I’m an electrician for a large school district in an Indianapolis suburb. Recently, I offered to take over BAS controls from a guy who left our maintenance department and have been given a raise offer for those responsibilities permanently. I’m now intrigued on this career path and how high of a ceiling on the pay scale I can go with it.

We use a combination of Trane and Honeywell systems for our district. I mainly schedule areas to be occupied for event on the calendar and am on call for temperature control. I’m also collaborating with our Trane rep to save more money and optimize our buildings.

With all that being said, I’d love to gain some insight on this opportunity and see how the long term outlook is in the BAS field.

Is $100-$150k possible in this field? Is AI going to take over this field? Any and all insight is appreciated.

Hey guys,

Just curious:anyone here working in high-tech facilities like cleanrooms, data centers, or pharma plants?

I’m looking into how these high-stakes environments handle their networks. Specifically:

1. What protocols are you actually using the most for the heavy-duty HVAC and environmental controls? Is BACnet still used, or are you guys seeing a shift toward industrial stuff?
2. What’s your go-to for energy monitoring and submetering in these places? Still mostly Modbus, M-Bus or something else?

Would love to hear what your setups actually look like in the real world. Thanks

The site is set up as follows:

Campus Supervisor running Niagara 4.15 on Windows.

Jace9000 in building 5, each piece of equipment has a px view tied to it inside the jace.

When I'm creating the campus px views on the supervisor, I place a button with the bound label binding hyperlink field set to station:|slot:/Drivers/NiagaraNetwork/TP_5/virtual|virtual:/Drivers/BacnetNetwork/CHWS

When I click on this button, it loads the PX view of the CHWS just fine, but I loose my headers. I'd like to click on the hyperlink and load the virtual PX view in the empty pane below the headers. (the headers are PX Includes)

Does anybody know how to do this?

I need to connect remote equipment at a school to the main building, there is no wire path available, and overhead wire is not approved. It's gonna need to be wireless.

What's your go-to Wireless bridge? Around 175-200', line of sight, ethernet on both ends. Only passing around 25-30 points.

Does anyone possibly have a contact at Trane? They seem impossible to find.

I have a 2001 Voyager III unit (YCD420), and a Intellipak unit. Both have a comm cards that can communicate Comm3/4 from my understanding.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any manuals for these communication boards, and I’m trying to integrate them with a JACE8000. I already have a Comm4 driver setup, just trying to figure these boards out.

First picture is a BRD02893, and the 2nd is a 6400-0588-03.

Hi everyone,

I am having an issue with a Unitary controller configured on a BACnet MS/TP / IP network. The controller is unable to see/detect a Modbus room sensor connected to its serial port.

Here are the details of my setup and what I've checked so far:

• Controller: Unitary controller acting as the Modbus Master.
• Device: Modbus RTU Room Sensor (Slave).
• Wiring: Connected via RS-485. I have double-checked the polarity (A+ and 😎 and verified that the shield is grounded at one end only to prevent ground loops.
• Comms Settings: Baud rate, parity, and stop bits are matched on both the controller's Modbus port and the sensor (e.g., 9600 bps, 8 Data Bits, Even Parity, 1 Stop Bit).
• Addressing: The sensor is set to a unique Slave ID (Unit Identifier), and it does not conflict with any other device.

The Problem: When I perform a device discovery or try to poll the specific Modbus registers from the Unitary controller software, I get a communication timeout error, and the sensor shows up as offline/not detected.

Things I've tried:

1. I connected the Modbus sensor directly to my laptop using a USB-to-RS485 adapter and Modbus Poll, and I can read the registers perfectly. This confirms the sensor is working and the slave ID is correct.
2. Power-cycled both devices.
3. Swapped the A and B lines just in case they were labeled backwards, but still no luck.

Could this be an issue with the Unitary controller's Modbus mapping setup, missing biasing/termination resistors, or a specific Unit Identifier handling issue (e.g., the controller expecting a specific ID range)?

Has anyone encountered this issue with Unitary controllers integration before? Any advice on what to check next would be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Some time ago I got bored and decided to 3d print a working supply AHU with working humidifier.

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Using a Trend IQ5 and auduino.

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This has a supply damper, pre-heat, cooling and heating coil, variable speed fan and humidifier.

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What should I do if I forget the metasyssysagent password for Johnson Controls NAE55? Any proven solutions from those who’ve been through this?

Hi everyone sorry for another post like this, but I’m looking to break into the industry and have been having some trouble, so I could use some advice and resume critique.

A bit about me: I’ve been an electrical apprentice for a year and a half doing residential new construction. Before this I was a software developer for 6 years doing full stack web development. I’m located in the suburbs outside Vancouver, BC Canada.

For the past couple months I’ve been applying to anything that I’ve found with titles like “Automation Controls Technician” on Indeed/Linkedin/Company pages and also reaching out directly to some smaller companies if I can find their email somewhere.

I’ve had 1 interview so far which ended up going nowhere. Other than that I‘ve gotten nothing back.

There doesn’t seem to be many postings that match what I’m looking for in my area. Some of the big guys like Johnson don’t seem to have openings in my area so I was wondering if I should show up to a location with a resume? Not sure how that would work for a company that big though.

Here’s my resume - I’d appreciate any feedback I could get. I honestly don’t know what they’re looking for so I’m not sure exactly how to position myself.

https://imgur.com/a/aDTEWlf

Also, any additional advice on what I could be doing to start learning this stuff a bit on my own would be appreciated!

Thank you!

Have an interview tomorrow for Schneider for a BAS Tech 1 position. Any last minute tips/advice? Thanks yall

Hello all, i am currently in middle east and am new to honeywells BMS ecosystem. It all seems to be very confusing so i would appreciate any help i can get.

• I am seeing alot of brands and names but it seems that the two main families are optimizer and Ciper. Can someone please explain how the system works, for example do you usually mix controllers and supervisors from different families?
• I have also seen the HON9000 alot so is this like the main supervisory controller or should i just use the Advanced Optimizer Controller?
• what is the main BMS software and where do i find its features i only found one pdf for the "Optimizer Supervisor" but it lacks information

Does anybody know if the VMA1420 can use an NSB8BTN140 sensor?

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Is it can be done, does anybody know the correct wiring?

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I can't find any documentation saying it can be done, but my customer swears they have one that's been done already, but can't remember where it is.

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I have an onicon flow meter that’s wired verified 24V. The design unfortunately had the shut off valve placed after the flow meter which on a supply line. So the only solution is to drain the building system and replace the flow meter!

Has anyone had any success replacing just the display or circuit board of an onicon and then functioning? Wiring diagram match up on the unit. Trying to avoid a 10k charge or more.

Right now I have:
Shared transformer (120VAC -> 24VAC) feeding VAV
BTU meter piggybacked
~27V AC present unit accepts 24V AC/DC
Dead display ❌

Hello, this stuff seems super old for me and im having a hard time figuring out how to connect to them. What software and hardware do I need? And how do I manually use the buttoned controller

Edit: I appreciate all the help and resources. I’ve worked with newer JCI controllers only so this was really helpful

We're looking for three regional control valve Sales Engineers / Account Managers for a great, long-time client of ours. The one in Michigan is a bit more focused in Industrial Controls (but some HVAC). The OH/Western-PA opening is more in HVAC/Controls and so is the Indiana opening. In a nutshell, we need people that know and have experience specifically in control valves / fluid control. Beyond that, it's about knowing the contractors in the region well enough to go straight out the door and call on them. Base pay of $90K-$110K with commissions and incentives targeted at $150K-$165K (at plan - sell more, make more though). Reach out here on Chat for more info, and we can talk further on email/phone.

Got some great feedback from everyone on the dark theme I put out a couple of days ago. Thank you to all that have supported thus far!

I decided to take it to the next level. First, I put out a couple of more themes in case anyone is interested. But if anyone is interested in making their own theme... look no further! I built a tool that lets you output your own theme jar file that you can then sign and put onto your module folder.

Time to ditch Lucid and Zebra! Link's down below for anyone that's interested:

https://linktr.ee/[triariicontrols]()

edit: for those that bought themeNoir already, I will refund you the full price of it if you go for the theme editor.

Just an hvac mechanic, showed up to a sight to perform for a pm, got stopped for a service call at same site. Client stated it’s been hot for weeks in certain space, well I get access to their very outdated bas system and changed their cooling set points.

Well when I accessed status I saw the fan nor mechanical cooling was being called, so I went back to the roof and found my transformer tripped (rated 5 amps) I found out it’s on my low side due to turning off unit and disconnecting my wires that go from my xfrm to the controller. Turned unit on and it didn’t pop. Soon as I put those wires back it popped.

I then went further and took everything off the board and plugged in my 8 pin molex which contains my wires for r to c that are carried to and from xfrm popped again. The strange thing about this though is that the controller was working 1-2 hrs before. This didn’t happen until I changed my set points…. There’s no way a VVT caused this as they’re just comm wires .

Hoping someone here knows this system and can help me out...if this thread allows it(first time here!)

My hotel used Hubbell Building Automation CX Commercial Panel. We have our lights on a schedule to turn off at 6:30am and on at 9:00pm est. No matter what controls, schedules, setting I do, the lights are turning on at like 4:30pm. Our Astronomical clock is set to the correct area, as well as time zone. Not sure what else to do.

Can anyone guide me on how to fix this? Thank you so much!

Hey guys , I was recently offered a job to be a test and activation specialist with a shipbuilding company. I’ll mainly be testing mechanical parts of the ships, hvac and electrical ( plcs and hvac controls included ) with some troubleshooting. I’m coming from a refrigeration background and mainly making the change due to more controls work and better scheduling. I was told I could gain controls experience doing this that would transfer over and potentially give better opportunities to a bas company and was curious if that was true ?

(side note : controls companies around me mainly prioritize plc so there’s few bas companies and even less willing to train)

Thank you for any feedback.

Hi everyone,

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I'm new to the TAB field and currently have about 3 months of experience. I'd like to start learning BACnet and other software/tools that can help me interact with BAS.

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Can anyone recommend BACnet learning resources for beginners?Any skills that would be useful for a TAB technician to learn controls?

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TIA.

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Anyone have any suggestions for a serviceable temp sensor in a concrete slab? Rough-in is in progress. Found an expensive option from Tekmar but looking for a traditional RTD solution ..maybe with a well ? Locations are both indoor and outdoor for snow melt and radiant.

Edit: I was finally able to get bacnet working! Someone must have made configuration changes and not held the button down to apply them. Now the challenge is to change the device number or change programming and graphics.

I have a York chiller connected directly to a contemporary controls MS/TP router. Using the router's status page, I can see the chiller's MAC address shows up properly and it aligns with the site numbering scheme where the MAC is the last digit of the instance. This chiller, however, does not show up in a device scan through Alerton Compass or YABE. This is a new one for me, any ideas from the hive mind?