BACnet Data Point Testing

The PDDEG-S aggregates the count of offline devices and reports this via the Total Offline Devices BACnet point. It is NOT necessary to enable the individual Device Offline Status points for each device. It will monitor the individual device’s status in the background.

Example for a project with 250 devices:

The PDDEG-S will poll device status automatically on an hourly basis. Besides this, it will monitor sign-on requests and replies to track device status. If a sign-on request remains unanswered 3x, the PDDEG-S will consider the device to be offline until a sign-on reply is received. It does not track the Device Offline Metric messages.

The PDDEG-S aggregates the count of driver and lamp faults and reports this via the Total Driver and Lamp Faults BACnet point. This point will monitor the status of all drivers and lamps in the background. It is not required to enable the individual points to get an aggregated result.

The Total Driver and Lamp Faults point relies on the DALI channel replies. See Driver status and Lamp status for more detail.

This point is a logical function of the Device Offline Status points. If one or more devices are offline, this point will be True. If no device is offline, the value will be False. It is not mandatory to have Device Offline Status enabled for individual devices.

The PDDEG-S will poll device status automatically on an hourly basis. Besides this, it will monitor sign-on requests and replies to track the device status. If a sign on request remains unanswered 3x, the PDDEG-S will consider the device to be offline until a sign-on reply is received. It does not track the Device Offline Metric messages.

This point is a logical function of the Driver Status and Lamp Status points. If one or more of these points reports a fault this value will be True. If no Driver or Lamp is offline, the value will be False. It is not mandatory to have Driver status and Lamp status enabled for this BACnet point.

The Driver or Lamp Alarm point relies on the DALI channel replies. See Driver and Lamp status for more detail.

When System Manager is present it can monitor offline devices. If one or more are offline, it will set the System Manager Offline Device Alarm BACnet point to True.

In contrast to the Offline Device Alarm, this does not depend on other BACnet points or the hourly PDDEG-S polling mechanism. Instead, it relies on the PDDEG-S Metrics editor Metric > Device Online Status to be Enabled and, in the SM Configuration tool, Site Settings > System Settings > Enable roll call polling set to True.

When System Manager is configured to detect offline devices, this information needs to be forwarded to the BACnet gateway. In the SM Configuration tool, Site settings > System Settings > Polling > Send DALI driver and Lamp failure aggregated for the whole site must be set to True.

If devices go offline, it will be reported with the Report Device Offline command. Add this command to the DyNet Sender, toggle the 6th byte between 0x00 and a higher value, and check that the System Manager Offline Device Alarm updates accordingly:

When System Manager is present it can monitor driver and lamp failures. If one or more have failed, it will set the System Manager Driver or Lamp Fault Alarm BACnet point to True.

In contrast to the Driver or Lamp Fault Alarm it doesn’t depend on other BACnet points and doesn’t use the hourly PDDEG-S polling. Instead, it relies on the regular DALI Driver and Lamp Status polling. Device Properties > DALI > DALI Enable DALI status polling and ballast failure alarms must be enabled in DALI controllers and SM Configuration tool, Site settings > System Settings > Polling > Enable DALI ballast polling must be set to True.

When System Manager is configured to detect driver and lamp status, this status needs to be forwarded to the BACnet gateway. In the SM configuration tool, Site settings > System Settings > Polling > Send DALI driver and Lamp failure aggregated for the whole site must be set to True.

If drivers or lamps go offline, it is reported with the Report area status command. Add this command to the DyNet sender, toggle the 6th byte between 0x00 and a higher value, and check that the SM Driver or Lamp fault alarm updates accordingly.

In the BACnet client, enter a preset number in an area’s Preset object. Although the BACnet point type is an analogue value it only accepts integers (1,2,3,4 etc.). Observe the preset change in the lighting and in the Network Log.

Preset number range: 0 to 65534. Max number of presets supported varies per controller (e.g., DDBC120-DALI supports 64 presets). Panic preset message uses preset 65534.

In Areas view, select an area. With the DyNet Packet Sender, select Request Current Preset. Click Send. Observe the matching area’s Preset data point value in the BACnet client.

In Areas view, select an area. With the DyNet Packet Sender, add Request Actual Temperature. Click Send. Observe the matching area’s Temperature data point value change in the BACnet client.

In the BACnet client, enter a temperature in an area’s Temperature Setpoint object. Observe the temperature setpoint change in the Network Log.

In Areas view, select an area. With the DyNet Packet Sender, create a Request Setpoint Temperature command. Click Send. Observe the matching area’s Temperature Setpoint data point value change in the BACnet client.

In the BACnet client, enter a level in an area’s Channel Level object. Observe the lighting channel level change and in the Network Log.

Channel level range: 0% to 100% (use integer values only)

In Areas view, select an area. With the DyNet Packet Sender, select Request Channel Level and click Send. Observe the matching area’s Channel Level data point value change in the BACnet client.

A driver status fault can be forced by removing a luminaire from the DALI bus and waiting for the internal polling of the DALI controller to detect and report the status change. Connecting the luminaire back will clear the failure. This will result in the following DyNet messages:

This can also be simulated from the SB DyNet Sender if the drivers are known from the DALI controller Outputs editor. Copy and paste the command above into the DyNet sender and update the device code, box number and channel number accordingly.

Forcing a lamp failure must not be performed due to safety concerns, as it requires the lamp/LED board to be disconnected from a (powered) DALI driver.

If a lamp failure must be tested it can be simulated by using the DyNet sender. It would require the physical channels to be present in the DALI controller and assigned to a fixture icon on the floor plan. When the commands below are sent, the status change will be reflected in the fixture icon on the floor plan and on the Lamp status BACnet points. Make sure the device code, box number and channel numbers are updated to match your setup.

In the DyNet Packet Sender, Create a Request Channel Runtime message:

click Send. Observe the matching area’s Channel runtime point value change in the BACnet client.

In System Builder, send a sign-on request for one of the devices and check the reply. After polling, the BACnet point indicates the device online/offline status.

In the DyNet Packet Sender, select Reply PE Cell status - Filtered Raw LL and click Send. Observe the sensor’s Lux Level point value change in the BACnet client.