To configure to send BACnet alarms

1. Under the station’s AlarmService, add any AlarmClass components that you want to use with alarmable control points exported to BACnet. Set ack requirements and priorities as needed, but do not export yet.

2. In the station’s AlarmService, add (drag and drop) a BacnetDestination recipient from the bacnet palette (“Alarming” folder).

   
   
   

   Set the “Recipient” property to the BACnet device ID for a BACnet client to receive alarms.

   
   
   

   For details on other properties, see BacnetDestination (reference).

3. Repeat this for each BACnet client to receive alarms from Niagara (separate BacnetDestination for each remote BACnet client).

4. Link the AlarmClasses used to the BacnetDestination recipients (and and other recipients) as needed.

5. Working from the Bacnet Export Manager, export all AlarmClass components that are linked to BacnetDestination recipients. These export as only one object type: Notification Class

   
   
   

   Find them quickly in a Discover by choosing “Of Type: Alarm Class”

   Note the BACnet Notification Class object “instance number” automatically starts at 0 for the first exported AlarmClass, then increments upwards by one.

6. If not already done, add the appropriate Niagara alarm extension to control points you want to alarm to BACnet, choosing one of the AlarmClass components (from Step 1) in their “Alarm Class” property.

   Export these control points to BACnet from the Bacnet Export Manager view of the BacnetNetwork’s LocalDevice, ExportTable component. See Export Table and Bacnet Export Manager for related details.

   The station is now configured to generate BACnet alarms for the exported control points. See Testing BACnet alarm generation to verify proper operation.

Testing BACnet alarm generation

(Prerequisite) In order to test Niagara BACnet alarm generation, you should have access to third-party BACnet tools for the remote BACnet clients. In addition, the AlarmClasses involved should be linked to a standard AlarmConsole recipient.

1. Force into an alarm condition one of the exported Niagara control points that is exported to BACnet (and assigned to an exported AlarmClass). For example, you can do this by adjusting an alarm high limit or low limit.

   The alarm is routed via the exported AlarmClass to linked BacnetDestination (client) devices. This translates the alarm from a Niagara format to a BACnet format. At the same time, the alarm should be available in the standard Niagara alarm console.

2. Using a third-party tool to access the remote BACnet client, verify it receives the alarm.

3. Open the linked Niagara AlarmConsole and verify the alarm was received by Niagara.

4. Using the third-party BACnet tool, issue an acknowledgment for the alarm.

5. Verify an acknowledgement is received by the station. The alarm acknowledgement will be saved in the alarm database. The alarm should also be removed from the list of unacknowledged alarms in the Niagara Alarm Console.