The following notes apply when using the Nrio Point Manager:
Like many NiagaraAX drivers, the Nrio Point Manager view provides a button to create point folders under the Points extension of the NrioModule device, where each point folder provides access to its “own” Point Manger view. Figure 16 shows such an Nrio Point Manager view.
However, a few changes are unique to Nrio Point Manager views, summarized below.
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Discover (top) pane always shows availability of all points
Regardless of the current hierarchy level of the Nrio Point Manager view, whenever in Learn mode, the top Discover pane always reflects the availability of all I/O hardware points. In other words, if you are in the manager view of a points folder “RTU2”, and some points on the controller are already mapped to proxy points under other point folders, they will show as unavailable (dimmed). This prevents creation of multiple proxy points for the same I/O terminal, which is invalid. Of course, you could manually “duplicate” an existing Nrio proxy point, but the duplicate point would have a “fault” status, along with an explanatory “Fault Cause” explanation.
Note that this discover pane behavior is different than in most other drivers, where availability in the Discover pane applies to the current hierarchy level only (discovered items show available even if already proxied under another points folder “branch” of the Points container).
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Always “All Descendants”
In any Nrio Point Manager view, the Database pane always lists all Nrio proxy points in that hierarchy level and lower, if applicable. In other words, all Nrio Point Manager views keep the “All Descendants” mode engaged (you cannot toggle it off).
So, when looking at the top-level “Points” point manager view, all Nrio proxy points and Nrio point folders will be listed. If looking at the point manager view for Nrio points folder “RTU2”, any Nrio point folder children it has (say, “Inputs2” and “Outputs2”) will be visible, along with all Nrio proxy points in all those Nrio point folders.
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Add discovered points to any selected point folder
Any Nrio point folder shown in the Database pane of the Nrio Point Manager can be a target for adding discovered I/O points directly to it—without going to its “own” Point Manager view. In other words, click the target Nrio point folder to select/highlight it, then the discovered point(s) to create the proxy point(s) in that selected folder. Note that this behavior is also different than in most other drivers, where after adding, often you need to move points to different point folders.
When adding Nrio proxy points for discovered I/O points, the following items are available in the Add dialog (Figure 17), and afterwards, in the Edit dialog.
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Name
Name of the Nrio proxy point (equivalent to right-click Rename, can be edited anytime). The default name appears as “
AbbrevIoTypeTerminalNumber”, for example, “ui4”, “ao2”, and so on.Typically, you edit name from the default name to reflect the actual purpose of the I/O point, such as “Room101T,” “AHU1_FanStatus,” and so forth.
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Type
The type of Nrio proxy point to create (not editable after adding, see Universal Input selection notes.)
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Instance
Corresponds to the I/O terminal address within that I/O type. Recommended to be left at default.
If an edit attempt is made to an instance already in use by another proxy point, the edit is discarded, and the previous instance
value is retained.
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Conversion
The conversion type used between units in the proxy extension’s “Device Facets” and the units in the parent point’s Facets. See Conversion type for more details.
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Facets
Facets for the Nrio proxy point. Equivalent to accessing facets through the point’s property sheet (and can be edited anytime). For more details, see “About point facets” in the Drivers Guide.
All Nrio-capable JACE controllers and external I/O modules provide some number of “universal input” (UI) terminals. For example, the onboard I/O of an M2M JACE has eight UIs (terminals UI1—UI8). Unlike some other I/O devices where you must “hardware configure” each UI-type input using a jumper or switch, you do UI terminal configuration in software, from the Nrio Point Manager.
Do this at add time by selecting the needed input type in the Add dialog, as shown in Figure 18.
For most I/O platforms, any of the following are valid universal input choices:
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NumericPoint that reads a 0-to-10Vdc input signal and produces either a voltage value or linear scaled output value.
Select this also for use with a 4-to-20mA sensor, with a 500 ohm shunt resistor wired across the corresponding UI input terminals.
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NumericPoint that reads a resistive signal within a 0-to-100K ohm range and produces either a ohms value or linear scaled output value.
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NumericPoint that reads a Thermistor temperature sensor (Type 3, or other) signal and produces a scaled output value.
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NumericPoint that counts the number of contact closures at the input, and also calculates a rate value. One of these two values is configurable as the status numeric output value. Rate type is configurable as either fixed window, sliding window, or trigger type.
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BooleanPoint that reads the current input as one of two boolean states (equipment status).
Any selection but BooleanInputPoint results in a standard NumericPoint, but with a different type Nrio input proxy extension. The BooleanInputPoint results in a BooleanPoint with an NrioBooleanInput proxy extension. For more details, see About Nrio proxy points.
After adding any Nrio proxy point, you can edit name, address, conversion, and facets if desired—but not type. To change type,
you must delete the point and then add it again, selecting from the Type drop-down menu, as shown in Figure 18. The one exception here is the ResistiveInputPoint and ThermistorInputPoint, which are actually the same—except for the conversion type used in the ProxyExt.
Nrio-capable JACE controllers and external I/O modules typically have some number of digital outputs (DOs, typically relay type) and/or 0-to-10Vdc analog output (AO) terminals. For any discovered output I/O terminal, the Add dialog preselects the appropriate writable Nrio point type, as either:
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A standard BooleanWritable point, but with an NrioRelayOutputWritable proxy extension.
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A standard NumericWritable point, but with NrioVoltageOutputWritable proxy extension.
Unlike when adding universal input points, there is no alternate selection of type available when adding output points.