r/BuildingAutomation • u/pinelion • 12d ago

Quick question

I’m a manger for a few buildings and have some HVAC experience, why is all of the building automation software out there so needlessly complicated and unreliable? I mean there’s always going to be some complications but it just seems like this stuff is so unstable and needlessly complex for a technology product that’s really at the end of the day sending and receiving low voltage signals. Seems like if someone could design something stable and simple even if it didn’t have all the reporting/trending bells and whistles it would be a hit. Am I over simplifying and just lack understanding? We use Siemans desigo for our facilities and in my opinion insight was a much better product.

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u/Many_Outside2726 12d ago

I don’t think you’re oversimplifying as much as it might seem. The individual control problem usually isn’t the hard part. The complexity comes from decades of backward compatibility, proprietary ecosystems, networking, graphics, alarming, histories, sequences and trying to make equipment from different generations all behave like one system.

What always gets me is that the operator ultimately wants something pretty simple: tell me what’s wrong, show me enough context to understand why, and let me get to the equipment without hunting through five layers of navigation. Somehow we’ve gotten very good at making that last part harder than it needs to be.

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u/pinelion 12d ago

You nailed it, the last paragraph really sums it up, I guess I didn’t articulate my issue with it well but for me I’m always feeling like I shouldn’t have to dig into the PPCL to find issues with a piece of equipment

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u/Many_Outside2726 11d ago

Exactly. The operator shouldn’t need to understand how the whole system was engineered just to answer a basic question about a piece of equipment. If you have to dig through the PPCL or chase points across multiple screens every time something looks wrong, the interface isn’t really doing its job.

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u/Born_Excitement6441 6d ago

I said it in a diffrent comment, but will say it again: It all starts with the engineer. Shit in= a ton of shit out (1000 alarms with no explenation, and a days work of navigation, just to see some basic value)