G R AF I K S Y S T E M S AP P L I C AT I O N S

BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS BEST PRACTICES

Outline:
1. What is the Lutron Lighting Control System
2. Sample Sequences of Operation
a. BMS monitors the lighting system only
b. BMS has full control of lighting system
c. BMS, with lighting system local overrides
d. BMS, local overrides, and after hours mode
e. How the sequence is defined?
3. Common Pitfalls
a. Autodiscovery of Lutron parameters
b. Monitoring BMS variables vs. Lutron variables
c. BMS repeating commands
4. High Level Diagnostics Overview
a. Tracing through the Sequence of Operation
b. Testing the Lutron interface with Field Server Diagnostics
c. BACnet Diagnostics via network packet capture
d. LONworks Diagnostics via LON Analyzer
5. Scope of Work - Definition of Lutron Services Company responsibilities

NOTE: This whitepaper only pertains to Lutrons GRAFIK 7000 and XP Softswitch systems.

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What Is A Lutron Lighting Control System?

At its most basic level, the Lutron lighting control system is a series of power panels controlled by
a central processing unit. This white paper applies to the GRAFIK 7000 and XP Softswitch
series of processors.

The processor contains all the programming for any scheduled events, connected wall controls, or
special after-hours functions. This allows the Lutron lighting control system to act independently
or in tandem with a Building Management System (BMS). When a BMS is present, the Lutron
processors interface to that network via a BACnet or LONworks gateway.

The images below show examples of a GRAFIK 7000 and a XP Softswitch Lighting System.

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Sample Sequences of Operation

When integrating with a Lutron system, it is important to identify all of the features that have
been specified and decide who is going to manage these features. The Lutron system works
under a last command wins mentality. This means that if the BMS tells the Lutron system to
turn the lights off, but a user in the space presses a wall station to turn the lights on, they will
remain on. The sample Sequences of Operation, below, will give you some examples of
managing the different features between a BMS and the Lutron system.

1. BMS and Lutron system are completely independent

BMS monitors Lutron lighting status
Override commands are sent via Lutron wall controls
Timeclock events are sent via Lutron processor
No special functions or afterhours mode

2. BMS has full control over the Lutron system

BMS timeclock turns lights on at 7:00 AM and off at 9:00 PM
Override commands are sent from the BMS via remote computers
No afterhours functions or Lutron wall controls

3. BMS turns lights on at 7:00 AM and off at 9:00 PM

Override commands are sent from the BMS or via Lutron wall controls

4. BMS turns lights on at 7:00 AM

Override commands are sent via Lutron wall controls
Lutron puts the system into after-hours mode at 9:00 PM
Lights will remain on for 30 minutes and then flash three times and turn off
Subsequent wall control presses will reset the 30 minute timer

As you can see, there are a number of different possibilities. It is essential that these possibilities
are documented and understood by all parties. This will alleviate confusion and it make easier for
changes to be made to the sequence of operation in the future. Please note, certain changes to
the sequence of operation will require changes to both the BMS and to the Lutron system.

Lutron does not define the Sequence of Operation. The sequence should be defined
prior to Lutron Services Company installation. Please bear in mind that the features that Lutron
makes available may differ from the features of the BMS.

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Common Pitfalls
Since the Lutron system has a central processor, it can be programmed to act independently
of the BMS. As a result, there are a number of common pitfalls that need to be avoided when
integrating with a Lutron system.

Most BMS devices can Auto Discover the integration points from the Lutron system. We
have seen some examples in which the autodiscovery process will return the wrong
information about our system. To overcome this, these are the features that we support:
1. Read
2. Read Multiple
3. Write
4. Write Multiple

We do not support Change of Value (CoV). This means that the light levels will need to be
polled. We recommend at least a one minute delay between polling cycles. The reason for
the delay is that the Lutron system communicates over a RS232 Serial protocol. This is much
slower than Ethernet and there should be at least 100 milliseconds between individual
commands.

When polling the Lutron system, there are two distinct variable arrays for the Lutron
points. The Analog Input array is the current value of the Lutron system. The Analog
Output array allows a BMS integrator to write a value to the Lutron system. If you monitor the
Analog Output values, you will see the last BMS command that was sent to the Lutron
system. This array will not be updated if a Lutron wall control or timeclock changes the state
of the lights. This is why it is critical that the BMS monitor the Analog Input array to
determine the current status of the lights.

Another common pitfall to avoid is when the BMS will repeat the last command sent to the
Lutron system every few minutes. This is not an issue when the BMS has full control over the
Lutron system. However, this is an issue when there are Lutron timeclock events or local wall
controls. The reason that this is an issue is because the Lutron system works under the last
command wins mentality.

Finally, the Lutron system only exposes the ability for a BMS to read and write to our
lighting control points. You must use the Lutron system to:

Enable / Disable Lutron wall controls

Enable / Disable Lutron timeclock events
Activate / Deactivate Lutron Afterhours mode
Change system programming

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High Level Diagnostic Overview

The first step in the diagnostic process is to review the sequence of operation. Which features
are being used? Which system has control of the lights: BMS only, Lutron, or both? Has
anything changed in the programming of the Lutron system or the BMS? Both Lutron and the
BMS integrator will need to be notified of any issues.

The second step in the diagnostic process involves testing the BMS gateway to the Lutron
lighting system. If the system was purchased with a desktop, laptop, or server from Lutron,
the diagnostic tools will be on that machine. If the system was not purchased with a computer
from Lutron, the tools can be downloaded from:
http://www.fieldserver.com/docs/downloads/Install.zip. Once the tools have been downloaded,
it is recommended that you contact Lutrons 24x7 technical support at: 1.800.523.9466.
Lutron Technical Support will be able to walk you through the process to review the data
arrays that allow monitoring and control of the Lutron system.

The third step in the troubleshooting process is to use a packet capture program. This is a
very low level diagnostic step that will show you all of the pieces of communication that go
between the BMS and the gateway to the Lutron system. When troubleshooting BACnet over
IP or BACnet over Ethernet, you can use a free network capture program like Wireshark.
This is available at www.wireshark.org. When troubleshooting a LONworks system, you will
need to download and purchase a license for LON Analyzer from Echelon. A FT-10 to USB
adapter will also need to be purchased.

The benefit to using a capture program is that it will allow you to see exactly what the BMS or
the gateway to the Lutron system is seeing. It will be very easy to determine if the BMS is
using the methods that the Lutron system supports (detailed above) and it will also allow you
to see if the gateway is properly responding to requests from the BMS. Finally, you will also
be able to see the time, down to the millisecond, in which the command was sent and
received.

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Scope of Work Lutron Services Company

For many XP Softswitch and GRAFIK 7000 lighting control systems, an onsite
startup service is included with the system purchase. As part of this service, Lutron works closely
with the Electrical Contractor to ensure our system is installed in accordance with our procedures
and is functioning properly.

As part of the system test, Lutron connects to the Lutron-supplied-portion of the BMS
interface. We send commands through the interface to verify that we can change the light levels
and get the present state of the light levels.

Once complete, Lutron will provide a list of points and point descriptions. The onsite
system integrator will use this information to complete their programming to integrate the lighting
control system into the BMS.