The Groups Diagnostics wizard allows you to check for possible installation errors at the functionality level, i.e. at group address level. There are four different steps which are checked during the Groups Diagnostics:
Check Devices
All devices which are connected with the selected group address are shown here (with extra columns for product, room, status). All couplers which shall filter group addresses are also shown here. If there are devices from multiple lines in the list, these will be grouped by line.
A. Button/ icon 'LED' blinking is available in the last column for every device (3). Only one device can be checked at a time.
B. Button 'Check Devices' (1)
The following checks are performed for each device:
- Can the device be reached via the bus (ping)?
- Is the application program loaded and running (details depend on the device)?
- Reads the group communication tables to check if the group address has indeed been downloaded to the device (uses the same functionality as Device Info for group addresses).
- For couplers
- if group filtering is disabled (route all): OK
- If 'block all' is enabled: not OK
- If the filter table is active: reads the relevant part of the filter table and checks if the group address is included.
Whether couplers (or possibly backbone couplers) of a given group address are involved is determined using the following logic:
Group Address > Assignment > Group Object > Device > Line(s)
If there is only one line in this list, no couplers will be returned. If there are lines from different areas in this list, then:
- List all line couplers (a.l.0)
- List all backbone couplers (a.0.0)
Note that an area may have no backbone coupler (e.g. when there is an IP backbone). In this case, nothing is added in this step.
- List all backbone couplers (a.0.0)
- For dummy devices, the check is skipped.
Send/Receive
This function offers the possibility of setting the datapoint type as well as the value of the useful data and sending it on the bus via the 'Write' (3) button. When clicking on the 'Read' (2) button, the different values received can be read in the 'Received Values' (1) window.
SEND (Write)
- The selection of the (write) value itself depends on the datapoint type of the group object to which the group address is assigned. It also depends on whether a datapoint type has been set for the group address.
- The reception of a group telegram from the bus via this group address is displayed (time, source device address + text, value formatted according to Datapoint Type).
READ (Read)
The user can also read the value of the group address.
Generally this will not be possible if the group address is not the sending group address of the group object it is assigned to and if both the Communication and the Read flags are set (devices with plug-ins can be an exception).
The Read button will be enabled in any case, but a text describing the problem will be displayed next to the button if the above situation arises.
Step 1
Any possible existing line connections in the project are checked first by ETS (for which the group address is in the active line) and these are then used.
Step 2 (if Step 1 is not applicable)
If the active (USB) interface is not connected to a line in which the group address is used (e.g. because it is blocked by couplers), the wizard will recognize this and recommend making a connection to a line in which the group address is used (it shows a list of all such lines).
Bus Traffic Analysis
During analysis of the Bus Traffic, the following data is collected and displayed:
Total Bus Load (TP only)
Since the bus load is currently only specified for TP, bus load display is not possible for other media.
Note also that if the wizard is not in bus monitoring mode, telegrams with individual addresses as the target and repetitions cannot be taken into account. The bus load calculation uses a 10-second sliding integration window. The wizard window will display the current, maximum and average value for the performed measurements.
Number of BUSY/NAK and Repetitions
This is only possible in the Bus Monitor. The number of BUSY/NAK and repetitions is shown, including information on the destination (address and name) of the telegram causing the bus load.
The resulting output is grouped according to group address and source address (i.e. one line for each occurring combination of a group address and a source address) and lists the number of BUSY, NAK and repetitions.
Data is recorded permanently, and the resulting list is updated every 2 seconds.
Most active senders
With source address and name, number of telegrams from this address and share of this number in the total number of telegrams received.
For each source address, all telegrams which originated from this address are counted. They are then sorted according to the resulting count: the list ends after the 5th address, and addresses for which the count is less than 2% of the total number of telegrams are ignored.
Data is recorded permanently, and the resulting list is updated every 2 seconds.
A corresponding line connection is taken for the device check, if defined. For the monitor (send/receive), the line connection in which any one of the devices assigned to the Group Address is located is also used, if possible. If no line connection is present, the normal interfaces are applicable and the sequence is according to the priority.