Create a new Device

To create a new device, select ‘Tools’ → ’I/O Devices’ or click the icon in the toolbar. The following picture shows the first step in creating a new device.

I/O Device Name: Give a device name. This name will be used in the tag database, accompanied by the ‘Station Name’.

Select a device type

After selecting the ‘OK’ button in the previous step, the ‘Ethernet Communication Configuration’ dialog box will appear as shown in the following picture.

In this window, set the ‘Device Type’ to ‘MITSUBISHI MELSEC 3E’ and configure the remaining Ethernet communication parameters. See the Communication Configuration section for more information.

Create a station

Move to the ‘Station’ tab of the ‘Ethernet Communication Configuration’ dialog box. In this dialog box, connected PLC stations can be configured and registered to the Xpanel. Each field can be configured with the following rules:

Station Name: Give a name to the PLC. This name will be used in the tag database, accompanied by the ‘Device Name’.

Station Type: Choose ‘MELSEC’ (No other options are available).

Network ID: N/A

IP Address: Give the IP address of the PLC in dotted decimal format (e.g. “1.2.3.4”).

Socket Port No: Give the port number opened by the PLC. The default value for this field (within the Mitsubishi configuration) is 5000.

16-Bit Data Swap: N/A

32-Bit Data Swap: N/A

Comm. Error Message Pop Up: When this item is checked, Xpanel displays a communication error message box for every Rx and Tx error. Otherwise (unchecked), Xpanel does not display a message for communication errors. This message box will close automatically after a few seconds.

Fixed XPANEL Socket Port: When this option is checked, Xpanel will use only one port for connecting with the PLC, as defined in the ‘XPANEL Socket Port No.” field. Otherwise, Xpanel will dynamically change the port number every time a TCP connection error or other communication error occurs.

This option allows Xpanel to deal with various TCP port management options. Some PLC models have a limit on the maximum number of TCP services. In such cases, this option can be helpful.

This option is unchecked by defaultSee the Communication Configuration section for more information about the remaining parameters.