Installation & Operating Instructions
Building Automation Products, Inc., 750 North Royal Avenue, Gays Mills, WI 54631 USA
Tel:+1-608-735-4800 • Fax+1-608-735-4804 • E-mail:[email protected] • Web:www.bapihvac.com
Specifications subject to change without notice.
rev. 02/09/21
39021_RCV_900_BACnet_2020
4 of 12
900MHz WAM Connect
Overview
Customer Provided Equipment and Materials
The user must provide an active local network for this gateway. The user’s Windows
7 or higher computer must have the WAM Link connected via a USB port and WAM
Design installed on their PC.
At locations where there is a secure network and foreign equipment is not allowed,
it may be necessary to provide a separate router and network switch. This decision
depends on the number of connections needed, which will allow the installer to set
up an isolated network for the gateway network connections.
Placement Recommendations and Building Material Attenuation Losses
• 275 feet line of sight (LOS) is the maximum range that can be
expected. Actual range will vary based on the environment.
• All materials that block the path of transmission between a sensor
and gateway contribute to signal loss. See chart to the right for
some common materials and expected signal loss.
• The gateway should be mounted as far away from metal
obstacles as possible to avoid RF reflections or blockages.
• Mounting to drywall between studs, ceiling tiles, brick, glass or
concrete is very common. Mounting to ceiling T-Bar is common
but will affect distance due to the metal in the T-Bar and the
horizontal orientation.
BAPI recommends conducting a bench test before permanently
mounting the gateway to assure strong communication between the
gateway and sensors. Once bench testing is complete, temporarily
place the gateway and sensors in their desired locations.
Material
Attenuation Loss
Brick 3.5" (89 mm)
3.5 dB
Brick 7" (178 mm)
5 dB
Brick 10.5" (276 mm)
7 dB
Concrete 4" (102 mm)
12 dB
Concrete 8" (204 mm)
23 dB
Concrete 12" (305 mm)
35 dB
Glass 0.25" (6.5 mm)
0.8 dB
Glass 0.5" (12.7 mm)
2 dB
Lumber 3" (76 mm)
2.8 dB
Masonry Block 8" (204 mm)
12 dB
Masonry Block 16" (406 mm)
17 dB
Masonry Block 24" (610 mm)
28 dB
Open Air 33' (10 m)
72.5 dB
Open Air 329' (100 m)
92.5 dB
Open Air 3290' (1000 m)
112.5 dB
Reinforced Concrete 3.5" (89 mm)
27 dB
900 MHz Wireless System
Fig. 1:
900MHz
BACnet
Gateway
Fig. 2:
USB
Configuration Tool
Dongle
Multiple communication options including BACnet IP and MQTT.
Each gateway supports up to 50 sensors that can be configured remotely via the gateway.
The system uses “smart logic” to find and secure a clean frequency channel rather than “frequency hopping”.
Easily configure wireless sensors to be presented to BACnet network via a flat mode for single gateway device with
sensors as associated objects.
The BAPI wireless gateway is a device that allows for the receiving of up to 50 BAPI
900MHz wireless sensing devices and outputs that received information in one of two
formats: BACnet IP for your typical Building Automation system and MQTT for BAPI WAM
(Wireless Asset Monitoring).
The BAPI gateway can be powered from the supplied plug-in power supply or Power
over Ethernet (PoE) if your network supports that feature. The wireless network setup
application (WAM Design) lets you assign your wireless devices to the appropriate gateway
while also allowing you to note sensor names, location, settings, etc.
You will need to have a BAPI Wireless USB Dongle (WAM Link) to commission the system.
This dongle acts as a default radio module which you will need to discover the wireless
sensors that are in the factory default mode. With this tool and the application on your
computer you will be able to “hand off” the sensors to the appropriate gateway.