Mitsubishi FX1N & E410 HMI communication...

I have "inherited" a piece of equipment from another manufacturer and need to interface it with yet a third controller. The equipment utilizes a Mitsubishi FX1N PLC communicating to a Mitsubishi/Beijer E410 terminal via the E410's RS485 port. I have access to both the PLC and HMI code.

I need to have this pair communicate with an OPTO22 SNAP PAC S2 controller and read a couple of registers from the PLC and pass a few back. A couple of questions:

Does the E410 ethernet port support Modbus TCP/IP from the "outside" to the PLC? If so, what is the addressing scheme for the PLC registers?

If that is not available, does anyone have experience using the E410's "no protocol" mode to read/set registers in the PLC?

Thanks for the help.

I don't think you will be able to speak directly to the PLC from Modbus. The HMI can speak to two Controllers at the same time and it can exchange data between them. You will have to set up the Modbus over TCP as the second controller and then exchange data between it and the PLC. You will defintely need a copy of the manual, though as ever with Beijer, the manual makes things seem a lot more complicated than they really are. I should point out that I have no experience with Modbus so don't come back asking any in depth questions.

Bryan

Thanks for the reply.

Has anyone actually set up an E410 for Modbus communication? The manual hints that it's possible, but I have been unable to set that up in the E-designer software.

OK - Sent previous reply too quickly. I think I just found it...

Hi,

All Beijer terminals supports Modbus communication (both as slave and master). They support:
- Modbus TCP (Ethernet)
- Modbus RTU (Serial)
- Modbus ASCII (Serial)

The configuration is really simple, all you need to do is select the Modbus TCP-driver and place the driver on the TCP/IP Connection 1 (in Peripherals). Then right click on the Modbus driver and select properties. Normally you only need to insert the IP-address and station of the PLC. Then there are some "extras"-settings that makes it possible to configure e.g which word that should be MSB/LSB (when using 32-bit devices). Addressing, cable information, trouble shooting etc can be found in the Controller help (Help -> Controller help).

Let me know if you need more assistance!