How do you program?

I keep getting told that I program the 'wrong' way, but so long as the job gets done then its not really a 'wrong' way after all.

I was wondering how everyone else here programs their new systems.

98% of my jobs I give the gear to the electricians with some basic info on how to wire the dimmers, relays and switchs correctly then ask them to keep a record of where each output goes. Plus a record of the location of each switch and pir with their serial numbers.

I follow up on site, unravel the system, program then test.

This seems to work well for me but I keep getting told that I should be pre-programming the systems with the help of a bar code scanner.
Whilst I can understand this way of programming I fell that the system does not lend itself to this way of setting it up.

For me to pre-program the system I would need to program the system in toolkit (with the help of a bar code scanner), unpackage all the equipment, wire it all up (or connect a few at a time), setup unit addresses, upload the config then package everything back in their correct boxes.
Then I need to generate my own documentation (toolkit auto documentation is lacking in the required info) to give to the electricians along with the equipment.

For a small apartment with 19 devices this took me about 5 hours to do and will still require a trip to site for any small changes.

Giving all the gear to the electricians then attending site later I would be able to knock the job off in 1 day.



Is this how everyone else programs their systems? Do you program the larger 100+ devices differently to your smaller jobs?

I'm really interested to hear how everyone else does it.

Regards
Phil

 

I use the bar code scanner. Once apon a time i used to pre-program everything (i.e. take everything out of the boxes and connect them up on the bench). But these days, all I do is create the project in toolkit and do all my programming using the bar codes from the sides of the unit packages, no need to un-pack anything.

Then you can give the sparky a wiring drawing including dimmer numbers and channels for him to terminate his cabling. All I have to do then is come to site once everything is terminated, unravel the project and transfer the database. Sure there are going to be little changes in the project but the longest time on site is Unravelling the units (a couple of times )

 

No Right or Wrong

G'day Phil
You answered your own question!!

And I agree with your method in a single house type project, program it all once at the end, although not as practical previously before toolbox arrived!. It took quite a bit of time (pre scanner) to individually program each unit prior to installation, but does make the unravelling easier. Though it only takes one unit in the wrong place to throw you out!

Pre-programming is advantageous in a larger project, as typically it is more complex & more planning is required. But you'll always have to go to the site and do a final commission.
Regards
Matthew

 

As said above, if it works ok for you then its the way to do it. I was a software engineer on Delphi, Oracle, C, php and Java for a decade before I went back to sparky work then into cbus. Experience shows that everyone works differently, and what works for one doesnt necessarily work for another.

The only consistent things are the good practice issues.

Neat structured code with good annotation will always help. If its not documented then in about 6 months when you go back to it, none of it will make sense.

This mostly applies to logic programming, but then we arent blessed with a language as good as Delphi to work with

 

I've done some very large jobs, and most of the time I find that you wouldn't be able to 1: trust the electricians to get everything in the right places all the time, 2: be able to anticipate the number of variations that are going to be asked for as soon as you set a foot on site.

I ask the sparkies to stick the stickers on the unit, next to the unit, when they install it and that is enough to get through it very fast. Probably faster than pre programming, as you do not have to scan the units in and then unravel on site. You only unravel on site and then program away.
It may only be a small step that you are missing. But when you have a large network, I can imagine that it would take quite some time to just scan them in and program (some where in the order of hours).

I actually had an instance where the sparkies stuck the wrong stickers on three key units on one floor. How they managed that with out it being deliberate I have no idea. Confused the hell out of me for a llittle while.


Anton