lightning strike - hardware upgrade question

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ssgross
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lightning strike - hardware upgrade question

Post by ssgross »

I haven't been around since 2014 when I built my brewery with a bcs-462. All has been well until a tree in my yard was struck by lightning last summer, 20 yards from my house. The EMP killed most all my wired network interfaces - switch was blitzed and the Ethernet ports of all it was connected to are totally gone, or unable to connect. not much survived.

My brewery was in the garage, all unplugged as I wasn't making anything. When I went to pull it out this summer...the panel shows the BCS is on and running (temp sensors display what they should), but no-go on the network connection. I tried hardwiring directly to my laptop thinking it was a network error and it would fallback to a default ip, but I can't even get that. My guess is the emp knocked out the logic circuit on the board, just as it did for my other equipment. The light is on by the ethernet plug, but no connection.

So...unless someone has a great, brewery saving idea, I am left upgrading since the 462 is deprecated.
1) My main concern is whether the 482 has the same form factor? (other than the increased depth with the 2 rows of terminal blocks). I may have to solder some splices to make on side of wires reach the other, since the blocks are all on one side. I have plenty of room depth wise, but not much in length/width.
2) I was also reading that the 482 terminal block can be easily removed and plugged back in, without disconnecting the wiring. First I have heard about it. Was that true for the 462? I don't want to yank on it unsuccessfully.
3) I didn't see any manual reset button on the housing. Is there one on the inside? If I unplugged everything and took it out of the case could I reset it and see if that saves it? Is there anyway to reset it without any network connection?
ssgross
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Re: lightning strike - hardware upgrade question

Post by ssgross »

another question - the 482 is 12v dc. I'm only switching pumps and gas valves with the 5v on the 462. should I be worried about increasing the signal voltage to 12v? My relays are 12v dc input rated, with 1.1mA draw when on, and I think 30mA max (if I'm reading the sheet correctly)
JonW
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Re: lightning strike - hardware upgrade question

Post by JonW »

Sorry to hear about the lightning. It is possible that if the ethernet cable was plugged in it could have zapped the interface. You can do a reset without taking it out of the case. Do you see flashing activity at the ethernet port? Have you used the BCS locator program to see if it is seen?

There is a small access hole on the side that you can use a non-metallic device to press the reset button. Press and hold for 15 seconds to do a full reset and it should come up as DHCP.

Yes, the 462 has pluggable wire blocks (all BCS units always have had this). The 12V switching shouldn't be an issue if your relays accept 12V. We've found using 12V has been much more robust in not only directly driving attachments, but there is less chance of folks frying the 5V outputs by overdriving them.
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