8.0. Troubleshooting EM nodes running the duration test repeatedly every 24 Hour

Owned by Tharushi Arachchige
Last updated: May 17, 2022 by ahsan Chaudary
2 min read

If the system have Emergency lighting tests running far too regularly

  1. Functional test running every 6 hours, and

  2. duration test every 24 hours

This can not only cause battery drainage but can also cause issues for the end-user who has their lighting interrupted. Not to mention the battery may not be available when planned duration tests will be required to run or when EM luminaires are required in case of actual emergencies.

From the testing we carried out so far the following Tridonic devices have been reported to exhibit this behavior,

  • EM converterLED PRO 202 NiCd/NiMH 50V 89800649

  • EM converterLED PRO 203 NiCd/NiMH 50V 89800650

  • EM converterLED PRO 204 NiCd/NiMH 50V 89800651

  • EM converterLED PRO 203 MH/LiFePO4 250V 89800637

  • EM converterLED PRO 204 MH/LiFePO4 250V 89800638

  • EM converterLED PRO 205 MH/LiFePO4 250V 89800639

Organic Response sensor nodes use a field called “battery charge field” to determine when to run a test and when Organic Response developed the logic which is setting the interval times to 0 after a valid battery charged state, we have used the previous generation of Tridonic inverters as our reference. The way these inverters operate is that it displays its battery percentage information after the end of its auto commissioning test process.

However, due to a change in the operation of the current generation of Tridonic inverters they do not update the battery charge field anymore, it always returns an ‘unknown’ value when queried, regardless of the state of the battery and whether the self-test has been completed. The lack of the battery charge field affects our existing logic and the EM tests will be re-run.

With the release 23 MAY 2022 (Firmware PIC 186 & Nordic 22) :Tridonic has indicated that they will revert to displaying the battery charge status in the future. However, in order to support the current installation we have instilled and changed the logic in sensor nodes to always set interval times regardless of battery charge status if the self test has already ran. With the fix in place the repeated daily duration tests will cease the moment the sensor is upgraded and when it has ran a successful self test.