Axcent3 Slave mode question

DHawthorne · May 2006

I haven't seen this precise question raised, and the various discussions on the topic seem like it's obvious once done; I would just like to be fore-armed with the info before I do it for the first time.

When you slave an Axcent to the Axlink buss of an NI-700, what D:P:S values does it use? I understand the ports follow whatever you set when you put the Axcent in slave mode, and I assume it appears on the same system as the NI master. But what about the device number?

VLCNCRZR · May 2006

slaved Axcess unit

I am currently working on a slaved Axcent3 unit on an NI-700 master.

I have the Axcess device ports addressed just as they show up in the online tree.

My NI master is 5001:1:0 - 5001:5:0

I have my slaved Axcent3 ports just addressed simply as 2-15.

I will probably change these to the D:P:S convention later (ie: 12:1:0)

Hedberg · May 2006

When you set it as slave, you specify the device number of the first serial port and all the other devices are sequential from that. The device numbers have to obey the Axlink less than 255 rule. I've never actually done it, but slaving an Axcent card frame supposedly works the same except whatever is in slot one has the base device number (and sequentially through card slots).

So, if you set the first device number to 201, the 1st serial port is 201:1:0, the 2d is 202:1:0, etc.

Each device has one port, so the port number of the devices in the slaved unit always equals 1.

In Studio, all the device numbers of the slaved master will show up in the online tree.

It's really very easy and intuitive to configure and when you set it up and look at the online tree, it all makes perfectly good sense.

Thomas Hayes · May 2006

Hello Dave
I just did 20 or so of the Axcent III, NI-700 upgrades here on campus and I slaved my Axcent III for the first RS-232 port is 101. The D:P:S shows up on the NI-700 as 101:1:0 . By doing this if the NI-700 every goes down All I have to do to change the Axcent III back to master and its up and running in 30 sec's less the network control.

VLCNCRZR · May 2006

Thomas Hayes wrote:

Hello Dave
All I have to do to change the Axcent III back to master and its up and running in 30 sec's less the network control.

Thomas,

are you modifying your NetLinx code as an Axcess format and then storing it on the Axcess controller as a backup program, or writing 2 different programs to support the different architecture between the masters?

I guess I never thought about a purpose for whatever code was residing on the Axcess master while it is in slave mode. Hopefully, you'd never have to worry about it.

Thomas Hayes · May 2006

Hi
The code is written in Netlinx for the NI-700 but I left the original Access code on the master. There seems to be no conflicts as yet that I have incountered In the slave mode the Axcent III is just a 'dumb' box.

TurnipTruck · May 2006

Old Axcent 3s make great port expanders for Netlinx systems! I have used them in slave mode on Netlinx systems without one bit of trouble.

Only weakness I know of is that the serial ports have a relatively short max message length compared to the ports on the master you are connecting it to.

I always bring the Axcent 3s up to the latest firmware (5.04) before doing anything permanent with them.

DHawthorne · May 2006

I anticipate doing quite a lot of this in the next few months. We are one-by-one bringing around old customers to the point of upgrading their old Axcess systems ... usually when their Viewpoint drops dead and we convince them it's not worth fixing. If Modero pricing ever starts to drop (bound to sooner or later), these upgrades will become very common I think.

Thomas Hayes · May 2006

Don't get me started on the Modero pricing Dave, I know all the R&D into it but the average customer only knows that he paid $400 for his 19" wide screen monitor and alot more for for this smaller panel and asks you why

Axcent3 Slave mode question

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