AutomationDirect now offers the H4-ECOM100 Ethernet communication module for DirectLOGIC DL405 PLCs. The H4-ECOM100 can be inserted into any I/O slot of any local DL405 base, including expansion bases when using the DL450 CPU and -1 bases, to implement master/slave Ethernet communication at 10 or 100 Mbit data rates. The module supports the industry standard Modbus TCP Client/Server protocol in addition to standard IP and IPX protocols. This allows a DL405 PLC with an H4-ECOM100 module to serve as a client (master) or as a server (slave) on a Modbus TCP Ethernet network.
The H4-ECOM100 module can be configured to actively issue Modbus commands to other nodes or devices on the Modbus TCP network. The module can also respond to connected Modbus TCP clients.
The H4-ECOM100 allows PLC-to-PLC or PLC to Modbus TCP device communications through the use of standard Read/Write instructions. When used with the new DirectSOFT5 PLC programming software and the DL450 CPU, communications programming is simplified using fill-in-the-blank IBox instructions. The H4-ECOM100 can be configured to serve as an email client to send specified messages to email addresses. The module ships with NetEdit3 software to configure ECOM modules for networking. NetEdit3 can be used to adjust parameters for PLC-to-PLC communications and to display all identifiers and troubleshooting information for each module on the network. Once the initial module configuration has been set by NetEdit3, the H4-ECOM100 configuration can be viewed from any web browser. The H4-ECOM100 module has built- in Web pages for configuring the module. All you need is your favorite web browser; enter the H4-ECOM100’s IP address in the address bar (for example: http://192/168.1.100).This will bring up the main configuration page with links to other configuration forms, such as peer-to-peer or SMTP (Email) configuration forms. You can configure the module from ladder logic using DirectSOFT5 new IBox instructions with a
D4-450 CPU.
Originally Published: June 1, 2006