Barber-Colman Network 8000 ASD Driver for Tridium Niagara

The Barber-Colman ASD driver lets a Tridium Niagara station take the place of the Global Control Module (GCM) at the head of a Network 8000 ASD bus. The JACE becomes the bus master: it reads live values from the controllers on the trunk and commands their outputs. The site keeps its field wiring and its controllers, and retires the one part that is hardest to find spares for.

Schneider Electric discontinued Network 8000 at the end of 2011, yet MicroZone II and MicroFlo II controllers still run AHUs, VAV boxes and lighting in schools, hospitals and office buildings, often for decades longer than the head end above them. Replacing every controller means opening ceilings and rewiring, for a system that still controls well. Replacing only the GCM with a JACE costs a fraction of that, and the building gains a modern front end, remote access and integration with everything else Niagara speaks.

The ASD bus (Application Specific Device bus) is a two-wire RS-485 trunk, polled master to slave, typically at 19200 baud. The driver discovers what is on the trunk, adds each controller with its live values and block attributes, and polls them on Niagara’s own schedule. Operators override controller values straight from Niagara, permanently or for a set time, and releasing the override hands control back to the controller’s own program. Trend logs the controllers have already recorded are imported into Niagara histories, so their data is available for charts and analytics alongside everything else.

Supported devices are the MicroZone II area and AHU controller, the MicroFlo II VAV controller, the Lighting Interface Module (LIM) and the Packaged Equipment Module (PEM). MicroNet 2000 VAV and heat pump / fan coil controllers (MN-FLO, MN-FLO3T, MN-HPFC) are reached through the MN-ASDI integrator. The driver also keeps every controller’s clock in step with the station, can reset a controller, and can change the baud rate of the whole trunk. A trunk at a different location from the JACE can be reached through a Virtual Serial Port.

Network 8000 was the building automation system of Barber-Colman, an American controls manufacturer. Its controls business was sold to Siebe in 1987 and became Invensys Building Systems in 1999. Schneider Electric bought it in 2006 and merged it into TAC, which took the Schneider Electric name in 2009. The same controller can therefore carry a Barber-Colman, Siebe, Invensys, TAC or Schneider Electric label.

Tridium Niagara is an open framework that unifies building systems from different vendors in one interface. With the ASD driver, a Network 8000 trunk sits beside BACnet, Modbus, LonWorks and the other protocols Niagara supports, and its values are available for graphics, alarms, histories and analytics like any other point.

If you run a Barber-Colman Network 8000 system and want to keep its controllers, contact us to schedule a consultation or request a free trial of the ASD driver.