Relay Module Playing Up

Hi all,

I have a 12 channel relay module that is currently behaving funny. The situation is as follows:

- On power failure all channels come on after power is restored.
- If I toggle the channels locally and then hold a channel down to turn all channels off, they all turn on!

Now the only weird thing about this unit is that it was installed in another CBUS network and removed and installed in the current network. Other than that it is fine. Channels go on and off fine from input modules.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

Regards
Arthur

 

It sounds like the Relay unit is behaving correctly. Let me explain what you are seeing.

C-Bus Relay units can be programmed to power up in a variety of ways. Configurable on a per-channel basis, they can power up with a relay Off, On or Restore to the previous state. This is configurable in Toolkit. It sounds like your Relay unit is programmed to power up with all relay channels On.

A short press of a channel button will toggle the channel locally. This does not change the level of the associated C-Bus group address, it is a local toggle of the channel only. When you press-and-hold a channel button this tells the unit to cancel any local overrides and revert all channels back to the level of the C-Bus Group Address.

When you "hold a channel down" you are telling the relay unit to put all the channels back to the C-Bus level, and this level immediately after power-up is with all channels turned on.

If you have a look at the options for power-up in Toolkit for the Relay unit I'm sure you'll be able to configure it to behave just the way you want it to.

 

Ralays behaving strangely

I too am having isssues with relays.
Mine is a four channel unit, which will not turn back on after a power failure, even though the unit was originally programmed (as per default) to a N/C recovery.
This relay controls lighting within a shopping mall, so to minimise any safety risk, the unit was re-programmed to recover to the on state on power recovery.
This however, has also failed to fix the issue, the only way the units can be reset, is to manually over-ride the units to get them back into synchronisation with the rest of the installation. This requires a site visit by a technician every time, with the recent electrical storms in Melbourne, this has meant three late night site visits this past week alone.
Clipsal have sent one of their technical "experts" and he has no idea how to fix the problem.
This latest issue is just the latest in a long line of quality issues surrounding the Clipsal C-Bus product line over the past 18 months. This is currently seeing a large number of C-Bus products being removed from the shelves including C-Bus power supplies that have been manufactured using poor quality components.
The issues over the previous 18 months or so have so far cost my organisation in the vicinity of $45,000 in direct costs, and the loss of a contract valued at in excess of $2m due to the poor performance of the C-Bus range of products.
The organisation i represent spends in the order of $1m per year on Clipsal C-Bus, in addition to the millions per year on other Clipsal and Schneider products.
Come on Clipsal, get you act together!!!
To the moderators of this forum, make sure you notify your management of this post when you remove it!!!!