The UNITE IO server allows your Ewon device with a serial interface to be configured as a Unitelway slave interface. Configured like this, the Ewon device can poll items on a Unitelway capable device.
The device can be the Unitelway master itself or a device addressable through the Unitelway master on the XWay network.
The Ewon device can also act as an Ethernet to serial gateway for remote maintenance of the PLCs.
Communication Setup
The COM Setup portion of the IO Server setup screen only appears if your hardware configuration includes a serial port.
The serial port on the Ewon device must be configured to use the same RS standard (RS232/422/485) as the PLC.
For the FLA 3301 – 2 Serial Port Extension card:
- Port S2 is fixed RS232 mode
- Port S1 is configurable with dip switches.
Additional configuration may also be required through the web interface in Serial ports.
- Communication Setup
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Physical COM port allocated to the MODBUS IO server. The numbering of the serial COM ports starts with the serial port of the Base Unit (if available) and then continues with the upper port of the first Extension Module starting from the left.
Set the COM Port to the port to which the PLC is connected.
- Baudrate
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Select the baudrate from 1200 to 38400 bauds.
Set the baudrate as required to match the settings in your PLC.
- Parity
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The parity to apply: none / odd / even.
Set the parity as required to match the settings in your PLC.
- Stop Bit(s)
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Number of stop bits.
Set the stop bit as required to match the settings in your PLC.
- HW mode
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Set the HW mode to Half Duplex.
- Force UnitelWay V2
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Uncheck Force UnitelWay V2 when polling TSX devices.
- XWAY Network Station
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Enter the address of the Ewon device on the XWAY network in the XWAY Network Station field.
When acting as an XIP to Unitelway gateway, the Ewon device will only respond to the XWay network station defined here.
Any XIP frame addressed to another network station will be ignored.
An IO server can only poll on one serial line. Similarly, multiple IO servers cannot poll on the same serial line.
Topic Configuration
Topics give common properties to groups of UNITE tags such as whether polling is enabled or disabled for these tags, their poll rate, and the destination device type and address.
- Protocol
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The protocol used for the communication with the PLC.
Options include Fins TCP and Fins UDP. Ewon devices with a serial port will also offer a serial option.
- Global Device Address
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The Global Device Address is a global parameter that identifies the device to be polled.
If an address is specified here, it will replace (overload) the address defined at the tag level.
Clicking in the Global Device Address field will enable an address helper to assist with selecting the appropriate address syntax for your device.
Device addresses can be entered in either:
- Network, Station, Gate format.
- Network, Station, Gate, Module, Channel format.
When the address entered is a valid syntax, the contents of the field will appear green. When the syntax is invalid, the contents of the field will appear in red.
- Poll rate
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Defines the refresh rate of the tag name.
Enter the refresh rate in ms (milliseconds) for the tags associated with this topic. The default value is 2000 ms (2 seconds).
More information about these parameters and the FINS IO server tags can be found in the RG-0007-00 - IO Servers.