Digital Output Configuration

Owned by Nina Cardillo
Last updated: 07-Jan-2024
8 min read
THE DATAPOINTS WIDGET IS AVAILABLE WITH SMARTSERVER 2.5 AND HIGHER. FOR SMARTSERVER 3.3 AND PRIOR RELEASES, THIS WIDGET IS CALLED THE DATAPOINT BROWSER WIDGET.

For SmartServer 3.3 and prior, see Digital Output Configuration (Release 3.3 and Prior). 

You can specify the output mode for each of the six IOX digital outputs and configure each output to operate in one of the following modes:

  • Level – the output is either on or off. You can specify non-inverted or inverted logic. The default is non-inverted logic where a true value results in an output pull-down to ground, and a false value results in floating output that can have an external pull-up for a positive voltage output. You can specify non-inverted logic where a true value results in a floating output and a false value results in an output pull-down to ground. In practice, the level type digital output will drive an external DC relay coil where there is an external power supply, positive voltage connected to one side of the coil, and the digital output will complete the circuit to a common ground when the level is true. 
  • Pulse – the output pulses from off to on to off on request with a specified duration. This output type does not support inverting the pulse.  
  • Frequency – the output toggles at a specified frequency. This output type does not support inverting the signal.
  • PWM – the output toggles at a specified frequency with a specified duty cycle. This output type does not support inverting the signal.

This section consists of the following:

Level Mode

You can configure a digital output as a level that can be on or off with non-inverted or inverted logic. To select level mode, set the do block mode datapoint type value for the digital output to level and select non-inverted or inverted logic by setting the invert value to false or true.

You can control the digital output level by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by updating the datapoint from a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by writing to the digital output block using the CMS Datapoints widget (See Testing Devices and Managing Datapoints for more information about using the Datapoints widget.)  

To configure the digital output as a level output or to control the level output with the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoints widget. Click the Expand button (  ). 



  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital output block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n].dio – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block: do
    3. Block Index: 1 – 6 for digital output (DO) 1 through 6 



To configure the digital output as a level output, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to level.



  3. Set the mode datapoint invert value to false to select non-inverted logic with a true output specifying a low output, or set invert to true for inverted logic with a true output specifying a positive output.

  4. Click SAVE.

To set the output level using the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the output datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the output datapoint level value to true or false. The level value controls the specified digital output as follows: 

    • If the mode invert value is false, setting the level value to true will set the digital output to on and setting the level value to false will set the digital output to off.



  3. Click SAVE.

  4. You can configure the digital output as a level that can be on or off.

    You can also configure the digital output as a SNVT_switch. The digital output supports an input named switch, which provides a parallel control mechanism using SNVT_switch formatted data (commonly used by LON devices). The state field in SNVT_switch controls the level. The IOX only checks the state and the value is always 100 or 0.

    • For state 1, the level value in SNVT_switch is 100.
    • For state 0, the level value in SNVT_switch is 0.

    For example, if you have a connection from a LON device to an IOX, and the LON device has a value of state 1, value 80, then the IOX will interpret this as state 1, value 100. 

Pulse Mode

You can configure a digital output to send a pulse when it receives a pulse request. To select pulse mode, set the do block mode datapoint type value for the digital output to pulse.  

You can control the digital output pulse by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by updating the datapoint from a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by writing to the digital output block using the CMS Datapoints widget.

To configure the digital output as a pulse output or to control the pulse output with the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoints widget. Click the Expand button (  ). 


  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital output block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n].dio – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block: do
    3. Block Index: 1 – 6 for digital output (DO) 1 through 6



To configure the digital output as a pulse output, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to pulse. Invert set to false only applies to the pulse type.



  3. Click SAVE.

To set the output level using the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  • Click the Action button () for the output datapoint on the Datapoints widget and select the Edit Value action.



  • Set the output datapoint pulse value to the number of milliseconds for the pulse. For example, set the pulse value to 1000 for a 1 second pulse. The normal value for the pulse output is high; the pulse is always a transition to low for the pulse duration.  The maximum pulse value is 2592000000 ms, which translates to 30 days of action.



  • Click SAVE.

Frequency Mode

You can configure a digital output to toggle the output at a specified frequency. To select frequency mode, set the do block mode datapoint type value for the digital output to frequency.

You can control the digital output frequency by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by updating the datapoint from a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by writing to the digital output block using the CMS Datapoints widget.  

To configure the digital output as a frequency output or to control the frequency output with the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Datapoints widget. Click the Expand button (  ). 


  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital output block:
    1. Device: iox[1-n].dio – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block Name: do
    3. Block Index: 1 – 6 for digital output (DO) 1 through 6



To configure the digital output as a frequency output, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to frequency. The invert field does not apply.



  3. Click SAVE.

To set the output frequency using the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the output datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the output datapoint frequency value to the number of cycles per second (Hz). You can enter a value from 1 to 10,000 for a frequency of 1Hz to 10,000Hz. For example, set the frequency value to 1000 for a 1000Hz output.



  3. Click SAVE.

PWM Mode

You can configure a digital output to toggle the output at a specified frequency and duty cycle (PWM). To select PWM mode, set the do block mode datapoint type value for the digital output to pwm.  

You can control the PWM digital output frequency and duty cycle by creating a connection to another datapoint with a connection file, by updating the datapoint from a Sequencing widget data flow or web flow, or by writing to the digital output block using the CMS Datapoints widget. 

To configure the digital output as a PWM output or to control the PWM output with the CMS Datapoints widget, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Datapoints widget. Click the Expand button (  ). 



  2. Set the filters to find and select the IOX digital output block: 
    1. Device: iox[1-n].dio – the first installed IOX will be iox1, the second will be iox2, etc.
    2. Block Name: do
    3. Block Index: 1 – 6 for digital output (DO) 1 through 6



To configure the digital output as a PWM output, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the mode datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the mode datapoint type value to pwm. The invert field does not apply.



  3. Click SAVE.

To set the output frequency and duty cycle using the CMS Datapoints widget, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Action button () for the output datapoint on the Datapoints widget and then select the Edit Value action.



  2. Set the output datapoint pwm frequency value to the number of cycles per second (Hz) and set the output datapoint pwm duty_cycle value to the duty cycle specified as the percentage of each cycle where the output is active. The output for the active portion of the cycle will be low, and the output of the inactive portion of the cycle will be high. You can enter a value from 1 to 10,000 for a frequency of 1Hz to 10,000Hz and a value of 0 to 100 for a duty cycle of 0 to 100%. For example, set the frequency value to 1000 for a 1000Hz output, and set the duty_cycle value to 25 for a 25% duty cycle. You can enter fractional values such as 25.5 for a duty cycle of 25.5%.



  3. Click SAVE.