changes to Busy. Once the data is read, the status changes to Idle. Particularly while doing point discovery, schedule first time loading, etc.

Device Error Message: This shows the error or message that got generated while reading the controller, if any. If any of the Discrete or Analog Engineering Units file is not parsed due to incompatible file format version, the controller will be be marked as “down.” If any of the Alarm Texts File or Point Descriptors File or Point Characteristics File is not parsed due to incompatible File Format Version, then the details of the file format will be shown here and device would still have an “OK” status.

NOTE: When the device status is the Busy state do not initiate any other task which does a large amount of data transfer like point or schedule discovery.

Device ActionsThere are 5 custom actions on BPortDevice as shown below.

Fig. 17. Device Actions

Flash Functionality Actions: The following actions are related to Flash and explained in a separate section:

• Store Application• Erase Application• Reload Application

Ping: Sends a device ping if communication handler is running and network status is ok.

Reset Cache: The driver caches Point, Schedules, Analog Eng Units, State Texts, Point Descriptors, Point characteristics, Alarm Texts etc. for quick access. When the Device gets added for first time, the info is cached and thereafter once every hour (configured though Device Cache Poll Interval slot on device ) the cache is updated if any change is made on controller. The driver determines if a change has been made by the date time stamp on the corresponding files on controller and reloads the cache if necessary. If the cache needs to be invalidated and reloaded again, the user can invoke this action. Once invoked, the Device Cache fetching job spins off and “Communication Status” slot on device becomes “Busy”. After the job is completed, the status becomes “Idle”. During this busy status time user should not invoke any functionalities which create much traffic such as point discovery, schedule view etc.. If a project is modified in CARE and downloaded to the controller, the controller may not


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modify the file time stamp of the downloaded project files immediately. The file date time stamp only gets modified after a few downloads or writes to the file. If the CARE project is modified and downloaded to the controller, invoke reset cache to get the latest info read from controller.

Read Central Alarm: This action starts the alarm reading functionality. The types of alarms to be read are configured on device level using “Alarm Polling Mode” slot. Based on the category, alarms are read from controller and stored in Alarm DB.

Real time clock view is the default view associated to a device. RTC is used for the following functionalities:

• Read/Write Controller time manually• Set controller time to JACE time• Synchronize Controller time with JACE periodically• Read/Write Daylight Savings on Controller

DEVICE/CONTROLLER CLOCK

Read/Write Controller timeWhen the RTC view is loaded, the following message is shown on screen:

Fig. 18. RTC Load Message

Once the controller time is read, the view automatically changes to the following:

Fig. 19. RTC Read/Write Date & Time View


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Use Current Server Date / TimeIf “Use Current Server Date/Time“ option is selected and the “OK“ button is clicked, the JACE Date/Time will be written to the controller.

Manually Enter Date / TimeIf Controller Date/Time has to be different from the JACE, it can be set using this option. After clicking on the Calendar button, the date can be set. The time is entered in HH:MM format. HH denotes hours and varies from 00 to 23. MM denotes minutes and varies from 00 to 59. After clicking on the OK button, the date/time will be set on the controller.

Fig. 20. Manually Enter Date / time

Automatically update with Server Date / Time when ever diff exceedsIn this case the controller Date/Time is kept in sync with JACE whenever the time difference in minutes is more than what configured. If this option is selected, it is persistent on the JACE and even if the JACE is restarted, the Sync mechanism will be launched and will sync controller date/time with the JACE automatically.


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Daylight SavingDaylight saving time can be set on the controller using variable date range or fixed date range. Automatic Daylight saving changes can also be disabled. When the view is loaded, the current daylight saving time update options on the controller are displayed. When any modification is done and the OK button is clicked, the newly configured dates are set on the controller.

Fig. 21. Daylight Saving UI

NOTE: In a multi-controller system one controller takes over the role of a "time synchronization master". It is typically the con-troller with the lowest number or the controller where a user has changed the time manually (the role can move dynam-ically). If the time on a controller is changed locally, this controller takes over the time sync role and distributes the current time to all other controllers (and repeats this each hour). This situation is typical for systems without centrals. In systems with a central server, the time synchronization is typically done by the central server via CBus. In that case the central server sends out the time, but does not take over the role of time synchronization. So if local controller date time is changed, the user will see the date time changed on remote controllers also. When a user changes a remote control-ler date time, it may not reflect on other remote controllers since local controller time would be written again over the CBus. If a controller does not support Daylight Saving, the Daylight Saving UI will display text "Daylight Saving Time is not supported" and the user will not be able to change the daylight saving on controller.


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FLASH FUNCTIONALITIESApplications can be saved, reloaded or erased from the controller using the driver.

Store/Erase ApplicationsCurrent application can be stored to the controller by invoking “Store Application” on device level as follows:

Fig. 22. Flash Store/Erase/Reload Actions

If application is successfully stored in flash, the following message is shown:

Fig. 23. Flash Memory Store Successfully Message

If flash does not have enough capacity to store the application the following error message is shown.

Fig. 24. Flash Memory Full Error Message

In this case, erase applications, using “Erase Application” action. When erase action is invoked, all applications stored on the flash get deleted.

If flash is successfully erased, the following message is shown:


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Fig. 25. Flash Memory Erase Successfully Message

If the device does not have a stored application in flash, and Erase action is invoked, the above successful image will be shown.

Reload ApplicationsStored applications on Flash can be reloaded by invoking “Reload Application.” Once the action is invoked, a list of Applications stored on Flash are shown below.

Fig. 26. Reload Applications Selection

Select any of the stored application to reload. Once the application is reloaded, the local controller connection is closed and communication is re-established. As a result, the network status will display as down and then, after couple of seconds, come back to steady state. In case there is no application stored on Flash, the following error is shown:

Fig. 27. No Application stored in Flash


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POINTS

Points ManagerPoints manager can be accessed through the NAV tree or using Point Device Extension as shown below from the Network Device Manager view.

Fig. 28. Points Device Extension

Point DiscoveryPoint discovery is done by clicking the Discovery button on the Points manager view. Once the Points Discovery job is started, status can be seen by clicking on the Device Discovery job’s progress bar icon as shown below:

Fig. 29. Points Discovery Job Progress bar

Upon clicking the details icon shown above, discovery status can be seen as follows. Point discovery happens through number of blocks and the block count is updated as discovery progresses.


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Fig. 30. Points Discovery Job Progress

Wait until the job finishes before adding points to the Niagara Points database. Points will be polled only when they are being viewed (in property sheet, wire sheet, Px/Hx views, or in links.

Point PropertiesPoint poll frequency can be set per point basis on proxy extension level.

Fig. 31. Point Poll Frequency


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Point Read/WritePoints will be polled automatically by the NiagaraAX Framework based on poll frequency, which is set while adding point to database. Default frequency depends upon the point type, but it can be changed at any time by going to Proxy extension of the point. Point write can be done by invoking “Set” action of the control point as shown below.

Fig. 32. Point Write

Point AttributesDepending upon C-Bus point type, attributes differ. Attributes are created under Control Point > Proxy Ext > Attributes

Fig. 33. Point Attributes


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Point Attribute PollingAttributes are polled at the poll frequency set at the device level. Default value is 1 hour. Attributes are polled only when the Attribute is viewed in a property sheet, wire sheet, Px/Hx view, or in links. Even if a point value is polling, the attribute will not be polled unless it is in scope of a view. Attribute values can be read using an action invocation also as follows:

Fig. 34. Point Attributes Read Action


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Point Attribute WriteAttribute values can be set in the property sheet view of Attributes as below:

Fig. 35. Point Attribute Write

Point Attribute ActionsSome Point attributes can be written using actions at the control point level. For all point types, a Set Operating Mode action is provided at the control point level. The Operating Mode can be set to Auto or Manual mode. Once invoked, the action will show the current Operating Mode selected and it can be changed using Actions menu.

Fig. 36. Point Attribute Actions


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Point Attributes AlarmStatus and OperatingModeTwo slots, AlarmStatus and OperatingMode, appear on points on the wire sheet, which represent the same attributes found under the proxy extension’s attributes collection. These 2 attributes are polled at a different polling frequency than the point value and by default it is set to 1 minute at the device level. AlarmStatus appears only on CBus Point Types Analog Input, Pseudo Analog, Digital Input and Pseudo Digital. If the point is in alarm mode, the out status is shown as alarm and the point state color changes to red. The alarm status gets cleared when the point returns to normal status on the controller.

Fig. 37. Point Attribute AlarmStatus and OperatingMode

If the point is in Manual mode, the out status is shown as overridden, and the point appears as shown below. This override functionality is different from default Niagara override functionality. If the point is set to auto mode using the Niagara auto action at the point level, the OperatingMode slot retains its Manual status and the out status continue to indicate overridden until the SetOperatingMode action is invoked and the attribute is set to Auto mode.

Fig. 38. Point Attribute OperatingMode on Overridden/Manual mode

Point Attribute Point Mode LinkingOperating Mode can be linked to another Enum Writeable to allow the value to be changed by executing the link as follows:

Fig. 39. Point Attribute OperatingMode linking


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Points Match / Synchronization with ControllerOnce points are discovered and added to the Points database, any change that happens on the controller with point names or indices, is updated automatically at the driver level by Device Cache Job which is configured at the device level (default frequency is 1 hr). After points are reprogrammed from CARE and downloaded to the controller, the existing points can be matched or updated with changes on names and indices manually also.

Sync after Point Add in CAREIn CARE, the points are indexed as shown below:

Fig. 40. CARE Added Points

Once the points are discovered and added in Points Database, the point manager view would be as follows:

Fig. 41. Point Manager View


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The Points are added sequentially with the proper indices. Now suppose a point is added using CARE that is named Point001_1. The point is located between Point001 and Point002 in the CARE database, thereby changing the CBus point indices starting from Point002. The CARE project after adding the pint would look as shown below:

Fig. 42. CARE after reprogramming controller with a newly added point

When the saved JACE station communicates to the controller, the indices of Point002 and Point003 would be changed. The device cache job will update the point indices so that polling can continue as follows:

Fig. 43. Device Cache Job updated points

By clicking on the details button, the points update log can be seen. It is recommended that you take the time to perform this task to ensure that the point update has happened after the recent CARE download.


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Fig. 44. Time taken for point update

In case the point update has not happened through the cache job, it can be manually invoked using the “Match Points” action on Points folder under device as follows:

Fig. 45. Match Points Action

The action makes sure that points are rediscovered and that the existing points in the point database are matched with the latest information on the controller.


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Sync after Point Rename in CAREAnother scenario is renaming points on a controller using CARE. Point001 is renamed to Point000 in CARE as follows and downloaded to controller.

Fig. 46. Point Rename in CARE

Once the point is renamed on the controller, the next time when the station is connected to the controller, the cache job detects that the old point name is not in controller and the point is set to fault status.

Fig. 47. Point Rename updated in driver point database

Upon looking at the proxy extension of the fault point, the user can find the fault cause as “Read fault: Point Name not found on Controller”

Fig. 48. Point Rename updated in driver point database with fault cause

In such cases, the one-to-one point match functionality has to be invoked manually by selecting the fault point from point database and the renamed point entry from learn table and matching them.


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Manual One-To-One Point MatchingAn added point can be matched against a discovered point as follows. Only compatible discovered points can be matched. For example, and Analog Point can not be matched with a Digital Point. The following steps show how to match points.

Fig. 49. Point Match steps

Once the point is matched, the database entry will be updated with info from the learned point entry as follows, see the name and value of added point changed from “Point002” “Enable” to “Point003” “Heating” respectively.

Fig. 50. After Point Match

If any incorrect info is displayed for an added point, then it can be corrected my matching with the required learned point as explained above.


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SCHEDULES

Schedules LoadingSchedules UI will be loaded when user does the following:

• Double clicks on “Schedules Extension” from device manager view.

Fig. 51. Schedules Extension

• Double click on “Schedules” component from NAV Tree.• Navigate to “ViewTimeTime Program View.”

“Time Program View” displays the message “Communication In Progress” while the schedule data is being read from the controller and the UI is loaded. When the schedule data is read properly, view will display the schedule UI with all the Time Programs created in the controller. If there is an error in getting the schedule data, the view will display the error message “Error In Communication.” The User will have to “Refresh” the view to read the schedule data again from the controller and load the view.

NOTE: If there is an error in parsing the time program file, the message Error in parsing Time Programs is shown in the UI tab.


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Fig. 52. Communication In Progress message while rendering the data from Controller

Time Program ViewThe Time Program View will be loaded with a drop down box filled with all the time programs created in the controller. The user will be able to select the time program for which the user wants to see the schedule. By default “All” is selected in the drop down box and schedule UI is shown for all the time programs of the controller.

To edit the properties of a master list of points; click on the “Edit Data Points” button. A pop up window will be opened.

Fig. 53. Time Program View


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Edit Data Points ViewA user can set the Occupied value, UnOccupied Value and the Optimization for all the Data Points defined for the selected Time Program. The user can open this view only when a specific time program is selected in the drop down box. All the user entered data is stored at the station level, not at the controller level.

Fig. 54. Edit Data Points Dialog

NOTE: Default Occupied/Unoccupied values are stored only at the station bog file. These are not stored in the controller.

Schedules Tabbed UITime Program View will have a Schedules Tabbed UI to display the priority schedule of the selected/all Time Programs on the selected date. There are 5 tabs in the schedule UI:

• Overview • Daily Schedule• Weekly Schedule• Yearly Schedule • Holiday Schedule

The priority of the schedules in descending order is Today Override, Yearly, Holiday and Weekly.

OverviewOverview tab will be shown by default when the Time Programs UI is loaded. A user can not select the other tabs when “All” is selected in the Time Program drop down box. When “All” is selected, the Overview tab will display the priority schedule for all the time programs in the controller. When the user selects a time program, the Overview tab will display the priority schedule for the selected Time Program and the user will be able to select the other tabs. A calendar control is provided to select the date for which the user wants to view the priority schedule for the Time Programs for the selected date.

The Overview tab displays the time program name, source of the priority schedule, and data points with the control point values for the selected date and for the selected Time Program. The user can click on the Source which will navigate to the corresponding tab of the Time Program.


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The overview tab UI also provides a right click menu on the data point which will have Config Display and Create/Delete Today Override options. Config Display functionality provides the user the ability to hide/show the selected data points. The user cannot hide all the data points—at least one data point should be shown. This functionality is also applicable in the Daily Schedule and Weekly Schedule Tab UIs.

A user can create Today Override only in the Overview Tab UI, not in any other UI. The user can also delete a selected Today Override or modify the existing Today Override.

Overview tab UI shows the control point values in the Time scale of 24 hour format. A color block is created for each of the Control Points of the Data Point. Color for the control point is decided based on the control point’s value and the Occupied and UnOccupied values of the Data Point.

• control point value <= UnOccupied value then the color is Blue• control point value >= Occupied value then the color is Orange• UnOccupied value < control point value < Occupied value then the color is Yellow• Control point is a Today Override value then the color is Red

Each block of the control point displays the Start Time, End Time, Control Point value and Optimization value (On/Off). The user can not edit the control point value or Optimization value in the Overview Tab.

Users can create/delete the Today Override only in the Overview Tab.

Fig. 55. Overview UI

The “Overview” tab shows an overview of the switch points in the selected segment/time program as in the picture above.

If <All> is selected (default) in the “Schedule” Combo box, all schedules of the selected segment are displayed, except for those schedules which have either no data points assigned or have only suppressed data points assigned. If a specific schedule is selected instead of <All>, only this schedule is displayed in the overview.

The date can be picked for which the schedule should be displayed. Initial value is the current date. The switching behavior is displayed for the current date.

The table with the switch points is structured as follows:

• 1st header shows the schedule name.• 2nd header shows the schedule source as a link. The source defines where the switch points come from. This can be any of

the following: weekly prog., yearly prog., holiday prog. Clicking the link goes to the corresponding schedule details tab for this schedule (weekly or yearly).


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NOTE: Even if <All> was selected in the time program combo box, clicking the navigation link should bring the user to the schedule that corresponds to the selected source. In case the source is “Holiday schedule”, a message box will appear when clicking the link: [“Controller internal holiday scheduling is not supported by Arena. It is recommended to disable the holiday schedule in the controller and use the Arena yearly schedule instead. To change holiday schedules in the controller, use controller MMI.” (EU only)]

• 3rd header shows the data point name. A tool tip on the cell will show the full name. • Then the switch points are displayed graphically, from 00:00 to 24:00, each with the following info.

— From/To time— Value— Indication if optimization is on or off.— Different colors are used for the following scenarios:

• Switching value corresponds to the “unoccupied value”• Switching value corresponds to the “occupied value”• Switching value corresponds to neither of the two• Scrolling the list vertically is possible• Scrolling the list horizontally is possible• Switch points cannot be edited directly in the overview tab, but can be overridden using the “Create Today Override”• Configuration of the display is possible using a context menu “Config Display”.

NOTE: Config Display settings are stored only at the Niagara station bog file. These are not stored in the controller.

Today Override

Fig. 56. Today override Dialog

Calling the “Create Today Override” function brings up the override dialog for the data point.

The dialog is initialized as follows:

• If a time range had been selected with the mouse before calling “Create Override”— Start Date / Time is initialized with the beginning of the selected time range. — End Date / Time is initialized with the end of the selected time range.

• If no time range had been selected before calling “Create Override” — Start Date / Time is initialized with 0:00. — End Date / Time is initialized with 0:00.

Value is initialized with the “Occupied Value”. If the switched data point is a discrete point (digital or multistage) then a combo box allows the selection of the state text. If the switched data point is an analogue point, a text field allows the entry of a value.

NOTE:


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— Only one Today Override is allowed per one Data Point— Start and End Dates in the Create/Modify Today Override are not editable as user can create Today Override only for

the selected date in the UI.— When user deletes today override from UI, it will not get deleted from the controller but instead the override is stored

with the end time set at 2 minutes interval from start time. On reload of UI, the driver ignores the overrides which spans just for 2 minutes.

— When user creates today override from UI, the popup has the controller date time. After creating the override, on reload of UI, until or unless user selects the controller time from date picker, the created override will not be shown.

Daily Schedule UIThe Daily Schedule UI tab provides the list of available daily schedules created for a selected Time Program in the controller. The daily schedule name/s will be presented in one combo box. A user can select the desired daily schedule name from this list. When the user selects a daily schedule, UI displays all the data points associated with the selected daily schedule and the control points created for the daily schedule.

In Daily Schedule tab, user can perform the following operations:

CREATE DAILY SCHEDULE

Fig. 57. Create New Daily Schedule

Create Daily Schedule is callable via an icon. The icon should show a tool tip “New daily schedule”. Pressing the icon shows a dialog which allows:

• Entering a name• Selecting if a blank schedule should be created (default if there is no daily schedule existing yet)

-OR-

• Select if the switch points of the new schedule should be copied from an existing schedule (default if there are already other daily schedules, but disabled if there are no daily schedules yet) The daily schedule that is copied can be selected.

• The display order can be influenced.

COPY SWITCH POINTS FROM/TO OTHER DAILY SCHEDULE

Fig. 58. Copy Switch Points


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Copy Switch Points is callable via icon. The icon should show a tool tip “Copy switch points from / to other daily schedule”. The icon is only enabled if at least 2 schedules exist. Clicking the icon shows a dialog which allows:

• Loading switch points from another daily schedule. The source schedule can be selected from a combo box, which shows all schedules except for the one that is currently edited.

• Copy switch points to another daily schedule. The target schedule can be selected from a combo box, which shows all schedules except for the one that is currently edited.

EDIT DAILY SCHEDULE

Fig. 59. Edit Daily Schedule

Edit Daily Schedule is callable via icon. The icon should show a tool tip “Edit daily schedule.” Clicking the icon shows a dialog which allows entering a new name. The name is initialized with the name of the currently edited schedule. The display order can be influenced.

DELETE DAILY SCHEDULEDelete Daily Schedule is callable via icon. . The icon should show a tool tip “Delete daily schedule”. Clicking the icon shows a warning: “Do you really want to delete the daily schedule <schedule name>” (OK, Cancel).

ADD/EDIT SWITCH POINTA user can change the control point start time, end time, value and optimization value using the Edit Switch Point pop up window which is opened when the control point is double clicked. When the user clicks on the “OK” button on the Edit Switch Point pop up window, all the validations are done and the command is sent to the controller to modify the control point. On a successful response, the control point value is updated in the UI.

The user can also change the start time and end time of the control point using mouse drag. The user selects the top edge or bottom edge of the control point and then drags the mouse to change the control point value. A user can also click on the control point and move the start time and end times of the control point. When the user changes the control point’s start time or end time using the mouse drag, the write command is not sent to the controller immediately. The write command is sent to the controller only on a click of the “Download” button. If the user tries to change the control point value by double clicking the control point after changing its start time or end time using mouse drag, a pop up message is shown to the user to download the changes to the controller.

When the user changes the start time or end time of the control point and, if it affects the start time or end time of the preceding or next control points, then the preceding or next control point’s start time or end time is changed accordingly.


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Fig. 60. Daily Schedules Tab

NOTE: The controller will not contain an end time for the switch point. It is set to 23:59 for the default end time if there is no other switch point later than the switch point. Otherwise, the next switch point’s start time is set as the end time. Hence, the user may not see the same end time once the downloaded switch point information is reloaded from the controller.

Changing an existing switch point:

• The user can pick the top border and move it to an earlier time by drag and drop, e.g. 10:00. Result: the preceding switch point’s end time is set to 10:00. The edited switch points start time is set also to 10:00, while the end time remains unchanged at 12:00. The edited switch point’s start time has been changed to an earlier time, while end time remains unchanged. Result for the user: Moving the top border of a switch point does automatically move the bottom border of the preceding switch point to the same time. A vertical double arrow cursor is shown when placing the mouse over the top /bottom line.

• The user can pick the top border and move it to a later time by drag and drop, e.g. 11:00. Result: the preceding switch point’s end time is set to 11:00. The edited switch points start time is also set to 11:00, while the end time remains unchanged at 12:00. The edited switch point’s start time has been changed to a later time, while end time remains unchanged. Result for the user: Moving the top border of a switch point does automatically move the bottom border of the preceding switch point to the same time. A vertical double arrow cursor is shown when placing the mouse over the top /bottom line.

• The user can pick the bottom border and move it to an earlier time by drag and drop, e.g. 11:30. Result: the succeeding switch point’s start time is set to 11:30. The edited switch points end time is set also to 11:30, while the start time remains unchanged at 10:30. The edited switch point’s end time has been changed to an earlier time, while start time remains unchanged. Result for the user: Moving the bottom border of a switch point does automatically move the top border of the succeeding switch point to the same time. A vertical double arrow cursor is shown when placing the mouse over the top /bottom line.

• The user can pick the bottom border and move it to a later time by drag and drop, e.g. 12:30. Result: the succeeding switch point’s start time is set to 12:30. The edited switch points end time is also set to 12:30, while the start time remains unchanged at 12:00. The edited switch point’s end time has been changed to a later time, while start time remains unchanged. Result for the user: Moving the bottom border of a switch point does automatically move the top border of the succeeding switch point to the same time. A vertical double arrow cursor is shown when placing the mouse over the top /bottom line.

• The user can pick the left or right border or any place between the two and move the switch point to an earlier time by drag and drop, e.g. 10:00. Because the whole switch point is moved, the end time is also moved to an earlier time (11:30). The preceding switch point is shortened accordingly (end time = start time of edited point = 10:00). The succeeding switch point is extended (start time = end time of edited point = 11:30) the edited switch point has been moved as a whole to an earlier time. A hand cursor is shown when dragging the switch point to another time.

• The user can pick the left or right border or any place between the two and move the switch point to a later time, e.g. 11:00. Because the whole switch point is moved, the end time is also moved to a later time (12:30). The preceding switch point is extended accordingly (end time = start time of edited point = 11:00). The succeeding switch point is shortened (start time = end time of edited point = 12:30) the edited switch point has been moved as a whole to a later time. A hand cursor is shown when dragging the switch point to another time.


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• Double click: Double click brings up the edit switch point dialog. It should be initialized with the value, start and end time and optimization flag setting as the switch point that was double clicked. Note: “Value” should allow selecting a state text for discrete points and enter a number for analog points as today. Other than today, the engineering unit for analog points should be displayed. In case either start time or end time are changed so that they overlap with preceding and succeeding points, the preceding and succeeding points start/end time are adapted automatically.

Fig. 61. Edit Switch Point Dialog

Adding a new switch point:

• On “free space”: User presses left button at desired start time, drags mouse to end of desired switch range and releases mouse button The edit switch points dialog is displayed, initialized with the selected start and end date. Optimization is “On”.— If this operation is done in a daily program that does not already contain a switch point at the selected start / end time, as

value, the “unoccupied” value is used.— If this operation is done in a daily program that contains already one switch point at the specified start / end time, the fol-

lowing scenarios can occur: • New switch point is inserted in a way that its end time corresponds to the existing switch points end time or exceeds

the end time: If the existing switch point was using the unoccupied value, the dialog is initialized with the occupied value. If the existing switch point was using the occupied value, the dialog is initialized with the unoccupied value. If the existing switch point was using neither the occupied nor the unoccupied value, the value field is uninitialized and the user is forced to enter or select a value. The new switch point is inserted at the specified time. Before the switch point, the values of the previous switch point is valid again, after the switch point the value of the succeeding switch point is valid again

• New switch point is inserted in the middle of an existing switch point: If the existing switch point was using the unoccupied value, the dialog is initialized with the occupied value. If the existing switch point was using the occupied value, the dialog is initialized with the unoccupied value. If the existing switch point was using neither the occupied nor the unoccupied value, the value field is uninitialized and the user is forced to enter or select a value. The new switch point is inserted at the specified time. Before and after the switch point, the values of the previous switch point are valid again (switch point which was there before the operation is “split” by new switch point)

Consistency checking: If 2 switch points that directly follow behind each other have the same value and same setting for optimization, they will be combined to one switch point, where start time = start time of first switch point and end time = end time of 2nd switch point.


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Weekly Schedule UI

Fig. 62. Weekly Schedule

Editing of the weekly schedule is done as today, with the following differences:

• Scrolling the list vertically is possible.• Scrolling the list horizontally is possible.• Configuration of the display is possible using a context menu. • The data point names are displayed above the columns. A tool tip on the cell will show the full name.• The editing is the same as described in the daily program.


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Yearly schedule UI

Fig. 63. Yearly Schedule

Period can be selected with mouse in grid.

Via context menu (right mouse button), a daily program can be assigned OR “Unassigned” can be selected. Unassigned removes the daily prog reference.

Whatever the user enters is structured in “uninterrupted periods that use the same daily program, and for each of these periods an entry is made in the controller. This means:

• If from 1.12.2008…20.12.2008 the same daily program is valid, only one override period should be created in the controller with a start date 01.12.2008 and end date 20.12.2008.

• If from 1.12.2008 …20.12.2008 the same daily program is valid, but from 10.12.2008..12.12.2008 another daily program is valid, 3 override periods should be created:— 01.12.2008..09.12.2008: Daily Prog 1— 10.12.2008..12.12.2008: Daily Prog 2— 13.12.2008..20.12.2008: Daily Prog 1


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Holiday Schedule UI

Fig. 64. Holiday Daily Schedule

Holiday schedule UI displays all the available holidays in the controller in a table format with columns Holiday, Daily Program Override and Date. User can assign/unassign the daily schedules to each of the Holidays in the controller.

NOTE: User has to manually click the download button for the operations Create/Modify Switch Point in daily/weekly schedule tab page, assign daily schedule in the Weekly Schedule tab page and Holiday Schedule Tab page. Unless user down-loads these events to the controller, UI will not reflect the changes and the changes will not be taken into consideration while calculating the priority schedule.


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PARAMETERSParameters—as a BPort Device extensions can be accessed by double clicking “Parameters” folder in the nav tree in the left side or using the “Parameter exts” icon in the device manager database view.

This opens the Parameter File Manager view.

Fig. 65. Parameter Device Extension

Click on “Discover” button to load the available parameter files in the controller.

The driver searches for the presence of 128 parameter files in the controller and the progress is shown in the job progress bar.


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Parameter File Discovery

Fig. 66. Parameter File Discovery In Progress

Once the discovery is completed, the available parameter files are listed in the learn table of Parameter File Manager. The figure below shows the discovered parameter files without name.


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Fig. 67. Discovered Parameter Files—Without Names

Parameter File NamingIf a proper parameter file path is configured in the device properties, the discovered parameter files will be displayed along with the names.

The format of the parameter file name is #Parameter File No:Parameter File Name.


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Parameter DiscoveryA user can double click on the parameter file or expand the parameter file node to discover the parameters present under that folder.

Fig. 68. Discovered Parameters—With Names

Parameter NamingOnce the parameter file is added to the database, the parameter file and the parameters are added to the nav tree.

The format of the parameter name is #Parameter File No.Parameter No:Parameter Name.

NOTE: When user double clicks on the parameter file, the entire parameter file along with all the parameters underneath it are added to the database table. If the user wants to add only specific parameters, then he has to expand the node and add only the required parameters as shown in Figure 69 Specific Parameter In Database Table.


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Fig. 69. All Parameters Added To Database Table

Fig. 70. Specific Parameter In Database Table

The user can read and write parameters using the “Read,” “Set” actions on the parameter respectively. There is a periodic polling of parameters enabled in the driver. This reads the parameter values every 5 minutes. This default configuration can be changed using “Parameter Poll Enabled” and “Parameter Poll Interval” properties in the device. The parameter value can be changed by linking the out value of a Numeric Writable point to the "Value" slot of the parameter in a wiresheet view.


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Parameter Actions

Fig. 71. Parameter Actions

ALARMS

Local Vs Remote Controller AlarmsAlarms of the local controller [the controller which is connected to serial port of the JACE] come in the form of unsolicited messages. Alarms from the remote controllers need to be polled. Both the local and remote alarms are routed to the Niagara alarm service and are available for view using Niagara Console Recipient.

The periodic poll for alarms is achieved through “Alarm Poll Enabled” and “Alarm Poll Interval” properties in the device.

NOTE: By default alarm polling is disabled.

There is also a user action available on each BPort device—“Read Central Alarm” to instantly query for alarms from local/remote controller irrespective of the configured alarm poll interval.

NOTE: Set the alarm polling mode as per the requirement. By default “point alarms only” is set. This might prevent system alarms from reaching the driver.


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Fig. 72. Remote Controller Alarm

Alarm Console RecipientTo view the alarms added to the Niagara alarm db, open console recipient as described below.

1. Open Station->Config->Services->Alarm Service.2. Double click this component to open the wire sheet. The view has a “Default Alarm Class” component.3. Open “alarm” module from palette. Drag and drop console recipient to the Alarm Service’ wire sheet.4. Connect “Alarm” in “Default Alarm Class” to “Route Alarm” in “Console Recipient” as in Fig. 73.

Fig. 73. Route alarm to console recipient

NOTE: Remember to connect the newly added alarm classes to the console recipient if those alarm classes are referred by the alarm device ext classes under device as shown in Alarm Classes Configuration.


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Fig. 74. Alarms routed from different alarm classes

Add Alarm Data ColumnThe BPort alarm specific details are added in Niagara alarm record in the form of alarm data. These details can be made to show as extra columns in the console recipient. This can be done by clicking the icon in the top right corner of the table as shown in the below figure.

Click on “Add Alarm Data Column.” Some of the important columns to be added are “PointType,” “PointName,” “PointValue” and ”CondnText.”

Fig. 75. Add Alarm Data Column

Fig. 76. Add Data Column—PointName


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Fig. 77. Add Data Column—Condn Text

After adding BPort driver specific columns, the console recipient will look like the below.

Fig. 78. Added Custom Data Columns

Alarms Details Dialog Alarm console recipient groups alarms based on alarm source. In BPort driver, point alarms have the source field set to the point’s proxy ext ord. The system alarms have the source field set to device ord.

Fig. 79. Alarms from different controllers

When a user clicks on a single row in the above window, it opens another window that shows all the alarms belonging to the source. System alarms for controller XL500 shows all the system alarms coming from controller with the name XL500.

Fig. 80. System alarms for controller XL500


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Figure below shows point alarms (limit based alarms and auto/manual configuration alarms) coming from controller with the name P6BXL10014.

Fig. 81. Point alarms in XL100 controller


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Alarm RecordTo see the detailed information on each alarm, double click the entry in the above dialog.

Fig. 82. Alarm Record

Alarm record fields:

Timestamp: The time at which alarm got generated in XL controller

Uuid: The unique identifier of the alarm record in Niagara alarm db.

Source State: The current state of the source of the alarm.

• Offnormal: Source is still in alarm• Normal: Source has reached the normal state

Ack State: The acknowledgement state of the alarm. Has the value “Unacked” when a new alarm is added and changes to “Acked” state when user acknowledges the alarm record.

NOTE: Alarm acknowledgement is not routed to the controller.

Ack Required: Denotes whether acknowledgment is required for this alarm. Default value: true.

Source: Represents the source of the alarm. As explained above for point alarm, this field has the value of the ord of point’s proxy ext.


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Alarm class: The alarm class defined for this type of alarm under alarm device ext slots under device.

Priority: Niagara default value, not handled specifically for BPort driver.

Normal Time: Represents the time when the source of the alarm come back to normal state.

Ack time: Represents the time when the alarm record is acknowledged by the user.

User: Niagara default, not handled specifically for BPort driver.

Alarm Data: The information under this category represents XL controller alarm specifics.

• Alarm Id: Can be ignored, will be always 0.• CondnText: Limit condition that caused the alarm generation.• ControllerName: Name of the controller to which the point belongs.

— Critical: Represents the severity of the alarm. Can hold the values “yes” for critical alarms and “No” for non-critical alarms.

— Driver: Used to differentiate BPort driver alarms from other alarm records in Niagara alarm db.• Escalated: Not used.• msgText: Same as CondnText.• Point index: Unique integer representing index of the point.• Point name: Name of the point.

— Point Type: Represents the point type –Maps to the list of c-bus supported point types.— Point Value: Current value of the point that caused the alarm. Left empty for system alarms.— sourceName: Represents the name of the source ord explained above.— TimeZone: Default Niagara timezone.— Type: point type used for internal manipulation.

• Alarm Transition: represents the last state change happened for this alarm record.• Last update: Last time this record is updated from the driver. Holds Niagara timestamp.

Alarm handlingPoint limit based alarms:

• Only one alarm record is seen for a point in the alarm console. When the alarm reaches the driver, if there are no prior alarm records for the same point, the incoming alarm record gets added to the Niagara alarm db with source state as “offnormal” and ack state as “unacked.”

• If there is already an alarm record for the same point, then:— The old alarm record details will be overwritten with the incoming alarm text.— The timestamp of the alarm record reflects the new alarm timestamp.— If the incoming alarm record represents a “return to normal” notification, this will also be updated over the old record while

keeping the source state as “offnormal”. This is an intentional behavior as the driver does not decrypt the alarm text to determin whether the point has come back to normal.

• Whenever the point returns to normal it will automatically update the alarm record status of the point to normal.— If the alarm record was already acknowledged by the user, when point returns to normal, it will automatically be cleared

from the console recipient and will be available in Niagara alarm db with source state “normal” and ack state “acked.”— If the alarm record was not already acknowledged by the user, the alarm record will be still seen in the console recipient

with the source state as “Normal” and ack state as “unacked”, when user acknowledges this alarm, it will be cleared from console recipient.

• When a point is deleted from the Niagara db, the corresponding point limit based alarms get cleared from console recipient. This alarm record will be in Niagara alarm db with the source state as “normal” and ack state as “acked.”

• As described in section Point Attributes AlarmStatus and OperatingMode, point alarm status attribute is polled every 1 minute. The “source state” of the corresponding point’s alarm record reflects the point alarm status attribute under point’s proxy attribute.

For example, assume the different polling intervals configured under BPort Device.


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Fig. 83. Different polling intermals configured under BPort Device.

If the point PAI_01 exceeds the alarm limit, the controller raises an alarm. The driver reads this alarm message from the controller and adds an alarm record to the Niagara alarm db.

As seen above, the attribute alarm status operating mode poll interval is set to 10 seconds. This means that the alarm status of the point is read from the controller every 10 seconds. If the point has returned to normal, the alarm record will change as shown below:

When the controller level alarm polling happens at the next configured interval [configured to be 4 minutes in the above example], the controller sends Max 2 Normal notification for the point PA_01

Receiving this alarm from the controller, the alarm record will change as shown below.

To have synchronization between the point alarm status attribute and the equivalent alarm record in Niagara db, “Source state” of the alarm record is set/reset whenever there is a change in point alarm attribute. However the condition text will reflect the actual text only when alarm polling happens.

NOTE: Based on the configured poll interval for attribute polling, alarm polling, and the network traffic, the source state and con-dition text updates of the alarm will take some time to reflect. This is an expected behavior.

System alarms and point operating mode configuration alarms

System alarms and point operating mode alarms are treated in the same way.

Alarms with duplicate timestamps are ignored.

• There can be as many as possible point operating mode configuration alarms / system alarms in Niagara alarm db as long as the time stamps differ.

• Acknowledgement— If it’s a system alarm record– it will get removed from console recipient. — If it’s a point operating mode configuration alarm record [both for critical and non-critical alarms], it will get removed from

console recipient.• When point is deleted, the auto/manual config alarms are still retained in Niagara console recipient unlike the point limit

alarms.

TimeStatmp PointName SourceState ConditionText10:05:30 PA_01 Offnormal Max 2 Alarm

TimeStatmp PointName SourceState ConditionText10:05:30 PA_01 normal Max 2 Alarm

TimeStatmp PointName SourceState ConditionText10:20:50 PA_01 normal Max 2 Normal


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NOTE: XL online and other client tools store each point limit alarm generated as a separate record. Hence number of alarm entries seen in Niagara BPort driver might differ from the number of records in XLOnline. This is an expected behavior and is typical for the NiagaraAX framework.

LIMITATIONS

Communication• It takes few seconds to a minute to get communication established at times.• Sometimes a controller doesn’t respond to any tools like XL online or the BPort driver. In that case restart the controller.• The default response time out for local controller is set to 5 seconds and for remote controller is set to 10 seconds. These

timeout values are not sufficient when the number of points polled are greater than 500. [Operating at the default poll frequencies]. These setting will start creating read faults in point poll with the message “poll response timeout”. Increase response time out settings and decrease poll frequency if communication faults start occurring in the system.

• The Serial protocol supports a limited number of messages per second (max 15 messages per second). At any time there can not be more than 1024 outstanding messages. In order to identify the bandwidth, network has a property Bandwidth Usage and it indicates how many outstanding messages are existent at any point in time. This property gets updated every 10 secs. The ideal value to maintain at the bandwidth is less than or equal to 75%. All the poll frequencies (point, attributes, parameters, alarm) have to be adjusted to make the bandwidth at <= 75%.

Device• Same device can be added multiple times to database.• When in clock view, if communication goes off or device goes down, then error message is shown in view. Once the

communication is established/device returns to normal, a manual refresh is required to get into the view.• Add only one discovered device at a time. The device communication status will be busy when add operation starts. Wait till

the status changes to Idle and then only add the next device.• If a project is modified in CARE and downloaded to the controller, the controller does not often modify the file time stamp of the

downloaded project files immediately. Only after few downloads or writes to the file will the file date time stamp get modified. So in case project is modified and downloaded to the controller, invoke reset cache to get the latest info read from controller disregarding the time stamp.

• If the driver does not support any of the Analog or Discrete Engineering Units File Format Version, the device is marked as "down" automatically and device health shows the reason with version info.

Point• While adding points, add max 50-75 points at a time to avoid import errors.• While acknowledging the alarm, if the related point has been removed, then this alarm record will remain with source state as

“off normal” and ack status “acked.” It is recommended to clear alarms for a point prior to deleting.

Alarms• Alarm functionality largely depends on the alarm text for differentiating point limit based alarms and auto/manual

configurations If the alarm text for the “Auto/Manual” changes are configured with some other text [excluding “auto”/”manual” keywords], those point alarms will be treated as point limit based alarms.

• Source state of an point limit alarm record changes from offnormal to normal only when the point attribute polling finds that the point has returned to normal. Till then the point alarm record might have the alarm text as “Min 1 normal”/ “Min 2 normal” /”Max 1 normal”/”Max 2 normal” with the source state as “offnormal”. The attribute polling might change the source state to normal after some time depending upon the number of high priority outstanding requests.

• When the point attribute polling detects state change from offnormal to normal, this will change the corresponding point limit alarm record source state to normal. But since this operation is imitated from the driver, the corresponding message text will still reflect the old value. This is an expected behavior. For example, if a point is in MAX 2 Alarm, there will be an alarm record with source state as “off normal” and msg text as “MAX 2 alarm”. When point attribute polling detects that the point has come back to normal state, this would change the source state of the above alarm record to “normal,” but the msg text will remain as “MAX 2 alarm” till the next alarm polling cycle.

• When user acknowledges the alarm record, the driver reads point’s “in alarm” attribute to detect whether the point has come back to normal. If the point already reaches normal state in the controller, but the attribute polling frequency does not match this scenario, acknowledgment will leave the record in the offnormal state. This is an expected behavior.

• To have synchronization between the point alarm status attribute and the equivalent alarm record in Niagara db, “Source state” of the alarm record is set/reset whenever there is a change in point alarm attribute. However the condition text would reflect the actual text only when alarm polling happens.

• XL controller alarms are not maintained with milliseconds resolution. Hence if Niagara driver receives two point limit alarm records for the same timestamp, it will give preference to the one which the driver reads first. For example, assuming there are two alarm records in the xl controller as shown below:

NIAGARAAX BPORT (C-BUS) DRIVER

Automation and Control SolutionsHoneywell International Inc.

1985 Douglas Drive North

Golden Valley, MN 55422

customer.honeywell.com

® U.S. Registered Trademark© 2015 Honeywell International Inc.74-5159—02 L.L. 05-15Printed in United States

— 08:42:15 PAI_100 Max 2 Alarm— 08:42:15 PAI_100 Max 2 Normal

When these two records reach the driver, driver assumes 08:42:15 PAI_100 Max 2 Alarm as the latest record.

Parameters— Vertical scrolling in learn pane has a refresh issue at times.

Schedules• Right click menu is not supported in Holiday Schedule Tab page.• Changing the width of the Data Points/Switch Points is not supported.• In the schedule UI, only 18 characters are shown for the data point’s name. If the name of the data point is more than 18

characters, only first 18 characters are shown. However a tool tip is shown with the full name whenever the mouse is hovered on the data point heading.

• There is no option to assign “None” as daily schedule in Weekly Schedule tab page.• There is no multi-row selection supported in Holiday Schedule Tab page.• If a Daily Schedule is deleted, the controller rearranges the other schedule indices and hence driver reads the schedule info

completely. So there would be a delay experienced after the user clicks on delete.

APPENDIX

Cable ConnectionsA standard female-female null modem cable is required to connect the JACE serial port to the XL5000 controller B-port.

Pin DB9-1 Pin DB9-2

Receive Data 2 3 Transmit Data

Transmit Data 3 2 Receive Data

Data Terminal Ready 4 6+1 Data Set Ready + Carrier Detect

System Ground 5 5 System Ground

Data Set Ready +Carrier Detect 6+1 4 Data Terminal Ready

Request to Send 7 8 Clear to Send

Clear to Send 8 7 Request to Send

niagaraax bport (c-bus) driver - honeywell · niagaraax bport (c-bus) driver. ... false by default....

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