Red Lion G303 and Lenze Modbus

[tommy23t]

Hi all.
Can anyone help me on Modbus addressing/ assigning? Basically, I have a G303 display using TCP/IP talking to a pair of Lenze / ACTech Position Servos and cannot seem to find how to actually assign the Modbus value. For example, on the G303 I have a data tag assigned to L400001 and to the proper IP (I think) on the Position Servo drive. I cannot figure out how to assign this address to NV0, a variable in the drive.
I hope I am missing something really stupid. I am using the latest Crimson 2.0 software for the G303, and Motionview 6.05 for the Lenze.

Any guidance surely appreciated.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[pw3]

A little more information on what you're trying to do would be helpful. I gather you want to send some integer value from the drive out to the display via Modbus TCP/IP?

Have you tried ringing everything out first with any test software, such as Wintech's Modscan32/Modsim32? I have found their software to be an invalueable tool in proving both serial and TCP/IP Modbus installations--

 

[tommy23t]

I am trying to send integer values to the drive, such as a delay time, motor speed, offset, ect. This is a labeling machine for round objects, one motor controls the rotation of the part, the other controls the label advance.

-Tom

 

[tommy23t]

I did download the Wintech Modscan32, but really don't know where to start with it. I tried the IPs of the drive, no response yet I connect to the drive with the Motionview software via TCP/IP.

-Tom

 

[pw3]

Well--first you need to understand that in Modbus you typically have a "Master" (generally an HMI/scada) that polls the network for data, and "Slaves" (field devices) that supply the data. For more info on this you can look around at www.modbus.org in their download area for up to date descriptions of the protocol.

Anyway, I assume your Red Lion Display device is going to be setup as a Master and will be polling the drive, as a Slave, for data. (Typically this is how you should do it--)

Going from there, you need to then determine how/where your drive is storing its information at. Some devices have assigned memory maps, listing the "40000"-series registers where anything from bits to floats can be stored.

Others allow you to assign certain variables to specific registers using their factory configuration software. Modbus devices, unlike HART for example, do not use universally set registers/locations for storage of data. It is either specific to the device itself, or they allow you to set it with software.

Next, once you know "where" the data is at on your drive, i.e. which register# and what type (integer, float, etc) it is, then use Modscan to try to get in and look at it. Modscan supports both serial and TCP Modbus comms, but for the TCP you need to specify "Port 502" when prompted for settings.

This is as far as I can get you right now--read up a bit on Modbus and then try out the Modscan program again to hit your drives with a crossover cable. It will tell you if it goes on "scan" or faults out.

Once you are successful with this and get Modscan to talk to the drives, you can then duplicate the settings/register#'s from Modscan to your Red Lion display and it should follow suit and also be able to poll the drives.

 

[tommy23t]

Thanks. The Red Lion is setup as a slave (only option). I will try the crossover to talk directly with the Modscan. I will also read more on the Modbus, I am starting to understand it more as I go.
Thanks very much for the assistance
-Tom

 

[pw3]

I checked out the Red Lion site for the G303--there should have been a "Modbus TCP/IP Master over Ethernet" driver included with the (Crimson) setup software that came with your device.

Here's a link to a page at their site listing the various Modbus drivers for the G3 series:

http://www.redlion.net/Support/Downloads/DeviceDrivers/G3/Modbus.html

Looks like you just pick the driver you want and download it to the unit.

On another note, the cool thing about using Modbus TCP is that you can poll your field devices (generally) from several sources. This is handy if you want two displays, or are tied into a Plant Info system for trending/alarming. Only pitfall is that you are then dependent on the LAN for carrying all of your signals, and may wish to consider using a serial type of Modbus instead and hardwiring directly to the drives if the reliability of the network is a concern-- This will limit you then to having one Master device.

Good luck!

 

[pw3]

One more thing--Modscan simulates a "Master" device, and Modsim simulates a "Slave". If you have to set your drives up as Masters then you will need to use Modsim to simulate the Red Lion "slave" device.

 

[tommy23t]

I gave you a bum steer before. I did have it setup as Modbus Master.
I'll keep plugging away (no pun intended), but thanks so much for your help.
-Tom

 

[DanYost]

Tom,

This is the same text from the email I sent this morning, so there is no need for you to read it, if you have already checked your email.

You will want the G3 and the Lenze to have different IPs, so that part is correct. When you click on Ethernet in the G3, that is the G3's IP address. When you click on PLC1 (or whatever the device below the Modbus Master driver) that is the IP address of the Lenze.

I would assume that you do not want to map to L4, but just 4. The L4 is for devices that store a 32-bit number in a single holding register (Daniel's Extension), while the 4 is for devices that store only 16-bit values in a single register. If the value(s) you want in the Lenze are 32-bit, you can map to 4 and choose Word as Long for the Data Type. This will read 2 16-bit registers and treat them as a single 32-bit value.

Unfortunately, I have no experience with the Lenze device, so I am not sure how to associate their registers with Modbus registers. Nor I have I been able to find any useful documentation on this on the web. If you have any literature that discusses this, I can point you in the right direction.

Regards,
Dan