How to get C-Bus and PowerLink G3 to Play Together

Maybe someone can help me.

I've drawn the task of configuring a PowerLink NF3000G3C and a C-Bus network in our office and I'm having trouble getting the two systems to communicate reliably. The C-Bus consists of a few keypads, a power supply, and an interface.

I've been able to use C-Bus Toolkit to configure labels on the keypads and assign groups, and I've been able to temporarily get the PowerLink to respond to button pushes on the keypads. However, the assignments only persist for a few minutes. After about 5 minutes or so, the PowerLink stops responding to messages from C-Bus. The only way I've been able to restore the connection is to reload the C-Bus network from the C-Bus Toolkit. Then it works with PowerLink for another few minutes. Other than C-Bus, we have some wired occupancy sensors and schedules to control lights with the PowerLink.

I tried connecting to the C-Bus network using the Diagnostic Utility and was able to observe messages on the C-Bus network--A thing of beauty. However, the PowerLink Controller ignores them. I was also able to send messages to C-Bus and turn on the keypad buttons from the Diagnostic Utility, but the PowerLink Controller can't do the same. The C-Bus network seems solid, but the link to the Powerlink is not.

I had to connect the C-Bus interface to the PowerLink G3 with a cable I fabricated myself. The installers had omitted this part. I've been concerned that I may have messed up the connection somehow, but the fact that I can get it to work at all gives me some encouragement that I might have gotten part of it right. I can't see any way to test the RS-232 connection to the PowerLink but I suspect it may be the problem. So far I haven't seen any sign of an outgoing message to C-Bus.

Does anyone have any suggestions? What am I overlooking?

 

The interface device has an RS-232 port. Well, two of them in this case, on front there's DB-9 that I can connect a PC to. But there's an port on the top of the device labeled RS-232 that accepts an RJ-45 connector. Pull out the rubber plug and plug in a RJ-45 connector. The manual describes which three pins on the RJ-45 carry RS-232, RX, TX, and Ground--the other lines are unused.

To connect the interface device to the PowerLink, I crimped an RJ-45 on a short length of Cat-5 and identified the wires that I needed. I'm assuming that I've missed something somehow. Either a line isn't connected or intermittent. I measured with an Ohm meter before installing to check the crimp (a network tester won't work here) and to verify that I had the right wires, and I measured non-zero voltages on the terminals afterwards, verifying that the wires were connected to something. Otherwise, I'm not sure how to test.

 

OK, I discarded the old cable I made and made a new one. It seems to work a little better. I can push the C-Bus button on the keypad and turn on a light, and it seems to be stable. I've verified with a meter that the wire connection is complete both ways.

However, there doesn't seem to be any way to have the PowerLink G3 turn the C-bus button on or off. Is that possible? I was hoping that I could sync the C-Bus group with a PowerLink input and that it would turn the button off or on to match the state of the light. The sync from the other source turns the light off, but not the C-Bus button. Does the PowerLink not do this? Can it receive only from C-Bus, RX signal notwithstanding?

This is an improvement though.

 

Powerlink Device Router

In the USA you will need to purchase a Powerlink Device Router. I have only done this a couple of times. See 2 attachments. Maybe this will help?

 

There is a configuration setting in the menu "Controller...Communications...Serial" where you can select C-Bus mode. It's set by default. I don't know if there may be other configuration settings that I've missed.

 

There's an SLC5500PC interface installed. I'm connecting that device's internal RS-232 port to the PowerLink. And I can also connect my PC to the RS-232 interface on the front of the device so I can see what the C-Bus network is doing.

 

Hello R Henry.
Here in Australia we have the 5500PC interface which I imagine is the same thing. Even though there is a 232 port on the front and two on the top, you can only make one connection at a time. Sounds like you need two interfaces, one to connect to your Powerlink devices and the other to monitor.
Hope this helps,

Mark

 

That's helpful to know. Thanks. The front interface is only used temporarily, so I don't think I need to add another interface. But this might explain why I don't see any activity from the PowerLink while the PC is connected. I had hoped that I could use the PC to observe message traffic coming from the PowerLink as well as messages coming from C-Bus. I guess I might need a second interface connected temporarily to see what's going on.

 

Problem solved--more or less

Apparently the RS-232 link between C-Bus and the PowerLink G3 is working. I tried setting up an input for the C-Bus group with an "On Timer" and when the timer timed out, the C-Bus Keypad button LED turned off along with the light that it controls. That shows that messages are going both ways between PowerLink and C-Bus.

The issue is that I was trying to sync the input to another and was expecting that the sync event would switch C-Bus Keypad buttons on or off. Apparently it doesn't work that way. The sync event does turn the PowerLink input on or off, along with the light it controls, but it doesn't echo that back to C-Bus to turn off the button LED. Only the timer event within a given PowerLink input gets echoed to C-Bus.

So I guess I have my answer. Thanks for the help.

 

I too have your setup and in the wiring phase of our 50+ module system for my townhome back in 2009.
Been working great witn no issues.
Here?s is what I remembered.

What I did is have a DLT to enable a dedicated breaker for the garbage disposal with great success but a lot of planning it works. Let me explain.
You need to highly put some thought into the group addresses to work with the Powerlink to keep consistent and in order so it is less confusing.
The way I did is break my groups down in blocks. Since the Powerlink can use 1~16 as hard wired physical inputs then input 17~64 as virtual inputs I made my first 64 clipsal tool-kit group numbers dedicated for the NF3000G3C
Then the group 68 and above for all the Clipsal groups. Having said I re-wrote all my groups in Excel leaving spaces / incrementing for future add-ins
I broke down mine in areas after 6 for future expansion, and was something like this:
0
1 Garage Lights #1 (Garage Door Side)
2 Garage Lights #2 (Entrance Door Side)
3 Garage Lights #3 (Workshop Area)
4 Garage Ceiling Fan
5 Garage Closet Light
6 Future / Spare
7 Future / Spare
8 Future / Spare
9 Garbage Disposal Outlet (LV Switch under cabinet)
10 Fire Sprinkler Flow Switch
11 2F floor stair lights
12 Future / Spare
13 Future / Spare
14 Future / Spare
15 Future / Spare
16 Future / Spare
17 All Breaker off (Night Mode)
18 All Breaker Off (Vacation)
19 1st Floor Outside Outlets
20 Garbage Disposal Outlet (Clipsal input)
21 Dishwasher Outlet

65 RS232 module

100 1st Floor Under Eve Balcony Lights #1
101 1st Floor Under Eve Balcony Lights #2
102 1st Floor Stair Entrance Lights
103 1st Floor Outside motion PIR
104
105 1st / 2nd Stair Scones Lights
106 1st / 2nd Stair LV LED Lights
107 1st / 2nd Stair Blind Motor Up
108 1st / 2nd Stair Blind Motor Down
109
110
111 1st Floor Hallway Lights
112 1st Floor Hallway Motion PIR
113
114 1st Floor Guest Bedroom Main Lights
115 1st Floor Guest Bedroom Accent Lights
116 1st Floor Guest Bedroom Ceiling Fan
117
118
119
120 1st Floor Guest Bathroom Main Light
121 1st Floor Guest Bathroom Vanity Lights
122 1st Floor Guest Bathroom Shower Lights
123 1st Floor Guest Bathroom Exhaust Fan
124 1st Floor Guest Bathroom Motion PIR
125
126 1st Floor Closet Lights
127 1st Floor Closet Motion PIR
128
129
130 Kitchen Main Lights
131 Kitchen Counter Lights (Sink)
132 Kitchen Counter Lights(Range)
133 Kitchen Bar Down LTS
134 Kitchen Under Cabinet LV LED Lights


254 Future / Spare


Now since the DLT is a virtual input to the NF for the Garbage Disposal I used group 20 and kept 20 the same across the board in the NF when programming thru the other Square D software PCS-101 to make easy.


Here is how I did successfully:
In the toolkit create a new group by the dropdown of Your-Project > Network> Lighting>
Select Add Group

http://www.cbusforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5543

Within the Powerlink I programed thru the PCS software and programed my hardwired inputs (physical on/off switch) to the wired inputs on the Powerlink.
The Cbus keypads was a virtual input and needs to be programed on the Powerlink from 17~64
Planning for the inputs are important.

Good luck

 

Hi R Henry,

I do work for Schneider in the US. Apparently it's been a while since I've logged onto the forums here so I'm just seeing your post now.

Comms between PL and C-Bus are bi-directional as you've seen. I'm not sure what your exact setup is, but in response to your description here, I just set up a test scenario here in the office and all seems to be working fine.

I created 2 inputs on Powerlink - Input 1 is a hard wired switch and tied to a PL zone. Input 17 is tied to C-Bus Group 200. I then sync Input 17 on All Events to Input 1.

This all works as expected - when I toggle the state of Input 1, the C-Bus group responds both on a relay channel and on a DLT keypad as well as the toggling the Powerlink input as well as expected.

I'm wondering if it's just something as simple as an indicator on C-Bus being set to Always ON or something like that.

If you'd like to send your program files from LCS and Toolkit let me know and I'll give you an email address you can use.

Thanks,
John

 

It seems to have started working correctly--by itself

I don't know why, but a couple of weeks ago the system started working correctly. I can't account for the change. My hypothesis is that a power outage may have reset the system. One of the input syncs had been incorrectly configured (It didn't matter since the system wasn't working.) and after the system started working properly, it started syncing to the C-Bus buttons. It hadn't been doing that before. After reconfiguring the system, I was able to set it up to work the way I wanted it to.

So it works now.

Thanks for the help.