Monday 6 August 2018

RS-485 Modbus IoT Gateway using ESP8266 NodeMCU ESP-12E: TCP/IP Slave Part 2 of 3

Clockwise from top: USB3 externally-powered hub, RS-485 dongle, RS-485 to TTL serial PCB and ESP-12E ESP8266 NodeMCU module

Modbus TCP/IP to RS-485 passthrough gateway for RM25.


Part 1 describes an ESP-12E Modbus RTU Master using RS-485 interface. It can read and write RS-485 Modbus devices but it uses the ESP-12E debug serial port to do so. This works if the ESP-12E itself is the host controller, but Modbus masters usually have a lot more horsepower.



To be really useful, we can also make the ESP-12E a TCP/IP Modbus Slave. It still can work as a host, but this will make it a Modbus TCP/IP to RS485 "passthrough" gateway. A real Modbus host, say a desktop or Industrial PC can then orchestrate a whole bunch of Modbus devices to control a whole buildings' services.

A real TCP/IP to RS-485 Modbus gateway is some RM680

Of course the ESP-12E is not as powerful as a regular Modbus TCP/IP to RS485 passthrough but at RM25 it is an ideal way of retrofitting IoT functionality to Modbus devices.

If we replace the desktop with a cloud-based server we can scale  
As usual someone has already provided the required code. yaacov's ModbusSlaveTCP made an excellent template. I downloaded it as a zip file and copied yaacov's files from ArduinoModbusSlaveTCP-master/src into my Arduino IDE directory <your Linux account>/Arduino/libraries/ModbusSlaveTCP/

Then I expanded the sketch in Part 1:

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <ModbusSlaveTCP.h>

const char* ssid = "YourAccessPoint";
const char* pass = "StrongPassword";
IPAddress staticIP(10,0,0,100);
IPAddress gateway(10,0,0,1);
IPAddress subnet(255,255,255,0);


// slave id = 1, rs485 control-pin = 8, baud = 9600
#define SLAVE_ID 1
// Modbus object declaration
ModbusTCP slave(SLAVE_ID);

#include <ModbusMaster232.h>
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>  // Modbus RTU pins   D7(13),D8(15)   RX,TX
// MAX485 half duplex control lines
#define not_RE 14 // D5. Enable receiver, active low
#define DE 12 // D6  Enable Transmitter, active high

// Instantiate ModbusMaster object as slave ID 1
  ModbusMaster232 node(1);

void setup() {
  pinMode(not_RE, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(DE, OUTPUT);
  // default to transmit mode to reduce noise
  digitalWrite(not_RE, HIGH); // disable receiver
  digitalWrite(DE, HIGH); // enable transmitter
 
  Serial.begin(9600);
  delay(100);
  node.begin(9600);  // Modbus RTU
  delay(100);
 
   
    /* Connect WiFi to the network
     */
    Serial.print("Connecting to ");
    Serial.println(ssid);
    WiFi.disconnect();
    WiFi.hostname("ModbusTCPslaveRS485master");
    WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
    WiFi.begin(ssid, pass);
    WiFi.config(staticIP, gateway, subnet); // Static IP. Not required for dhcp

    int wifi_loop = 0;
    while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
        delay(1000);
        Serial.print(".");
        /*
        if (wifi_loop++ == 10)
        {
            Serial.println("Reconnecting ...");
            WiFi.disconnect();
            WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);
            WiFi.begin(ssid, pass);
            delay(1000);
            wifi_loop = 0;
        }
        */
    }
    Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());
    /* register handler functions
     * into the modbus slave callback vector.
     */
    slave.cbVector[CB_WRITE_COIL] = writeDigitlOut;
    slave.cbVector[CB_READ_DISCRETE_INPUT] = readDigitalIn; //    
    slave.cbVector[CB_READ_COILS] = readDigitalIn;
    slave.cbVector[CB_READ_REGISTERS] = readAnalogIn;
    slave.cbVector[CB_WRITE_MULTIPLE_REGISTERS] = writeAnalogOut; // cmheong
     
    /* start slave and listen to TCP port 502
     */
    slave.begin();
   
    // log to serial port
    Serial.println("");
    Serial.print("Modbus ready, listen on ");
    Serial.print(WiFi.localIP());
    Serial.println(" : 502");
}

int loop_i = 0;
uint16_t readDiscreteInputs[10];
int Mdelay = 10; // from 5


void loop() {

  /*
  node.readDiscreteInputs(loop_i, 1);
  readDiscreteInputs[loop_i] = node.getResponseBuffer(0);
  node.clearResponseBuffer();
  Serial.print("[");
  Serial.print(loop_i);
  Serial.print("] ");
  Serial.print(readDiscreteInputs[loop_i]);
  if (++loop_i >= 10)
  {
    Serial.println("");
    loop_i = 0;
  }
  */
  // delay(Mdelay); // no need for delay(5) since we print 5 char at 9600

    /* listen for modbus commands con serial port
     *
     * on a request, handle the request.
     * if the request has a user handler function registered in cbVector
     * call the user handler function.
     */
  slave.poll();
}

/**
 * Handel Force Single Coil (FC=05)
 * set digital output pins (coils) on and off
 */
void writeDigitlOut(uint8_t fc, uint16_t address, uint16_t status) {
    digitalWrite(address, status);
}

/**
 * Handel Read Input Status (FC=02/01)
 * write back the values from digital in pins (input status).
 *
 * handler functions must return void and take:
 *      uint8_t  fc - function code
 *      uint16_t address - first register/coil address
 *      uint16_t length/status - length of data / coil status
 */
void readDigitalIn(uint8_t fc, uint16_t address, uint16_t length)
{
    int data = 0;
 
    // read digital input
    Serial.printf("digital input bytes fc %02x at address %04x length %d data ", fc, address, length);
    node.readDiscreteInputs(address, length);

    for (int i = 0; i <= (length-1)/8; i++) // cmheong 2018-08-06
    {
      data = node.getResponseBuffer(i);
      slave.writeCoilsToBuffer(i, (uint8_t) data); // digitalRead(address + i));
      Serial.printf(" %x", node.getResponseBuffer(i));
    }

    delay(Mdelay);
   
    Serial.println("");
    node.clearResponseBuffer();
}

/**
 * Handel Read Input Registers (FC=04/03)
 * write back the values from analog in pins (input registers).
 */
void readAnalogIn(uint8_t fc, uint16_t address, uint16_t length) {
    // read analog input
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
        slave.writeRegisterToBuffer(i, analogRead(address + i));
    }
}

// cmheong 2018-07-31 write_registers()
void writeAnalogOut(uint8_t fc, uint16_t address, uint16_t length)
{
    Serial.printf("analog output bytes at address %04x length %d data ", address, length);
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    {
        Serial.printf("%x ", slave.readRegisterFromBuffer(i));
        Serial.println("");
        node.send(slave.readRegisterFromBuffer(i));
        // node.writeSingleRegister(address, slave.readRegisterFromBuffer(i));
        delay(Mdelay);  
    }
    node.writeMultipleRegisters(address, length);
}
  
I only tested 'Read Discrete Registers' (function code 2) and 'Write Multiple Registers' (function code 16) on a real Modbus RTU device, but you get the idea. yaakov's code did not process function code 2 properly, so I modifiled ModbusSlaveTCP.cpp of his library:

        case FC_READ_DISCRETE_INPUT: // read input state (digital in)
            address = word(bufIn[MLEN + 2], bufIn[MLEN + 3]); // coil to set.
            length = word(bufIn[MLEN + 4], bufIn[MLEN + 5]);

            // sanity check.
            if (length > MAX_BUFFER) return 0;

            // check command length.
            if (lengthIn != (MLEN + 6)) return 0;

            // build valid empty answer.
            lengthOut = MLEN + 3 + (length - 1) / 8 + 1; // cmheong 2018-08-06
            bufOut[MLEN + 2] = length;  // cmheong 2018-08-06

            // clear data out.
            memset(MLEN + bufOut + 2, 0, bufOut[2]);  // cmheong 2018-08-06

            if (cbVector[CB_READ_DISCRETE_INPUT]) // cmheong 2018-08-02
            {
                cbVector[CB_READ_DISCRETE_INPUT](fc, address, length);
            }
            break;

And added a new function:

void ModbusTCP::writeCoilsToBuffer(int offset, uint8_t state)
{
    int address = MLEN + 3 + offset;

    bufOut[address] = state;
}

 The ESP-12E will connect to your WiFi and use a fixed IP address (change it to suit your own address assignments) 10.0.0.100. To test it, I used my laptop to connect to the same WiFi access point. I then modified pymodbus's excellent synchronous-client.py thus:

from pymodbus.client.sync import ModbusTcpClient as ModbusClient
client = ModbusClient('10.0.0.100', method='rtu', port=502) # 2018-07-29

The test code is:
rr = client.read_discrete_inputs(1,1,unit=0x01)
if rr != None :
    print "\nread discrete inputs from", coils, rr.bits, '\n'

rq = client.write_registers(0x1001, [0x001f]*1, unit=0x01)
if rq != None :
    print "\write holding_registers from", 10, rq, '\n'

A sample working output is:

root@aspireF15:/home/heong/EMS/pymodbus/pymodbus-master/examples/current$python ./esp8266-tcpipclient.py 0x01
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Current transaction state - IDLE
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Running transaction 1
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:SEND: 0x0 0x1 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x6 0x1 0x2 0x0 0x1 0x0 0x1
DEBUG:pymodbus.client.sync:New Transaction state 'SENDING'
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Changing transaction state from 'SENDING' to 'WAITING FOR REPLY'
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Changing transaction state from 'WAITING FOR REPLY' to 'PROCESSING REPLY'
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:RECV: 0x0 0x1 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x4 0x1 0x2 0x1 0x7
DEBUG:pymodbus.framer.socket_framer:Processing: 0x0 0x1 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x4 0x1 0x2 0x1 0x7
DEBUG:pymodbus.factory:Factory Response[ReadDiscreteInputsResponse: 2]
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Adding transaction 1
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Getting transaction 1
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Changing transaction state from 'PROCESSING REPLY' to 'TRANSACTION_COMPLETE'

read discrete inputs from 1 [True, True, True, False, False, False, False, False] 

DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Current transaction state - TRANSCATION_COMPLETE
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Running transaction 2
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:SEND: 0x0 0x2 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x9 0x1 0x10 0x10 0x1 0x0 0x1 0x2 0x0 0x1f
DEBUG:pymodbus.client.sync:New Transaction state 'SENDING'
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Changing transaction state from 'SENDING' to 'WAITING FOR REPLY'
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Changing transaction state from 'WAITING FOR REPLY' to 'PROCESSING REPLY'
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:RECV: 0x0 0x2 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x6 0x1 0x10 0x10 0x1 0x0 0x1
DEBUG:pymodbus.framer.socket_framer:Processing: 0x0 0x2 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x6 0x1 0x10 0x10 0x1 0x0 0x1
DEBUG:pymodbus.factory:Factory Response[WriteMultipleRegistersResponse: 16]
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Adding transaction 2
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Getting transaction 2
DEBUG:pymodbus.transaction:Changing transaction state from 'PROCESSING REPLY' to 'TRANSACTION_COMPLETE'
Modbus device replied!

There you have it, a Modbus TCP/IP to RS485 passthrough gateway for less than RM25. Slap on an AWS or Google Cloud server and you are ready for a free docker microservice demon Modbus host.

Happy Trails!

3 comments:

  1. 'CB_READ_DISCRETE_INPUT' was not declared in this scope

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After you add in the section to ModbusSlaveTCP.cpp you also need to add in the callbacks in ModbusSlaveTCP.h

      void writeStringToBuffer(int offset, uint8_t *str, uint8_t length);

      Delete
    2. I too occur same error
      'CB_READ_DISCRETE_INPUT' was not declared in this scope

      Delete