Bacnet(MS/TP) analyzer software

[blackbelt3677]

I am closing out a job where we have multiple vendors onsite. For the most part everthing is fine but I have 1 MS/TP trunk that has online/offline all too often. I have 2 NAE5510's. 1 dedicated as the site director. I have around 75 VMA's per FC bus. I also have 1 NCE3510 with 2 Trane chillers, 19 square D VFD's and a couple FEC'c. Total of 5 FC buses that have been very reliable. I also have 1 NAE3510 with 6 climatmaster water source heat pumps, 1 square D VFD, 2 FEC's and 1 Liebert Sitelink. Total of 10 Devices on this trunk. This bus is really inconsistent. Devices are constantly online and offline. I have trnded the bus health. It gets down to around 5 then spiles to around 15 and sometimes as high as 100. I am at version 4.1. On the problem bus I have the NAE at 1 end and The FEC at the other. End of the line switches are on. I have not used any Bacnet anylizer software yet. The rep for Climatemaster sent me Bacscope to run on the bus to analyzer. So my question is this.
1. What do you guys use
2. What type of RS232/RS485 converters do you use.(Bacscope requires this and I have not purchased yet)
3. Anyone used Polarsoft?
4. Do you guys know who makes Bacscope?

Thanks guys!!!!!!

[phantomtech]

Check the baud rate on all devices.

[NickDeal]

I use polarsoft's quick bacnet tester. I use a B&B Electronics optically isolated USB to 485/422 converter. This tester is around $100 and works great. It is not the most inexpensive converter, but it works very well. The polarsoft quicktester works very well. I have not used bacscope. the quicktester has its limitations, but it is good for analyzing a bus. If you are a Johnson employee you can contact tech support and the will send you MSTP Monitor and will analyze the bus for you and tell you what is going on.

[control_8]

1. I first used BACscope, but then I found out that it filters out some MSTP traffic without asking first. I now use a mstp dos capture program found free on the internet.

2. I use the USB-K from ALC, but I hear the B&B Electronics version works pretty well also.

3. No, but I hear it is pretty decent piece of software.

4. ALC makes BACscope.

[MaxBurn]

Bacnet Quick test is a nice little utility but all it does is go out there, do an auto detect and show you what you found, not much of an analyzer.

Check into wireshark data capture as well. Free: http://www.wireshark.org/ I think our eng guys like this over bacscope.

Also I think we are talking about the USB-L device, the one that does RS485, which works well for this sort of thing. A hacked cable APT also works great.

[control_8]

Bacnet Quick test is a nice little utility but all it does is go out there, do an auto detect and show you what you found, not much of an analyzer.

Check into wireshark data capture as well. Free: http://www.wireshark.org/ I think our eng guys like this over bacscope.

Also I think we are talking about the USB-L device, the one that does RS485, which works well for this sort of thing. A hacked cable APT also works great.

The problem with Wireshark is that it is a good BACnet/IP scope, but not a good MSTP or ARCnet scope. If you want to see that data fly, you'll have to be on a page in WebCTRL that is requesting that data.

If you want to see MSTP data, this guy has made some nice free tools:
http://steve.kargs.net/bacnet/wiresh...d-bacnet-mstp/

First, I think you use this program to capture the MSTP data:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/b...1.zip?download
You also have to force your USB to 485 to a specific port.

Second, you need to have a development edition of Wireshark tha can decode MSTP traffic:
http://www.wireshark.org/download/wi...in32-1.1.3.exe

I use it all the time instead of BACscope now...for MSTP traffic. Best of all, it is all FREE.

[blackbelt3677]

WOW, you guys are awesome. I will order the serial converter i n the morning and should be able to run the testing sometime Tuesday. I have used wireshark before. It really pulls a lot of data and I have not used specifically for MSTP. Also is Polarsoft's quicktester reasonably priced? I think I might look into this as well. I also have a program called Bacnet Hack from Delta. I have not tried this. I will keep you guys updated on what works easiest for me.

Thanks again,

[MaxBurn]

Also is Polarsoft's quicktester reasonably priced? I think I might look into this as well.

It is a couple hundred dollars so it is a little hard for us to justify it for every tech, but it tends to settle some arguments though so that's why some of us have it.

[sysint]

Anything that helps you analyze packets properly is worth the cost. Not knowing costs more.... every time. Even if you are buying bear products.

Does any bacnetter company have the ability to scan a far side router MSTP from the IP side? </shot>

[jslimjeff]

I have several different software for BACNET. I have the Polar soft suite of BAC Trace and BAC Beat. By far these have been industry accepted for years. Stable and easy to use. Use a generic USB to RS485 interface. B&B Elec 485-USBTB-2w LS Aprox $80.00. Wireshark is great for Bacnet over IP I have not used it yet for MSTP. Chipkin Makes BACNET Explorer and BACspy which also works nice for testing and capturing. Cimetrics is probably the fasted and most expensive with their BASoMatic software suite.

If you are using MSTP any faster than 76.8 you will want to get a fast RS485 converter PCMCIA or PCIExpress.

I also use a general serial capture utility called ComCap4. It is great for all serial problems. Any protocol and wiring option.

Whenever tech support calls come in, I always recommend a serial capture as it is the best way to find out what is going on in the system. Why guess when you can get the answer. Spend the money and get the right tools for the job. Definitely will save you money.