142 THE BLUE BOX LT TECHNICAL GLOSSARY
LCDBBTG03Sept08
TECHNICAL GLOSSARY
ACTIvE DEvICE
Any device with an onboard transformer, that acts as a
source of electrical energy for the bus. (e.g. Blue Box LT
panel)
ADDRESS
The associated number that identifies a device on the bus.
A Blue Box can have up to 127 unique addresses to which
devices must be assigned in order for them to work prop-
erly. Each device must be assigned one address (or more
for relay panels with more than 8 relays and defined in the
Bus Map screen.
ADDRESS COLLISION
When more than one device on the bus is assigned the
same address; refer to the “System Diagnostics Tools” sec-
tion in the O&M for information on resolving this issue.
BUS
A system consisting of digital devices communicating over
Cat. 5 cables.
BUS MAP
Defines the addresses assigned to the devices on the bus;
for example, a relay panel must be defined as “Panel LCP
x”, a 1 button switch as 1-Btn Switch, etc.
BUS-POWERED DEvICE
Any device that relies on the 12V supplied by the bus
(supplied by an active device transformer) for its power
(e.g. digital switches, and photosensor cards)
BUS SCAN
Displays the 1 – 127 addresses available on the bus that
can be assigned to LC&D digital device
The first row in first column displays addresses 1 – 10,
while the first row in the second column displays address-
es 11 – 20 and so on. A “0” indicates no device has been
assigned to the address, or there is a missing device.
Any relay panel assigned to an address will display the
number “3”, for each 8 relays. A switch, PCC or DI card
will display a “1”, and a “Link-to-” card such as a “T-Link”
or “Link-2-Ethernet” will display a “2”. A relay panel takes
up one address for every 8 relays it contains. Therefore,
a Blue Box LT 16 would take two addresses and the bus
scan display would show “33” on the two consecutive ad-
dresses that are assigned to the panel.
CAT. 5
Category 5 (Cat. 5) is a cabling standard used for high
speed data transmission. A Cat. 5 cable consists of 4 twist-
ed pairs of wire to reduce external interference (e.g. from
line voltage) and is crimped with a RJ 45 connector. There
are two commonly used wiring standards when making up
Cat 5. Cables: 568A and 568B. Either one may be used on
a bus as long as it is uniform all along.
CONDUCTOR
Any wire. (e.g. the 8 twisted-pair wires inside a Cat. 5 cable
are referred to as conductors).
CONTACT CLOSURE DEvICES
A device (e.g. low-voltage analog switch) that sends a
command to a dry contact device (e.g. DI card) input.
DIGITAL TIME CLOCk (DTC)
Contains all programming features for the system (Blue
Box LT Master Panels)
DRY CONTACT
A device that does not require voltage to function; for
example, a low-voltage analog switch tied to a DI card
input when the switch button is pressed, a closed circuit
is formed between the input pin and ground and finally a
signal is sent to perform a certain function.
“Ez”BRAND CONNECTOR
An EZ brand connector is an easy-to-use RJ45 connec-
tor used for crimping Cat. 5 cables. Every LC&D device
is provided with (at least) 2 RJ45 connectors called “EZ
connectors”. Instructions on how to crimp Cat. 5 cables
with EZ connectors are included in the “System Startup
and Cabling Guide.”
GROUND LUG
Provides a pathway to “Earth-Ground” connection for
high-voltage cabling.
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