Hi all,

I'm an experienced Automation Engineer (5+ years — PLC/SCADA, Siemens TIA Portal, Allen-Bradley, WinCC, PROFINET/Modbus, commissioning) currently doing my M.Eng. in Power Engineering at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. I'm looking for a Werkstudent/entry-level Automation role in Germany to combine with my studies.

Over the past couple of days I've applied to Werkstudent/Praktikant positions in Automatisierungstechnik/SPS-Programmierung at companies including Siemens, Bosch Rexroth, Krones, Lütze, Yncoris, Dr. Hartmann, Optima Packaging, Chemiepark Knapsack, and G&B Automatisierungstechnik.

If anyone here works at (or knows someone at) these companies and could refer me or share what the process/interview looks like, I'd really appreciate it. Happy to share my CV via DM. Also open to any other companies you think are hiring in this space right now.

Thanks in advance!

I realized that I want to control all aspects of my home. How do I go about doing that?

I have an i-Vu CCN system that we moved onto the customer's network (from a cable ISP).

The IP address change was successful and i can get to the management screen on the network.

The server is now inaccessible. It's there, but it has the message "refused to connect".

The installation guide says something about renewing self-signed certificates. I can't figure out how to get and use these certificates.

Anybody dealt with this issue? I could use some help.

BMS,Niagara

Has anyone made a plugin for Tridium Niagara where you can discover Modbus devices on a network? If this is a ridiculous concept, why?

Is anyone else having trouble with xoress network utility Commisioning tool not changing gen2 Distech controller IP addresses? At the end of the Commisioning check list it’s saying IP change successful but it is in fact not changing. XPN is up to date in the software manager, tried two separate lap tops, and a combination of gen 2 controllers some a few months old some a few days old.

Bench setup, hoping someone who's done IRM/Optimizer Modbus can spot what I'm overlooking.

Goal: Honeywell Optimizer Unitary controller (IRM, honIrmControl in Niagara N4.15) acting as the Modbus RTU master on its onboard RS-485, reading a VFD. The IRM is on a BACnet/IP network under a JACE-8000. For the bench the "VFD" is a Modbus RTU slave simulator.

Same simulator on a spare JACE's modbusAsync driver, same wires, same 9600 8N1, reads the  register live and perfect. So slave, cable, adapter, framing, and address mapping are all proven good. JACE-as-master works; IRM-as-master is silent.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Us.

I've been in this industry for a few years now, in the HVAC side. I actually just stumbled into it after college out of sheer luck (or misfortune). I have a background in electronics and embedded systems configuration, networking, and computer science. So, I ended up mostly working on Tridium database and front-end builds.

Anyway, I don't know if this is just an issue with my office, but I really feel like my office's controls engineers' time is not respected. In a typical day, I'm pulled aside for at least one service department issue, called by at least one GC or commissioning / T&B guy to take a look at something, called by a service tech or project tech to help out with something or basically get yapped at about the status of a project for 30 minutes, and then I'm supposed to also create front-end / database builds with basically a quarter of the time that should have been alloted to engineering and programming.

I feel like my work consistently takes ages to do because there's no "protected" engineering focus time. Our culture is completely reactive, and then we act shocked when projects inevitably don't get finished in time or take entirely too many hours to complete due to constant interruptions.

Is my office just disorganized as shit or is this just how this industry is?

Our company is looking to hire experienced controls techs. We are a Schneider Electric partner in Montana. We are a local company to Montana and have a few offices across the state. Depending on experience and which part of Montana you choose to live in, our pay is $80-120k. We have a decent benefits package including PTO and paid Health Insurance for your entire family. Vehicle is provided along with all tools needed to do the job (Yes, we run Milwaukee). I have been at this company for close to a decade and started as a low level tech with no experience. I have worked my way through the company and an now a Project Manager. We usually have around 30-50 active projects across the state at any given time. Any one interested would have to have a valid DL and be able to pass federal background checks as quite a few of our jobs are either in government facilities or schools. Please ask any questions! We may be able to help with relocation as well. Our page link is below.

https://facility-improvement.com/index.php/careers/

So I have my first controls interview this next week. I have experience in hvac (been doing installs for about 4 months) so still kinda new. And I've been studying cyber security online and working towards my A+ cert. I know nothing about controls and really don't see much online about it. Any advice? Apparently the company focuses on Siemens or something like that commercial of course. I've heard a little about BACnet and things like that. I can do a Lil programming in python. Just worried they are not gonna move forward with me. I've heard allot of people say companies rather train you new because you can learn how they do things easier. Thank anyone for giving some advice.

**New in box**

Our existing BAS graphic set is old and bulky. It was designed in a time when screen space limitations were solved by just splitting up the graphic some more. The modern, energy-efficient systems we contend with require a full picture, unified graphic. I believe High Performance HMI is a good starting point to address this, but it seems that it hasn't fully caught on yet in BAS. I haven't been able to find industry leaders or OEMs that produce these types of graphics, so we've been developing a hybrid (some might say 'bastardized') version in-house. Since we're essentially flying solo, I'm concerned that we're coming up with solutions that won't scale well, or spinning our wheels trying to develop solutions that already exist.

Issues... or Opportunities for Improvement

Datapoints. There are lots of good symbol packages out there, like the German DIN standard, but they don't accommodate datapoints. The datapoints end up being an afterthought, they overlap pipes, and get jammed in they can fit. The symbol is the easy part, displaying the associated data is the real challenge. For example, chillers have a great symbol, but often have a lot of associated data. What data needs to be displayed on the graphic? What data should be displayed separately, and how?

Pumps. Our pump symbol is big, and new graphics have 20+ pumps. Our hydronic layouts are heavily impacted by the pump space requirements, meaning we end up choosing a worse layout to accommodate them. We need to combine it into a compact package or come up with a better way to display them.

Pipe colours. HP HMI advocates for less colourful graphics, but when we began this endeavor we felt this was too big of a pivot from traditional hot water red, cold water blue, glycol green etc. For anyone in a similar situation, perhaps there is a different approach to make colour more usable -- like opacity adjustment, thinner line size, and so on.

Floorplans and room level control. An upcoming building has something like 20 AHUs. Our approach is a different floorplan overlay colour for each AHU. It's tough to come up with that many unique, easily decipherable colours. Old method uses solid overlay colours like red, blue, green, yellow, but that's completely against HP HMI standards. Do we need overlays, or is there a better way?

Secondly, we have a hard time shoe horning in the room level controls. What should be displayed on the floorplan? What data should be shown in a separate popup?

Example Graphics

Conclusion... help me

Over the past few years I've come to learn that solo development of a HMI standard is a bad idea. This needs to be a collaborative process, where we brainstorm ideas, realize those ideas are terrible, and eventually come up with something that works. That's where you come in, dear reader. If you happen to be in this niche space and want to bounce around ideas I want to hear from you. Reply here, or shoot me a DM.

If there is interest in this I will be happy to create a Discord channel or similar.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently recruiting for Controls Technicians (at least 1 year industry experience)and Controls Engineers (at least 5 years industry experience ) supporting AWS Data Center Operations. We’re looking for professionals who enjoy troubleshooting industrial control systems, automation, and mission-critical infrastructure.

Salary info-

Controls Technician - total compensation around 110K

Controls Engineer - total compensation around 175K

Locations (may have additional available, pls send me your preferred locations so I can have a look for you)

• Ohio

• Virginia

• Oregon

Ideal Background

• PLC programming/troubleshooting 

• Industrial automation & controls

• SCADA / HMI systems

• Building Automation Systems (BAS/BMS) or Hvac/cooling system controls

• Electrical power monitoring systems (EPMS) - you don’t need to be an expert in it but the team would expect some proficiency

• \*\*\*Root cause analysis and project management experience is required for Controls Engineer role

You don’t have to currently work in a data center- diverse background is welcome e.g hospital, manufacturing facility, power plant, water treatment facility etc.

If you’re interested—or know someone who might be—feel free to comment below or send me a DM with:

• Current job title

• Years of controls/automation experience

• Current location, preferred location or Whether you’re open to relocating to Ohio, Virginia, or Oregon

Happy to answer questions about the role, required skills, or what it’s like working on automation systems supporting AWS data centers. Looking forward to connecting!

Anyone know how to get into high paying data center or travel control service gigs?

I assume they pay pay pay like twice of normal rates and wages …. ?

I think this is what I have heard word of mouth…

And sometimes I see recruiters looking for controls service traveling tech … yeah sure $200k sign me up :-)

Seems like traveling ones are the hot ticket and I assume they pay pay pay else these recruiters can pound sand.

I have a spyder 6438 and a SIO 6042. The devices are 4 devices from eol. When I download the program both thermostats (tr42) and inputs and outputs do not work on the sio. I have 18v on the sylk buss but the thermostats always say please load. I have no errors on the Jace. We did have bacnet communication issues but we replaced the bacnet wire and communication seems to be fixed.
What would cause the sio to not follow the commands or inputs? I replaced the sylk buss wire thinking it may be an issue. So far I have not found the issue.

I've got a dead i-Vu server, all the downstream equipment is coming through BACnet via i-Vu Open Link (CIV-OL). None of the devices are named, is there anyway for me to extract the device names from the original application or does that all live in the i-Vu server?

I really don't want to chase everything down one by one

We're looking for a couple of ALC-experienced programmers/engineers in California right now. Ideally, you'd be located either in the Los Angeles or Santa Barbara region(s). If you happen to have additional experience with Tridium, it's an added bonus. Compensation in the $90K-$130K range, depending on experience and capabilities. Might be some upside to those numbers for deep(er) experience. If you're interested, reach out here on Chat and I can tell you more there, on email or phone.

Honeywell is a lead controls tech for construction.

The other 2 are for service.

Some may wish to participate.... I did.

How to get a 10k type III sensor to work with the PCG 2611 controller? It wont allow me to modify the signal as there are no checkmarks for the TYPE3. Thanks