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Modbus TCP/IP

Beijer Electronics
Updated

Supported hardware and firmware

Cloud Notify via Modbus TCP/IP is supported on the CloudVPN router in firmware 3.7 and up. Please upgrade your firmware if you are running an older version.

Activate Cloud Notify

Please first activate Cloud Notify (or start the 30 day free trial) if you haven't already.

The Second step in Cloud Notify is setting up a data source. This is done by selecting a communication protocol and defining the variables. This article shows you how to do this for communication via Modbus TCP/IP.

Select a communication protocol

You first have to select a communication protocol. This is the protocol that the CloudVPN router will use to communicate with the PLC.

  • Go to the CloudVPN Portal Fleet Manager app, which is accessible from the Apps menu in the top right corner if you are currently in a different CloudVPN Portal app.
  • Open the Main menu , go to Devices , and select the concerning device.
  • Click on the Add a serviceicon in the left menu, select [Data source], and then select [Modbus].
  • Enter the requested information (details below) and click on [Add].
Field Description
Name Enter a name for the data source.
Identifier The identifier ensures that every data source remains unique, even if they share the same name.
IP address

Enter the IP address of your PLC.

Leave empty if you're using an CloudVPN Agent.
Port The port number will be entered automatically (Port 502 for Siemens S7).
Slave & Byte order Enter the Modbus server's slave ID and byte order. The byte order determines how the bytes in a register are translated to a numerical value.
Polling sleep time To notify you as accurately as possible, the CloudVPN router continuously asks the variables' values from the PLC. While the CloudVPN router does wait for the PLC to reply before asking again, in very rare cases this may noticeably impact the PLC's performance.
In such a rare situation you may want to change this setting to 100ms or higher. In general "None" is recommended for Cloud Notify to be as accurately as possible.

Add variables

Once you've added a data source and selected a communication protocol, you can start adding variables. You can do this by following the steps below:

Tip!

It is advisable to add variables in small batches and test them to verify their configuration.

Manually add new variables

  • Click on [Add variable] in the bottom right corner.
  • Enter the requested information (details below) and click on [Add].
Field Description
Name Enter a name for the variable.
Identifier The identifier ensures that every variable remains unique, even if they share the same name.
Type Select the variable's data type (bool, int, float, etc).
Function Code Enter the variable's function code (details below).
Address Enter the variable's address (details below).
Factor Multiplies the value (leave empty if the data type is boolean).
Unit Displayed text behind the value.

Modbus explained - number vs address

A Modbus number translates to a function code with an address, and vice versa. Depending on your program you will know one of the two notations. Use the following example table for help with translating between the two.

"Number" notation "Address" notation
Number Function code Address
000011 1 - Coil 10
100381 2 - Discrete input 380
400093 3 - Holding register 92
300135 4 - Input register 134

Temporary disconnect

After this next step, the config push, the device may temporarily disconnect and LAN communication may be temporarily interrupted while it's applying the new settings. This may take a minute.

You have now made the changes in the CloudVPN Portal, but these are not yet active in your device. You will need to push your changes to your device for them to take effect.

  • Click [Push config to device] in the top right corner.

Next step

Now that you've added the variables, you can test if they're configured properly.

Import variables from a file (or device)

You can easily and effortlessly copy variables from one device to another by exporting the concerning variables (view the "Manage variables" part of this article) and then importing them in your new device. Alternatively, you can manually prepare your variables in the required CSV format to load them all at once into your configurator. The CSV file structure is explained in our Import variables article.

  • Click on [Import from CSV-file] in the top right corner of the screen.
  • Select a CSV file to import and click on [Open].

import-variables.gif

Temporary disconnect

After this next step, the config push, the device may temporarily disconnect and LAN communication may be temporarily interrupted while it's applying the new settings. This may take a minute.

You have now made the changes in the CloudVPN Portal, but these are not yet active in your device. You will need to push your changes to your device for them to take effect.

  • Click [Push config to device] in the top right corner.

Next step

Now that you've added the variables, you can test if they're configured properly.

Test variables

The test utility is used to check if all the added variables are set correctly. It shows the communication status with the PLC and displays each variable's current value if everything is configured correctly. If not, the values will stay empty. The test utility will attempt to update values every 0.5 seconds. Please follow the steps below to test your variables.

  • Expand the Data source service, go to [Variables], and click on [Run test] at the top.

A connection will now be set up to stream the data directly to your computer, using:

Port Transport protocol Application protocol
443 TCP WebSocket

You will see live values of all variables, if the configuration is set up correctly.

test-variables.gif

Unexpected result?

If the test utility shows unexpected values, please check if the addresses and data types of all variables are entered correctly.

If you get no data at all, please also check that the above listed port and protocols are not being blocked by your computer's or company's firewall.

Next step

Now that you've tested the variables, you can view our "Set up alarms" guide to start adding alarms.

Manage variables

You can view all defined variables on the variables page:

  • Expand the Data source service and go to [Variables].

You can [Edit] individual variables, [Remove] individual or a selection of variables, and export all or a selection of variables.

Variables can be selected by clicking the checkbox on the left, or you can select them all by clicking the checkbox at the top.

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