I am not generally in the habit of praising products from manufacturers. I do spend a lot of time complaining about horrible software, lousy support, hardware that fails, uograde/update policies etc.
I often need to use a power monitor on switch boards. For some time now I have been using the new Schneider NSX MCCBs. Buy a body, electronic trip unit with Modbus interface, display, cable, terminator and you are away. No CTs to mount, no VTs with fuses for high fault currents. The CTs and VTs are built into the electronic trip unit. It does require 24VDC, and connection of the neutral, but that is certainly not a problem these days. The 24VDC connects to the display and feeds through the pre-made cable to the trip unit. Really simple and saves heaps of time and space. The cost of the hardware is easily offset by the cost of installing CTs, VTs etc.
I recently required a Modbus interface to a PLC to display electrical data on a touch screen. Comms are quite often 'black man's magic' - no offence meant - it is an old Ozzie expression we often use - it may not be appropriate in other parts of the world but Ozzies will always be Ozzies with their slang.
I decideD to use the NSX body, electronic trip unit with all electrical data onboard including maximum levels and even THD.
Bought the body, trip unit, comms insert, cable and an interface module for Modbus RTU. The unit is a TRV 00210 I think. It comes in default mode to detect comms settings. I was pretty doubtful about this having been there before.
Found the manual on the Schneider-Electric website (that is an experience but not even close to the experience at Siemens and AB), wired the whole thing up, wrote the code in the PLC. Then 'magic' happened. Set up the PLC comms for Modbus RTU in the PLC, 19200 baud, 8, 1, none and nothing happened. Read the manual, 'when all else fails read the manual'. Found that the unit complied strictly with Modbus standards. Set my comms to 19200 baud, 8, 2, none. Started the serial (RS485) comms card in the PLC, after about 10-15 seconds the TRV interface had detected and confirmed the comms settings from the PLC and started ticking away at a million miles an hour!!!!!
I can honestly say it is the easiest comms setup I have ever encountered. Did the software and had the whole thing running in under 10 minutes.
Congratulations Schneider, I have spent hours trying to get Modbus RTU comms working with some devices. I am not inexperienced at getting these things going - have been doing it for 20 years - but this was so simple I could not believe it.
A really great product if you requore electrical data from a power monitor quite frankly.
Few issues with addressing - sent '4' - standard Modbus RTU - '2' - address of slave, and received the response '4', '2' back twice instead of once. That may be a conflict between the Omron PLC and the Schneider equipment but really easy to fix - just changed the addresses and all was well.
Highly recommended product!!!!!
Hope this helps someone out.
I often need to use a power monitor on switch boards. For some time now I have been using the new Schneider NSX MCCBs. Buy a body, electronic trip unit with Modbus interface, display, cable, terminator and you are away. No CTs to mount, no VTs with fuses for high fault currents. The CTs and VTs are built into the electronic trip unit. It does require 24VDC, and connection of the neutral, but that is certainly not a problem these days. The 24VDC connects to the display and feeds through the pre-made cable to the trip unit. Really simple and saves heaps of time and space. The cost of the hardware is easily offset by the cost of installing CTs, VTs etc.
I recently required a Modbus interface to a PLC to display electrical data on a touch screen. Comms are quite often 'black man's magic' - no offence meant - it is an old Ozzie expression we often use - it may not be appropriate in other parts of the world but Ozzies will always be Ozzies with their slang.
I decideD to use the NSX body, electronic trip unit with all electrical data onboard including maximum levels and even THD.
Bought the body, trip unit, comms insert, cable and an interface module for Modbus RTU. The unit is a TRV 00210 I think. It comes in default mode to detect comms settings. I was pretty doubtful about this having been there before.
Found the manual on the Schneider-Electric website (that is an experience but not even close to the experience at Siemens and AB), wired the whole thing up, wrote the code in the PLC. Then 'magic' happened. Set up the PLC comms for Modbus RTU in the PLC, 19200 baud, 8, 1, none and nothing happened. Read the manual, 'when all else fails read the manual'. Found that the unit complied strictly with Modbus standards. Set my comms to 19200 baud, 8, 2, none. Started the serial (RS485) comms card in the PLC, after about 10-15 seconds the TRV interface had detected and confirmed the comms settings from the PLC and started ticking away at a million miles an hour!!!!!
I can honestly say it is the easiest comms setup I have ever encountered. Did the software and had the whole thing running in under 10 minutes.
Congratulations Schneider, I have spent hours trying to get Modbus RTU comms working with some devices. I am not inexperienced at getting these things going - have been doing it for 20 years - but this was so simple I could not believe it.
A really great product if you requore electrical data from a power monitor quite frankly.
Few issues with addressing - sent '4' - standard Modbus RTU - '2' - address of slave, and received the response '4', '2' back twice instead of once. That may be a conflict between the Omron PLC and the Schneider equipment but really easy to fix - just changed the addresses and all was well.
Highly recommended product!!!!!
Hope this helps someone out.
