Want to repurpose Jace microserver

[PButler08]

I'm an service tech / instructor at my union apprentice training center and was giving a Pheonix controls jace micro server new and unused donated to the school. I'm unfamiliar with Niagara Ax. I'm a Trane tracer summit/ SC guy. So what I want to do is install the micro server at my school and hook it up to the existing Trane Lon network currently being controlled by a Trane Tracker panel. Also teach myself Niagara so I can also teach the students both Trane and tridium. Is it possible to repurpose the micro server and also how do I get my hand on the needed software to program it. Thanks

[JSLLC4Life]

The first thing you have to learn about AX is that nothing is free.

Want to use all the physical memory on your unit? That'll be a license upgrade.
Want to have the unit reachable via a web browser? That'll be a license upgrade.
Want to be able to make changes via a web browser? That'll be a license upgrade.
Want to make your four year old system work with the latest java release? That'll be a license upgrade.

My point being that you will get dinged for anything and everything. To get the software, you typically have to pay an annual fee typically in the range of $2-3k. Do you know if your JACE has an open license? If so you can use any brand of AX. There may be other options out there on how to get a copy, but everyone I know seems to be in that position. If you get someone to load a station onto the JACE for you and it has the appropriate licenses, you can do most of you work from the web browser.

Unless you are working with students who will be full time control technicians, I wouldn't focus on the fine details of AX as they are constantly in flux and the successor to AX is about to be released. Getting your students to understand concepts like MAC addresses, neuron IDs, the logic gates is a good place to start. I'm not familiar with what Trane programming looks like, but I'd also recommend getting a Distech or some other brand that has free configuration tools off ebay. Old controllers can be had for relatively inexpensively.

[PButler08]

Thanks for the info, What I do know is that this controller was set up to be monitored and adjusted remotely via the web. But was never used. My goal was pretty much to get the site up and running and just using it as a teaching tool to show guys how to navigate the system if a customers building has that type of system.

[AtticusFinch]

Based on the previously supplied information perhaps it is time better spent educating students on protocols, routing and system design so they can easily discern when such manufacturers are utilizing sales and marketing and other restrictive techniques in the products they sell as features?

Many technicians are so ingrained with specific systems they do not understand how networking, systems, devices and protocols should actually function. They communicate in company-speak terms because they don't understand what they are really doing.

[JSLLC4Life]

Based on the previously supplied information perhaps it is time better spent educating students on protocols, routing and system design so they can easily discern when such manufacturers are utilizing sales and marketing and other restrictive techniques in the products they sell as features?

Many technicians are so ingrained with specific systems they do not understand how networking, systems, devices and protocols should actually function. They communicate in company-speak terms because they don't understand what they are really doing.

I think a mix of both is good. I like his idea about teach the techs to simply navigate AX. It may be difficult to measure the benefit to their employer, but I can tell you that dealing with guys on the mechanical side can be a nightmare sometimes. Some of that is because of the complexity of AX and sometimes it has to do with the technicians not really understanding anything about controls on even a basic level and not being able to communicate or comprehend anything more complex than R, Y, G, and W terminals. I don't blame the techs for that, it is all they have been taught, but people waste so much time out in the field, it is unbelievable.

Bacnet, Lon, and Modbus aside, I'd also think a controls course should cover basics like signal types. Everyone is familiar with 24v digital signals, but what about pulse width, 0-10v, floating point, 12v DC digital, 4-20ma? In my experience, guys that understand this stuff and know how to identify it in the field will quickly move up in their organizations to higher paying, more rewarding positions. Everyone finds themselves on a roof top when it is -5 degrees sometimes, but all the controls techs around here are typically out of the elements on a more regular basis.

[PButler08]

I am an active field tech who teaches the apprentices at night it is a five-year program. And during the program we do go over from the beginning basic like schematics reading, control signals, how to identify what device is using what control signals. P.I.D. And BAS. The guys I am teaching are not going to be programmers or commissioning. They are straight commercial service techs and I like them to understand how to use the BMS as a service tool. Because I know the older service techs who don't have anything to do with computers could spend multiple hours wasted on Why a units not running all because somebody overrode it to the unoccupied mode. So I try to expose them to as many different types of systems I can so they can just have a basic knowledge on how to navigate, look at points and look at schedules. And sometimes it's hard getting controls because most of my stuff I got is donated

[jbeckham]

Where are you located PButler08?

There are probably some guys on here that can help you out with recommissioning the jace if you can provide network access.

[PButler08]

I'm in NY, on Long Island.