NETWORKING 101: BAS NETWORK CABLING

The various devices comprising a building automation network are either connected by cables or talk

Its a good idea to select a network cable thats specifically recommended by the manufacturer for use in

wirelessly to each other, or possibly a combination of both. In Networking 101, we are going to concentrate

your type of network. If network-specific cable is not available, substitutions can be made. If the resistance

on network devices connected by cables. Lets take a look at the different types of network cables typically

and capacitance per foot of the proposed substitute cable is as low as or lower than the recommended

encountered in building automation networks.

cable, the substitute cable should be acceptable.

NETWORK CABLES

Some styles of network cable are available with or without a metallic shield around the outside of the

The most common type of network cable used in building automation networks is the twisted pair cable.

wires. Shielded cable generally helps with reducing noise pickup, but the cable will cost more.

Two wires are twisted around and around each other at a uniform number of twists per inch to form the
twisted pair:

Now lets get more specific about the types of physical layers typically found in building automation networks

RS-485
RS-485 is used extensively in building automation networks. Modbus RTU, JCI Metasys N2, and BACnet
MSTP protocols all use RS-485.
RS-485 uses a single twisted-pair to send the data. It also uses a third reference wire in addition to
Why twisted pair cable? Without going into a lot of technical detail, lets just say that with the proper type

the twisted pair. There is debate among users as to whether the reference wire is always needed, and

of transmitters and receivers using twisted pair cable greatly reduces noise pickup from noise sources

some devices do not include a terminal for connecting a reference wire. But to be safe its always best to

such as motors, fluorescent lights, and radio stations. This results in more reliable communications with

include it in the cable:

less corrupted data and retransmissions.

Not all twisted pair cables are created equal. There are electrical characteristics such as resistance and
capacitance per foot that vary between different brands and models of twisted pair cable. Generally the
lower the resistance and capacitance of twisted pair cable, the better it performs in networks.

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RS-485 devices typically use screw terminals for connecting to the cable.

each with its own cable, and connecting the sub-networks together with a bridge or router device.
A bridge or router will have two or more separate RS-485 electrical ports. Each port on the bridge/router

The two wires of the twisted-pair do have a polarity assigned to them. The same wire of the pair must

connects into one of the sub-networks and data can then flow between the sub-networks:

be connected to the RS-485 + terminal of all the devices on the network. If an RS-485 device is
connected to the network with the + and - wires attached backwards, it will not talk on the network!
RS-485 cable should be run as one continuous trunk line. The RS-485 standard specifies that as many
as 32 devices can share the same trunk line, and the line can be as long as 4000 feet.
It is bad practice to tee into the middle of an RS-485 cable and run a stub line off to another RS-485
device:

A Bridge forwards all the traffic on either sub-network across to the other sub-network.
A Router has the capability to learn (or to be told through a user-generated lookup table) which devices
reside on each sub-network. Now if two devices on the same sub-network are talking, the conversation is
not passed to the other sub-network. This eases overall network traffic congestion.

Instead, the RS-485 line should be daisy-chained to each device on the line like this:

FT-10 FREE TOPOLOGY (LONWORKS)

The FT-10 Free Topology physical layer was invented by Echelon Corporation as part of their Lonworks
networking technology.
Similar to RS-485, FT-10 uses a single twisted pair to carry the data, but FT-10 does not use a third
reference wire:

If an RS-485 cable needs to be longer than 4000 feet a repeater module can be inserted in the middle
of the cable run. The repeater will refresh the electrical signals and allow for longer runs.
You can also expand an RS-485 network to more than 32 devices by creating multiple sub-networks,

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The FT-10 twisted pair has no polarity the wires can be attached to each Lonworks device without
worrying about which wire is + and which is -.
Like RS-485 devices, Lonworks FT-10 devices also typically use screw terminals to connect to the
network cable.
FT-10 is much more relaxed as to how the cables can be arranged you can pretty much wire different
FT-10 network segments together any way you want to. You can tee into an FT-10 line with a stub
headed in another direction, or you can make a star with a center point and multiple lines radiating out
from it:

ETHERNET
Ethernet was invented back in the 1970s by Xerox and is extremely popular in the Information
Technology world. BACnet IP and Modbus TCP protocols use the Ethernet physical layer.
There are several different versions of Ethernet networks, but the two we deal with in building automation
are the 10BASE-T and 100BASE-T versions. The only significant difference is the speeds. 10BASE-T
runs at 10M (10 million bits per second). 100BASE-T runs at 100M (100 million bits per second).
10BASE-T and 100BASE-T devices can be mixed on a network. If a 100BASE-T device needs to talk
to a 10BASE-T device, it simply drops its speed to the 10BASE-T rate temporarily.
Lonworks FT-10 documentation recommends that the total cable run be no longer than 1640 feet and you

The two styles of Ethernet cables youre likely to encounter in building automation are designated as

put no more than 64 devices on a network.

CAT5 (Category 5) and CAT5e (Category 5 Enhanced). Both cable styles can be used with either
10BASE-T or 100BASE-T, but CAT5e cable gives superior performance.

As was the case with RS-485, you can extend the FT-10 cable distance with an FT-10 repeater. You can
also extend beyond 64 devices by creating sub-networks and connecting them together with an FT-10

The 10/100BASE-T cable contains four twisted pairs, but only two of them are used to carry the data:

bridge or router.
Please note that even though RS-485 and FT-10 both use a single twisted pair to carry the data signals,
they are totally incompatible electrically! You cannot ever tie an RS-485 network cable directly to an
FT-10 network cable.
If you want to communicate between an RS-485 network and an FT-10 network, you must use a
Gateway device which has an RS-485 port on one side and an FT-10 port on the other side:

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The other two twisted pairs may be left unused or used for some other purpose.

Area Network (WAN). There are also Ethernet Gateways to connect Ethernet networks to RS-485 or
FT-10 networks.

Standard length off-the-shelf 10/100BASE-T cables typically come with RJ-45 plugs pre-installed on the
ends of the cable. RJ-45 plugs look like modular telephone plugs except they are wider and have positions
for 8 connections. If you need to make a custom length 10/100BASE-T cable, you can buy a bag of loose

RS-232

RJ-45 plugs and a special wire stripper/crimper tool and attach RJ-45 plugs yourself (but it is a bit tedious

RS-232 is a physical communications layer that is used for making point-to-point connections between

to do).

2 pieces of equipment.

Unlike RS-485 and FT-10, you can only connect two devices with a 10/100BASE-T cable! And the

You may find that some network devices include an RS-232 port for connecting to a computer to perform

recommended maximum cable length is only 330 feet. So how are we able to network many devices

device configuration. This RS-232 port is not for the network connection, only for configuring the device

together? The answer is in the use of Ethernet cable-sharing devices such as hubs and switches.

prior to using it on a network.

These hubs and switches have multiple RJ-45 data jacks for plugging in Ethernet cables. They are used

RS-232 ports on older equipment used 25-pin connectors like this:

to build out an Ethernet network like a tree:

Modern equipment providing RS-232 ports use 9-pin connectors like this:

An Ethernet Hub forwards everything it receives on any port out all the other ports on the hub. So if an
Ethernet network is built using all hubs, every end device on the network must listen to every conversation

The connectors come in both male and female versions, so when connecting two pieces of equipment you

on the network whether its involved or not. This creates a lot of unnecessary traffic and slows down the

must the sure that the cable has the correct gender connectors.

operation of the network.

A normal RS-232 cable will have a male connector on one end and a female connector on the other end
An Ethernet Switch learns where the different end-devices are located in the network and restricts the

with straight-through wiring (pin 1 connects to pin 1, pin 2 connects to pin 2, etc.). But sometimes a

traffic flow to only those network segments that are needed to reach the specified end device. This

custom cable must be purchased or fabricated with male-male or female-female connectors and possibly

greatly reduces unnecessary traffic on the network and speeds up response time.

with crossed wiring between the pins. The details of these special RS-232 cables are beyond Networking
101.

An Ethernet Router is used to connect multiple Local Area Networks (LANs) together to form a Wide
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