Honeywell Modbus help

Brian123

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Sep 2007
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I'm looking for a correct reference for some Modbus registers in a DR4500 chart recorder.

The registers are listed in Honeywell's document number 51-52-25-69 (I have rev A, February 2000, of that manual.) The register I'm interested in is "SP Program Enable". According to that manual, it should be register 6192. That register doesn't seem to work properly. (Tried bumping the register value +/- 1 as well.

I'm not terribly surprised, as that particular manual is somewhat unreliable (lots of registers with incorrect addresses). I've had far better luck with Honeywell's document number 51-52-25-66 (I have Revision T, February 2013, of that manual). It's a general Modbus Manual, but it doesn't have an entry for the register I'm looking for.

I'm hoping that someone might have needed this bit of info in the past, or has a better reference than I can find. I know it's a long shot, but I figured I might get a faster response here than trying to figure out Honeywell's support.

Thanks,
Brian
 
I know nothing about your situation, but I myself have sometimes failed to read the complete register.

What I mean by this is are you reading a 16bit word when you should be reading a 32bit word?
 
I can not find that 51-52-25-69 (I have rev A, February 2000 manual in my library and Google doesn't seem to find it in the first two pages.

Since I can't find it to see for myself, I have to ask, is that value you cited a decimal or hexadecimal value and did you use the correct number format in your master? Number format makes a difference.

I do have the other Modbus manual and I, too, can't find that particular register for SP Programmer enable.

History:
Honeywell was a late comer to the Modbus world. 2000 is about the third year of Modbus (before that it was a proprietary protocol over RS-485). A number of issues with early version Modbus option cards. Changes were made early on and that function might have been dropped.

Honeywell has tried to maintain continuity between products for their Modbus slave register maps, especially between the Truline and the UDC controller lines.

The UDC controller manuals have an entirely different set of registers for use with Function Codes 20/21, (which almost no masters support) which I suspect is the basis for the commm protocol for Honeywell's PIE (Process Instrument Explorer) software used to configure UDC controllers.

UDC_manual_registers_for_FC_20_21.jpg


Those registers include a register for SP Programmer Enable, as shown below.

SP_Program_Enable_under_FC20_21.jpg


But be warned that there is no continuity between the SP 20/21 registers and the regular FC 03/04/06/16 registers listed in the main Rev T manual. You might get something entirely different.

If you give it a try, please let me know what happens.
 
I know nothing about your situation, but I myself have sometimes failed to read the complete register.

What I mean by this is are you reading a 16bit word when you should be reading a 32bit word?

Hi David,
Thanks for the suggestion. According to the info I have, it should be a single integer register that I am trying to read. The address listed has other info at +1 and -1 address, so I'm pretty sure that it's just a single register. Good thought though!

I can not find that 51-52-25-69 (I have rev A, February 2000 manual in my library and Google doesn't seem to find it in the first two pages.

Since I can't find it to see for myself, I have to ask, is that value you cited a decimal or hexadecimal value and did you use the correct number format in your master? Number format makes a difference.

I do have the other Modbus manual and I, too, can't find that particular register for SP Programmer enable.

History:
Honeywell was a late comer to the Modbus world. 2000 is about the third year of Modbus (before that it was a proprietary protocol over RS-485). A number of issues with early version Modbus option cards. Changes were made early on and that function might have been dropped.

Honeywell has tried to maintain continuity between products for their Modbus slave register maps, especially between the Truline and the UDC controller lines.

The UDC controller manuals have an entirely different set of registers for use with Function Codes 20/21, (which almost no masters support) which I suspect is the basis for the commm protocol for Honeywell's PIE (Process Instrument Explorer) software used to configure UDC controllers.

UDC_manual_registers_for_FC_20_21.jpg


Those registers include a register for SP Programmer Enable, as shown below.

SP_Program_Enable_under_FC20_21.jpg


But be warned that there is no continuity between the SP 20/21 registers and the regular FC 03/04/06/16 registers listed in the main Rev T manual. You might get something entirely different.

If you give it a try, please let me know what happens.

Dan,
Here's the table from the manual I'm referencing:
attachment.php


If you want a copy, PM me your email, and I'll send you a copy.

I tried the register that you found in the other manual (and +/- 1), but no luck. I'm almost positive my software doesn't support the other function codes either, so no chance getting at it from that angle.

Thanks for digging into it, and the history lesson. I remember them offering some other comm format, DCMS, I think. We never got into that, but I remember seeing it as a config option in the order matrix.

I suppose I'll just try to figure out if I can get in touch with a Honeywell engineer.

Thanks for the help guys! I appreciate it!

modbus table.jpg
 
The Truline Rev A manual has the same fault as the current UDC manuals, it lists addresses useable with Function codes 20/21 only, which are rarely found in master/clients.

Rev_A_Modbus_manual_for_FC_21_21_only.jpg


The listed register addressing in the UDC manual for FC20/21 does not work for the conventional Function Code 03 (read holding registers), or 10h (16 decimal) Write multiple registers.

Apparently the same holds true for the Truline's register assignment - those register addresses are not useable with FC03/10.
 
The Truline Rev A manual has the same fault as the current UDC manuals, it lists addresses useable with Function codes 20/21 only, which are rarely found in master/clients.

The listed register addressing in the UDC manual for FC20/21 does not work for the conventional Function Code 03 (read holding registers), or 10h (16 decimal) Write multiple registers.

Apparently the same holds true for the Truline's register assignment - those register addresses are not useable with FC03/10.

Yeah, I see that now. Well, I found a modbus diagnostic program that supports FC 20/21 that had a free 3 day trial.

http://wingpath.co.uk/modbus/modmaster.php

Using that, I was able to confirm that I can read and write to the SPP Enable register and that it has the intended effect on the chart recorder. I was also able to read some data from the segments themselves (setpoint, time, etc.). The configuration of the program was a little confusing at first, mostly due to how the data is structured for those function codes. But, it is actually possible to fiddle with it.

The big question is getting support for it in the modbus driver for the software I'm using (ignition). The inductive automation guys are pretty supportive, but I'm thinking this is a bridge too far. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Dan!
 

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