Niagara 4 includes support for “battery-less” JACE operation, where JACE controllers use a capacitor-charged SRAM (static random access memory), to preserve RAM-resident data when a power outage
occurs. This includes station data not yet committed to non-volatile flash memory.
Initially, this applied only to a QNX-based controller with an installed SRAM option card. Previously, such controllers were
always considered “battery-less”, where any installed backup battery was removed when the option card was installed. However,
with later releases, including Niagara 4, the JACE controller can use both SRAM and a backup battery.
The QNX-based JACE models have onboard SRAM as standard—no option card required. This includes the JACE-8000 series controller, plus the JACE-3E, and NPM6E processor-based series (JACE-6E and “retrofit board” JACE-603 and JACE-645 controllers). The JACE-8000 controllers ship “battery-less”. The JACE-6E and JACE-3E controllers ship “battery-less” as well however, you can optionally install an NiMH backup battery (identical to the one
in JACE-6 series controllers).
Niagara 4.1 and later support the JACE-8000 controller model, as does update build AX-3.8U1 but with some feature limitations. AX-3.7 and AX-3.8 support all of the controller models (except the JACE-8000) and also all controllers with an installed SRAM option card. For JACE-3E support, build AX-3.7.105 or later is required.
NOTE: The Security JACE platform does not include SRAM, nor does it support the SRAM option card/DataRecoveryService in any build of NiagaraAX.
For hardware mounting details, refer the installation document that ships with each SRAM option card or SRAM-equipped controller.
This document summarizes usage scenarios and software operation details of the SRAM memory feature.