Error Reporting Application

The C-Bus Error Reporting Application is used to notify and manage error or other status information detected by C-Bus devices.

C-Bus dimmer units can monitor various operational parameters, and can report error or warning conditions using the C-Bus Error Reporting Application.

The reports consist of information on the source, severity and nature of the error or fault condition, and also allow independent tracking and acknowledgement of the most recent and most severe error conditions.

The error reports are monitored by a device such as a SpaceLogic C-Bus Automation Controller, which can:

Display the status to the user.
Allow them to acknowledge reports.
Allow them to clear any latched errors.

A SpaceLogic C-Bus Automation Controller can also make all of this available to a higher layer such as a BMS via BACnet.

There are 5 Error Reporting Modes, to control:

which error reports are generated
when they are generated

The mode can either be fixed during commissioning time, or can be changed dynamically by assigning a control group on the Enable Control application. In addition to controlling the generation of error reports using the mode, a Trigger Group may be configured to request an update to ALL error channels at any time.

This can be useful to manage traffic in an installation, where a large number of Error Reporting devices or channels exist.

Mode	Error Level	Description
0	Off	In this mode, neither live reports nor regular reports are generated.
1	All Channels Most Recent Errors only	In this mode, live reporting is enabled, meaning a change in error state for any channel will be emitted when it occurs. In addition, if the Regular Reporting Interval parameter is configured, the current error state of all channels will be re-sent at the configured interval. Setting the Regular Reporting Interval to zero disables the regular reports, but live reporting remains active. This allows timely notification of error status changes but without the traffic overhead of additional regular reports.
2	All Channels Most Recent Errors and Most Severe Errors	This mode works the same as Mode 1, but also includes tracking of the Most Severe errors for each channel.
3	Minimum reporting Most Recent Errors only	This mode works the same as Mode 1, but excludes the individual channel reports. This can be useful to reduce the amount or traffic where there are a large number of channels or a large number of devices exist. The aggregate channel is included, which is a logical OR of all of the channel error bytes, which still allows channel errors to be monitored.
4	Minimum reporting Most Recent and Most Severe Errors	This mode works the same as Mode 2, but excludes the individual channel reports.

The following channel error status information is available via the Error Reporting Application:

Error Channel

Error Type

Error Data Format

0 - 7

Channel 1-8 Errors

Bit	Name	Meaning
0	Reserved	Unused.
1	Channel Overridden	The channel is not responding to C-Bus commands because the local override has been activated and C-Bus Priority is disabled.
2	Load Incompatible	The channel has shut down due to the attached load being incompatible with load profile.
3	Channel Offline	Channel is not responding to commands, either due to a loss of power to the channel or a configuration error.
4	Mode Error	The channel has shut down due to the attached load being incompatible with the currently selected mode.
5	Over-Temperature Wind-Back	The channel is operating at a reduced operating point due to excessive temperature.
6	Over Current Shutdown	The channel has shut down due to an extreme current overload.
7	Over Temperature Shutdown	The channel has shut down due to extreme temperature.

NOTE: Error reports are only generated for channels which are in use (have a Group Address assigned).

250

Power Supply Errors

Bit	Name	Meaning
0	Load Warning	The load current on the C-Bus Power Supply has exceeded the user-configurable warning threshold level.
1	Overload	The load current on the C-Bus Power Supply has exceeded the rated load current.
2	Current Limit Exceeded	The Power Supply is in current-limit mode, meaning the network communications are likely to be impaired.
3–7	Reserved	Unused.

The load warning and over-current errors are optional. If the warning threshold parameters are not configured, both these errors are disabled. Once the warning threshold parameters are configured, both errors are enabled.

The Current Limit error is always enabled, however due to the nature of the fault, it may only ever appear when most severe errors are enabled, as the network communication may be impaired by this condition.

NOTE: Power Supply Errors are only generated if the integrated C-Bus Power Supply is enabled.

251

Aggregated Channel Errors

Same as channel error format

This channel is the logical OR of the individual channel errors. When used in conjunction with Error Modes 3/4 and a Trigger event for requesting update, this can be useful to minimize Error Reporting traffic. To fetch detailed channel error information, configure the Error Reporting Request Trigger Group parameter, and send a Trigger event using Action Selector 255 to request all channels, or request individual channels by using the Action Selector corresponding to the Error Channel of Interest.

254

Unit Errors

Bit	Name	Meaning
0	Config Invalid	The unit is not operating correctly because the configuration is not valid.
1	Unit Over-Temperature	The unit's internal operating temperature has exceeded the configured temperature warning threshold.
2	C-Bus Voltage Warning	The C-Bus Voltage has dropped below the user-configurable warning threshold.
3	C-Bus Voltage Critical	The C-Bus Voltage has dropped below the user-configurable critical threshold.
4–7	Reserved	Unused.

The thresholds for the Unit Over-Temperature, and C-Bus Voltage Warning and Critical are user configurable and should be set in accordance with the specific circumstances of the unit in question.

Channel Errors

Channel Errors are error conditions relating to each individual channel. For the dimmer units, the following conditions may be reported :

Channel Offline

This indicates that the channel is not operational, either due to loss of power to the channel, the dimmer channel firmware requiring an update, or a configuration error.

Channel Overridden

This indicates that the channel is in a state where it has been overridden by the Local Toggle, but C-Bus Priority has been disabled in its configuration, meaning it will not respond to C-Bus messages indefinitely, until the Local Override is cleared by user input on the unit itself.

Load Incompatible

This indicates that the channel has shut down due to incompatibility of the attached load with the Load Profile selected for the channel.

Mode Error

This indicates that the channel has shut down due to the attached load being incompatible with the currently selected mode. Usually due to detection of an inductive load when the channel is set to TE mode.

Over-Temperature Wind-Back

This indicates that the channel brightness has been reduced due to the channel temperature exceeding 80 °C.

Over-Temperature Shutdown

This indicates that the channel has shut down due to the channel temperature exceeding 100 °C.

Over-Current Shutdown

This indicates that the channel has been shut down due to the current exceeding the over current limit.

Power Supply Errors

The Power Supply error channel reports on errors related to the inbuilt switchable C-Bus Power Supply. The load current and output voltage of the C-Bus Power Supply are monitored.

Once a C-Bus Network is fully installed, the load on each Power Supply is very stable, however it will be different in different units depending on the distribution of power supplies, the number and distribution of units consuming power, and the cabling between them.

A change in the load on any given C-Bus Power Supply could be a result of additional units being added to the network, or a cable becoming disconnected, or a problem with Power Supply.

Load Warning and Overload

The Load Warning error is optional, and enabled by configuring values for the C-Bus Power Supply Warning Set Threshold and C-Bus Power Supply Warning Clear Threshold. These are settings in mA, corresponding to the load on the Power Supply.

Once these thresholds are configured, both the Load Warning and Overload error monitoring become active. If the load current exceeds the C-Bus Power Supply Warning Set Threshold value the Load Warning Error is raised, if the load also exceeds the rated current of 200 mA, then the Overload error is raised.

For the Overload error to be cleared, the load must drop below 195 mA. For the Load Warning error to be cleared, the load must drop below the C-Bus Power Supply Warning Clear Threshold.

Current Limit Exceeded

The Current Limit Exceeded error is always enabled, and is raised when the load has exceeded the rated current of 200 mA and the Power Supply output voltage has dropped more than 2 V below the normal level at full load.

This condition indicates a severe overload on the system, possibly due to a short on the C-Bus Network, or a failed Power Supply. As network communication may not be possible under these conditions, this error message may not be observed until the network communication recovers, in which case it will only be reported if Error Mode 2 or 4 is activated.

Unit Errors

The unit error channel report errors relating to the unit itself. These conditions may indicate an issue with the performance of the unit itself or of the C-Bus Network.

Config Invalid

This error means the unit is not operational as its stored configuration is incompatible with its firmware version. This can happen if the firmware has been updated with a new major release version, but the unit has not yet been reconfigured to suit using the SpaceLogic C-Bus Commission software.

Unit Over-Temperature Error

The unit has internal temperature monitoring. This is measuring the temperature at a location on the Power-Supply, and normally measures higher than the ambient temperature of the enclosure. If temperature exceeds the Unit Over Temperature Set Threshold (default set to 70 °C), the Unit Over Temperature error condition is set.

Once set, the temperature needs to drop below the Unit Over Temperature Clear Threshold to clear the error condition. The thresholds for the Unit Over Temperature error can be changed using the SpaceLogic C-Bus Commission software.

NOTE: The Unit Over Temperature error condition does not change the operation of the unit and is provided for information only. It should be noted however that operating at excessive temperature reduces the life of the electronic components.

C-Bus Voltage Warning/Critical Errors

The unit can monitor the C-Bus Network Voltage and report error conditions based on the measurement.

Once a C-Bus Network is fully installed, the network voltage is very stable, however it will be different at different points in the network depending on the distribution of power supplies, the number and distribution of units consuming power, and the cabling between them. A change in the C-Bus Network voltage could be a result of additional units being added to the network, or a cable becoming disconnected, or a problem with Power Supply.

As what is normal for each unit and installation may be different, each unit can have different thresholds configured to generate error messages if the C-Bus voltage goes outside a desirable window of operation. There are independent error thresholds and conditions for Warning and Critical levels. These operate independently, with the only constraint being that the threshold values for Warning must be higher than the threshold values for Critical.

NOTE: These error conditions do not change the operation of the unit, they are for information only.