RTA 435NBX with Different 'String Values' then Terminal.exe

[maexio]

Hello,

I'm presently on a short changeover 'Canadian Thanksgiving' startup that uses some older 'serial' devices. One of the devices is a Scanmeg Type T sensor, and since we're upgrading from an Omron / PC based environment to a Clogix L82 environment, we went with a 435NBX to get the RS422 comms into the PLC as a String.

I've setup the Comms settings, and i'm seeing information from the RTA coming into the PLC; but the values are different through the RTA than they are from my Terminal.exe session.

The comms protocol expects : LF # 0 0 etc etc... CkSum, CR
the RTA and PLC See :
$EB$FD$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$F9$87$11$04$03!$03$7F$80$FD$FF$01$01$FF$FF$03$00$7F$00$00$80$FF$01$7F$7F$80$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$F7$83$BF$01$01$FD$FF$01$7F$80$01$00$00$00$00$BF$05$7F$FF$FF$FF$FF$01$FF$FF$03$19y$00$BD$BF$FF$FF$FB$FF$FF$FF$FB$FF$FF$F9$F9$FF$01$00$FD$01$01$00$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FF$FB$0F}$80$FD$05~$7F$7F$FF$FF$FD$FF$01$FD$FF$FF$FF$FF$FB$03$00$DF$$$FB$FD$01....... and so on.

While the Terminal.exe sees :

0A 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 0B 0D 0A 02 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 80 20 ....... and so on.

The Terminal.exe matches the comms profile, but without swapping the cables, just plugging into the RTA instead of the USB -> Ser adaptor; and i consistently get results heavy to FF instead of heavy to 00 which would be the expectation.

Spent about a day on this with new wires, usb adaptors, Scanmeg tools, etc.

Everythign but the RTA / PLC combo are checking out and of course its Saturday due to the 'wiring time' and other 'issues' so out of support window with no hope for a monday morning at the present.. Any ideas? Much appreciated.

 

[Saffa]

Have you checked number of stop bits, baud rate, parity etc? A lot of terminal emulators give you the option to set this, but often they seem to auto- correct any incorrect settings themselves, where as the PLC serial ports don't.

Going from 00 to to FF seems to me like every bit is inverse.

 

[JeffKiper]

Some of the older family RTA have jumpers to set the 232 , 486 ,or 422. You might want to verify the stop bit, baud and parity.

 

[maexio]

Hey @Saffa and @JeffKiper

Thanks for your help. So coming back in with the clarity of a nights sleep, reading your responses and going to the Terminal there were a couple of things I noticed (Incidentally the terminal program i was using is freeware from the RTA site, and also here :
https://learn.andoyaspace.no/ebook/...ing-started/using-the-radio/terminal-program/)
Nice and easy for logging / monitoring serial 'data' and a pretty cool little program with macros, etc.

Now that my appreciative part of the 'terminal program' is over. i noticed and rabbit holed the ASCII vs HEX a little, worried i had the wrong converter, etc. Flow Control was the only setting between the two with RTA set to none, and no options for it in the terminal program.


So long story short, the DB9 Pins for RS422 to the 'PC' were :

2 - RX-
3 - TX +
5 - V0
6 - RX +
7 - TX -

And The DB 9 Pins for the post Jumper (yes thats always fun to remember, can select it but doesn't work without the jumpers on the RTA....)
on the RTA 435NBX (as displayed in the Serial Configuration page) are :

2 - TX -
3 - TX +
5 - GND
6 - RX -
7 - RX +

I somehow had well a lot of them swapped. Sorry for wasting the time. Check the wiring, and after that - check the wiring again. Note however that the little icon that shows you how to wire the pins on the DB9 for the RTA can be confusing (at least for me...)... It would be so nice if the DB9 that worked for a computer worked for the RTA -- probably my only complaint, otherwise RTA deserves the business, excellent support, great products, fantastic shipping. Don't forget to get the little DB9 connector accessory - very handy.

Thanks again everyone, really appreciate the help.

 

[JeffKiper]

The pinouts got me before as well. The 435 is so flexible, there is a few down sides because if that.
Glad you got it up and running. I usually stick a 435 and a 460 in my shop just because of how great they are.