Basic info on AutoMatrix

[dapper]

I have a job with American Auto Matrix controls, Sage-Max and Auto-Pilot. I was told today that we are going to add a new heat pump to the system. I can get around Sage-Max and Auto-Pilot pretty well. The original contractor is long gone. We will have to add a new controller and configure it for the system. There is an out-of-town dealer that will sell us the conrtoller.
Do I need any additional software to do this or can it all be done through Auto-Pilot or terminal emulation? I have edited the pages in Auto_Pilot and added points etc. in the past but I have not created a new page.
Any literature would be greatly appreciated.

[#1servicetech]

You will need solo pro to configure the controller. the asce controls come configured as rooftop unit controls If I remember right.

[osiyo]

Originally posted by dapper
I have a job with American Auto Matrix controls, Sage-Max and Auto-Pilot. I was told today that we are going to add a new heat pump to the system. I can get around Sage-Max and Auto-Pilot pretty well. The original contractor is long gone. We will have to add a new controller and configure it for the system. There is an out-of-town dealer that will sell us the conrtoller.
Do I need any additional software to do this or can it all be done through Auto-Pilot or terminal emulation? I have edited the pages in Auto_Pilot and added points etc. in the past but I have not created a new page.
Any literature would be greatly appreciated.


Well, I could configure a controller thru the Sage. But that's not exactly the easy way and would take some time to explain.

The Sage is a front end device, system manager, one might say. Not even necessary in many or most cases. Except as a front end. ie For use to to give broad sweeping commands. To receive and display alarms from any device on the network. To allow a central location and device one might use to query any device on the network and fetch info from it or make a change to it. A place to collect trend or historical data and write it to hard drive storage. Etc.

Most Automatrix controllers will operate standalone, just fine.

From the Sage, you can configure the hardware ports of any device, set up firmware (built-in) control loops, and/or write a custom program to do something the built-in routines within firmware of a controller can not handle, compile, and then stuff the compiled program into the controller.

You can manipulate all this thru direct monitor and modify mode. But you'll need to have book in front of you, or know from memory (as I and others do), the pneumonics for the various hardware and software points (called channels by Automatrix) and their attributes. Or you can make things easier and set up text mode menu operations in pretty plain English, via "Group" menues, as they're called.

When you're using AutoPilot, it's essentially just taking the place of those group menues, and adding pictures, clickable buttons, text boxes, drop boxes, etc.

Now, fact is, it's easier to do a controller setup, testing, etc thru SoloPro, connected directly to the controller. It is, after all what Solopro was designed for. Once people have seen and used Solopro, they can often be using it and successfully configuring controllers in pretty short order.

But it can certainly be done thru the Sage.

My email addy is in my profile. Use it. But change "gmail" to "yahoo" as I don't check gmail as often. It's kinda my junk mail collector.