How To Set-Up and Read MOBBUS
How To Set-Up and Read MOBBUS
Before anything can be read from the RTU, the meter must be programmed. During
programming up to 16 of the thousands of displays in the meter can be assigned to the
RTU. The first item in the list will be at (point) zero (0).
Please Note: In example 1, the list on the right is empty. The meter will send the items in
the list on the right to the RTU starting with point 0. Because there has been no items
selected all 16 registers are loaded with zeros.
The scaling factor allows you to scale the value being sent back by the RTU. If the value
was 120.1 volts and you left the scaling factor set at one (1), the results would be a value
of 120 would be returned. If the scale factor was changed from 1 to 10 the results would
be a value of 1201 would be returned by the RTU.
The following is the port configuration for ModBus. The only change that you should
make is the slave address.
EXAMPLES of reading registers:
Example 1
If you wanted to read register 0 from the RTU card, you would us the following:
Example 2
If you wanted to read register 9 from the RTU card, you would us the following:
Example 3
If you wanted to read all of the registers from the RTU card, you would us the following:
If you are unable to communicate with the RTU card, please review the following check list:
1. Check the jumpers on the RTU card and the E9 jumper on the display card..
The Protocol Converter Card has six LED’s labeled LED1 through LED6. These LED’s indicate
the status of the host and meter communications, and the error status.
LED 1: On when data is being received from the RTU host. Green LED on the left side.
LED 2: On when data is being transmitted to the RTU host. Green LED on the right side.
LED 3: On when data is being received from the meter. Red LED left side
LED 4: On when data is being transmitted to the meter. Red LED right side.
LED 5: On when RTU communications to the host are not possible, due to an error or due to the
protocol converter card booting up. This LED turns off when the protocol converter card
finishes its boot-up process, and is ready to communicate to the RTU host. Yellow LED
on the left side.
LED 6: Displays error codes by blinking on and off. The tens digit of the error code is a “long”
on, while the units digit is a “short” on. A solid on, scintillating, condition indicates a “line
break” has been detected and a recovery effort is underway. A very short on condition
upon power up, reset by command or table reload is normal. Yellow LED on the right side
6. Power-up the meter and wait for one minute, then check the LED’s on the RTU
card.
Send a request to the RTU and observe the green LED on the left. The LED should blink.
If the green LED on the left does not blink, check the wiring. The RTU is not seeing the
request.
If the green request LED on the left blinked, the green LED on the right should blink and you
should get (received) a response.
If the green response LED on the right did not blink and you did not get a response,
check the RTU ID. The unit will not respond without the correct ID, also check the baud
rate.
Note: The yellow should not come on if they do check the communications set up. If the yellow
LED”s are off, the read LED”s are toggling and the green LED on the left blinks when you send a
request and the ID’s and baud rates are correct and you do not get a response and the green
LED on the right does not blink. The problem is more than likely with the format of the request or
the MODBUS card is bad.
8. Review set-up and format of request.
a. Review the list of items that are to be sent by the MODBUS card.
As you can see there are eleven (11) items that are being sent back. They start with point
0 and go through point 10.
b. Review the port settings for the RS232-2 port used by MODBUS.
c. Review the se-up for an ASE 2000 test set..
Note: The test set is going to request Slave 1 send data starting with point 0 and then
send back one (1) point. Therefore the unit will respond by sending back the value in
point 0.
d. The test set sends request.
Note: you can see the format of the request and the response in the line monitor box. The
value is also displayed in the point box. If you do not get a response check the format of
the request that is being sent. If your format is the same as above, the problem is more
than likely the MODBUS card. If you do not have a test set you can use a line monitor to
capture the request. You can also download a demo copy of the ASE 2000 test set from
the Applied Systems Engineering’s web site.
Breakdown of Request: 01 Slave Address, 03 Function Code (Read Registers), 00 00
Starting Point (Point 0), 00 01 Read one point (Point 0), 84 0A Check Sum.
Breakdown of Response: 01 Slave address, 03 Function Code, 02 Byte Count, 00 37
Register Point 0 (answer 55), F9 92 Check sum.
e. This is a request to bring back all 11 points.
Note: The test set is requesting Slave 1 send data starting with point 0 and then send
back one (11) point. Therefore the unit will respond by sending back the values in point 0
through 10. You can also see the format of the request and of the response in the
example above. If you can not get a response from the MODBUS card you will need to
make a capture file of the communications before you move to step 9.