BACScope

Installation and User Guide

CARRIER CORPORATION ©2009

A member of the United Technologies Corporation family · Stock symbol UTX · Catalog No. 11-808-510-01 · 5/29/2009
Table of Contents
Using BACScope to capture network communication .............................................................................................. 1
To install BACScope .............................................................................................................................................1
Capturing communication .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Prerequisites for capturing BACnet MS/TP traffic ..........................................................................................2
Prerequisites for capturing BACnet IP traffic ...................................................................................................3
To set up BACScope .............................................................................................................................................3
To get a diagnostic capture .................................................................................................................................5
To set up a capture filter......................................................................................................................................6

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Using BACScope to capture network communication
BACScope is a software package used to capture BACnet traffic on a variety of network types. It is intended
for use in situations where Carrier Technical Support needs a network capture to troubleshoot
communications.
NOTE The BACScope captures are not intuitive and are meant to be deciphered by Carrier Technical Support
personnel only.

To install BACScope
Download the current version of BACScope in a zip file from the Carrier Controls System Support Site on
HVACPartners http://www.hvacpartners.com/.
1 Unzip the files into a folder such as C:\BACScope on your computer's hard drive. You will find the
following files:
○ BACScope.exe
○ Readme.txt
○ WinPcap_4_0_1.exe
○ CP210x_VCP_Win2K_XP_S2K3.exe
2 Double-click WinPcap_4_0_1.exe to install WinCap.
3 Follow the installation instructions in the setup wizard.
4 If running Windows 2000, reboot the computer.

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Capturing communication

Prerequisites for capturing BACnet MS/TP traffic

• A Windows PC (Windows XP/Vista only) with a USB port
• A USB Link cable (specifically the USB/485 converter portion of this cable, part#235038)

1 If using BACScope for the first time, install the driver for the USB Link before you connect the cable(s) to
the computer.
a) Click on the file CP210x_VCP_Win2K_XP_S2K3.exe (located in the BACScope folder).
b) Accept all of the wizard's default settings.
2 Note which COM port has been assigned to the USB Link.
Windows XP or Vista
1. If using Classic desktop, right-click on My Computer and select Manage. If using Standard desktop,
select Start, right-click on My Computer, and select Manage.
2. In the Computer Management window, select Device Manager and expand Ports (COM & LPT). Note
which COM port has been assigned to the ‘CP210x USB to UART Bridge Controller (COMx)’.
In this example, the Com Port is 3.

3 Connect the laptop to the MS/TP network using the USB/485 converter. See below.

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Prerequisites for capturing BACnet IP traffic

• A computer with an Ethernet port
• An Ethernet cable.
• A Network Hub - Make sure you have a Network Hub and not a Network Switch. A Network Switch does
not allow you to see ALL of the network traffic required to get a complete network message capture.

To set up BACScope
1 Double-click on BACScope.exe.
2 In BACScope, select Configure > Setup Adapters.
3 Click Add.
4 Select one of the following, depending on which BACnet message you will be able capturing:
○ BACnet MSTP (requires USB Link cable) to capture 2-wire 485 traffic
○ BACnet IP (requires Ethernet cable) to capture IP traffic between the BACnet router and the i-Vu
appliance. Connect the PC, i-Vu appliance, and desired BACnet routers to the hub to see all of the
traffic on the IP network.
NOTE Your technical support engineer can help clarify the two options.
5 Enter appropriate values in each field.

BACnet MS/TP

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Field Notes

Connection Type Select BACnet MSTP.

Connection Name This user-defined name will appear in the Configure >
Adapter list.
NOTE Connection Name must be 26 characters or less.
Capture Poll for Master Select in order to include Poll for Master messages.
Messages Select this checkbox for capturing BACnet MS/TP token
traffic.
Capture Filter See WinPCap documentation.

Baud Rate Select the baud rate that matches your network. The
default baud rate of the Open network is 76.8k baud.
Port The COM port on your computer assigned to the USB
Link, connected as seen in Device Manager, as
described above.

BACnet IP

Field Notes

Connection Type Select BACnet IP

Connection Name This user-defined name will appear in the Configure >
Adapter list.
NOTE Connection Name must be 26 characters or less.
Read from File Do not use this feature.

Capture Filter See WinPCap documentation.

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Field Notes

Port Number Unless specified, leave the default port 47808.

Adapter Select the network interface on the computer that will

be used for the capture.

6 Click OK in the Add New Connection dialog box. This will save the adapter configuration.
7 Repeat the steps above to create another adapter definition.

To get a diagnostic capture

1 Select Configure > Adapter and select the desired adapter
NOTE If you are going to use a Filter, make sure that the desired filters are configured and active before
enabling the adapter. See To setup a capture filter (page 6).
2 If there is traffic on the bus then you should start seeing messages appear in BACScope.

3 While BACScope is recording communications, do the following:

○ Using a commissioning tool (i-Vu or Field Assistant), induce traffic on the bus by running the manual
command: “modstat” (controller status report).
○ Try to recreate the problem you are troubleshooting. If possible, correlate your troubleshooting
actions with particular lines or timestamps in the BACScope capture.
○ Let BACscope capture for enough time to adequately log the problem or relevant communication.
4 Select File > Save As.
5 Name the file with a .CBL extension and save it to any folder.
TIP Include a brief description of the problem in the file name. For example,
systemname_read_problem, or systemname_slow_network.
6 Provide the following information to technical support:

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○ .CBL file
○ BACnet device instance number of the problem controller
○ Description of the problem

To set up a capture filter

Capture filters allow you to specify the source and/or type of information that you want BACScope to capture
or exclude from the capture. You can choose more than one filter.
The two most typical Filters Types are:
• Address - used on IP or MS/TP networks to capture messages based on the address of the source or
destination BACnet device.
• MSTP Link Type - used exclusively on MS/TP networks to capture the MS/TP network traffic.

1 Select Configure > Capture Filter.

2 Select Add.
3 Select the desired Filter Type.

Filter Type > Address

○ MAC Address Type
Select IP if capturing IP data to or from i-Vu.
Select MSTP if capturing data on the MS/TP network with Open controllers.
○ Address Location Select whether the filtered address is the source or destination address.
NOTE Always select MAC unless told otherwise by Technical Support.
○ Invert Select this if you want to exclude something.
○ Address
IP Network Enter the desired IP address.
MSTP Network Enter the MAC address of the Open controller.

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Filter Type > MSTP Link Type

○ Invert Select this if you wish to exclude whatever is selected under MSTP Link Type.
○ MSTP Link Type Select one item to filter on. For typical MS/TP network captures, select Token or
Poll For Master.
NOTE When capturing MS/TP traffic, select the Token and Invert to avoid capturing all of the token
passing and only capture the BACnet communications on the network.

4 Click OK to close the Filter Element window.

5 Repeat steps to define additional filters.
NOTE After defining the filters it is recommended that you select File > Save As and save the current file to
the BACScope folder as Default.CBL in order to retain your filters. Before starting a capture, open the
Default.CBL to have access to the filters that have been configured.

The Manage Filters dialog box displays all the Address and/or MSTP Link Filters that have been defined.
To activate filters:
1 Click on the desired filter.
2 Click on the Active box and the box to the left of the filter will be filled in.
3 Repeat these steps for any additional desired filters.
4 Click the Enable Filters box.
5 Click OK to close the Manage Filters window.

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