MOXA NPORT Internet to Serial.

Hi,

does anyone have experience using the NPORT ethernet/serial converters from MOXA (www.moxa.com) for connecting to PLC's via the internet ?

According to MOXA:
At your office you can load a special driver that will enable a virtual COM port on your PC. The COM port is really an internet conncetion to the remote NPORT converter. The NPORT converter then connects to the PLC via a standard serial connection.
The trick is that on your PC it looks like you are connected locally via a standard com port.

Anyone had experience connecting to AB PLC's via RSLinx ?
Anyone had experience connecting to Siemens S7 PLC's via a serial/MPI link ?

Well that Nport can be a little tricky to setup and get running. The device works well on Local networks but when used over the internet there are some problems. The main problem with it is most computers are assigned an IP address usually at random, therefore your IP address changes each time you connect. Well that MOXA Nport relies on a set IP address to find the Nport. Therefore you would have to have a way to find out the IP address of the Nport everytime it is connected to the internet, or have a dedicated Internet line with a set IP address.

Hope this helps.


Dave

There are a couple of operating modes in the NPort Express. The mode are depended on the type of application you are using. A typical Nport express setup with PLC or serial device server is as follows:

PC--LAN(or internet)--NPort--serialcable(rs232/422/485)--serial device (PLC/etc.)

Under this setup, if your PC software needs to access NPOrt via a com port, please set operating mode to "host/based driver mode"
and use the "real com installer" (free from moxa website) to create a virtual com port.

If your PC software communicates via a TCP server/client model, set the operating mode of the NPort to TCP server or client. In this case, it would be TCP server since your user software is TCP cleint.
(specify an IP address and a port number).

That should be ok. Moxa has a very indepth online manual you can download for reference. It will show you everything you need to know.

http://web4.moxa.com/support/download_center.asp

I hope this helps!

Write your questions and again if you need any more questions to be answered.