Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

User manual

Integrated Control Solutions & Energy Savings

 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

CONTENTS:

1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................................. 3

2 CONNECTION MODES ....................................................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Connection in RS485 mode ........................................................................................................................ 3
2.2 Connection in RS232 mode ........................................................................................................................ 3

3 SERIAL INTERFACES THE PROTOCOL IS AVAILABLE ON.......................................................................... 4

4 PROTOCOL ACTIVATION .................................................................................................................................. 4

4.1 Selecting the supervisor address ................................................................................................................ 4
4.2 Selecting the communication baud rate ...................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Selecting the communication frame ............................................................................................................ 5

5 MAPPING THE CAREL DATABASE TO MODBUS .......................................................................................... 6

5.1 Threshold..................................................................................................................................................... 6
5.2 Relationship between Carel variable index and Modbus data address ...................................................... 6
5.3 Correspondence between Carel database and Modbus database ............................................................. 6

6 MODBUS COMMANDS....................................................................................................................................... 9
6.1 Error codes (Modbus exceptions) ............................................................................................................... 9
6.2 Response to the Report Slave ID message ................................................................................................ 9

7 SUPERVISOR TIMEOUT SETTING .................................................................................................................. 10

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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

1 INTRODUCTION
The Modbus® Slave protocol can be used to directly connect pCO controllers to a Modbus® supervisory system. The
protocol implemented is RTU (Remote Terminal Unit). Communication with the supervisor is managed by 8-bit data
encoding and 16-bit CRC error control. Communication is asynchronous serial, 8 data bits, parity and settable stop
bits; the baud rate and supervisor address can also be set.

2 CONNECTION MODES
Connection can be managed over both RS485 and RS232 (half duplex point-to-point), the latter only for serial
communication using the corresponding optional card (see pCO sistema manual)

2.1 Connection in RS485 mode

A direct connection is established to the Modbus® network via the serial port on the controller or the optional card.
The maximum baud rate depends on the type of serial interface used for connection and the type of controller (see
par. 4.2). For the technical specifications, meanings of the connections (pins) and details on activation, see the
instructions shown on the instruction sheet included in the packaging on the card itself, or in the controller instruction
manual.

2.2 Connection in RS232 mode

Connection (point to point) is established by connecting the Modbus® supervisor directly to the controller, via the
connector on the optional card. The maximum baud rate is 38400 bps. The type of cable used depends on the
RS232 connector on the master. If, as in the majority of cases, the RS232 connector on the master is DTE4 (Fig.1),
the cable used for connection must be a NULL MODEM cable DB9F – DB9F (Fig.2), in which pin 2 (RxD) at one end
of the cable is connected to pin 3 (TxD) on the other end, and vice-versa.

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

For the technical specifications, meanings of the connections (pins) and details on the activation procedure, see the
instructions shown on the instruction sheet included in the packaging on the optional card.

4
Data Terminal Equipment, DB9 pin, male
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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

3 SERIAL INTERFACES THE PROTOCOL IS AVAILABLE ON

The serial interfaces that the protocol can be selected on depend on the type of controller used. Tab. 1 summarises
the options.

Controller pLAN BMS FIELDBUS BMS_2 FIELDBUS_2

pCO2 
(1)
pCO1   
pCOXS(1)   
pCO3(1)   
pCOCOMPACT(1)   
SuperNode(2)    
pCO5(2)    
Tab. 1
(1)
The protocol is not available on different serial interfaces at the same time.
(2)
The protocol is available on BMS_2 and either pLAN, BMS or FIELDBUS at the same time

4 PROTOCOL ACTIVATION
The protocol is activated by setting the system variables used as communication protocol selector for the required
serial interface. The size of the variable database (registers and coils) will vary depending on the value used to
activate communication. The system variable values required to activate Modbus® protocol are shown in Tab.2.

System variable Value

COM_PROTOCOL_PLAN(1) 3, 30
COM_PROTOCOL_BMS(1)(2)(5) 3, 30, 33
COM_PROTOCOL_FIELDBUS(1) 5, 50
COM_PROTOCOL_BMS2(3)(4) 33
Tab. 2
(1)
Values 30 and 50 are only allowed on controllers with 512Kbyte RAM.
(2)
The value 33 is only allowed on Supernode, pCOCOMPACT and pCO5 controllers.
(3)
The value 33 is only allowed on Supernode and pCO5 controllers
(4)
The value 33 can only be selected starting from BIOS 5.04 and higher.
(5)
The value 33 can only be selected starting from BIOS 5.17 and higher.

4.1 Selecting the supervisor address

The supervisor address can be set using the BMS_ADDRESS and BMS2_ADDRESS system variables. If the
protocol is activated on the pLAN, BMS or FIELDBUS serial interface, the supervisor address is set using
BMS_ADDRESS. If, on the other hand, the protocol is activated on BMS2, it’s set using BMS2_ADDRESS (Tab. 3)

Serial Supervisor address

pLAN, BMS, FIELDBUS BMS_ADDRESS
BMS2 BMS2_ADDRESS
Tab. 3

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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

4.2 Selecting the communication baud rate

The communication baud rate is selected based on the value assigned to the corresponding system variables for the
serial interface the protocol has been activated on. The possible values of these variables are shown in Tab. 4.

Baud rate
System variable 1200 2400 4800 9600 19200 38400
COM_BAUDRATE_PLAN 0 1 2 3 4
COM_BAUDRATE_BMS(1)(3) 0 1 2 3 4 5
COM_BAUDRATE_FIELDBUS 0 1 2 3 4
COM_BAUDRATE_BMS2(2)(3) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Tab. 17
(1)
The value 5 (38400 bps) can only be selected on Supernode, pCOCOMPACT and pCO5.
(2)
The value 5 (38400 bps) can only be selected on Supernode and pCO5.
(3)
The value 5 (38400 bps) can only be selected starting from BIOS 5.17 and higher.

4.3 Selecting the communication frame

The format of the communication frame (parity, number of stop bits) is set by assigning appropriate values to the
COM_CONFIG system variables5. These variables are bit fields. The meaning of the bits for each of these variables is
described in Tab. 5

Bit15 − Bit6 Bit5 − Bit4 Bit3 − Bit1 Bit0

--- Parity --- Stop
Tab 5
where

Bit Nome Descrizione

0 Stop Number of stop bits
0: 2 stop bits
1: 1 stop bits
1÷3 Not used
4÷5 Party Sets the communication parity
Bit4 = 0, Bit5 = 0: no parity
Bit4 = 1, Bit5 = 0: even parity
Bit4 = 0, Bit5 = 1: odd parity
6÷15 Not used

As an example, to transmit with 1 stop bit and odd parity, the variables must be assigned the value 0x21 (d33).

5
COM_CONFIG_PLAN, COM_CONFIG_BMS, COM_CONFIG_FIELDBUS, COM_CONFIG_BMS2, COM_CONFIG_FIELDBUS2
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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

5 MAPPING THE CAREL DATABASE TO MODBUS®

The digital variables in the Carel database are mapped to Modbus coil variables, while both analogue and integer
variables are mapped to Modbus register variables. The values of registers are represented as WORDS (16 bits).
The values of registers corresponding to Carel analogue variables correspond to the value of the variables multiplied by
10.
Carel type Modbus® type
Digital Coil
Analogue Register
Integer Register
The distinction between Modbus®s registers corresponding to Carel analogue and integer variables is made by using
an offset (threshold), the value of which depends on the value used to activate the protocol and the value of the
BMS_EXTENSION system variable (see par. 5.2)

5.1 Threshold
The threshold, used to distinguish Modbus registers reserved for Carel analogue variables from those reserved for
Carel integer variables, depends on the protocol activation value (Tab. 2) and the value of the BMS_EXTENSION
system variable. The frame address (PDU) of threshold Th is described in Tab. 6.
BMS_EXTENSION
0 1
MODBUS® SELECTION NUMBER
3, 5 Th = 128 Th = 208
30, 50 Th = 5001 Th = 5001
33 Th = 128 Th = 5001
Tab. 6

5.2 Relationship between Carel variable index and Modbus data address
The threshold described in the previous paragraph is used to calculate, based on the supervisor index of the Carel
variable (Analogue, Integer, Digital), the corresponding Modbus data (Register, Coil) index (see par. 5.1). Tab. 7
shows the correspondence, where Th refers to the threshold described in Tab. 6.

CAREL MODBUS®
A[N] REGISTER[N]
I[N] REGISTER[Th+N]
D[N] COIL[N]
Tab. 7

Consequently, for example, the first analogue variable A[1] will correspond to register Reg[2], the second A[2] to
register Reg[3], and so on. The same is true for digital variables, only these are mapped to Modbus coils rather than
registers. Similarly, the first integer variable I[1], will be mapped to register Reg[129] if the threshold Th is equal to
128, to register Reg[209] if the threshold is 208, or to register Reg[5002] if the threshold is 5001.

5.3 Correspondence between Carel database and Modbus® database

The correspondence between the Carel variable database and the Modbus® protocol database depends on the
number chosen to activate the protocol (Tab. 2) and the threshold Th, i.e. the value of the BMS_EXTENSION
variable.

5.3.1 Carel – Modbus correspondence with Modbus® versions 3 and 5

The extension of the Carel database depends on the value of the BMS_EXTENSION variable, as shown in Tab. 8.

SUPERVISOR_EXTENSION = 0 SUPERVISOR_EXTENSION = 1
127 A 127 I 199 D 207 A 207 I 207 D
Tab. 8

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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers
In this case the correspondence is represented in Tab. 9. The Modbus addresses are the physical addresses of the
registers and coils (see par. 5.1).

BMS_EXTENSION = 0 BMS_EXTENSION = 1
CAREL MODBUS CAREL MODBUS
Type Address Type Address Type Address Type Address
Digital 1 Coil 1 Digital 1 Coil 1
Digital 2 Coil 2 Digital 2 Coil 2
Digital … Coil … Digital … Coil …
Digital 198 Coil 198 Digital 206 Coil 206
Digital 199 Coil 199 Digital 207 Coil 207

Analogue 1 Register 1 Analogue 1 Register 1

Analogue 2 Register 2 Analogue 2 Register 2
Analogue … Register … Analogue … Register …
Analogue 126 Register 126 Analogue 206 Register 206
Analogue 127 Register 127 Analogue 207 Register 207

Integer 1 Register 129 Integer 1 Register 209

Integer 2 Register 130 Integer 2 Register 210
Integer … Register … Integer … Register …
Integer 126 Register 126 Integer 206 Register 414
Integer 127 Register 255 Integer 207 Register 415
Tab. 9
®
5.3.2 Carel - Modbus correspondence with Modbus versions 30 and 50
The database of the three types of variables extends beyond the maximum index managed by the Carel protocol
(207). The extension of the Carel variable database in this case is 5000A, 5000I, 2048D. The correspondence is
shown in Tab. 10. The indices in bold are those managed by the Carel protocol, while those in italics correspond to
the extension beyond the maximum index. In other words, with this type of configuration, the application software
can manage addresses that go beyond the maximum envisaged by the Carel protocol for each type of variable. The
Modbus® addresses are the physical addresses of the registers and coils (see par. 5.1). The BMS_EXTENSION
variable does no modify the threshold Th that distinguishes the registers corresponding to analogue variables from
those corresponding to integer variables (Tab. 6).
CAREL MODBUS®
Type Address Type Address
Digital 1 Coil 1
Digital 2 Coil 2
Digital … Coil …
Digital 207 Coil 207
Digital 208 Coil 208
Digital 209 Coil 209
Digital … Coil …
Digital 2047 Coil 2047
Digital 2048 Coil 2048

Analogue 1 Register 1
Analogue 2 Register 2
Analogue … Register …
Analogue 207 Register 207
Analogue 208 Register 208
Analogue … Register …
Analogue 4999 Register 4999
Analogue 5000 Register 5000

Integer 1 Register 5002

Integer 2 Register 5003
Integer … Register …
Integer 207 Register 5208
Integer 208 Register 5209
Integer … Register …
Integer 4999 Register 10000
Integer 5000 Register 10001
Tab. 18

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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

5.3.3 Carel - Modbus correspondence with Modbus® version 33

The size of the variable database and the corresponding extension beyond the maximum index envisaged by the
Carel protocol depend on the value of the BMS_EXTENSION system variable, as shown in Tab. 11.

SUPERVISOR_EXTENSION = 0 SUPERVISOR_EXTENSION = 1
127 A 10000 I 2048 D 5000 A 10000 I 2048 D
Tab. 11

When the value is 0 the analogue variable database has no extension, and the size coincides with the value
envisaged for versions 3 and 5 of the Modbus protocol (see Tab. 8). When the value is 1, on the other hand, the
extension is the same as envisaged by versions 30 and 50 (see Tab. 10). The integer and digital variables always
extend beyond the maximum index managed by the Carel protocol (207). The correspondence is shown in Tab. 12,
where the indices in bold are those managed by the Carel protocol, while those in italics correspond to the extension
of the database if the BMS_EXTENSION system variable is 1. The Modbus addresses are the physical addresses of
the registers and coils (see par. 5.1).

BMS_EXTENSION = 0 BMS_EXTENSION = 1
CAREL MODBUS® CAREL MODBUS®
Type Address Type Address Type Address Type Address
Digital 1 Coil 1 Digital 1 Coil 1
Digital 2 Coil 2 Digital 2 Coil 2
Digital … Coil … Digital … Coil …
Digital 207 Coil 207 Digital 207 Coil 207
Digital 208 Coil 208 Digital 208 Coil 208
Digital 209 Coil 209 Digital 209 Coil 209
Digital … Coil … Digital … Coil …
Digital 2047 Coil 2047 Digital 2047 Coil 2047
Digital 2048 Coil 2048 Digital 2048 Coil 2048

Analogue 1 Register 1 Analogue 1 Register 1

Analogue 2 Register 2 Analogue 2 Register 2
Analogue … Register … Analogue … Register …
Analogue 126 Register 126 Analogue 206 Register 206
Analogue 127 Register 127 Analogue 207 Register 207
Analogue 208 Register 208
Analogue … Register …
Analogue 4999 Register 4999
Analogue 5000 Register 5000

Integer 1 Register 129 Integer 1 Register 5002

Integer 2 Register 130 Integer 2 Register 5003
Integer … Register … Integer … Register …
Integer 207 Register 335 Integer 207 Register 5208
Integer 208 Register 336 Integer 208 Register 5209
Integer … Register … Integer … Register …
Integer 9999 Register 126 Integer 9999 Register 15000
Integer 10000 Register 10128 Integer 10000 Register 15001
Tab. 12

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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

6 MODBUS COMMANDS
The Modbus commands implemented are described in Tab. 13. Digital variables can be read both with Read Coil
Status (code 1) and Read Input Status (code 2). The controller manages these supervisor requests in the same way.
Similarly, analogue and integer variables can be read with Read Holding Register (code 3) and Read Input Register
(code 4).

Reading/writing of supervisor variables using the commands described in Tab. 13 during normal controller operation
depends on the application software that manages these.

The controller does not verify the range of values received by writing analogue and/or integer supervisor variables
using the Modbus Preset Single/Multiple Register commands.

Function Modbus® command Effect

code
1 Read Coil Status Read digital variables
2 Read Input Status Read digital variables
3 Read Holding Register Read analogue and/or integer variables
4 Read Input Register Read analogue and/or integer variables
5 Force Single Coil Write a digital variable
6 Preset Single Register Write an analogue or integer variable
15 Force Multiple Coils Write a consecutive series of digital variables
16 Preset Multiple Registers Write a consecutive series of analogue and/or integer variables
17 Report Slave ID Request information from the controller
Tab. 19

6.1 Error codes (Modbus® exceptions)

When the controller cannot perform requests from the supervisor, it returns error messages (Modbus® exceptions).
The Modbus® exception codes managed by the controller are described in Tab. 14.

Type Exception code Description

0x01 ILLEGAL FUNCTION The requested function is not implemented on the controller
0x02 ILLEGAL DATA ADDRESS One or more addresses in the request are out of range
Tab. 14

6.2 Response to the Report Slave ID message

The Report Slave ID message is used to request specific information from the controller, such as the BIOS version
and mapping of the Carel variable database to the Modbus® database. The structure of the response message is
described in Tab. 16.

6.2.1 BIOS version representation

The BIOS version is represented respectively by byte 6 and 7. For test or unofficial BIOS versions the content of the
two bytes will be the ASCII codes for letters ‘T’ and ‘E’. Otherwise it will be the BIOS version number, in the format
a.bb (see Tab. 15)

BIOS version BYTE 6 BYTE 7

TE ‘T’ = 0x54 ‘E’ = 0x45
A.BB A BB
Tab. 15

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 Modbus® protocol for pCO controllers

6.2.2 Example response

Fig. 4 shows an example of a response to the Report Slave ID message by the controller, assuming the following:
Address = 1
BIOS = 5.12
Modbus version = 33
BMS_EXTENSION = 1

01,11,16,C9,FF,05,0C,13,88,27,10,08,00,00,02,13,89,13,8B,3A,9A,00,02,08,01,64,08

Fig. 4

Byte Contained Description

4 Controller code 201 (type pCO)
5 0xFF Run status: ON
6,7 BIOS version BIOS version installed on the controller
8,9 Maximum number of analogue var. See par. 5
10,11 Maximum number of integer var. See par. 5
12,13 Maximum number of digital var. See par. 5
14,15 Data address of the register corresponding to the first See par. 5
analogue variable
16,17 Data address of the register corresponding to the last See par. 5
analogue variable
18,19 Data address of the register corresponding to the first integer See par. 5
variable
20,21 Data address of the register corresponding to the last integer See par. 5
variable
22,23 Data address of the coil corresponding to the first digital See par. 5
variable
24,25 Data address of the coil corresponding to the last digital See par. 5
variable
Tab. 20

7 SUPERVISOR TIMEOUT SETTING

The value of the timeout to be set on the supervisor to await a response from the controller depends on the
communication baud rate. Typical values when the baud rate is 19200 are:

timeout: ≥1000 ms
turnaround delay6: from 50 to 200 ms

6
Delay before a subsequent request after having received the response to the previous one.
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