Overview of Essential Training

We hold four Essential Training classes a year. The normal frequency is the months of January, April, July and October. This class is a five day class, running from Monday to Friday. It covers the basics of our product line, and is intended to be a primer for those individuals who are new to ASI Controls, or a refresher to those that are not new.

All new VARs are required to send individuals to the Essential Training Class. In addition, VARs may wish to send new employees, or employees who are changing to controls-related positions within their Company to the Essential Training Class.

Getting to the Training Class

ASI Controls does not hold any training classes at our Office in San Ramon, California. Instead, we bring the training class to you. We rotate the Essential Training Class to four different cities each year, choosing locations that are easy to get to, and with good full-service Hotels for lodging. We try to stay as close to the airport as possible, to minimize the need for hired transportation. The Class is held in the Hotel itself in one of their meeting rooms.

We encourage everyone who is attending to arrive at the training site on Sunday night. Most attendees will fly to the site, but if you are close enough to drive, we still encourage you not to arrive the morning of the class, so you can be ready to go on time. The class will be wrapped by 3:00 PM on Friday, so you can make your travel arrangements accordingly. If you have to leave the class earlier than 3:00 PM because of your arrangements, that is okay.

Please review the page on travel tips to make sure your experience is as pleasant as possible.

Meals

ASI Controls will provide a continental breakfast each morning of the class. We will also provide two breaks a day, to be taken in and around the training room.

Lunch will also be provided, which is generally held in the Hotel. If there are locations close by enough to walk to, we may leave the Hotel for lunch.

ASI Controls will host dinner each of the first four nights. You are not obligated to attend, but we are happy to have everyone be our guest. We will arrange transportation for the whole class to the restaurant.

Below are the general details that apply to the class itself.

Course Overview

The Essential Training course is your introduction to ASI Controls DDC systems. During this five-day course you will learn how to assemble a basic ASI system. You will learn about sequences in the pre-programmed ASIC/1 controllers and learn to configure simple ASIC/2 applications for solutions beyond the capabilities of our ASIC/1 line.

Content

The Essential Training course costs $2,200. You will receive the following:
5 days of instruction
ASI Expert software
ASI WebLink 3 software
ASIC/2-7540, ASIC/1-8655 and ASIC/1-6000 controllers
SINC/1-1030 portable system interface and RS-232 serial cable
Handy carry case
24 Vac transformer (to power the controllers)
All applicable documentation on CD

If more than one person from your company attends the same course, then each additional person may pay a course fee of $900. The additional persons may use our hardware for the course, but would not keep the hardware after the course.

Candidate

An acceptable candidate for this program should have basic knowledge of HVAC and HVAC control systems. It is desirable that the candidate has some experience with designing, configuring, and/or installing DDC controls systems. The candidate should also be comfortable with the Microsoft Windows operating systems and be fluent in file management.

Each student needs a Windows XP Pro or Vista PC with a CD drive and RS-232 serial port. If your PC does not have a built-in RS-232 port, you can use a USB-Serial adapter. Many students also find it useful to bring an external mouse. Any student interested in using our EtherLink/2 product should also have a network interface card for their PC.

Training Class Structure

The class begins at 8:30 AM each day. We take a break in the morning around 10:30, and then continue until noon. We take an hour for lunch, and then reconvene at 1:00 PM. We take an afternoon break around 2:30 PM, and finish up at 4:30 PM. We generally meet around 5:45 to go to dinner.

Syllabus

ASI Controls has been teaching courses on our control system since our beginning. We believe that the best way to learn our system is with a combination of instruction and hands on experience. During training you will be able to work with your controllers and apply practical applications. Additionally the course will contain some lab time to further your understanding of system features. The general outline of our Essential Training course is listed below.

Day 1

ASIC/1 pre programmed controllers
Basic system networking to support ASIC/1s
Basic understanding of ASI Expert

Day 2

ASIC/2 controllers
Introduction to objects
Introduction to graphical configuration
Sample AHU application

Day 3

Sample AHU application (continued)
ASI Expert file management

Day 4

Introduction to OPC
OPC Server configuration
WebLink screen building

Day 5

Advanced networks and remote networking
Ethernet networking
Troubleshooting discussion Completion of material, question and answer period

You can view an online tutorial that covers many of the topics discussed in Essential Training here.
We strongly suggest that you view this tutorial before attending Essential Training.