Bulk creation for Modbus Equipment – Wattsense Support Portal

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This article explains how to add your own modbus equipment in the Wattsense Console.

If you want to add a Modbus equipment to the console, you can first check if your device is already available in the official library : Wattsense Compatibility Checker.
If this is not the case, do not hesitate to ask us : we will add it for you.
However, if you have equipment with specific modbus registers (example: programmable controller), you will have to add all the properties manually in the console. If your equipment has too many properties, you have the option of using bulk import using a csv file.

How to proceed ?

Equipement (Description and communication protocol)

In the Wattsense Console, go to the Configuration Tab / Equipment / Add equipment

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.AddEquipment.png

Give a name and description of the equipment. Specify the Modbus protocol (RTU or IP).

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.AddEquipmentRTU.png

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.AddEquipmentIP.png

Modbus RTU : Select Modbus RTU if the device is connected to the Box via a Serial cable (RS 485).	Modbus IP : Select Modbus IP if the device is connected via an ethernet cable.

In order to establish a communication between the box and your equipement, you will have to fill in the following parameters :

• Slave Id = Devices are identified by unique numerical IDs (1-247).
• Speed = 9600, 19200, 38400 … bauds
• Parity = None, Even, Odd
• Data bits = 8 …
• Stop bits = 1 …

• IP address
• Port 502
• SlaveId

Where to find these settings ?
You can consult the manufacturer's documentation and/or device configuration if available.

Equipment (properties)

Once you have configured the protocol settings, you will need to fill out the property descriptions.

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.AddProperty.png

At this point, you can add properties one by one using the Add Property button, or you can import them via a csv file, which is a faster way, especially if you have many properties.

You will need to obtain the list of registers (exchange table). (source = documentation from the manufacturer or equipment administrator in the case of a programmable device)

Typically, the Modbus register table has the following format :

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.Example.png

In this example, the register addresses are in the first column.
The R/W column indicates whether the property is Readable/Writable.
Another very important information is present in the header of the document: All registers are 16-bit signed integers (Holding Registers).

Here's another example :

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.Example2.png

In this example, the register addresses are in the first / second columns (50512 in decimal = C550 in hexadecimal).
Words count : indicates the number of 16 bit registers = 2*16 = 32 bits (here assigned to U32= Unsigned int 32)
V/100 : a scaling of 1/100 must be applied to the raw value. (scalingA = 0.01)

File format for bulk import into Wattsense console

Once you have collected all the registry descriptions, you can prepare the csv file.
Download the model from the interface :

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.DownloadTemplate.png

name,description,accessType,registerAddress,function (1/2/3/4),secondaryFunction (5/6/16),dataFormat,numberOfRawRegisters,scaling_a,scaling_b

How to fill in the file ?

Column	Description	Format	Example
name	name of the property	Text	Damper 2 Led close
description	Description of the property	Text	1 = On ; 0 = Off
accesstype	Type of Access	LOCAL READ WRITE READ_WRITE	READ
registerAddress	Register address	Sometimes the address is in hexadecimal (ex 0xA8 or A8h, you must convert It in decimal. A8h -> 168)	4
function	Modbus function	(1/2/3/4) 01 - Read Output Coils 02 - Read Discrete Inputs 03 - Read Holding Register 04 - Read Input Registers	3
Secondary function	Modbus secondary function	(5/6/16) 05 - Write Single Output 06 - Write Holding Register 16 - Write Multiple Holding Register
dataformat	Data format (*)	int16 uint16 int64_be uint64_be int32_abcd int32_badc int32_cdab int32_dcba uint32_abcd uint32_badc uint32_cdab uint32_dcba f32_abcd f32_badc f32_cdab f32_dcba raw_bytes	Int16
numberOfRawRegisters	Number of Raw registers	Number of raw bytes in case Data format = _bytes	0
scaling_a	Scaling A	It can happen that a scaling must be applied to the property to transform properly an integer to a float value. The correction format is Ax + B. In example, for a temperature property, if A = 0.1 and the data read is 38, the final temperature value is 3.8 °C	1
scaling_b	Scaling B	Offset part (B) of the scaling correction.	0

(*) naming convention

u = unsigned f = float

Big endian (be) = ABCD little endian = DCBA Mid Little endian = CDAB

Please note that modbus objects (register types) have the following access features :
• Coil (Read-write)
• Discrete input (Read-only)
• Input register (Read-only)
• Holding register (Read-write)

For this reason, the combination (access type / function / secondary function) must be one of the following ones :

Object type	Accesstype	Function	Secondary function
Coils	READ	01 - Read Output Coils
Coils	WRITE	05 - Write Single Output
Coils	READ_WRITE	01 - Read Output Coils05	05 - Write Single Output
Holding register	READ	03 - Read Holding Register
Holding register	WRITE	06 - Write Holding Register (or 16)
Holding register	READ_WRITE	03 - Read Holding Register	06 - Write Holding Register (or 16)
Discrete Inputs	READ	02 - Read Discrete Inputs
Input Registers	READ	04 - Read Input Registers

The csv file has the following format :

Field separator = ,
Use dot (0.01) as separator for decimal numbers (as , is used for field separator)
Do not modify the header name columns. They must be identical to the template, otherwise the csv will not be imported and an error message will be displayed.

Here’s the csv content of the first example above :

Article.BulkCreationForModbusEquipement.ExampleTable.png