Using Ananas - Modbus/TCP Client with iPackACCESS

[David Carlson]

RNRG Systems provides the iPackACCESS Modbus Client Demonstration Application for troubleshooting iPackACCESS setup and connections. This application is helpful as it is prepopulated with the correct input register entries. It is available here:

http://www.renewablenrgsystems.com/services-support/documentation-and-downloads/software-downloads/detail/ipackaccess-modbus-client-demonstration-application

 

Other software is available for this same purpose. The following is a set of instructions to get basic connectivity working between Ananas – Modbus/TCP client software and the iPackACCESS (with SymphoniePLUS3)

 

1. Download ananas:
   1. http://www.tuomio.fi/ananas/
       
2. Run the exe
3. Allow access when prompted by Windows
   
   
    
4. Click the “Show” button under the Client heading on the main window to edit the connection settings
   
   
    
5. Click the “Connect…” button to enter the IP address and Port number for the iPackACCESS
   1. You can view this in the logger display by pressing [HOME][3][4][6].
   2. Click OK to connect.
      
      
       
6. Click the Input registers radio button.
   1. Enter the input registers you want to read, and click Add (or hit the Enter key). In this example I’m reading registers 2001 – 2005 for some time data. A full list of available registers is available in the iPackACCESS manual, starting on page 30: http://www.renewablenrgsystems.com/services-support/documentation-and-downloads/manuals/detail/manual-ipackaccess
      
      
       
7. You can close the above window now, or just switch over to the main window to view the register values.
   
   

[natalie]

If you would like to view scaled or statistical data in Ananas, the values will not appear directly in the Registers table.

 

Statistical data and real-time scaled data are represented in 32-bit single precision floating point format across two registers, where the first register contains the “most significant half of the word” and the second register contains the “least significant half of the word”.

 

For example, the channel 9 real-time scaled value is found in registers 3022 and 3023. However, if you look at the values associated with these registers in the Registers table in Ananas, you will see two seemingly meaningless strings of digits.

 

In order to view the actual data value, right-click on the value associated with the first register of the pair in the Registers table. In this example, right-click on the value at register 3022.

 

 

This will open a Value window. In the Value window, go to the Edit menu, hover over 32-bit Representation Byte Order, and select 3-2-1-0 from the list to the right.

 

 

Now, the Float field at the bottom right of the Value window will display a value converted from the combined values from this register and the subsequent register. In other words, in this example, the Float field displays the channel 9 real-time scaled value, derived from the values in registers 3022 and 3023.