RS 485 Micrologix

I have a Micrologix 1500 with an AIC plus Running a small Network (Networking 3 Micrologix 1500's and a touch screen) I am networking through RS Linx Lite with a 1747 PIC AIC + Driver.
I need to monitor some information from a controller (Not an Allen Bradley product) that has an RS 485 port. How do I put go about putting it as a node on my Network. and how do I read form it once it is configured?
I understand how to wire the 485, but i am lost on how to read from or write to a device that is not the same family.
Is it possible? doe it require aditional hardware, or is it strictly a programing thing?
I believe my remote device is a Modbus protocol.

Any help or guidance is extremely appreciated

Thanks

What type and brand of product are you trying to attach to????

This is a very common misunderstanding with DH-485 networking. RS-485, officially called EIA-485, is an electrical interconnection standard that specifies the voltage and wiring of the network.

DH-485 is an Allen-Bradley proprietary token-passing protocol used by SLC-500's. It is different from and incompatible with any of the half-dozen flavors of Modbus protocol, even though they can use the same kind of wiring.

Because there is no 3rd party module (yet) for Modbus protocol on the MicroLogix 1500, you're going to need a DF1/Modbus bridge module.

You'll have to figure out what version of the Modbus protocol your third-party device uses. RTU and ASCII flavors are the two most common versions of Modbus, and a device can be either a Master or a Slave.

If your third-party device can be a Modbus Master, maybe you can use the MicroLogix 1500 1764-LRP controller with the extra serial port. That does support Modbus RTU Slave protocol.