ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Industry Leaders and 2013 ControlTrends Awards Sponsors: Belimo, Connect-Air, and Contemporary Controls. The 2013 ControlTrends Awards voting ballots have been emailed to all registered voters. If you still need to register, click here!

Hanging Out With Easy IO’s Mike Marston in Korea: Stromquist & Company’s Rob Allen was joined by Easy IO’s Mike Marston to discuss the Easy IO training class coming to Stromquist’s Atlanta location January 13, 2014. Want to come to Atlanta and hang out with Mike and Rob and learn about how to use the amazing Easy IO controllers.

ControlTalk Now welcomes its first guest Richard K. Warner, PE, CEM, DCEP, CxA, EBCP of OM|E out of Baltimore, MD. Rick’s company is one of the only premiere master system integrators in the country, taking integration to where the brave and the bold dare not go. An astute believer and practitioner of core competency, Rick shares his vantage point, experience, and visions of what is to come in the world of high-level integration.

Lynxspring’s 2013 ControlTrends Awards Best Building Application of the Year Nominee-Lynxspring’s LYNX CyberPRO the industry’s first cyber-threat protection solution designed specifically to enhance the cyber protection of commercial building automation and energy management systems.

Tridium’s Ed Merwin Stops By For A Chat. “Here’s my Problem, How can Technology Fix it?” This is a one-of-a-kind industry insight with Ed Merwin, Director, VYKON Automation Energy Security, and nominee for the 2013 ControlTrends Person of the Year. Ed Merwin is one of the most respected voices in the Building Automation Industry and Ed explains the enormous success of the Niagara Framework. Tridium is a software company that provides building automation services. Often starting at “Here’s my problem, how can technology fix it?” Tridium has emerged as the industry’s great web-enabled integration solution that continues to create a growing ecosystem around the Niagara Framework.

Google Puts “More” Skin in the Thermostat Game! Houston, We Have…”> EnergySense: Google Puts “More” Skin in the Thermostat Game! Houston, We Have… Google reportedly testing smart thermostats in ‘EnergySense’ program. By Alexis Santos, 1 day ago on engadget. Google called it quits on a smart thermostat two years ago, but it looks like the company couldn’t resist circling back to the idea. According to two of The Information’s sources and a document reviewed by the outlet, Mountain View has been conducting a trial of Internet-connected thermostats to help users keep tabs on their energy use and adjust accordingly.

Thermokon: Energy Harvesting meets Display — No Batteries, No Wires! The SR06LCD is the highlight of Thermokon’s new and innovative series. With its maximum power energy management the unit operates without external supply voltage. The custom solar cell self-sufficiently powers the device and the energy is harvested by artificial or natural light sources in a room. A continual indication temperature and humidity, set point, fan stages, presence and window status without user wake up is displayed and the ability to control room comfort levels with set point and fan stages buttons.

Honeywell MVN Actuator Update: Short Order Codes Now Available. In October, Honeywell released the MVN Rotary Valve Actuator that is used with the VBN and VRN valve product families. This innovative actuator provides easy assembly and dramatically cuts installation time. The new compact design and flexible wiring configurations give installers the ability to meet strict requirements for any project.

Happy Holidays. CONTROL TRENDS NEWS FLASH: Control Trends is releasing to you, ALL our valued readers…A HAPPY HOLIDAY MESSAGE… The Message is SIMPLE: ” We want to express our deepest Holiday Wishes to you and your Families.” We hope that EVERYONE will receive this message…

ControlTrends welcomes its second guest, Greg Barnes from ActiveLogix. Greg Barnes is pure pedigree Niagara integration and Activelogix, LLC is one of the most prolific providers of Internet-based enterprise automation solutions in the US. Featuring Periscope, one of the most flexible and versatile enterprise integration tools available, ActiveLogix provides design services, consulting, custom applications and technologies to enable management and optimization of sustainable, energy-efficient, and secure facilities in a multi-vendor, cross platform environment.

nHaystack Coming from one Direction, OSCRE, and the Real Estate Industry, are Coming from the Other! We are just getting to know and realize the enormous benefits nHaystack has to offer and the prodigious efforts being made by the nHaystack Community. Project Haystack is an open source initiative to develop tagging conventions and taxonomies for building equipment and operational data. Looks like there’s an equally serious initiative with a different perspective rising from within the Real Estate Industry to implement its own information standard to deal with the challenges of information exchange.

Critical Inventions and Discoveries: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 51: 2. Georg Simon Ohm, (born March 16, 1789, Erlangen, Bavaria [Germany]—died July 6, 1854, Munich), German physicist who discovered the law, named after him, which states that the current flow through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference (voltage) and inversely proportional to the resistance.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW Week Ending December 22, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Industry Leaders and 2013 ControlTrends Awards Sponsors: Honeywell, J2 Innovations, and Contemporary Controls. The voting ballots will be emailed to all registered voters this week. Register to vote.

Breaking Down 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of The Year — The Magnificent Stats Seven:
EnTouch: More than just a thermostat, EnTouch’s James Walton, shows you all the great things the Entouch Thermostat and EMS control system can do.
Ecobee: Stuart Lomard and his team at Ecobee continue to impress with the Ecobee line of thermostats. The style and functionally of the Ecobee thermostat is not lost on the world wide ControlTrends community.
Nest: What goes a round comes a round. The innovative folks at Nest are nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Thermostat of The Year for the second year in a row.
Honeywell Prestige: The Honeywell Prestige redefines how a thermostat can look and function and is the easiest-to-use programmable thermostat available. This RedLINK enabled line includes a: 7 Day Programming wizard, Multi-Language Options & USB setup, Customizable Service Reminders.
Viconics VT8000: The VT8000 Series is nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of the Year and here’s why: There has never been a better hospitality solution with as much flexibility and energy savings features built into one elegant device as the Viconics VT8000.
KMC FlexStat: Small Building Automation with the KMC Controls FlexStat! From a single space to multiple zones in a building, KMC has many possible building automation solutions. Control temperature, humidity, even CO2 levels, and link that control to schedules and motion-based room occupancy for maximum energy efficiency.
Mamac MaverickStat IP-MT-201: The IP MaverickStat® Appliance has an embedded lean TCP-IP stack including HTTP, SMTP, DHCP, DNS, FTP, and ARP. The Maverick also has XML embedded with formatted input and output data. In this way, the Maverick can communicate directly with any IT system which has an XML parser. Similarly, any simple JavaScript can be used to communicate and acquire HTML data. These unique features enable the Maverick to function as an extremely low cost XML and HTML node for large enterprise IT systems.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes it first guest, DG Logik’s Arthur Lebendisky, a nominee for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards category Most Valuable Support Person of the Year. Arthur shares with the ControlTrends community just how important DG Logik, nominated for 6 ControlTrends Awards, considers technical support and Arthur gives his personal commitment to each and every DG Logik customer.

NOVO FIN Online Training: A detailed training session of the basic features of Fin Builder. We’ll start with the setup process of Fin Builder and work our way through the best practices to help you manage your project in Fin. NOVO INTEGRATIONS

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its second guest, Jason Briggs of J2 Innovations. J2 is nominated for several 2013 ControlTrends Awards: Best HVAC Controls Executive of the Year, Best Building Application of the Year, and Building Graphic Tool of the Year. Jason explains the success and growing demand for J2’s FIN Builder.

Realcomm Webinar: Best Practices – Best of the Best for 2013 Intelligent Building Technologies. Marc Petock, Vice President, Marketing, Lynxspring, Inc. Top Contributor. This best practice technology showcase will focus on the newest products, services and concepts involving the highest profile smart building applications. This webinar will provide a great deal of information about Intelligent Building Technologies in a short period of time.

Siemens Becomes Sponsor Member of OpenADR Alliance and Joins Board of Directors. Global powerhouse views OpenADR as key piece for demand response strategy. MORGAN HILL, Calif., Dec. 10, 2013: The OpenADR Alliance today announced that Siemens, a global leader in electrical engineering and electronics, has become a Sponsor Member of the OpenADR Alliance.

IT Business Edge’s: The 10 Worst Data Breaches of 2013: IT Business Edge is the leading source of IT news and information. Here’s some very interesting and scary stuff about data breaches. One of the more surprising breaches named by experts in our roundup was former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks.

Honeywell announced the expansion of its Spyder controller portfolio with the launch of Spyder with Relays, Sylk I/O and Zio® Lite sylk-enabled wall modules, all of which provide added flexibility and significantly reduce installation time for contractors. “Enhancements to our Spyder controller line were designed with our contractors in mind,” said Tom Rosback, general manager-Commercial Control Systems at Honeywell.”

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its third guest, Ed Merwin, Director, VYKON Automation Energy Security, and nominee for the 2013 ControlTrends Person of the Year. Ed is a consummate professional and one of the most recognized names in the Building Automation and Integration industry. Vykon is nominated for 6 ControlTrends Awards.

Niagara Summit 2014 Powered By Possibilities! Did We Mention it’s in Vegas?What can you expect from the Niagara Summit? Amazing keynotes from industry leaders and experts. Relevant and helpful brainstorming sessions. Valuable networking opportunities. Thoughtful discussions about next-generation solutions for automation infrastructure technology. Did we mention it’s in Vegas? REGISTER NOW!

5 More HVAC Giants: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 50: 1. The History of the Solenoid Valve: ASCO, in 1888 started out manufacturing elevator, compressor and generator controls. In 1910 ASCO became the first company to develop and manufacture a new electrically operated control device known as the solenoid valve. ASCO continued its development activity in these product areas and today manufactures products that are designed to control the flow of air, gas, water, oil and steam – practically every kind of liquid or gaseous substance.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW Week Ending December 15, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s Platinum Sponsors: Vykon, EasyIO, DG Logik, and ControlCo DataEye Pro. These four industry superstars are nominated for a combined total of (22) 2013 ControlTrends Awards. The time draws near! Register to vote today.

ABB Poll: What is the Most Effective Energy Savings Action You’ve Taken in the Past 12 Months? ABB Reader Poll: What is the most effective energy savings action you’ve taken in the past 12 months? Reduced temperatures, Added VFDs, Added DCIM, Virtualization, or Other.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes EasyIO’s global executive Mike Marston and special guest, William Achury, President, Sanko Telecom Ltd, a leading solutions provider from Tokyo, Japan (Thank You very much!). Great insight into EasyIO passing muster in a very challenging and competitive market.

Seminar on How SGIP Supports Electric Utilities, Regulators, Manufacturers and Integrators: How SGIP Supports Electric Utilities, Regulators, Manufacturers and Integrators in 2014 to Ensure Electric Grid Reliability in 2014 to Ensure Electric Grid Reliability Seminar. Join SGIP Thursday, December 12, 2013 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST.

AQUISITION NEWS! WattStopper Buys AIC-Wireless — Lighting Solutions for the High Performance Buildings WattStopper’s Pete Horton delivered this exciting announcement on the November 24th ControlTalk NOW. The combination of AIC Wireless and Bryan Pike’s expertise of the Tridium Niagara architecture with WattStopper’s extensive application understanding of the lighting and electrical infrastructures offers the high performance building industry new and exciting opportunities.

Controls Group North America (CGNA), Together We Accomplish More. The ControlTrends Awards Committee thanks CGNA’s Mike Sackett and Jim Hayman for their sponsorship of the 2013 ControlTrends Awards. Controls Group North America (CGNA) is the leading network of Distributor Members and Manufacturer Preferred Vendors in HVAC/R industry. CGNA provides innovative solutions and takes a progressive approach to evolving your business. Through committees, conferences, webinars, and networking opportunities, CGNA impacts our Members’ and Preferred Vendors’ bottom line by increasing their market share.

ControlTalk NOW’s second guest, Brian Turner, President of ControlCo, an Oakland-based control solution provider and one of USA’s largest integration distributors, reviews DataEye Pro, which is a candidate for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Best Building Application of the Year Award. After watching this interview, it’s easy to understand why DataEye Pro was nominated.

Five More HVAC Giants: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 48: 1. Watts Water Technologies: In 1857, at the age of 17, Joseph E. Watts emigrated to Lawrence, Mass., from Cheshire, England seeking his fortune as a machinist. Just 17 years later Watts set up an independent machine shop, known as the Watts Regulator Company, to supply machinery parts and fittings to the local textile mills. In addition to his success at running his own business, Joseph Watts was extremely inventive—and he soon achieved widespread fame in the manufacturing world as the patentee and maker of steam and water pressure regulators.

The Value of the Collaborative Community, by Marc Petock, Vice President, Marketing, Lynxspring, Inc. Original article published in Automated Buildings’ December, 2013 edition, entitled, “Collaborating Convergence.” Collaboration simply means “to work together with a shared vision and desired outcome for the future.” Today, many innovations are being fueled by collaborative, connected community efforts. We see it most clearly in the Internet and web, where new capabilities are continuously developed by communities that build on the work of others, creating “mashups”, and new complimentary applications.

Nest Encounters of the Second Kind — Nest Protect: Something Different, Something Better! I wonder if its the golden-green Palo Alto sun? But, without a doubt, Tony, and the outside-the-box-thinkers at Nest have struck synergy-oil again. And, with every single modern residence in the world as a possible customer, any electrical appliance, gas, or water consuming device is the next likely egg in the nest (get it). Immediate future plans: Early 2014, will introduce Nest Protect model that works with wired security systems. If you add enough “nestrogen” to anything, you can make it more lovable, networkable, energy efficient, and practical. If we’re going to keep taking bites out of our own poison privacy apple, we might as well make them as economically and aesthetically delicious as possible.

Lynxspring JENEsys — Nominee for ControlTrends Awards 2013 Building Automation System of the Year: Lynxspring’s JENEsys® is an open, operational and informational platform that combines building automation (connectivity, integration and interoperability), supervision and control, energy management and actionable information (data & analytics) into a single system within a cyber-secured environment. The JENEsys Platform is scalable and deployment allows organizations to continually build off the same network deployment for adding additional applications as desired.

J2 FINBuilder Cool Feature of the Month — nHaystack Tagging Basics: J2 Innovation reviews nHaystack Tagging Basics: nHaystack is a software module that enables external applications to get data out of Niagara stations quickly and efficiently. Once a system is tagged many new and exciting things become possible. By setting up a Site, Equipment, and tags on your points, you can combine data from multiple networks, and view them in one organized list within the haystack service. Now queries can easily be run against any tags on a nHaystack station to dynamically simplify the implementation of visualization, analytics, reporting and mobile apps. Download the nHaystack Service module and get started!

Demand Response Analysis Tools Available — The OpenADR Alliance is partnering with Joule Assets to provide the OpenADR community with free access to their DR market analysis tools for the next 30 days. After 30 days, only members of the OpenADR Alliance will have access to the free tools.

Functional Devices Inc. Switching Smart Transceivers in LonMark RIBs from FT3120 to FT5000 12/1/2013: Message to Valued Customers. Functional Devices Inc. will be switching the Smart Transceiver in the LonMark RIB Devices below from FT3120 to FT5000 starting December 1, 2013. Devices that contain an override switch will now give the customer the ability to switch the output from N/O to N/C with an on-board jumper. The layout and connections have changed slightly, and FDI will included a new DI status LED (pink). The main advantage to customers will be the elimination of commissioning fees.

Yaskawa Nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Variable Frequency Drive of The Year: For the second year in a row, the Yaskawa Z1000 has been nominated for the ControlTrends Variable Frequency Drive of The Year. Yaskawa provided the Control Trends Community this video on their Z1000 Series. The Drives & Motion Division of Yaskawa America, Inc. announces the release of the Z1000 variable speed drive designed specifically for commercial HVAC applications.

We introduce you to momit Smart Thermostat, a Spanish manufacturer, Thanks to Chantal Marin-Bourceraau, Product Manager and Business Development at Introducing the momit Smart Thermostat — (Europe’s Version of the Nest) Green momit, ControlTrends has learned of yet another innovative and smart thermostat sweeping across European markets, with a possible eye on the North American market as well.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its fourth guest, Michael Welch, Co-founder, Control Network Solutions Ltd. from Chineham, Hampshire, United Kingdom. Michael shares with us, another global perspective of ControlTrends and our industry.

Connecting More IoT-dots: Apple’s iBeacon Debuts This Christmas Season, Previews Connections Yet to Come: ControlTrends thanks Building Context’s Therese Sullivan, therese@runwaypartners.com, once again for her timely and relevant insight (and image) into the cataclysmic change that is moving into place around us as IoT-dots (Internet of Things) so fast that we can barely see or perceive them, let alone comprehend the impact (disruption) these IoT-dots will be making in our lives, homes, and quite possibly to our industry, once connected. Be sure to access the linked content, and especially, read the comments at the end of the post.

Can The Honeywell VFD Repeat as ControlTrends Best Variable Frequency Drive of The Year? Honeywell, winner of the coveted 2012 ControlTrends Awards Variable Frequency Drive of the Year, is nominated again in the Best Variable Frequency Drive of The Year category. Watch this video to see why many in the world wide ControlTrends Community think the Honeywell Smart VFD has the right stuff.

Sad News from Lynxspring’s Terry Swope, Bruce Stimpson, CIO and Dear Friend Passes. It is with a heavy heart that I announce the unexpected passing of Bruce Stimpson. Bruce was co-founder of Lynxspring, Vice President, CIO and dear friend. Please join me in offering his family and friends our sincerest condolences during this sad time. We will miss his smile, jokes, hard work, direction and undeniable passion for Lynxspring.

KMC’S In Touch Newsletter​, Q4 2013: KMC Wins Big in Vegas! Each year, the industry organization, BACnet International, uses the platform of the National Facilities Management and Technology (NFM&T) Exposition in Las Vegas, Nevada to recognize outstanding contributions to the BACnet community. And each year, it seems, KMC walks away as a winner in the BACnet “Leaders of the Pack” awards. For the second time in 4 years, KMC (and a KMC rep) were recognized with top honors. “Best in Show” for the outstanding BACnet project of the year, went to The Bullitt Center of Seattle Washington. KMC representative, Roger Norman of Northwest Automation, was the controls contractor/system integrator for the project and KMC products highlight this landmark facility.

2013 ControlTrends VFD Award Nominee: Johnson Controls — A VFD for Every HVAC Application. Johnson Controls featured the significant additions and improvements they made to their VFD offering at the 2013 ABCS Building Championship Teams Conference. Take a look! Johnson Controls is anxious to save you and your customer energy and money on your next VFD purchase. The Johnson Controls VSD series of variable speed drives offers a broad range of competitively priced open drives and drives with bypass, specifically engineered for Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) applications.

5 More HVAC Giants: Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 49 1. More than 100 years ago, Edwin Ruud, a Norwegian mechanical engineer, came to America and developed the first successful automatic water heater. That early success marked the beginning of a tradition of innovation and value that led to the introduction of RUUD heating and air conditioning equipment in the 1950s.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW Week Ending December 8, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s sponsors: Contemporary Controls, Connect-Air Wire & Cable, ACI, and CGNA. Without their generous support, the ControlTrends Awards would not be possible.

Mike Marston and EasyIO Continue to Raise the Bar! EasyIO’s Mike Marston, nominated for both the 2013 HVAC Controls Executive and ControlTrends Person of the year (PID), provided these exciting EasyIO updates: Modbus Client and Server are now released; BACnet Server over IP is in testing, available 1st quarter of 2014; BACnet Client over IP (can then manage a 30P over IP) Mid-to-late December; and BACnet Server over MSTP will be ready in January, 2014, as will BACnet Client over MSTP (can then manage MSTP devices). APPROVED already: UL, CUL, FCC, CE, CTick. BTL March, 2014.

ControlTalk Now: Announcing The 2013 ControlTrends Awards Finalists. The ControlTrends Awards Committee thanks its world-wide community for its participation in selecting these prestigious nominees. The ControlTrends Awards proudly present the 2013 ControlTrends Finalists.

Johnson Controls Rolls Out New Smoke & Fire Damper Options, Electronic Measurement, Wireless Tester. Ken and I had a chance to see what Johnson is doing to make fire and smoke dampers more efficient. A new customizable Electronic Air Measurement Station is now available and Life Safety Dampers wireless tester that reports pass/fail test information without the ladder and moving ceiling tiles.

WattStopper Hot off the Press – New Product Selection Guide Online + App. Check out the NEW Product Selection Guide and App for iOS! WattStopper has published its new Product Selection Guide (PSG), a comprehensive catalog of energy-efficient lighting controls and services that help enable a net zero future. For the first time ever, WattStopper’s handy PSG is accessible from your iPad or iPhone! Access specifications, wiring diagrams, and coverage patterns of the products WattStopper offers while you’re on the go. Download the “WattStopper Solutions Guide” from the iTunes App Store today!

DGLogik’s DGBox and EnOcean Sensors: Has the Future of Control Arrived? Great job to Eugene Mazo and his team at DGLogik for this innovative hotel room solution interfacing a full compliment of EnOcean wireless and self-powered devices with DG Lux, the industry’s leading visualization and graphic software. Could this be the next high-end hotel room controller? My guess is that it won’t be long before Eugene and his team figure out how to recreate the conventional thermostat with a DG Stat version of what we watched in the video — and make thermostats like the Nest look like a thing of the past. In 2015 could DGLogik, who is up for numerous awards at the 2013 ControlTrends Awards, add the 2015 Thermostat Control of the Year to their accomplishments?

Viconics VT8000: The Perfect Balance Between Simplicity and Sophistication! The VT8000 Series is nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of the Year and here’s why: There has never been a better hospitality solution with as much flexibility and energy savings features built into one elegant device as the Viconics VT8000. Innovative control solutions that feature flexibility, easy installation, and optimized comfort. The Viconics VT8000 series offers Energy Saving Occupancy Strategies, Simplified Installation, Customizable Interface, Scalability and Optimization.

MomentumOnTour Update from Pittsburgh. Honeywell”s Steve Amato and Scott Dixon reviewed the new Sylk Bus products, Zio Lite Wall Modules, Spyder Controller with Relays, Sylk I/O Module, Stryker CVAHU controller, UL 555S DCA’s and valve products. Visit buildingcontrols.honeywell.com to get all the info!

Meet ControlTalk NOW guest Bryan Pike formerly with AIC Wireless. Bryan talk about WattStopper’s BULIT wireless product, which is nominated for the 2013 Commercial Product of the Year. Pete Horton welcomes Bryan to the team.

ACI — Combining Great People with Great Products! Is it a Wisconsin Thing? ACI is nominated for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards for Best Periphery Product from a Small Manufacturer, but ACI is likely to outgrow that category and soon, because ACI is a thriving entity on the move — setting new standards in the temperature, humidity, pressure, gas sensor, interface devices, wireless sensor, and building automation accessories markets. ACI’s two key acquisitions: Advanced Control Technologies’ (ACT’s) Interface Control Components line and Trs Systems Wireless Sensors and Controls give ACI complete application solutions and a much greater reach into every building space.

Honeywell’s Q5020 Linkage Assembly Improvement: Honeywell is pleased to announce that the Q5020 globe valve linkage has been improved. In addition, Honeywell obsoleted the Q5020B and replaced it with the Q5020A model. Product Information: The Q5020 linkage mounting plate has been redesigned to work seamlessly with our 27-300 lb-in actuator models. We extended the existing center channel of the mounting plate to accommodate all actuator sizes and mouniting configurations. The new linkage design greatly reduces the installation time. Q5020 globe valve linkages connect a Honeywell direct coupled actuator (DCA) to two-way and three-way steam or water globe valves up to 3 inches.

Indianapolis’ Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW #481 Present – Circle of Lights Special thanks to Honeywell’s Roger Rebennack for sharing Indianapolis’ Circle of Lights® presented by Quality Connection and IBEW #481: a must-see holiday tradition! Video available. 100,000 spectators. 4,784 colored lights. 52 garland strands. 52 larger-than-life decorations. 51 years. One must-see holiday tradition! For 51 years, thousands of spectators have gathered Downtown at Monument Circle to see the most spectacular holiday display illuminate. Indy’s most beloved holiday tradition is here again. Circle of Lights® presented by the Contractors of Quality Connection and Electrical Workers of IBEW #481 will take place the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 2013.

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 47: 1. Edison vs. Tesla: Toasting a Rivalry That Drove Innovation. By Marissa Newhall Managing Editor, Energy.gov All this week on Energy.gov, we explored the storied rivalry between two of history’s most important energy-related inventors.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW Week Ending November 24, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks this week’s ControlTrends Awards Platinum sponsor Ed Merwin and Vykon. VYKON®, is a comprehensive set of applications that synchronize, manage and control major building system functions required in a facility, such as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, energy, lighting, security, fire, safety, and unitary devices. Built on Tridium’s Niagara Framework®, VYKON integrates diverse systems and devices – regardless of manufacturer, or communication protocol – into a unified platform that can be easily managed and controlled in real time over the Internet using a standard web browser.

Are BAS and SCADA Systems Doomed? Is Blue Pillar’s Digital Energy Network Next? The article “The Move Beyond Building Automation Systems to a More Secure Energy Infrastructure” by Brad Witter, EVP of Technology and Operations at Blue Pillar, Inc., was brought to light compliments of Lynxspring’s Marc Petock, VP Marketing. The implications of this article may cause some discomfort, especially, if you believe your are on or near the top of rung of the BAS technology ladder. Large infrastructures (hospitals, universities, industrial parks, malls, and supermarkets and the like) are shifting their big gears to reduce their security and service disruption vulnerabilities, shifting towards a digital energy network that may leave the customized and inflexible software providers, featuring their “individual-dependent” options — well outside the emerging solutions zone.

The Belimo Energy Valve Returns — Knowledge is Power! Belimo’s Energy Valve won the 2012 ControlTrends Award Commercial Product of the Year. Amongst incredible competition, a Belimo Energy Valve repeat performance is possible. With performance serving as the operative word, the MIT research presentation on the Energy Valve remains one of the most compelling engineering endorsements of product performance to date. Belimo is making more energy valve products available. Learn more.

November 14th, 2013 TridiumTALK — Register Now! The November TridiumTALK will provide an introduction to the Program Services feature in Niagara. This session will focus on the Program Service’s feature that allows users to create customized components. Les Newman, a member of Tridium’s Technical Support team, will lead this session of TridiumTALK.

Tim’s Tech Tips: Understanding Chiller Surge: “Just the Facts ma’am.” No, it’s not Joe Friday from the 70′s television series Dragnet, it’s Stromquist & Company’s,Tim Chamblee. Tim in addition to being a super star salesman for Stromquist & Company is one of the best trainers in the country. In this excerpt, from one of Tim’s chiller classes, Tim gives you “the facts” you need to know about Chiller Surge. Knowledge is power. In this episode of Tim’s Tech tips, he gives you a 357 worth of chiller knowledge to take to a knife fight.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its first guest, KMC’s Ben Dorsey, Sr. VP, Marketing & Communications at KMC Controls.

ControlTrends Catches Up With Johnson Controls Jim Mangini: We had the pleasure of speaking with Jim Mangini at the 2013 Johnson Controls Business Conference. Jim is Vice President and General Manager of Distribution and Manufacturing at Johnson Controls. The 2013 Johnson Controls ABCS theme was “Building Champion Teams.” We can gratefully assure you firsthand, that Jim Mangini, his entire staff at Johnson Controls, and all the distributors and contractors, are a “Championship Team” indeed.

ControlTalk NOW welcomes its next series of guests from Johnson Controls, Jim Mangini,VP and General Manager, Distribution and Manufacturing, Don Albinger, VP, Building Automation Systems, and Earl Doyle, Director SMART Equipment Systems and Global HVAC and Refrigeration Product Management.

Honeywell Momentum on Tour Update: How The Honeywell Sylk Bus saves Money! Honeywell’s Sylk Bus is all about better contracting and more profitable business. The Honeywell Sylk Bus offers contractors a straight-forward, yet significant competitive edge — because it rewards proficiency. Get more of your project done faster with less wiring and leverage Honeywell’s dependable and potent Sylk Technology. Let the Sylk Force be with you.

Read Navigant Research’s Leaderboard Report on Smart Thermostats: Steadily overcoming the privacy issues and consumer apathy with waves of Incentives, Regulations, and Smart Marketing, the Smart Grid continues to fuel the Smart Thermostat industry. It makes too much sense for those manufacturers with the know how and resources to wax “green and greedy” and get their piece of this enormous and growing pie. This Navigant Research Leaderboard report reviews the contenders and challengers, with a fresh 30,000 feet view down to the name and numbers level.

ControlTalk NOW’s third guest, Laura Conkle, Account Manager at Functional Devices, Inc. provided an in-depth review of FDI’s offering.

CONTEMPORARY CONTROLS: Your Industry Experts in Network Technology: Building on BACnet® George Thomas and Contemporary Controls are the reigning experts in network technology for a wide range of applications. The new EIPR-V Skorpion, is a VPN Router that provides secure remote Virtual Private Network (VPN) access to the Internet via a cellular or Ethernet connection. Contemporary Controls offers an unparalleled range of industrial and BAS solutions (see below). Need answers or ideas? Visit Contemporary Control’s extensive learning resource center and video library.

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 46: 1. International Facility Management Association (IFMA) December 5, 2013 Webinar: The Lighting Energy Efficiency in Parking (LEEP) Campaign is a recognition and guidance program designed to encourage facility owners and managers to take advantage of savings opportunities from high efficient lighting solutions in their parking facilities. Webinar registrants will learn more about the LEEP Campaign, get a review of lighting controls for parking facilities and see the results of a parking structure retrofit utilizing efficient equipment and multiple controls, resulting in energy savings of 45%.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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The post ControlTalk NOW Week Ending November 17, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

The CTA Awards Committee thanks this week’s Platinum Sponsor EasyIO and Mike Marston for their 2013 ControlTrends Awards Platinum Sponsorship. The EasyIO FG-32 Beast from the East is up for the 2013 Building Automation Controller of the Year.

Honeywell Universal Fire and Smoke Damper Actuators: We saw this product offering at the Stromquist & Company Honeywell Momentum on Tour event in Atlanta. As the video shows it has great features and is easy to set up and install.

Power Metering from Siemens: Siemens recently announced availability of its new MD Power Meter, a submetering device designed to provide real time, accurate electricity metering to enable proper control over energy costs. The meter can capture kWh/kW energy and demand data, as well as virtually all relevant energy parameters for diagnostics and monitoring on three-phase or single-phase circuit installations.

What is Easier to Understand: The IRS Tax Code or Instructions on How to Calibrate a Pneumatic Thermostat? Pneumatic thermostats are still very much in use. Unless you have been around for a while and calibrated one of these devices, they can be a bit time consuming to figure out. The biggest thing to get past is the vocabulary involved. What one vendor calls “proportional band” another calls ” % authority”. Remember these things were state of the art technology when Don Draper and the boys from the TV show Mad Men had three martini lunches and got paid lots of money to make up words to call things.

Read Automated Buildings’ Automated Buildings’ Ken Sinclair: “I am Very Pleased With This Disruptive Issue.””>Ken Sinclair: “I am Very Pleased With This Disruptive Issue.” Check out the Automatedbuildings.com November’s theme – Delivering Disruption. Delivering Disruption seems like an unlikely topic to speak to, but it is exactly the business we all are in today as we provide new solutions that leap over and significantly change our existing marketplace.

Can The Siemens PICV Valve Win The ControlTrends Best Commerical Product of The Year? A very cool product that saves energy and corrects flow problems, the Siemens PICV features a flow limiter, control valve, and automatic pressure differential regulator all in one, and deserves serious consideration for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Commercial Product of The Year.

Johnson Controls Nominated For 2013 ControlTrends Awards Best Technical Support By A Vendor: We caught up with Johnson Controls Chris Lane at the 2013 Johnson Controls Business Conference. Chris offered some insights into why Johnson Controls does such a great job when it comes to providing technical support. If you think Johnson Controls should win the best technical support award, make sure you register to vote and we will sense you a ballot when it is time to pick your winners for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards.

ControlTrends first two guests, Chris Lane, Johnson Controls and Greg Wilmer, Johnson Controls, provide in-depth insight into one of Johnson Controls’ premiere corporate strengths: Technical Support.

GSA Releases RFI: Innovative Building Technologi​es for GSA Green Proving Ground FY 2014 Program. The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather responses from private sector entities, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and other interested parties on emerging and innovative building technologies in support of its Green Proving Ground (GPG) program. The GPG leverages GSA’s real estate portfolio as a “proving ground” to evaluate emerging building technologies that promise to improve the environmental performance of GSA’s portfolio while reducing operational costs.

Get KMC Controls’ FREE Product Resource Mobile App Now! Check out KMS’s free Product Resource Mobile APP that allows you to: • Quickly and easily find and access detailed information on KMC core products • Download Data Sheets and Installation & Operation Guides directly to your device • Store critical product data natively on your device for offline retrieval at a project site • Email product documentation directly from your device.

Breaking Down 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of The Year Finalist Entouch Controls: James Walton, from Entouch Controls, shows you all the great things the Entouch Thermostat and control system can do. As you can see Entouch is much more than just a thermostat, and is very deserving as a finalist in the 2013 ControlTrends Awards Thermostat of The Year Competition.

EnTouch Raises $8.5M for Small Commercial Energy Monitoring: EnTouch is coming to a mall near you! With its recent funding firmly in place, EnTouch will now have the resources to aggressively compete in the light commercial building space. The EnTouch Energy Management System combines the look and ease of a modern, user-friendly thermostat with the control, monitoring, and energy management capabilities of a system. Restaurants and retail chains need energy efficiency, too! And EnTouch Controls will continue to meet that need — on a national basis with the $8.25 million in Series B financing secured to expand its small commercial energy management offerings.

ControlTalk NOW third guest Greg Fasullo of EnTouch Controls.

MiniVan Jack: As mentioned during the show, there are some viewers with a differing opinion on the smart and connected shroud we are placing around ourselves. MiniVan Jack believes that that kind of smartness may be a well-disguised noose, that will forever invade our privacy.

J2 Cool Feature of the Month: FIN Mobile now makes commanding points even more convenient. All you have to do is set up a nav containing your FIN project files. Launching FIN Mobile brings up a points list containing all of the points that where used in selected FINp. The points list allows you to view and command any point without having to load up the graphic, enabling a quick and effective user experience.

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 45: 1. SmartAmerica Challenge: Cyber-Physical Systems to be Focus of White House Workshop on December 12, 2013. What would be possible if multiple cyber-physical system test beds encompassing different industry segments were interconnected via an industrial internet to demonstrate functionality greater than each individual part? The SmartAmerica Project is bringing together organizations with cyber-physical systems (CPS) technology, programs and test beds to demonstrate the potential to improve safety, sustainability, efficiency, mobility, and overall quality of life.

ControlTalk NOW thanks its three special guests (in order of appearance) Steve Roe of MI Controls, Dave Suskie of Twinco, and Scott Twomey of Temperature Control Systems. Three great people from three great companies and members of Controls Group North America.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

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Want to subscribe and listen to ControlTalk now as a Podcast?

The post ControlTalk NOW for Week Ending November 10, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.

ControlTalk NOW thanks Belimo — this week’s Platinum sponsor! Innovations in Comfort, Energy Efficiency and Safety Solutions. Belimo Americas, a world leader in the design and manufacture of damper actuators and control valves used in commercial HVAC systems. Known for its direct-coupled actuator and innovations in pressure independent control valve technology, Belimo has solutions to maintain an energy efficient building environmen

Make a Splash This Summer with the “Dive into FIN” Program: Throughout Summer 2013, J2 Innovations is running a special program designed to help System Integrators and Distributors quickly become experts in FIN by providing personalized one-on-one support.

Is Your Building Automation System an Open Door To Hackers? interview Cylance Inc.’s Terry McCorkle at IBcon 2013. If you have been following Controltrends, you know we have been sounding the alarm about the current trend of building automation systems being hacked and the problems caused by these intrusions.

KMC Needs Your Vote to Win 2013 BACnet International Competition! For the next couple of weeks a window of opportunity is open for you to acknowledge the role of KMC Controls in the BACnet community. The annual BACnet International Leaders of the Pack award nominations are now underway. We encourage you to take advantage of this open window to nominate KMC or KMC-submitted success stories for recognition.

A Day In The Life of A Smart Building: Prelude for Ken’s interview tomorrow with Dan Klasen, from ESI, by watching this video, ControlTrends members will get a better perspective of the Master Systems Integrator’s grand scale integration.

ESI’s Dan Klasen Explains the Role of Master Systems Integrator at IBCON 2013: Environmental Systems Inc. (ESI) is a leading Master Systems Integrator servicing the GSA, Kohls, Macys, and other national accounts to provide “portfolio-driven” services generating the normalized data source that optimizes efficiencies and reduces operational costs. ESI combines their own resources and experience with those of the local systems integrators to meet the challenges of large, coast-to-coast portfolios.

Contemporary Controls Video: Understanding EIA-485: Connectors, Grounding and Protection: This video discusses the importance of cabling and repeaters. Cables attenuate and distort signal, so cable selection depends on data rate, encoding, distance. Repeaters that use the data link protocol are more reliable than basic EIA-485 repeaters.

Can Honeywell Win Variable Frequency Drive of The Year Again? Not if Teco Westinghouse, Siemens, Johnson Controls, ABB, and all the other self respecting VFD manufactures have anything to say about it. Click here to see Honeywell bring home the award at the 2012 ControlTrends Awards, and click here to register to nominate and vote for the 2013 ControlTrends Awards.

Enerliance’s LOBOS Leads the Way — Ray Pustinger at IBCON 2013. Enerliance was founded by two building controls experts, Scot Duncan, P.E. and Bob Johnson. Before founding Enerliance, Scot and Bob spent 30 years working together manually optimizing the performance of some of California’s premier real estate facilities.

Doesn’t the Honeywell Delphi Boiler Control System Make Absolute Sense to You? The Delphi Combustion Efficiency Panel integrates flame safeguard control, fuel-air ratio control, O2 Trim, variable frequency drive (VFD) control, and proportional integral derivative (PID) control into a single, integrated, pre-wired panel with a PC touchscreen for easy, user-friendly commissioning.

CAN2GO Demo Suitcase — The Most Powerful Sales Tool in the Industry! Can2Go has packaged a full Building Energy Management System (BEMS) to demonstrate the power of CAN2GO’s technology and its interaction with a varied ecosystem of wireless devices. Contact your Schneider Electric or Viconics representative to order your CAN2GO Demo Suitcase today!

Ken’s TOP 5 Information Pivot Points of Week 30: 1. Building a Digital Culture: Patrick Hoffstetter, the Chief Digital Officer of Renault, describes the challenges that many companies face in creating a culture with digital at its core.

Tridium News — 2014 Niagara Summit — Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas — April 27-29, 2014: Tridium’s Niagara Summit is three days of world class education from industry leading experts.

Honeywell WEBs Squad Update: At the beginning of the year we launched WEBs Squad – a team focused on improving our customer’s overall experience and driving continuous improvements with technical support, engineering, and marketing.

ControlTalk NOW will continue to provide a weekly episode featuring the people, products, and the News of the Week shaping our world of controls, building automation, and the HVAC industry.

Click here to listen to or download the Podcast version of ControlTalk Now.

Want to subscribe and listen to ControlTalk now as a Podcast?

The post ControlTalk Now For The Week Ending July 28, 2013 appeared first on ControlTrends.