Building view DALI precommissioning

To minimize the time required onsite, SB enables offline commissioning of DALI networks in Building view, including all floor plans, device layouts, and fixture layouts. If your system has pre-addressed DALI drivers, these can be entered directly into SB or detected during the enumeration process.

If you have a Technician license, you can create DALI channels offline without enumerating by manually entering the DALI short addresses in the controller’s Outputs editor Short Address column. To enable this option, Ensure that Tools > Settings > User Settings > Behavior > Enable manual DALI address editing is set to True.
DALI precommissioning in Building view requires SB version 2.0.6 or later and DDBC120-DALI firmware version 1v11b4 or later.

Building view precommissioning

Configure DALI controller (offline):

  1. Place the DALI controller onto the floor plan and enter the serial number as shown below.

    sb floor plan ddbc120 dali properties

    You can also enter the serial number after the device has been added. Either right-click the device icon on the floor plan and select sb icon edit Edit Properties or select the device and open the Device Properties editor, then enter the serial number as shown below:

    sb device properties serial number

  2. In the Fixture Palette, click sb icon add device to palette Add Device to Palette and select the DALI tab

  3. Double-click a DALI universal sensor or dry contact interface and place it on the floor plan. You can also enter the Serial number.

    sb floor plan dali sensor properties
    sb floor plan dali dpmi properties

    Once this is done, you can configure your DALI devices.

  4. To add offline drivers, open the DALI controller Outputs editor and set the Filter to All Channels to make all drivers visible.

  5. Enter the Short Address, Line/Universe, and Galaxy (if applicable) for each channel.
    Ensure that Tools > Settings > Behavior > Enable manual DALI address editing is set to True.

    sb area outputs editor dali short addresses

    • Driver short addresses can be copied by multi-selecting and pasting them to the Outputs editor on another DALI controller.

    • The first few output channels (up to six) are reserved on some DALI controllers to allow outputs to be configured as 1-10V, DSI, or DALI broadcast instead of DALI enumerated.

  6. Expand the Lines/Universes and Galaxies under the DALI controller. The offline drivers are visible under the DALI controller as shown below:

    sb building view ddbc320 dali drivers

  7. Ensure that the correct controller is selected in the Building tree and the correct fixture type is selected in the Fixture Palette.

    Drag a driver to the required location on the floor plan to sb icon assign channel to new fixture create a fixture icon linked to the DALI driver.

    Alternatively, you can place fixture icons onto the floor plan from the Fixture Palette and then drag a driver over the top of an existing fixture icon to sb icon assign channel to existing fixture link the fixture icon to the DALI driver.

  8. Click sb icon draw area region Draw Area Region to draw areas around the fixture icons. Once this is done, you can configure the DALI devices.

    sb floor plan ddbc120 dali draw area

Building view onsite commissioning

Localize precommissioned DALI controller (online):

  1. Connect SB to the network.

  2. Click sb icon insert device from network Insert Devices from Network (Ctrl+L) and either:

    • Press the service switch on the controller to send a sign-on message.

    or

    • Open the Search Devices tab, enter search parameters, and click Start Search to search the network.

      Any discovered DyNet device with a serial number matching the serial number of a device in the job is shown with a yellow highlight.

      sb insert devices from network search ddbc120 dali

  3. In the left column, sb icon checkbox tick select all discovered devices with matching serial numbers and click sb icon change box number Update Box Numbers. Click the Yes button to confirm, then close the Insert Devices from Network window.

    sb new device serial match

  4. Right-click the DALI controller, select sb icon enumerate dali Enumerate DALI > Enumerate All, and click the Yes button to confirm if prompted.

    sb save to device before enumeration

  5. Once enumeration is completed, check the following:

    1. The DALI Network editor shows the DALI devices with the Assigned to Device column and Serial number column populated.

      sb dali network editor ddbc120 dali

    2. The Outputs editor: shows a valid short address for the assigned drivers. The DALI Address column is populated.

      sb dali device outputs editor with errors

      DALI Address sb icon command complete Known - for valid short addresses.
      DALI Address - sb icon warning Known (Duplicate) - for duplicated short addresses.

      If duplicated short addresses are found, go to the Original Short Address column and clear the original short address.

  6. Click sb icon query driver status Query Driver Status to check that all drivers can report their status. The status should change from Unknown to Driver Online. If a driver remains as Unknown or Offline, the driver may be faulty.

  7. In Building view, the controller now shows the sb icon edit Modified status icon.
    Click sb icon save to device Save To Device (F12).