If the controller "ELC.E14" is the Client in the Modbus communication, it can access one or more other Server devices. The information about Server can be configured in the "Communication Configuration" window.
Set the controller to Client
- On the Device Configurator page, click the drop-down box next to "Modbus RTU Mode", and then select "Client". After the controller is set as Client, you can configure Modbus RTU bus parameters in Configure the RS485 port of the controller.
Configure Server devices
In the "Communication Configuration" window, you can configure the following for Server devices:
- Add max. 31 Server devices.
- Modify the name and address for a Server device. A device name allows max. 24 characters (12 Chinese characters). Only supports English words, Chinese characters, numbers and underscores. Spaces within a name and identical names are not allowed. The address range is 1...247.
- Add and configure data points for the added Server devices. Up to 30 new data points can be added for all Server devices.
- Modify configuration information about data points.
- Remove redundant Server devices and data points.
Add a Server device
- The controller is set to Client on the Device Configurator page.
- Click "Communication Configuration" on the Device Configurator page, and then select "Client Points“ (COM1 or COM2) in the pop-up window.
- Next to "Add Server Device", click
.
- The newly added Server device appears in the device list.
Modify the name and address for a Server device
- Click "Communication Configuration" on the Device Configurator page, and then select "Client Points“ (COM1 or COM2) in the pop-up window.
- Locate the device in the Server device list. Then, on the corresponding line of Server, click
to modify the name and address.
- Click
to save changes after modification is done.
Add and configure data points for an added Server device
- Click "Communication Configuration" on the Device Configurator page, and then select "Client Points“ (COM1 or COM2) in the pop-up window.
- Locate the Server device.
- In the row of the corresponding device, select the Modbus function code type from the drop-down box next to "Function Code":
- 02: Discrete inputs
- 04: Input register
- 01&05: Single coil
- 01&15: Multiple coils
- 03&06: Single register
- 03&16: Multiple registers
- Note: Function codes 01 and 03 indicate that single or multiple coils and holding registers can be read. When combined with function codes 05, 15, 06, and 16, the read and write attributes can be configured via the "Read Write" column of the new data point. See "Configuration of Server data points".
- On the corresponding line, select a data point type next to the "Show Data Type" drop-down box.
- Click to add a new data point.
- If necessary, modify "Reg. Addr. : Offset" for the newly added data points, which holds the register address of the data point and the bit mask information for multi-bit queries.
- Click in the row where the Server device is located, and then modify other attributes of the newly added data point, such as "Point Name", "Raw Data Type", "T Timer", "H Timer" and "Read Write".
- See "Configuration of Server data points" for more information about "Raw Data Type" and "Read Write".
- "T Timer" is UpdateTimerT1(ms) andUpdateTimerT2(s); "H Timer" is HeartbeatTimerH1(s) and HeartbeatTimerH2(s). "T Timer" is visible if "Read Write" mode is "Read Only (RO)" or "Read Write (RW)"; "H Timer" is visible only when "Read Write" mode is "Write Only (WO)". See "Configure the RS485 port of the controller" for more information.
The tool automatically creates a corresponding virtual point when the data point is added, which appears not only in the virtual point window but also in the object mapping table under "Server Points“ ("TCP & COM1 Server Points” or "TCP Server Points”).
In the object mapping table under “Server Points“ ("TCP & COM1 Server Points” or "TCP Server Points”), new data points have the "Auto Mapping" checkbox checked by default. If you do not want the register addresses modified on the "Client Points" (COM1 or COM2) page to get automatic addresses via the function of "Auto Mapping", uncheck the Auto Mapping check box for that data point.
In the virtual point window, data points are prefixed with [M] to distinguish from others. You can click the checkbox before "Client Points" (COM1 or COM2) to show or hide all automatically created virtual points.
Once you have added and configured data points, you can add them to the programmed logic by referencing and setting them in the programming page of the corresponding virtual device under "Variables" (function block)> "Communication Point" ("Set" or "Get"). See "Communication Point Set" and "Communication Point Get" for more information about the "Communication Point" function block.
Configuration of Server data points
Raw Data Type | Description | Applicable data type |
|---|---|---|
B1 | Single bit |
|
B16 | Bitset 16-bit (0...15) |
|
U16_B | Unsigned integer, big-endian |
|
S16_B | Signed integer, big-endian | |
F32_ABCD |
|
|
F32_DCBA | ||
F32_CDAB | ||
F32_BADC | ||
U32_ABCD | ||
U32_CDAB | ||
S32_ABCD | ||
S32_CDAB |
Read Write mode | Description | Applicable data type |
|---|---|---|
Read Only (RO) | Client reads data from the registers of Server. | Applicable to all data types |
Write Only (WO) | Client cyclically writes data points of Server. If the value of a communication variable of Client changes, the change will be immediately written to a Server data point. |
|
Read Write (RW) | Client cyclically reads data points of Server. If the value of a communication variable of Client changes, the change will be immediately written to a Server data point. |
Remove redundant Server devices and data points
- Click "Communication Configuration" on the Device Configurator page, and then select "Client Points“ (COM1 or COM2) in the pop-up window.
- On the corresponding line of the Server device or data point, click
.