BAS Point Count Calculator
Building automation point count from equipment schedule.
Inputs
Results
Total BAS points
800
Hardware I/O points
656
Virtual/calculated points144
Analog inputs (AI)262
Analog outputs (AO)131
Digital inputs (DI)164
Digital outputs (DO)98
DDC controllers needed17
Estimated BAS cost ($)$180,000.00
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter Air Handling Units (AHUs), VAV boxes, and Chillers.
- Set Boilers, Fan coil units (FCUs), and Exhaust/misc fans.
- Adjust System Complexity, Basic (start/stop, status only) as needed.
- Review Total BAS points and Hardware I/O points.
- Use Virtual/calculated points and Analog inputs (AI) to inform your decision.
How the result changes with VAV boxes
| VAV boxes | Total BAS points | Hardware I/O points |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | 2,557 | 2,096 |
| 700 | 8,047 | 6,596 |
| 1,300 | 14,635 | 11,996 |
| 1,800 | 20,125 | 16,496 |
What each input means
- Air Handling Units (AHUs)
- Number of air handling units. Each AHU typically has 25-60 BAS points.
- VAV boxes
- Number of Variable Air Volume terminal units. Each typically has 6-12 points.
- Chillers
- Number of chillers. Each typically has 20-35 monitoring and control points.
- Boilers
- Number of boilers. Each typically has 15-25 points.
- Fan coil units (FCUs)
- Number of fan coil units. Each typically has 4-8 points.
- Exhaust/misc fans
- Number of exhaust fans, transfer fans, and similar simple equipment (3-5 points each).
- System Complexity
- Select BAS system complexity level
What each result means
- Total BAS points
- Total hardware + virtual/calculated points.
- Hardware I/O points
- Physical wired analog and digital I/O points.
- Virtual/calculated points
- Software-only points for calculations, schedules, and trending.
- Analog inputs (AI)
- Estimated analog input points (sensors, transducers).
- Analog outputs (AO)
- Estimated analog output points (valve/damper commands, VFD speeds).
- Digital inputs (DI)
- Estimated digital input points (status, alarms, switches).
- Digital outputs (DO)
- Estimated digital output points (start/stop, enable commands).
- DDC controllers needed
- Estimated number of DDC controllers based on I/O capacity.
- Estimated BAS cost ($)
- Rough installed cost at $150-$300/point depending on complexity.
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters4 parametersAir Handling Units (AHUs) = 4, VAV boxes = 40, Chillers = 2, Boilers = 2 = 7 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total BAS pointsTotal BAS points800 = 800
- Calculate Hardware I/O pointsHardware I/O points656 = 656
- Calculate Virtual/calculated pointsVirtual/calculated points144 = 144
- Calculate Analog inputsAnalog inputs262 = 262
Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators.
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