In July of 2018, I wrote an article about The Importance of Probe in BACnet. As a quick recap, when you probe a BACnet Controller in CBAS, the resulting probe file allows points to be imported into the database easily with minimum manual data input. Probing also automatically sets some of the BACnet services that the controller supports, like Read Property Multiple and COV (Change of Value). These are two services that can make BACnet communications more efficient.
CBAS software can be started in several different modes, one of which is GW Mode, also known as Graphical Workstation Mode.
On the DPU, also known as the Automation Server or Front End PC, CBAS software runs the database for the building in Real Mode and communicates in real-time to each of the controllers at the site. Additional PC’s on the network can run CBAS in GW Mode and connect to the DPU, allowing for several users to simultaneously work with a database.
Did you know that you can set up groups of users in CBAS that have the same rights as individual users?
To add users and groups in CBAS, go to System, then Program Passwords and you will see the user list:
It’s good practice to create a user and password for everyone who will be using CBAS. Typically, your most experienced users will have rights to view, command, and program nearly everything in the system. Meanwhile, security users might only have rights to see Activity View and acknowledge alarms, but must log in to do so. You might also have less experienced engineers who are only allowed to view data in the system without the ability to command points or make changes to programming.
I recently visited one of our customers who expressed to me the fact that he really likes the header points feature in CBAS but wished that he could have more than two points. For those of you not familiar, this software feature allows for you to display any two database points just under the menu bar. These points and their values are displayed consistently regardless of what user is logged in. Furthermore, as with all CBAS point values, the values are updated in real time.
Continue reading A New Software Feature in Less than 24 hours
Schedules in CBAS: Cycles, Logic, and Priority Summary
Did you know that Schedules on both Analog and Binary Output points can have up to 24 “cycles”?
A Cycle is any time that the Schedule commands the point. A Binary point is just 2 possibilities, meaning On\Off, Start\Stop, Normal\Alarm. With 24 cycles, that means you can turn a piece of equipment On 12 times and Off 12 times. Of course, you would have to think of a good reason to do that but you might want to cycle something a few times. To find the Schedule, click any output point then click Program, and you will see the Program Schedule button.
Are you familiar with the term “hot keys”? The term refers to using combinations of keys on the keyboard as a shortcut to a certain function or action in a program. For instance, let’s say you wanted to copy a file to another folder or attach to an email. First you highlight the file then hold the Ctrl key and press the letter C to Copy. Then you locate the place where you want to copy to, hold down the Ctrl key and press the letter V and the copied file will be pasted. These combinations of Ctrl+C (Copy) and Ctrl+V (Paste) are called hot keys.
There are a few different ways to program a Schedule on a point in CBAS. Go to any output point in CBAS, click the point and go to Program. Then click the Program Schedule button. The most apparent way is to click on a day in the first cycle column and it gives you choices. It’s pretty intuitive because it gives you the appropriate choices and when you make a selection, it goes to the Time column and so forth. Pretty simple. Continue reading George’s CBAS Tips, November 2018
Did you know that you can easily discover how points are related to each other through Logic or PID? This can come in handy when you have an Output point that has been commanded but you don’t know exactly where the command is coming from.
Find a point that you are interested in and click it. If it’s an Input point, it will go straight to the Program Screen. If it is an Output, click Program to get to the Program screen. Then click the Show Point Relations button in the top row to the right of the History button. Continue reading George’s CBAS Tips, October 2018
Did you know that it is possible in CBAS for certain points to show different background colors? This works on any Binary software point that is programmed into the DPU. Under the Program Alarm screen, you will see an option to “Change Point Color ONLY”.
Continue reading George’s CBAS Tips, September 2018
The CBAS Web product was originally introduced so that tenants could schedule their own overtime air and lights while making it easy for building management to bill them these services. This is still true and it’s really easy to set up. This feature saves money because you don’t have to pay someone to take calls and enter the tenant’s overtime requests into CBAS. Management can now also setup tenants to handle their own access control cards, but let’s talk about overtime tenant billing for now. Continue reading George’s CBAS Tips, August 2018