Extending existing profibus network

hi, I currently have a conveyor system with a S7-300 with Profibus, one 32DI Slave and 12 Danfoss 2800 VLT profibus also. all connected in the same panel. the 12 danfoss are connected in Parallel, so cables go from one slave to the next.

Right now we are adding conveyors to the line to have more accumulation and add more machines, so i need to add 8 more motors, that will have also Danfoss 2800 VLT with profibus, but it will be in a second panel. this panel, will be exactly 12Meters from the first panel. my questions is if i need a repeater or another profibus device to connect the new VLT to the old ones? or if i can just run the cable from one panel to the other from the Danfoss to the other Danfoss?

I have attached two pictures one of the existing network and one for the proposed network.

Thank you for the help in advance.

Juan

You can expand to max 32 devices within the same segment. So it should be OK.
Depending on the baudrate, the max cable length within a sagment varies.
187.5k = max 1000 m
1.5M = 200 m
12M = 100 m
So your approximately 20-30 meters should be OK without a repeater.

One other reason for adding a repeater could be to be able to shutdown part of the profibus network without affecting the other part, for example if you want to be able to shutdown the expansion panel and then be able to run with the remaining drives.

I've not done very much with Profibus, but one other thing to check for - I believe the plugs have a little switch on them which sets the terminating resistor on or off - the plugs at each end of the chain will have it switched on, and all the others will be off. So you'll need to switch the current one off, and the new end plug on when you get to that stage.