Just moved into an apartment with CBUS and C-touch Color Panel

Hi guys,

We just bought an old apartment that's using CBUS and a C-Touch Color Panel (50x0CTC3). The system is fully functional and we can control all the programmed lights and blinds using the touch panel. However, the date/time on the panel is incorrect; it's currently set to a date that's way in the past (2002). I tried changing the date but somehow clicking on the "Date/Time Set" button on the Tools page does nothing (every other button works).
I'd eventually want to be able to program scenes and schedules myself which I assume all need the right date and time to work properly.

Before I call in a professional to diagnose, I was wondering whether it's something I can figure out myself with the help of this community. I'm assuming I'd need a Windows machine as well as a way to interface with the panel to begin with?

 

Those touch screens are normally connected to the internet and get their time from an internet time server. It's possible whoever configured the software disabled the time setting button as it wasn't needed.

Given you would have set up your own network, the touchscreen will probably need to be reconfigured to connect to it. You can do this via the network setup option under installation.

Also, the previous owners may have removed the router/switch the screen was connected to. You will need to check this.

Be aware that the touch screen has 2 network ports (one on the front and another on the back) and 2 Cbus ports. While these both use RJ45 sockets they are completely different systems and mixing them up can be very expensive. Cbus should use pink cat5 cable, but sometimes installer get slack and just use what they have lying around.

 

Thanks @Ashley for the detailed response. The screen is definitely not connected to the internet at the moment. I guess the first step for me is to figure out how to connect the screen to my router? I'm going to look for the port that it connects to first.

 

Just adding to what ash has said,
The tools menu can be added as a standard setup that Clipsal created or some electricians like to make their own if they they may have programmed the button incorrectly, there is 2 options available for the time and date one is set time date...this does nothing, the other is date time form show this brings up the windows time and date editing form and from here they can be changed. I have come across many tools menu setup like this.
If your ctc3 is not keeping the correct time and date it will have a flat CMOS battery, you can change the time and date but after a power fail or reset it will go back to the CMOS manufactured date ..2002
If your system has a CNI to connect the screen to a PC via the front or rear network ports then you can edit the project using PICED, and update the time and date to match the PC when the project is updated.
JEA Can offer a return to base service to replace the CMOS battery and update the tools menu. Our contact details are below.

Regards Trevor

 

It's unlikely the previous owners would have disconnected the cable from the touchscreen. Most likely they just removed their router/switch and left the cables hanging. You just need to figure out where their central network location was. It's probably somewhere near the incoming wan connection.

 

Some systems don't have a network switch or router fitted, the tech brings one with him and plugs his laptop into it and then it into the front network connector on the screen.
Or he can plug the laptop in directly to the screen using a swap over cable

 

@Ashley @Trevor I pulled out the screen from the wall and I can see that an ethernet cable is connected to the unit. I've still yet to figure out which port it is on our phone panel though. I'm going to have to do some trail and error on every port (there's 16) before I buy a switch.

@Trevor thanks! I'll most likely get in touch with you if I can't figure this out myself

 

Just curious...
What does your phone panel do?
Could it be a switch?

 

It doesn't look like a switch to me but I could be wrong. It's not connected to the power in any way and just bunch of ethernet ports.

On a side note, I might have dug myself into a deeper hole. In an attempt to confirm whether the screen has an ethernet cable connected, the power cable got disconnected when I was pulling the screen out (an ethernet cable is connected though). I've managed to reconnect the power but now the screen's calibration is way off. I've tried pressing all areas of the screen but I still can't manage to press the Calibration button.

 

That's a version 1 or 2 usually the calibration on those is pretty good.
I have a special project for that, it has 1 big button, covers the whole screen, so doesn't matter were I press I can start the process. You don't have that luxury unfortunately. You will either need to get a Cbus tech onsite to program a big button on it, or send it to me, I can do that, replace the cmos battery and fix up the about to fail transmit CCT on the cbis line.

I can see that picture of the ports, do you have that many phones there...
It could be a Cbus patch board, or even used for multi room audio, can you see any of those RJ45 cables going from it to your Cbus equipment.

 

Yeah, it's odd but there's just that many phone ports scattered around the apartment. I've counted the wall ports and it lines up exactly with the numbers on the patch box. It's unfortunate that the wall ports aren't labled though.

 

Ok, are you sure the nw cable from the screen goes there. It would normally be plugged into a PC or laptop

 

The back network port is usually connected to the central switch/router so it's always available. You can then program it directly from the local network. The front port is generally only used for a laptop connection if the device isn't connected to your network.

That's a typical network distribution box that supports both phone and network connections. Hard to tell exactly without being there, but it looks to me like the second row is individual connections to each room. The top row looks like the incoming phone line that is connected across the whole row. You can then use patch cables to connect any room to the phone since phone lines are just all in parallel. Not really used these days and probably not connected as the phone line would have been repurposed for internet use (unless you have fibre to the premises in which case it's probably disconnected).
You can also distribute network connections to a room instead of a phone by patching the second row into a network switch.

Do you have an active internet connection working? Where is you router?

If you have a windows PC lying around you could download a copy of PICED from the Schneider website which is used to program the touch screen. Connect it to the front port (you may need a crossover cable here depending on the pc) and PICED should find it and allow you to download the project. You can then create a new temporary project with a big calibration button. Connecting the PC should also allow the touch screen to update its time.

 

Yes, the apartment building uses FTTB and I have an NBN modem connected to the phone-in line in one of the wall ports. I'm planning to connect one of the modem's LAN ports to a vacant wall port and connect a switch to that corresponding port inside the panel box. I'll then try connecting every port on the panel box to the switch and see if the colour-touch screen gets internet. Is that the right move?

The network cable that was connected to the screen just went up the wall so it's hard to know what it's actually connected to.

Also, I managed to fix the screen calibration using the classic unplug/plug method. It's back to normal now.

 

You can purchase a network cable tester for under $10 that will allow you to safely check where each line goes to. Trial and error will also work

Sounds like you're on the right track.

 

Excellent idea Ash, here's one on eBay...
Item number 406853860572
Only 7 bucks
Or a kit from Temu for $20 bucks
Plug the return side into the cable at the screen and then check each cable for activity till it goes off with a hit.