PAS600L Modbus issue after replacing EGX100

[smarques]

Good afternoon,

I had some EGX 100 gateway concentrators communicating with power analyzers via Modbus RTU and forwarding the data to the supervision system via Modbus TCP/IP.

However, some of the gateways failed due to age and were replaced with PAS600L units. Since the replacement, most of the analyzers are not communicating. They do communicate when I use a functional EGX 100, but not with the PAS600L. The configuration is the same on both.

I’ve noticed that the analyzers that do communicate are those with addresses higher than 10 or 12. This behavior is consistent across all three networks where the replacements were made, all showing the same results.

I appreciate your help.

[Romain_Polette]

Hello @smarques , 

PAS600L can be a transparent gateway for your devices. I do not expect any issue with basic Serial Modbus to Modbus TCP conversion.

EGX100 where also basic Ethernet Gateway. EGX300 was the former data concentrator (+ gateway).

Panel Server is very different with many feature regarding Cybersecurity. First things to check:

1. What is your PAS600L FW ?
2. did you enable Modbus TCP on Settings -> Network Communication -> Services ?
3. How many analyser connected to each Panel Server ?
4. Did you try to add the analyser to the PAS600L web interface ? Or are you using the PAS600 as a transparent gateway (no specific settings).
5. Did you check PAS600 RS485 port settings (baudrate, parity) ?

Regards, 

[Guillaume_Evrard]

hello @smarques 

As explained by Romain are you using the PAS600 as a transparent gateway (no configuration except serial modbus parameters) or as gateway with devices configured ? In that case PAS is replacing le modbus ID by the virtual ID. It might explain the issue with the ID >10 or 12 but normally PAS is keeping the ID for serial modbus.

Are you using 2Wires or 4 Wires ?

Kind Regards

[smarques]

Hi,

1. What is your PAS600L FW ? 001.006.000
2. Did you enable Modbus TCP on Settings -> Network Communication -> Services ? Yes it is enabled, some of the analyzers are communicating with no problems, they are mostly the same model
3. How many analyser connected to each Panel Server ? Around 15-20 per PAS600L
4. Did you try to add the analyser to the PAS600L web interface ? Or are you using the PAS600 as a transparent gateway (no specific settings). I tried both methods, tried using it as a transparent gateway and adding the analyzer to the web interface, the results were the same, the analyzers that comunicated appeared as "connected" on the web interface.
5. Did you check PAS600 RS485 port settings (baudrate, parity) ? Yes, as i mentioned above, some of the devices are communicating with no problems, some only communicate from time to time.

I also tried messing around with the modbus settings, like enabling the termination and polarizing resistors, messing with the times, etc, to no result.

[smarques]

Hi, yes i have tried both, using it as a transparent gateway and with the devices configured, the result was the same, some devices fully communicate, some communicate from time to time, and some never communicate.

I am using a 2 wire configuration with shield.

Best regards.

[Guillaume_Evrard]

hello @smarques 

Are the devices connected identical ?

When added in the PAS config are you using a model or an unknwon device ?

Have you checked the modbus diag file to see the statistics when a device is configured ?

Kind Regards

[smarques]

Hi, @Guillaume_Evrard,

I managed to get the schemes of one of the switchboards paired with the PAS600L, will try to get the rest soon, the ones that seem to not comunicate are micrologic 5.2E paired with the modbus module TVR00210.
The ones that comunicate are micrologic 5.0H and 5.0P paired with the CCM 33852 and ECO 48385.

I have tried to configure them using the model and as a unknown device, both with the same results, the logs report timeout.

Best Regards.

[Guillaume_Evrard]

hello @smarques 

OK got it I would say your issue is with 2W and 4W connections.

TRV00210 (legacy IFM) is providing 2W modbus, CCM for compact NS or Masterpact is providing 4 W modbus, pay attention that when using CCM you are getting multiple devices per Masterpact/Compact NS with slave ID that are automatically defined (PM, MM, BCM, CCM).

PAS supports only 2W.

[smarques]

Hi @Guillaume_Evrard 
I will attach the schematic of the configuration, the CCM modules are then connected to a CJB306 with the toggle switch to 2W, to the PAS600L only 2 cables are connected + shield, the breakers with the CCM modules are the ones that i can read values fine, the ones that don´t work with the PAS600L but do work with the EGX100 are the ones paired with the TVR00210.
Again thanks for your time and your help it seems we are close to figure this out.
Best Regards.

[smarques · Accepted solution]

Hi.
Found the issue, for the TVR00210 to work the gateway needs to be configured with 2 stop bits (configuration with no parity bits), the CCM works with both 1 stop bit or 2 stop bits.
The EGX100 lacks the stop bit configuration.
The testing was done with a rather old software (PMC Modbus), is there any more recent version or a better software to do this?

Thanks @Guillaume_Evrard and @Romain_Polette for your time.

Best Regards.

[Romain_Polette]

Hi @smarques , 

Thanks for your feedback regarding TRV00210 and CCM configuration.

If you want to test communication with a Modbus device, Panel Server most recent firmware embed a Modbus testing web page.

You can try this as a first step to test Modbus communication (Serial or TCP) between Panel Server and Modbus device.

Regards, 

[Guillaume_Evrard]

hello @smarques ,

Thanks a lot, happy your issue is solved, it would mean that EGX100 is transparent in regards to the number of stop bits... which is not the case with PAS, good to know.