Demystifying 10BASE-T1L: Clearing Up Common Misconceptions to Unlock Innovation

As Single Pair Ethernet begins to further enter the building automation conversation, 10BASE-T1L continues to draw lots of attention, and with it, a fair amount of misunderstanding.

For some system designers and integrators, the first reaction is often skepticism:

“Isn’t it expensive?”
“Doesn’t it require specialized installers?”
“Isn’t Cat5 still cheaper and easier?”

Concerns like these are understandable. Ethernet has been utilized in building designs for decades, and new physical layers naturally invite comparison to familiar infrastructure.

However, when you take a closer look at how 10BASE-T1L is actually deployed, many of these common assumptions quickly fall away.

In reality, 10BASE-T1L was designed specifically to simplify connectivity at the edge of building networks, often making installations easier and more cost-effective than traditional Ethernet approaches.

Let’s break down a few of the most common misconceptions:

Misconception #1: 10BASE-T1L Is Expensive

At first glance, 10BASE-T1L might appear more expensive than traditional Ethernet because it requires a specialized physical layer or media converters to integrate into building use.

However, focusing only on the electronics overlooks where most network costs actually occur: installation labor and cabling infrastructure.

When these factors are considered, the economics begin to shift.

Traditional Ethernet Installation

Running standard Cat5e or Cat6 typically involves:

• Four twisted pairs
• RJ-45 connectors
• Certification tools and testing procedures
• Trained technicians performing precise crimping and termination

Even small mistakes during termination can require rework or cable replacement.

10BASE-T1L Installation

10BASE-T1L simplifies this process dramatically:

• Only one twisted pair
• Often uses simple two-wire connectors
• No complex RJ-45 termination
• Less cable bulk in conduit

For installers already working with 18–22 AWG control wiring, such as RS-485 (BACnet), or FT (LonWorks) cables, installation of 10BASE-T1L can often look very familiar. Instead of running structured/regimented IT cabling, many deployments feel more like traditional field wiring for sensors and controllers. The result is often lower installation complexity, especially in large buildings.

Misconception #2: It Requires Specialized Cabling

Another common assumption is that 10BASE-T1L requires proprietary cable.

In reality, the technology was designed to run over a simple single twisted-pair copper wire, including wiring commonly found in building automation environments.

For many retrofit scenarios, existing cabling can sometimes be reused, such as:

• Spare twisted pairs in multi-pair control cables
• Existing RS-485 BACnet building automation wiring
• Industrial 4-20 mA instrumentation cables

This flexibility can dramatically reduce the need for new cable pulls within retrofit projects.

For older buildings where conduit space is limited or difficult to access, this simplified wiring becomes a major advantage.

Misconception #3: It Requires New Installation Training

Because 10BASE-T1L is Ethernet-based, some assume it requires deep IT networking expertise.

In practice, however, the opposite is often true.

From a networking standpoint, 10BASE-T1L still carries standard Ethernet frames and IP traffic. Once connected to the network through switches or media converters, the traffic behaves exactly like any other Ethernet device.

From a wiring standpoint, installers are often working with simpler two-wire connections for 10BASE-T1L rather than multi-pair RJ-45 terminations.

For many technicians familiar with building automation or industrial control systems, the wiring process is actually more intuitive than structured Ethernet cabling.

Misconception #4: Traditional Ethernet Can Already Do Everything

Traditional Ethernet certainly works well for backbone networks and high-bandwidth devices. But it was never optimized for long-reach field connectivity.

Standard 100BASE-TX Ethernet has practical limits:

• 100 meter cable length
• Multiple intermediate switches required for longer distances
• Higher power consumption
• Larger cable bundles

10BASE-T1L was designed specifically to solve these problems.

With reach up to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) over a single pair, it allows Ethernet to extend further across a building without requiring intermediate networking hardware.

This is particularly valuable for devices located in:

• Mechanical rooms
• Rooftop equipment
• Parking structures
• Distributed I/O panels
• Long building corridors

Instead of adding switch after switch, a building network can now simply extend outward.

Misconception #5: It’s Only for Industrial Applications

While 10BASE-T1L has roots in industrial networking, its characteristics align extremely well with building automation.

Commercial building systems share many of the same requirements:

• Long distances between devices
• Large numbers of sensors and controllers
• Simple wiring requirements
• Low power consumption

As buildings continue transitioning toward IP-based control architectures, technologies like 10BASE-T1L allow Ethernet to reach the same field-level devices that previously required proprietary fieldbuses.

In other words, it helps unify building systems on a common networking foundation.

Looking at the Full System Cost

When comparing traditional Ethernet installations to 10BASE-T1L, it’s easy to focus on component pricing alone.

But real project costs usually come from:

• Cable pulling labor
• Conduit space
• Termination time
• Network switch infrastructure
• Maintenance and troubleshooting

By reducing cable complexity, extending reach, and simplifying installation, 10BASE-T1L can often reduce the total cost of deployment.

A Technology Designed for the Edge of the Network

10BASE-T1L isn’t trying to replace traditional Ethernet in server rooms or network closets. Rather, it was created to extend Ethernet all the way to the devices at the edge of the building.

Sensors, controllers, actuators, and other distributed control equipment are often located hundreds of meters away from network infrastructure. Therefore, running traditional Ethernet to every device simply is not practical.

Single Pair Ethernet optimizes building automation by allowing those devices to join the same network without the complexity and obstacles faced with traditional structured cabling.

Conclusion

As with any emerging technology, early conversations around 10BASE-T1L often include a mix of facts and assumptions.

However, once you look beyond the surface, many common concerns, such as cost, installation complexity, or training, turn out to be less significant than expected.

In many building automation environments, 10BASE-T1L can actually simplify network deployment while extending Ethernet further across a building than ever before.

Rather than replacing traditional Ethernet, it complements it, creating a practical path for bringing IP connectivity to the true edge of modern building networks.

At ASI Controls, we understand that technologies like 10BASE-T1L will play an important role in the continued evolution of building automation, and we are working diligently to develop high-performance cost-effective control solutions centered around making Single Pair Ethernet integration seamless for your next projects. By combining long-reach connectivity with standard Ethernet networking, system designers will gain new flexibility in how their building systems are designed and deployed.

 

Our friends at Absolute Comfort Control out of New Jersey completed an awesome project this year.  So awesome we just had to share…

Well done Leon!

ASI Controls has officially released its IntelliFront 5 building automation software platform. IntelliFront provides monitoring, control, scheduling, alarming, visualization, integration, and analytics capabilities designed for rapid deployment and flexible integration for a host of use cases.

IntelliFront 5 was designed in concert with J2 Innovations to be more open, fast, and secure than its predecessors. It builds on previous versions with a host of enhancements and new features including a new DB builder, new host app, updated connectors, workflow improvements, and bug fixes. IntelliFront 5 aims to streamline project integration timeframes for system integrators and OEMs while providing a robust and extensible framework for users to customize the system to their needs.

 IoT ready

The new IntelliFront 5 framework supports all major protocol standards including BACnet IP, Modbus IP/RTU, OPC, SNMP, nHaystack, SQL, EnOcean, and others allowing for broad integration and application across disparate building systems. With this upgrade, IntelliFront moves to Haystack 4.0, the most current open IoT standard that uses tagging to automate the configuration process. It also features new objects, better tuning policies, and discovery via open standards such as BACnet. An additional update to Modbus has now made it easier to map registers to create points.

Faster than ever

The new DB Builder is much faster in IntelliFront 5 with a new user interface designed to optimize workflows for faster configuration. It now supports multiple trees that show organized project information by application; including graphics, programs, connectors, and schedules. New tools allow for drag-and-drop creation of records to create relationships, to Clone, use Tag bundles, to apply Templates, add Histories, add Alarms and do Conversions. IntelliFront 5 can also allow for the auto-generated configuration of an entire project from a spreadsheet.

Secure yet flexible

IntelliFront 5 has been completely revised to work independently outside of a project and security has been revamped to allow for stronger passwords and improved user management functionality. Extensive API documentation is available to allow for enhanced customization.

In anticipation of the end of support for Flash in 2020, IntelliFront 5 has eliminated the need for Flash in its user interface.

ASI Controls offers IntelliFront 5 as a front-end option for all its system integrations. Contact sales@asicontrols.com or 925-866-8808 to learn more or locate a system integrator.

 

Supply Air Temperature Reset is a long name for a simple strategy to cut energy costs.

In an office, school, or other large building with an HVAC system a reset strategy saves energy by reducing the production of something – cold air, hot water, or air pressure – that takes energy to make.

Cooling air at 95°F down to 65°F on a hot day requires energy, and to get the same air to 60°F or 55°F takes more energy. The colder you make it the more energy it takes.

It takes lots of energy to push conditioned air through ducts to offices, classrooms or zones in a facility. The faster you push the air the more energy you use, and pushing a larger volume of air will also drive up energy consumption.

Energy Cost Savings Example 1 – Supply Air Temperature Reset

Let’s say it is 95°F outside and cooling is needed from the HVAC system. A Supply Air Temperature Reset strategy adjusts the supply of cold air to meet demand, balancing comfort versus energy cost. In this case the Building Energy Management System decides when to reset supply air temperature based on the temperature of air coming back from the cooled spaces.

A high return air temperature means the zones are still warm so the HVAC system should supply very cold air until temperatures drop to a satisfactory state. Later, as air coming back from the zones drops in temperature it signals the Energy Management System there is less need for cooling.

The Building Energy Management System then raises the temperature of air discharged by the cooling system, which lightens the load on compressors and reduces their energy consumption.

One advantage of a Supply Air Temperature reset strategy is that it can be applied to both Constant Volume (CV) and Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems.

CV systems are cheaper to install but VAV systems offer energy savings compared to CV systems because they adjust the volume of air distributed to match cooling or heating demand.

Compared to CV systems, VAV energy savings are substantial because the amount of energy required to move air is a cubic function of speed. Looking at key points on a graph of speed and power we see that at 100% speed a fan uses 100% power but an 80% speed cuts power required to about 50%, and at 60% speed you cut power requirements by more than 75% versus full load.

Figure 1

A future article will discuss uses and benefits of Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs). VFDs adjust the frequency of electricity supplied to a motor from 0 to 60 Hz to make a motor run at variable speeds to capture the cubic energy savings described above.

An EMS can display a screen with current status of a Supply Air Temperature Reset-enabled cooling system to help users understand system behavior. In this example screen, building users can click green arrows to adjust the reset parameters within limited ranges, fine tuning HVAC performance and conditions to their liking. The display updates in real-time to help users understand changes in discharge air temperature they may sense.

Figure 2

EXAMPLE 2 – Static Pressure Reset

In a ducted cooling system the central AHU or RTU has to supply sufficient discharge air pressure to ensure that rated airflow is supported at the furthest reaches of the supply duct, and potentially that air also returns to the central unit in appropriate volumes.

If you over-pressurize the system you waste energy. ASI Controls terminal unit controllers automatically adjust duct static pressure in response to airflow demand, reducing energy costs while delivering the freshly conditioned air that keeps people comfortable.

A system that adjusts both air temperature and airflow simultaneously to meet demand is a Variable-Volume Variable-Temperature or VVVT or VVT system.

Other possible reset strategies including Hot Water Supply Temperature and/or Pressure reset using the Heating Coil Valve position as the reset input, or resetting Chiller Cold Water Supply Temperature based on the Cooling Coil Valve position.

ASI Controls can help you run through the numbers and calculate projected savings from an automated EMS using reset strategies.

Controlling Energy Costs in a Commercial Building

Summary

The biggest users of energy in the average commercial building are Lighting and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning). Rates for electricity in most medium to large commercial buildings include both demand and consumption charges, but many energy cost management strategies focus on consumption and miss potentially larger savings available from controlling peak demand in order to reduce demand charges. The focus of this article is to show building owners how to identify and estimate the potential value of Demand Control in their own buildings using data from a utility “smart meter” or a power metering solution. In many cases a Building Automation System that controls HVAC and lighting to manage both electrical consumption and demand can deliver substantial, consistent savings while maintaining building comfort and productivity.

Understanding Energy Costs

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and lighting are all essential to a productive building environment and are the two main places energy is typically used in commercial buildings. Commercial facilities including office buildings, hospitals, retail stores, warehouses, medical suites, and the like consume almost 19% of energy used in the United States so lighting and HVAC use a whole lot of energy.

How much energy the lights and HVAC in your own building use will vary depending on the types of mechanical equipment and lighting in place, prevailing climate, timing of use,  comfort preferences, building age, windows, insulation, and other site-specific factors. The Department of Energy does provide a national average profile, see Figure 1.

Figure 1 – electricity primary energy use in Commercial buildings

Many commercial buildings are on an electric rate plan or Tariff that includes Demand (capacity) charges as well as energy (consumption) charges. Demand is measured in kilowatts (kW), or thousands of watts, and energy consumption in kilowatt-hours (kWh). A 1,000 watt electric heater creates 1 kW of Demand and if left on for 1 hour it consumes 1 kWh. As a rule residential bills don’t include Demand costs.

Customers often have a choice as to which tariff they are on. Many utilities will provide a rate comparison to tell you how much your bill would be on an alternate tariff, either on your bill, through a web portal, or by request to your utility account rep. Many customers are surprised to find that simply switching tariffs can save them money; the best tariff for a customer will depend on their particular usage profile.

Demand charges in a tariff can be a benefit to some customers with a high load factor, e.g. ratio of average kW to peak kW. We recently identified $40,000 (22%) in annual savings for a senior housing complex in Tucson, AZ by switching from the non-demand metered General Service tariff to the demand-metered Large General Service tariff. In the nearby APS service area we identified how an EMS system combined with a 50 kW solar array would enable a private high school to switch from E32-L to E32-M and significantly cut energy costs. The senior facility has a high peak load factor while the high school has a low load factor so each has a different optimal balance of demand and consumption charges.

Demand costs in a tariff will always be expressed on a $ per kW basis, consumption costs are always in units of $ per kWh. For TOU-8-S commercial customers with 12 kV service in Los Angeles and Orange County, the highest cost for energy on paper is about 13 ½ cents per kWh from noon to 6pm on summer weekdays, but you must add in Demand to see full costs.

[pullquote align=”right”]TIP – Demand costs are always per kilowatt ($/kW or ȼ/kW), and consumption charges are always per kilowatt-hour ($/kWh or ȼ/kWh).[/pullquote]

EXAMPLE an office in a large building has 8 fluorescent fixtures with 4 T-8 bulbs (32W) each. Those lights are on every weekday from 7am to 7pm all summer. Lights cost $30 to $45 /kW in Demand and about $30 in consumption monthly on TOU-8-S.

Average costs for those lights are roughly 27 to 34 cents per kWh due to Demand costs.

This office adds a 100 W desk light and turns it on from noon to 6pm daily in summer. The first month it costs between $2.40 and $3.90 in Demand and about $1.60 in energy consumption. The average cost for this light is around 33 to 45 cents per kWh.

Timing Matters

The electric utility assesses Demand charges based on peak Demand. Peak Demand is the maximum average Demand over any single 15 minute window in the billing month (sometimes it can be a 30 minute or 1 hour window).

The first example showed how using energy during peak times costs more than the sticker price due to Demand costs, but timing matters in other ways too.

Assume the temperature has been fair all month, so daily energy use looks like the left curve in Figure 2. On the last day of the billing month it gets very hot and the curve resembles the one on the right. The hot day raises the peak about 350 kW, costing an extra $16,000 in Demand costs. SCE offers larger commercial customers some flexibility to select billing period start/end dates, so a timely adjustment to a billing period can save a lot if you have predictable Demand spikes.

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2 - Summer daily Demand in large office building 
with central cooling

Lighting typically lifts Demand level fairly equally throughout a day but HVAC causes electrical Demand to go up and down on hot days, as Figure 2 shows. The variability happens for two main reasons, (1) HVAC systems are staged to match cooling output to cooling need and (2) small changes in airflow have a large effect on energy use.

A common cooling setup in large buildings is a large chiller or chillers providing central cooling. Cold fluid is pumped to an Air Handler Unit (AHU) where heat exchangers cool the air before fans push the conditioned air into the distribution ducts. Figure 2 traces Demand for a building with a central plant because changes at the top of the curve are about 32 kW in magnitude, with only 100 kW total variation through the hot part of the day. The chiller comes on early in the day to get pre-loaded when energy is cheap, and is turned down to coast through the afternoon after 3pm or so. Looking at graphs from other days suggests this building has at least two 225 to 250 kW chillers and 3 fans with 40 HP motors.

Another common cooling system is packaged RTU or AHU. A package unit includes compressors, devices that chill air. If more cooling is needed another compressor is turned on, adding a stage. Each compressor on/off event changes electrical Demand.

On hot days a properly sized HVAC system will cycle between stages and even on the hottest days the system alternates between the last and next-to-last stages. Other things being the same the steps in a Demand curve are larger with compressors cycling versus a chiller plant running at a good efficiency. On the other hand the spike in Demand when a chiller comes on dwarfs the spike from an average compressor start.

It takes a lot of energy to chill air, and the air distribution system is a second energy hog because the power needed to move air is related to speed cubed (speed times speed times speed). So, small changes in airflow speed have a large effect on power needed.

Figure 3

You can feel this in a car on a highway with your hand out the window. There is more resistance at 50 mph than 40 mph, and even more at 60 mph than 50 mph. Each 10 mile per hour rise adds a lot to resistance, if you’ve put a hand out the window while moving at 100 mph you already know this.

If your utility provides detailed or hourly smart meter data, or you have a BAS or EMS trending your Demand, you can probably figure out the kilowatt draw for each stage in your air conditioning by looking at the stair steps in Demand.

You can also figure out how much power the HVAC draws from the nameplate which tells you unit Voltage and phases, count of compressors, and the Horsepower (HP) and Full Load Amperage (FLA) for each compressor, motor and pump in the system. The FLA is the current the device draws at full load; you can use online converters to translate FLA and voltage into a kW value for a device. Alternately, multiply motor HP by 0.746 (1 HP = 746 watts) to get estimated kW for each compressor, motor or pump. A low Power Factor raises wire losses and creates potential issues with motor wear, transformer overloads and voltage sag, but that topic needs another article to explain.

A model number search often leads to a manual with more detailed specifications.

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4 - examples of RTU and AHU nameplates

An Energy Management System with Demand Control features offers the capability to set a limit on the amount of Demand the system can create. The EMS can follow pre-selected choices for which systems to ramp down and what to turn off in the event load shedding is needed to keep the building under a Demand limit. Energy storage solutions provide the EMS with more options to serve a load surge versus shedding Demand.

In Los Angeles, SCE large commercial customers pay some of the highest Demand charges in the USA but other utilities like PG&E and SDG&E in CA are over $30/kW in summer. APS E32-L in AZ has a $35.43 /KW rate on the first 100 kW and $23.37 /kW on the balance, with a 12 month ratchet clause. The HECO (HI) rate is near $24 /kW, TEP (AZ) LGS-13 rate is $15.25 /kW, PSEG (NJ) LPL rate is almost $20 /kW in summer and $15 /kW in other months and CP&L (CT) rate 56 charges about $14 /kW.

These are the highest demand charges in the US, but even with lower demand charges you probably overpay for the energy you need if your peak demand is unmanaged.

Public utilities are required to make their rates public so you can find all the details of most tariffs online. Many utilities have an online customer portal that allows you to compare what your costs would be on a different Tariff or Rate Plan.

If you have a utility smart meter your utility most likely already offers simple ways to download the meter data. With demand data at 15 minute or hourly intervals you can learn a lot about how your building operates. In many cases a few simple actions to limit peak demand can help control your energy costs without sacrificing comfort or compromising business needs.

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2 – PG&E (CA) customer portal pages for A1 Standard (small 
commercial) only provide consumption data

Figure 6.1

Figure 6.2 – SCE (CA) gives TOU-8-S (large commercial) customers useful 
details on demand and consumption charges

The quality of data available from your customer portal can vary by utility company and by Tariff or rate plan. The PG&E customer in this example does not have a smart meter installed yet and is on A1 tariff which does not include a demand charge. If they click on the “green button” to download data they only get monthly bill totals. Bill totals and aggregated consumption data are not very helpful for cost savings analysis. High level data can help if cost control focuses on conserving energy, but our goal is to show how if you are on a tariff with demand costs then controlling peak demand can often cut costs significantly without requiring energy conservation. Figuring out an effective demand control strategy requires detailed demand data.

The SCE customer on TOU-8 tariff in Figure 6 has a smart meter and can download meter data at 15 minute intervals for the last 13 months. This is valuable data and knowing how to interpret it can help you devise potential savings strategies.

Figure 7 – data shows $10,000 savings to SCE TOU-8-S customer if demand 
limited up to 480 kW (6%) for 2.5 hours on 1 day

If you don’t have a utility smart meter, or you are part of a large utility account and don’t have sub-metering data, you can install your own power meter or power data logger to get a detailed profile of your building electrical use. Having detailed demand data is essential to figuring out if and how you can run your building more cost effectively. In rare cases customers have even been able to reverse utility billing errors using data from their own power meters.

Hopefully you have learned how to look at information available to you to get an idea of how your building operates today and perhaps you even feel prepared to try controlling Demand manually to test your savings potential. If Demand cost is driving your bills an automated Energy Management System oriented to Demand control can help you manage energy costs comfortably and efficiently. An ASI Controls authorized reseller can help you run through the numbers and calculate projected savings from an automated EMS.