Contemporary Controls EIGR-VB : Skorpion Gigabit Bridge VPN Router, Bridge Mode OpenVPN Server (10 PC Clients), Multicast/Broadcast Pass-Through for BACnet/IP, 10/100/1000 Mbps + 4-Port LAN Switch, Stateful Firewall, UL 508

The EIGR family is Contemporary Controls' gigabit Skorpion router line, all sharing the same 41 mm DIN-rail enclosure, 4-port gigabit LAN switch, stateful firewall, and NAT/PAT/Port Forwarding capabilities. The differences come down to temperature range and VPN capability: EIGR-E (0 to 60°C, no VPN), EIGR-EX (-40 to +75°C, no VPN), EIGR-V (0 to 60°C, OpenVPN client/server with 15 router + 15 PC clients), EIGR-VX (-40 to +75°C, same VPN as EIGR-V), and EIGR-VB (0 to 60°C, OpenVPN client + bridge-mode server with 10 PC clients and broadcast/multicast pass-through). Pick by environment first, then by VPN need.

Most VPN implementations operate in routed mode: the VPN client gets an IP address on a separate subnet from the LAN, and the VPN server routes traffic between the two. This works fine for unicast TCP and UDP, but it blocks broadcast and multicast traffic by default - which is a problem for BACnet/IP, which depends heavily on broadcasts for device discovery (Who-Is/I-Am), and other protocols like KNX/IP and sACN that use multicast. The EIGR-VB operates its VPN server in bridge mode: VPN clients are bridged directly to the LAN side, receive an IP address from the LAN subnet, and can send and receive broadcast and multicast traffic as if physically connected to the LAN. This makes the EIGR-VB the right pick when a remote technician needs to discover BACnet devices, run Niagara Workbench against a JACE on the remote LAN, or use any tool that relies on broadcast traffic.

Choose the EIGR-VB specifically when broadcast or multicast traffic must traverse the VPN - the most common case is BACnet/IP discovery (Who-Is/I-Am), but it also covers Niagara Workbench against remote JACEs, KNX/IP lighting protocols, and any application where the VPN client needs to appear as if physically on the remote LAN. Choose the EIGR-V when you need higher client capacity (15 router + 15 PC clients vs 10 PC only on VB), don't need broadcast pass-through, or already have BBMD/Foreign Device Registration handling BACnet broadcasts on the remote subnet. Many integrators deploy the EIGR-V at sites where BACnet broadcasting is handled by a BAS Router (BASRT-B), and reserve the EIGR-VB for sites where bridge-mode behavior is genuinely needed.

The EIGR-VB is rated 0°C to +60°C (+32°F to +140°F), suitable for conditioned indoor panels and most mechanical rooms. For outdoor installations, rooftop enclosures, unconditioned warehouses, refrigerated environments, or any panel where ambient temperature can exceed 60°C in summer or drop below 0°C in winter, choose the wide-temperature variant: EIGR-EX (wired, no VPN) or EIGR-VX (wired with OpenVPN client/server). Both are rated -40°C to +75°C with otherwise identical features to their standard-temp counterparts.

Yes. The EIGR-VB is UL 508 Listed for Industrial Control Equipment and CSA C22.2 No. 142-M1987 compliant. UL 508-listed components are directly acceptable for use in UL 508A panels without invalidating the panel listing, as long as the device is supplied from a Class 2 limited-energy source per the panel's circuit requirements.

Yes. The EIGR-VB accepts 24 VAC ±10% on a half-wave rectified low-voltage input, which lets it share a common 24VAC source with other control devices such as actuators, valves, and thermostats. A second power input accepts 10-36 VDC for either redundant power or DC-only installations. The two inputs are independent - you can mix sources (for example 24 VAC primary with a 24 VDC battery backup). Power consumption is 7 W DC or 11 VA AC.

It depends on what's communicating. Within the LAN itself, BACnet/IP broadcasts work normally - no BBMD needed. For BACnet broadcasts that need to traverse the VPN tunnel from a remote PC client to the LAN, the EIGR-VB's bridge-mode VPN handles that transparently because the PC client appears as if physically on the LAN. A BBMD is still required if the LAN is segmented across multiple IP subnets (for example, controllers on multiple floors with separate IP networks linked by additional routers) - the EIGR-VB doesn't replace BBMD's between-subnet role, only extends LAN-equivalent visibility to VPN clients.

For typical BAS panels running BACnet/IP between controllers, 100 Mbps is more than sufficient and the older EIPR series remains a cost-effective choice. Gigabit becomes worthwhile when at least one device on the network natively prefers gigabit - IP cameras and NVRs, Niagara Supervisor stations and historian-heavy JACEs, BACnet/IP networks with thousands of points polling at high frequency, large building portfolios where the panel network is part of a corporate gigabit infrastructure, or applications doing bulk data transfers (firmware updates, log retrievals). The EIGR-VB also future-proofs your panel network: deploy gigabit today, run at 100 Mbps if that's all your devices need, and gain headroom for additions over the panel's 15-20 year service life.

The default LAN-side IP address is 192.168.92.1 with subnet mask 255.255.255.0. To configure, connect a PC directly to one of the LAN ports with the PC set to obtain an IP address automatically (the EIGR-VB's built-in DHCP server will assign the PC an address), then browse to http://192.168.92.1. Default username and password are both admin and must be changed on first login (8-63 characters, at least one letter and one number required). The reset switch on the front panel restores factory defaults if you need to start over - hold for at least 3 seconds while powered, then power-cycle the unit.