unit address question

Hi, noob question, can someone please confirm for me that the wiser unit can do unit address programming? I know it has a CNI, but the documentation doesn't explicitly say it can do unit programming.

Also is there a limit of how many devices that can connect to the Wiser to interact it with it at one time? It has wireless and Ethernet ports, so I assume the number is really high.

Can I have delegated roles on the wiser? like restrict what a user can turn and turn off to certain part of the house. Or is it one login to rule them all?

 

I assume you mean can it act as a CNI... yes it can but... when it is in this mode, the Wiser control is disconnected from the C-Bus network.

The physical number of ports are not relevant. The number of UI's that can connect at one time is 6 (well, tested to 6.. more may work)

Good question. At this point, only a single login is available and all items are available. There are plans to change this at some point in the future tho

 

great, can it do unit address programming in wiser mode? what are the effects on a live system of removing it out of wiser mode?

Is the wiser part of every action? or only for programming? For example, when a button is pushed, the amount of light to ramp up a light is dependent on a light sensor. Does the button send signal to wiser, which the checks light sensor, then sends signal to dimmer to ramp up the load?

 

Hi Paul

I think you are a little confused. Any 'programming' of a C-Bus unit is performed using the Toolkit software. Wiser (and it's CNI) are a vehicle only to enable the software to program the unit.

Is the Wiser part of every action? I read this as when you press a button on C-Bus, does Wiser receive this and send out a command to a dimmer. The answer is no. If you press a button, the load (dimmer) reacts from that command. Wiser can respond to the button press by changing it's icon state. Likewise, clicking on the icon in Wiser will cause the load to change state. The switch will update status as well.

 

My question: While in wiser mode, can the wiser "initialize" cbus devices, ie can it change the unit address for the cbus device.

I thought the Wiser/PAC allowed you to integrate logic into the programming. So if button is pushed while ambient light is low, then ramp up dimmer to max. If button is pushed when ambient light is high, then ramp up dimmer by 30%. Something like that.

 

No

It can do this using logic

 

So how does the processing of this logic work, it must be processed on the wiser side, correct? So when i press a button, it alerts the wiser that an action has occurred, Wiser will execute the logic that has been programmed for that button, it will check the ambient light sensor, and tell the dimmer the correct setting to ramp up the load? Is this thinking correct? Or does it work some other way...

 

You use the PICED Software for writing logic.
The Wiser has a logic engine that can run any code.
But all is written from within PICED, which is where you write your Wiser GUI as well.

 

Yes.

Yes

There is no logic associated with a button as such. If the button controls a group address, the logic can respond to that change and do what you require. Have a read of the logic user guide which is available when you install PICED:

C:\Clipsal\PICED\Manuals\Logic.pdf

 

Thanks Darren, reading the manual... it makes sense, event triggered programming in pascal.

Will the cbus sytem stop working if the Wiser was to suddenly die / taken off air or anything like that? Buttons will no longer turn lights on / off etc.

 

Perfect, thanks Ashleigh... that was the information I was after... That seems a bit scary, placing the wiser as single point of failure. Do people usualy build redundancy into their cbus system when they incorporate a wiser?

Or is better to do a direct link between button and light, then have the wiser then adjust the light level after the light has been turned on? that way if the wiser dies everything should still work without all the facy bells and whistles?

 

Not usually. Building in redundancy is not a trivial thing to do.

It depends a lot on exactly what you are trying to achieve. If you can get a good enough solution without needing logic to intervene, then that would generally be a preferred solution.