Laurel Electronics Modbus Protocol For Series 2 Laureate Digital Panel Meters, Counters, Timers & DIN-Rail Transmitters User Manual
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5. PROGRAMMING YOUR MODBUS DEVICE
OVERVIEW
Modbus digital panel meters, counters, timers and transmitters are easily programmed via their
serial port using Windows-based Instrument Setup (IS) software, which provides a graphical
user interface and is available at no charge. This software allows uploading, editing, down-
loading and saving of setup data, execution of commands under computer control, listing,
plotting and graphing of data, and computer prompted calibration. Digital panel meters,
counters and timers can also be programmed via their 4-key front panel as explained in their
respective manuals; however, online programming is easier. For Ethernet, please see our
separate Ethernet Manual.
GETTING STARTED WITH INSTRUMENT SETUP SOFTWARE
To install IS software, download the file
instrument.exe
from our website, double-click on the
file name to extract three files, double-click
on setup.exe
, and follow the prompts. To launch IS
software, press
Start
=>
Programs
=>
IS2
=>
IS2
. Establish communications by selecting
matching settings between the instrument and PC, and click on
Establish
. Once communica-
tions have been established, click on
Main Menu
.
The best way to learn IS software is to experiment with it. From the Main Menu, click on
Get
Setup
to retrieve (or get) the existing setup data from your device. Click on
View
= >
Setup
to
bring up screens which allow you to edit the setup file using pull-down menus and other
selection tools. You can save your file to disk by clicking on
File
= >
Save Setup
. You can
download (or put) your edited file into the device by clicking on
Put Setup
. Programmable
items will only be displayed if the appropriate hardware has been detected, such as the dual
relay option for meters. Pressing the
F1
key at any time will bring up detailed help information.
An analog output is defined in two steps. The input to the device is first scaled to a digital
reading in engineering units, and this reading is then scaled to the analog output. The digital
reading is also used for setpoint control and can be transmitted as serial data.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
• The Commands pull-down menu allows you to execute certain functions by using your
computer mouse. The
Commands
pull-down menu will be grayed out unless a
Get Setup
has
been executed.
• The Readings pull-down menu provides three formats to display input data on your PC
monitor. In all formats, use the
Pause
and
Continue
buttons to control the timing of data
collection, then press
for a hardcopy on your PC printer. List presents the latest digital
readings in a 20-row by 10-column table. Plot generates a plot of digital readings vs. time in
seconds, like an oscilloscope. Graph generates a histogram, where the horizontal axis is the
reading and the vertical axis is the number of readings.