The term Bacnet (vs. BACnet) is used throughout this document when referring to NiagaraAX components and the Bacnet driver itself. This reflects the actual Niagara component and view names, such as BacnetNetwork, BacnetDevice, Bacnet Device Manager, and so on. If the term BACnet is used, this refers to BACnet in a context wider than the Niagara Framework, that is the protocol defined by ASHRAE Standard 135.

By default, when you add a writable proxy point for a “commandable” type BACnet object (any object with a Priority_Array property), the proxy point’s “Enabled” property is “false.” This is simply a “safety technique,” to help prevent unintended BACnet writes from Niagara.

Keep in mind if you add a writable proxy point for the Present_Value property of such a (commandable) BACnet object, that once enabled, that point’s 16 priority levels map directly to the BACnet priority levels for that object. For example, if you invoke an “Emergency Override” action on the proxy point, it is written to the BACnet object at priority level 1 (the highest). Or, if you link the “In4” slot of the writable proxy to a Logic object, then slot 4 of the Priority_Array of the remote BACnet object will be controlled by Niagara (by the output of the Logic object).

For these type point(s) to work at all—including reading the value from the device, or writing the value to it from Niagara, you must manually set Enabled to “true.” You can do this either in the initial Add dialog for these point(s), or in subsequent Edit dialogs (double-click on a point in Bacnet Point Manager).

Also, note that if there is a BACnet object that you want to limit Niagara writes to one particular priority level, instead of adding a writable proxy point for Present_Value, you could instead add one for a particular index (level) under the object’s Priority_Array property.

You “expose” objects in a station to BACnet, including chosen components, histories, and files, from one central location: the Export Table under the Local Device in the BacnetNetwork. For more details, see Bacnet server configuration overview.

By default, proxy points no longer poll “additional” BACnet properties of a target object like Status_Flags and Priority_Array—however, you can configure proxy points for these (and other) additional polled properties. For more details, see About Bacnet Polling, and Facets usage to poll additional properties.

For JACE platforms that have limited storage (Flash) capacity for their hosted station, use of Bacnet virtual points (starting in AX-3.2) can offer advantages over proxy points, at least for simple Px view monitoring. For more details, see Bacnet virtual points.