MERLIN NX ROOM CONTROLLER – INSTALLATION & COMMISSIONING INSTRUCTIONS 
EN1Z-1035GE51 R0420  16   
COMMISSIONING 
Automatic MAC Addressing 
In contrast to other MS/TP controllers, the RxxN Controller 
features automatic MAC addressing. 
The MAC addresses which the individual RxxN controllers in 
the BACnet MS/TP channel assign to themselves are not 
assigned in sequential order. 
Rather, they assign those numbers (MAC Addr) in the range 
of 1…(maxMaster) currently not in use by another device in 
the BACnet MS/TP channel (the MAC Addr of "0" is reserved 
by default for the router / plant controller, itself). 
All RxxN controllers are BACnet MS/TP masters. Every 
master performs periodic polling for the possible appearance 
of new masters. Each master "knows" the identity of the 
"next" master (i.e., that RxxN controller with the next-highest 
MAC Addr) in the BACnet MS/TP channel and to which it 
must therefore pass the token. The polling process includes a 
search for new masters which might have MAC addresses 
lying between its own MAC address and that of the "next" 
master. 
The property maxMaster specifies the highest-allowable 
address for master nodes. maxMaster is set to 35 by default, 
thus guaranteeing that, on a BACnet MS/TP bus with, e.g., 35 
RxxN controllers, all of the other RxxN controllers will be 
found. Both the property maxMaster and the property MAC 
Addr are writeable properties that can be changed. 
NOTE:  You should not attempt to program a MAC Addr 
outside the range of 1…maxMaster. 
BACnet MS/TP
#1
#0
#2 #maxMaster
PLANT
CONTROLLER
LEGEND:
NON-RxxN (WITH MANUAL MAC ADDRESSING)
RxxN (WITH AUTOMATIC MAC ADDRESSING)
 
Fig. 21. Automatic MAC addressing 
In the scenario depicted in Fig. 21, some of the controllers in 
the BACnet MS/TP channel do not feature automatic MAC 
addressing; rather, their MAC addresses were assigned 
manually (e.g., using their two dip switches). Thus, when a 
new RxxN is added to the channel, when its automatic MAC 
addressing function is triggered, it will assign itself an 
available (i.e., unoccupied) MAC address. 
During the automatic MAD addressing process, LED behavior 
#7 (see Table 8) is displayed.