Consumer/Producer objects (Any quicker way to set up the Bacnet reference portion?)

[Jim_Okapal]

(Consumer/Producer object pictures shown below)

I experimented with the Analog Consumer and Producer objects by having 

Controller 2 send a value to Controller 1 by using the Producer Object located in

Controller 2, and also having Controller 1 obtain a value from Controller 2 by using

the Consumer Object located in Controller 1.

Both worked fine, but it required a bacnet setup similar to if you need to manually 

perform it in EBO for 3rd party equipment.  

Question is:

Is there a quicker way to set this up other than looking for the Device ID and Object ID

for every item you want to interact with.   In EBO, using links got us the required information

automatically.  Is there a quick way in the Niagara interface that allows the same information

to be determined with a quick link or some other method?

The consumer object isn't that bad to set up, but the producer object takes a bit of time 

because you have to go into the "List of Output Binding" and manually add new elements

before you can add the bacnet information of each controller you want to send this value

to.  I don't use producer objects very much at all, due to it's use being relegated to passing

values to 3rd party bacnet devices that don't have COV subscription capability, or perhaps a

mass send from one EBO controller....so maybe it's not a big deal.  I use Consumer objects

almost exclusively.  For this case, it's using a single reference, so it's not too much trouble to

setup....but a creating a link versus plugging in bacnet information would sure save time and

lend itself to better accuracy

Analog Consumer Object:

(Located in Controller #1 to grab a space temp from Controller #2)

Analog Producer Object:

(Located in Controller #2 to pass a value to Controller #1)

(Simulating an EBO device passing values to a 3rd party

bacnet device that doesn't handle COV subscriptions)

[Will_Workman · Accepted solution]

You should be able to use the Link Mark, Link To, and Link From features to create this kind of bind.  When I tested it, I was able to create a bind but it did not populate the settings in the Consumer Object.

This has been reported as a defect and should be corrected in a future build.

One a side note, you do not need a Producer Object to send a value from one MPX to another.  The Consumer object will create a COV subscription to the Value, Point, etc. in the source controller.

The Producer Object is only needed when sending a value to a 3rd party devices.

[Jim_Okapal]

Will,

I agree with your assessment with using producer objects with only 3rd party

controllers.   I've exclusively used consumer objects to grab values such as

outside air temp from another controller.  The problem is that various Schneider

literatures show the Producer Object doing both items...sending a single outside

air temp to multiple controllers, as well as sending to 3rd party.   

I use Consumer Objects, but there's conflicting Schneider literature on the topic

of Producer Objects in relation to MPX to MPX