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Connecting to a BACnet system
17.7.4
Monitoring Objects
Objects can be monitored by retrieving the current value of any property associated with an
object. This is accomplished by sending read property commands. To send a read property to
the FACP:
1. Navigate to the menu bar and select Send. From the drop down menu navigate to Object
Access then Read Property. The Read Property dialogue box will appear.
2. Under the Read Property tab press the ID button beside the Object ID field. The Object
ID dialogue box appears.
3. In this dialogue box select the Object Type using the drop down menu and enter the
object’s BACnet ID under the Instance field. This is the ID described by the expression in
section 17.2.2.
4. Press OK and switch to the IP tab in the Read Property dialogue box.
5. Select the destination FACP using the Destination drop down menu.
6. Press Send to send the read property request. The request should be responded to by
the FACP with information about the object in the main VTS window.
17.8
BACnet Discovery Tool
The BACnet Discovery Tool (BDT) is a tool for discovering and verifying objects on a BACnet
server. The BDT can connect remotely and scan the system for all BACnet object. Object
properties can also be discovery and, in some cases, changed through the BDT. The software
is free and can be downloaded from http://www.ccontrols.com/sd/bdt.htm.
To install, unzip the downloaded package and run the BDT 2.03.00.exe program. If you are
using Windows 7 or later the program must be run as Administrator to install correctly. When
you start up the program it may warn you that the file has no valid digital signature. It is safe to
ignore this warning and proceed.
If the BACnet network uses several subnets then you will need to input the IP address of the
central BACnet/IP Broadcast Management Device (BBMD) to ensure that you see the entire
network and all objects.
Figure 85 BBMD Address
To create a database of the objects in the BACnet network, press the “Search” button.
When the search is complete the main window will display all of the discovered objects with
the following information,
•
The Device Instance Number
Attention: The BACnet Discovery Tool using a BACnet/IP Who-is command and
thus will not discovery any objects that that support only BACnet/
Ethernet identification.
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