14.2.3 Exercise

This section gives an illustrative example of the Modbus Slave feature. Settings may differ depending on your project’s configuration.

Exercise: Connecting to PLC-S with Ethernet

Note: in this example, a CIMON-PLC device called IO_DEVICE.ST_STATION has already been registered in XpanelDesigner. For more information about registering and configuring I/O devices, see the I/O Device Settings section.

(1) Modbus Slave Configuration

a) In XpanelDesigner, select [Tools] – [Data Server] – [Modbus Slave] to add a communication channel as shown below. In this example, we use the Modbus TCP.

b) Add a digital device address (Y00, Modbus address 00001) to the coils area. Add an analog device address (D0, Modbus address 40001) to the holding register area. The tag names and addresses should appear as shown below.

c) Add dynamic tag objects to the page to display the tag values.

(2) CICON Configuration

a) In CICON, create a new ‘MODBUS/TCP Master’ program and set the parameters as shown below. For more detailed information, please refer to the Additional Configuration section

b) Add a scan program and configure the ladder logic as shown below. Each time M949 turns ON, the program saves a random number at word D0 and a 1 at word Y00.

(3) Checking the Operation

a) Download the XpanelDesigner project to Xpanel and execute it. Download the CICON programs and parameters to the PLC-S and run them.

b) Observe the dynamic tag values on the Xpanel screen. You can check the Tx/Rx frames by selecting [Comm Monitor] in the [Xpanel Config.] Window and pressing [Start].

c) You can check that communication is operating normally as shown below. When M949 is toggled in CICON, D0 should update on the Xpanel screen. The values for D0 should match between devices.