Residential Controllers with the same number

[OgeXam]

If you have two or more of the residential controllers with the same number what happens?

 

Do they both get the packets and perform the exact same set of controls?  Or does it cause the system to freak out?

 

I am hoping they both do the exact same set of displays.

 

If not I guess I would need to just copy and past the programming of one into another controller number?

 

Thank you,

 

Wesley

[Don]

Yes. They do the same thing.

Keep in mind that when troubleshooting you will have duplicates out there, which could throw you for a loop if you don't remember they are setup like that. You'd also want to connect directly to a controller to do any firmware updates, as having two on the same network/ID will cause a problem there.

 

[TheDucks]

They need to be on the same network cable chain as Network is part of the sequence

Edited October 28, 2022 by TheDucks

[Orville]

17 hours ago, OgeXam said:

If you have two or more of the residential controllers with the same number what happens?

 

Do they both get the packets and perform the exact same set of controls?  Or does it cause the system to freak out?

 

I am hoping they both do the exact same set of displays.

 

If not I guess I would need to just copy and past the programming of one into another controller number?

 

Thank you,

 

Wesley

Since you're using 4.4.4 and I bolded the question that hasn't been answered, that is how you would have to do it, however, there is an easier alternative to doing this, than copy/paste.

 

The below info, once done, will save you tons of time, and even though it sounds complex, once you do it, you'll find it's easier than it sounds. LOL

 

Step 1:

Disconnect the 1st Controller with the same ID # from the 2nd one with that same number.

Connect ONLY the 2nd controller to your network.  Leaving the first controller completely disconnected from everything.

Open the HU {Hardware Utility} and update your Controller to it's new ID using the options available on the lower left, bottom of the HU.

After the Unit ID is updated, click refresh, it should no show your new unit ID with what Firmware version is in it.

Once that is good, close the HU, disconnect the unit, now connect the first unit and the 2nd unit to each other and to your newtork.

Open HU, click refresh and you should now see both controllers listed in the dropdown box.  You'll need to click on the little arrow to the right of the box where you see the controller info, doing that will show ALL controllers connected and listed.

 

Now for the Sequence changes, do the following in the Sequence Editor:

Step 2:

Open the Sequence Editor.

Load a sequence that you want to change the controller ID on, the one connected to your network.

Now go to the tab at the top of the SE and click Tools.

Scroll down to Channel Configuration and click on that, this will open a window where you can make changes, you can add a controller, change a controller, delete a controller, add channels.  All kinds of stuff to make this a lot easier than copy/paste into another whole area.

In this window, find the 2nd Controller you ID'd with the same number as the first set of channels.  If this is a CTB16PC controller, you should see Controller ##(example 02 for the ##}, this will be under the "Unit: section and you will see channels 1-16.

Scroll down to the 2nd set of channels, the 2nd controller, where channel 1 starts, this is the section you will want to change all the unit numbers to 02, re-identifying the 2nd controller as Unit 02, to change this unit, click on the small down arrow to the right of the 01, click on 02, do this for ALL 16 channels, you will also need to highlight and change the channel names to re-identify them with the new controller ID ## {02}

Once all that is done, click OK and these new changes will now take effect in your sequence, and will close this window.

Now go to the Edit tab at the top of the sequence, click on Export/Import Channel Configuration, Select Export Channel Configuration, give it a unique filename like: ID Update

This will save all your changes to that sequence.

Now all you should need to do is load each sequence you need to change, go to Edit and select Export/Import Channel Configuration, select Import Channel Configuration. this should automatically change ONLY that section of your sequence to the new controller and channel names you changed earlier.

Once you change a 2nd sequence using the Import method, verify that everything changed in that area of the sequence, you can use the Tools, Channel Configuration to be sure everything is updated correctly in the 2md sequence you used the import on, if everything checks out okay, now you just need to import your Channel Configuration using the same filename for each, and you only need to look at the channel names to see if the sequence updated to the new imported channel config file.

Once you've converted all your sequences to the new set up, you should be ready to go.

And you can use this same channel config as a default for all your new sequences.   Now if you do separate holidays like Halloween and Christmas for example, you can make channel config files by doing the same for your holiday set-ups by creating Channel Config files using the Export/Import method above.  I have for this years shows, a 2022 Halloween and a 2022 Christmas Channel config that matches my channels and components of my display.   This makes it much easier to create new sequences for your display.

Hope this helps you get through the changes you need to fix.   It will save you a ton of time.

If you have any questions, just ask or PM me directly.

If you're using anything higher than 4.4.16, as in Version 5 or higher, I'm not sure how this is set up in the newer suites, but if you are using 4.4.4 Basic as your profile shows under your name, then this should work for you as written.

Good Luck.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Orville