8600 Building: Johnson Controls N2 Integration

Project Overview

The owner of the 8600 building was looking to replace their aging Johnson Controls N2 system, assuming a full hardware replacement was necessary. Mechanical Air Concepts provided an alternative strategy that preserved their entire investment in existing N2 controllers while delivering the modern features of a new system.

The Challenge: Obsolete but Functional Hardware

The Johnson N2 protocol is a legacy, proprietary communication standard. While the controllers were still functional, the front-end was outdated and lacked modern features for efficient building management. The owner wanted to avoid the high cost of replacing dozens of controllers and units throughout the building.

The Solution: Integration, Not Replacement

Mechanical Air Concepts provided a solution to integrate the entire Johnson N2 system—comprising 63 VAVs, 4 RTUs, and 3 AC units—into the Automated Logic WebCTRL platform. All existing hardware in the AC equipment was maintained. This approach instantly provided a modern, web-based interface with advanced WebCTRL features like color thermographic floor plans and the Time-Lapse™ tool, which allows operators to replay system data like a video to diagnose issues. Most importantly, it gave the owner the flexibility to upgrade their N2 controllers to a modern BACnet standard gradually, as their budget allows, without any upfront pressure.