This section consists of the following:

BACnet Channel Overview 

You can use the SmartServer to integrate devices that support the BACnet protocol. The SmartServer can be a client that interacts with BACnet devices, or a server that maps datapoints on LON and Modbus devices for representation as BACnet objects. You can also use the SmartServer as a BACnet router to enable external BACnet clients on an IP LAN or WAN to monitor and control BACnet FT devices.

You can interface with BACnet MSTP devices using an external BACnet IP to BACnet MSTP router. The Starter Kit uses a Contemporary Controls BASRT-B, MSTP BACnet Router. This setup requires power for the Ethernet switch (5 VDC universal power supply provided with the Starter Kit) as well as an Ethernet connection for your computer configured with a fixed address on the 192.168.92.x subnet.

For a description of the SmartServer WAN/LAN network port settings required to support the Starter Kit and access through the BASRT-B router, see Configuring the Network.

Refer to the figure below for an overview of the network connections required to support access to the BASRT-B router on the 192.168.92.x subnet and to complete the necessary steps to setup the BACnet channel as described in this section.

Network connections

Get started setting up the BACnet channel following the steps in the section below: Getting Started with BACnet Channel Setup. 

Getting Started with BACnet Channel Setup

Preparing the Viconics Thermostat

The Viconics Thermostat, located on the lower right corner of the Starter Kit, is a BACnet MSTP device that is connected to the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B router. The following setup is necessary to add this device to the BACnet MSTP network segment:

• The BACnet device address must be set
• The binary input 1 must be configured with remote NSB timer clock input

Complete information on how to configure this device can be found in the SmartServer GitHub Repository Starter Kit archive → BACnet Channel → Viconics folder → VT7200 Series User Interface Guide (PDF). The quick-start steps are as follows:

1. Remove the front bezel of the Viconics Thermostat by grasping the lower sides and simultaneously pulling out and up. The figure below identifies buttons that will be used in the steps that follow.
   
   
   
   
2. Observe the BACnet communication Status LED located on the far left, middle portion of the thermostat. If you observe a pattern of two short, one long flashing lights, then the module has likely been configured with a BACnet device address. If you only see two short flashes, then the BACnet device address needs to be configured as described in this procedure.
   
   

3. Press and hold the Program menu select button for 8 seconds.

   The steps that follow must be done without pause because the programming mode times out if no button action is detected for 10 seconds.

   The password set (PswrdSet) menu appears on the LCD display.
   
   

   
   
   
4. Do not change this setting. The 0 value indicates that a password is not used. If you set a password, you will need to use the password from that point forward.  If the password is forgotten, you will be locked out from making changes. Therefore, this step leaves the setting at 0 so you can operate the thermostat without a password.
   
   
5. Press the Program menu select button one time.
   
   The Com Addr menu appears on the LCD display. 
   
   
6. Press the Value up / down button until it reads a low value (8 in this example).
   
   Verify that you set unique device addresses for all BACnet devices on a segment.  
   
   
   
   
7. Press the Program menu select button one more time.
   
   
8. Press the Value up button on the right until you observe BI1 Rem NSB on the LCD display (which indicates Binary input no. 1, remote NSB timer clock input):
   
   
   
   
9. Wait 10 seconds without pressing any buttons to allow your thermostat to return to operating mode.

At this point, the Status LED will begin a pattern of two short, one long flashing lights indicating that the module is connected to the BACnet MSTP segment of the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B router. If you do not see this LED pattern, then verify the network connections and the BASRT-B, and the thermostat (Yellow - (plus), Blue - (minus), Black (C)), and the power to the BASRT-B device.

Continue setting up the BACnet channel following the steps in the section below: Verifying the BACnet MSTP Communication Path. 

Verifying the BACnet MSTP Communication Path

Your computer must be connected with the Ethernet port configured to a 192.168.92.x address. 

• Refer to Configuring the Network for a description of the SmartServer WAN/LAN network port settings needed to support the Starter Kit and access through the BASRT-B router
• Refer to the figure above for an overview of the network connections required to support access to the BASRT-B router on the 192.168.92.x subnet

To configure the Ethernet port on your computer, follow these steps:

1. In the Windows search box, type control panel and expand it in order to select Network and Sharing Center applet.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Change adapter settings in the upper left portion of the window.
   
   
   
   
3. Right-click your Ethernet adapter from the list of interfaces, and select Properties.
   
   
   
   
4. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.
   
   
   
   

5. Define a static address for your adapter as shown in the figure below.
   

   Note: Do not use the IP address 192.168.92.68 because this address is occupied by the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B router.

   
   
   

6. Click OK.
   
   
7. Close the nested dialogs associated with the Network and Sharing Center applet.
   
   
8. Open a Windows command prompt by typing cmd in the Windows search field.
   
   
9. Enter the following command to verify that you can reach the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B router:
   ping 192.168.92.68
   
   A successful ping reply indicates that your computer and the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B router can communicate on the 192.168.92.x subnet.

Continue following the steps in the section below: Configuring the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B Router from a Browser. 

Configuring the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B Router

To configure the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B Router, perform the following steps:

1. Open a browser session and type 192.168.92.68 in the browser address field. 
   
   A Sign In window appears.
   
   
   
   
2. Enter the username and password (admin / admin).  New versions of the BASRT-B Router will force you to change the password to secure this device before you can continue. 
   
   
3. Click Sign in.
   
   The Contemporary Controls BASRT-B Configuration page appears.
   
   
4. Confirm or set the configurations as shown in the figure below, making any necessary changes. 
   
   
   
   
5. Click Save Changes to store any changes you have made.
   
   
6. Click Status.
   
   The Contemporary Controls BASRT-B Status page appears.
   
   On the Status page, you should see a green square to mark the device address you configured for the Viconics thermostat as shown in the figure below.
   
   
   

   At this point, the infrastructure to the BACnet MSTP device is working and ready for use with the SmartServer.

Continue setting up the BACnet channel following the steps in the next section. 

Configuring the BACnet Channel

You have setup the network configuration shown in this diagram. The wired connection from the computer to the 192.168.92.x subnet is no longer needed since you have established the thermostat is communicating on the MSTP segment using the BASRT-B Web configuration interface.

The network addressing details are shown in the table below. The IP address listed for the computer is an example DHCP-assigned address — yours may be different. Review the information in the table below and confirm that your LAN network is not using the 192.168.92.x subnet. Doing so will cause problems with the static IP address configuration used for the LAN/eth0 connection.

To work with the BACnet client and server services of the SmartServer IoT, you need to enable the feature in the BACnet Configuration page. Doing so configures the BACnet communication ports and network IDs to allow BACnet communication. The steps to enable this feature are described below. With the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B configuration, it is important to note the network number (112) and the IP UDP port 1 (BAC0). 

The steps that follow set up the BACnet channel on your SmartServer IoT and show how the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B configuration is related to the SmartServer IoT BACnet configuration. To monitor and control devices on the MSTP-side of the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B router, your SmartServer must be on the same IP subnet  (192.168.92.x), which is how the SmartServer LAN (eth0) port is setup. This interface uses UDP port BAC0 and network 112. 

1. Open the SmartServer Configuration page as described in Accessing the SmartServer IoT Configuration Page (log in as user apollo with the password that appears on the SmartServer IoT). The Network tab appears as the default SmartServer Configuration page. Once the network settings are configured for the SmartServer system, then the System tab will appear as the default.
   
   
   SmartServer IoT Network tab
   
   
   SmartServer IoT System tab
   
   
2. Click the BACnet tab.
   
   
   SmartServer IoT BACnet tab
   
   

3. Configure your BACnet settings to match those shown in the figure below as they relate to the Contemporary Controls BASRT-B Configuration settings. Make sure to enable the BACnet options.
   

   
   SmartServer IoT BACnet tab
   
   

4. In some cases, you may need to isolate the interfaces to limit discovery by other BACnet client devices using the Isolate option
   
   
   SmartServer IoT BACnet tab
   
   

5. Click Update.

Continue setting up the BACnet channel following the steps in the section below: Creating a BACnet Device. 

Creating a BACnet Device

The Viconics Thermostat communicates using BACnet MSTP and depends on the  Contemporary Controls BASRT-B device being connected and configured as described in the previous sections. 

Before creating BACnet devices in the SmartServer IoT CMS, confirm the following:

• The 5-port Ethernet switch on the back of the Starter Kit panel is powered-up.
• The SmartServer LAN (eth0) port is connected to the Ethernet switch. (Verify the link LED is active.)
• The LAN (eth0) port of the SmartServer IoT is configured with a static IP address: 192.168.92.3. (The SmartServer IoT requires a reboot after modifying the IP address.)
• The Contemporary Controls BASRT-B device is connected to the switch. (Verify the link LED is active.)
• With the Viconics thermostat cover removed, the Status LED is flashing two short, one long pattern indicating MSTP connectivity.
• Your SmartServer BACnet Router and Server is configured as shown in the BACnet Configuration page.

Perform the following steps to add the Viconics thermostat to your SmartServer IoT: 

1. Open the SmartServer CMS by clicking the CMS tab on the Configuration UI, or by entering the URL https://[SmartServer IP address]/cms/#/login. 
   
   

2. Click the the Import / Export button () on the main CMS dashboard. With SmartServer 3.6 and prior, you can also use the Import Device Types button () on the Device Types widget to load the DTP file.

   
   Import / Export button () on the main CMS dashboard
   
   

   The Import / Export dialog appears.
   
   
   
   

3. Select the Viconics7200-V20.dtp from the SmartServer GitHub Repository Starter Kit archive → BACnet Channel folder and place it in the Drop files to import area.
   
   
   
   
4. Click IMPORT.
   
   Notification messages (similar to the one shown below) will appear indicating that device types are being uploaded and the CPU usage on the main CMS page will show increased activity. 
   
   
   
   
5. When the device types file has finished loading, click CANCEL to close the Import / Export dialog.
   
   
6. Go to the Devices widget, EDGE DEVICES tab, which will be used to add a BACnet device to the system. 
   
   
7. Click the Create button () to add the BACnet device, setting the following fields as shown in the figure below:
   
   
   • Name: Tstat-01
   • UID: 72008 (see BACnet UID note below)
   • Integration method: Manual assignment
   • Driver: BACnet
   • Device type: VT7200-1H1C-3
     
     

     
     
     

     BACnet UID

     The UID is determined as described in the Preparing the Viconics Thermostat section.  The thermostat was configured with the com address of 8.  See the following documentation from the SmartServer GitHub Repository Starter Kit archive → BACnet Channel → Viconics folder → Viconics VT7200 Tstat BACnet (PDF) shown below:
     
8. Click SAVE. The BACnet device is added to the Devices widget.
   
   
   
   
9. Click the Action button () for Tstat-01 device and select the Provision action.
   
   
   

   Within a few seconds, the Tstat-01 device fill changes from blue to green indicating that the device has been successfully provisioned. 
   

   With SmartServer 2.8, the Devices widget Test feature is not supported for BACnet devices.

   

Continue following the steps in the section below to verify and interact with the Tstat-01 device: Interacting with the BACnet Device. 

Interacting with the BACnet Device

Use the SmartServer IoT Datapoints widget to verify and interact with the Tstat-01 device as described in the following steps:

1. On the Devices widget, EDGE DEVICES tab, click the Action button () for Tstat-01 device and select the View datapoints action.
   
   
   
   The Datapoints widget appears. Click the Expand button (  ) for a better view of this widget. 

   
   
   
   

2. The bottom switch, to the left of the Viconics thermostat, is connected to the BI:29 input.
   
   
   
   In the OFF position, the thermostat reports an Occupied state on the LCD display and the Datapoints widget reports the value as false or 0 (as shown above when the Datapoints widget appears).
   
   In the ON position, the thermostat reports an Unoccupied state on the LCD display, and the Datapoints widget will report the value as true or 1 (as shown below). 
   
   

To learn about exposing additional datapoints, review the section below: Defining Additional Datapoints. 

Defining Additional Datapoints

The VT7200f5031B-3.bac file used with the Starter Kit setup defines the driver-level interface that only exposes two datapoints. This BACnet XIF file is contained in the Viconics7200-V20.dtp archive that was imported in the process of Creating a BACnet Device.

You can use the provided Viconics integrators documentation to add more datapoints. This documentation can be found in the SmartServer GitHub Repository Starter Kit archive → BACnet Channel → Viconics folder → VT7200 Series User Interface Guide (PDF). 

Before taking these next steps, verify the following:

• If you have a defined device that references a type based on the existing BACnet XIF file, which calls out the Program_ID of 9B008C011E00FC04, should change the PID and rename the BACnet XIF file when you add, remove, or change datapoints.
  
  
• To retain the Program_ID, first remove devices that use the device type referencing the Program_ID, and next, remove the device type that use the BACnet XIF file.
  
  
• BACnet datapoint monitoring requires you to enable monitoring in the Datapoint Properties widget. If you add datapoints to the BACnet XIF file, define monitoring definitions in the Viconics7200-v20-dla.csv file. This DLA file is contained in the Viconics7200-V20.dtp archive that was imported in the process of Creating a BACnet Device.