Control News You Can Use
ControlTrends Awards thanks Easy IO for their Platinum Sponsorship for the 2013 CTA Awards Show to be held at the BB King Blues Café in NYC, January 21, 2014. The EasyIO 30P-SF was the 2012 Building Automation Controller of the Year. Knowing Mike Marston’s passion for success and EasyIO’s commitment to excellence, the ControlTrends Community will see much more of EasyIO in this year’s competitions.
Excerpt from Mike Marston’s ControlTrends 2012 interview: [Read more...]
Wireless technology has advanced so much in the last few years and the acceptance and value of these controls is gaining immeasurably. All phases of the market have now been touched by wireless thermostats, controllers, and sensors including industrial, commercial and domestic applications.
Our friend Kelly did these great videos on how to set up a Johnson Controls FX20 Building automation control. Using the FX Tools Kelly shows just how easy it is to connect to and program a Johnson FX20 control.
Look for more “how to videos” from Kelly on controltrends. For more information on Kelly’s online training program go to his website.
Eric interviews the innovative Brian Turner from Control Co. Eric and Brian discuss everything from “open systems” and how a building owner can make sure they get a great integration job to the beautiful graphical interface that Control Co developed called prophetsuite. Check out this interview for the latest trends in building automation controls.
I think we would all be a little frustrated if we had to use a separate radio for each station we listen to. Before open protocol architecture, this scenario is similar to what end users of DDC systems had to do. It wasn’t uncommon to walk into an engineer’s office and see an array of monitors spread across the desk. Not only was this unsightly, it was expensive to maintain. As time went on, the attempt to solve this problem with custom drivers that could talk to proprietary systems failed miserably. It was messy and costly to reverse engineer, and the manufacturer would make changes that would break these bridges to freedom. In addition, once an equipment manufacturer was in the building with their product, it was next to impossible to get them out. Thus began the true motivation behind an open protocol.
By its most general definition, open protocol is the property of public domain. This means that there is no physical ownership, and it’s free for anyone who wants to develop it. To achieve success in such an open standard would require not only a free-for-all mentality, but also a robust, intuitive and flexible approach to building automation solutions.
Over the next several posts I will dive into what types of open protocols the industry has to offer. We will look at their strengths and weaknesses and talk about what the future has in store for open communications within the building automation industry.
Eric continues his conversation with Roger Rebennack. In the second part of this two part interview, Roger speaks in more detail about Honeywell’s WEBS AX security offering, what it takes for a HVAC contractor to be successful as a systems integrator, and why a building owner should look to Honeywell’s product offering for all their building automation needs.
Select the ‘+ AUDIO MP3′ button below to listen in on the interview.
Jim Hayman joined CGNA in March of 2004 as the Director of Business Development and has helped CGNA grow from 27 to 37 Members and over 50 Preferred Vendors. He came to CGNA from an advertising agency where he worked with the creative team to develop marketing strategies for new accounts with technology companies.
Jim has degrees from Cal-State Fullerton and the University of Nebraska in English. He has written for industry publications and speaks at industry events. Jim and his wife Cheryl reside in Iowa – they have three grown sons, two in college and one married son in the Army.
Select the ‘+ AUDIO MP3′ button below to listen in on the interview.
For more information about Jim, please visit the CGNA website.
To listen to an enhanced version of this interview including photos click this link: Jim Hayman interview on bliptv
Eric interviews Mike Keller. Mike is Honeywell’s Commercial Sales Director for the Americas. Eric and Mike discuss new products from Honeywell, including the new BacNet Spyder Controls. Topics included in their lively discussion are: control trends, open systems, and the future of integration.
Select the ‘+ AUDIO MP3′ button below to listen in on the interview.
About Mike Keller, Honeywell Americas Commercial Sales Director
Mike Keller is the Americas Commercial Sales Director and oversees all Honeywell commercial sales for the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Since Mike’s start at Honeywell in 1983, he has held various positions within the company, including a Systems Sales Engineer, Systems Sales Manager, Branch Sales Manager, Building Control Specialist, and both a Regional and National Sales Manager. Within this time Mike has led the pack in several large sales for Automotive Assembly plants, and has also served as the ASHRAE Chapter President and Board Member. Prior to his career at Honeywell, Mike worked as a Quality Control Engineer for United Technologies. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology from Eastern Illinois University.
I came across some really good training videos on the Johnson FX20 controllers. Once you get past the commercials these are excellent videos on the Johnson Controls FX Series of Controllers. They do an excellent job of showing how to set up and configure the Johnson FX 20 controller including integrating Lon and BacNet points.
Check these out:
Configuring the FX20 controller
Johnson FX20 Integrating Lon and BACNet
Johnson FX20 IO Point Assignment
Nothing beats the certification training, but this is a great refresher.
Stromquist is an authorized Johnson Controls Automation distributor in Georgia and Florida.
If you are a Stromquist customer or are in GA or FL, call your Stromquist rep. All others, please refer to one of our affiliates at the Controls Group North America site to find a distributor in your area.
