We will be installing a USB to rs485 installation on our computer. The CH340/CH341 USB to Serial port is a 2-wire USB to RS-485 serial communication adapter for RS485 use. It does not require an external power supply or complicated configuration.
It has a Type A (plug) USB connector for the computer side and screw terminals for the RS485 connections. The CH340/CH341 USB to serial device supports multiple baud rates and has a thumb drive design. Let’s get started installing our USB to RS485 adapter. Continue Reading!
Category Archives: Communication
Do-More PLC Node-RED HTTP Request
Node-RED HTTP Request can be used to read any BRX Do-More PLC memory area. This HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication will only read information from our controller.
The BRX Do-More REST API is used to read information using a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or web address. We will be using the HTTP request node in Node-RED to read information from our BRX Do-More REST API-enabled controller. Writing using Modbus will also be shown. This will all be done on our Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
Click Plus Data Logging – CSV File SQL Database
We will now look at the data logging capability using our Click plus PLC.
Data logging is the collection of data over time. This is usually used for data analysis at a later time. The amount of data (System Information) stored and the frequency of the storage will depend on your specific application.
The hardware used to store the data is usually called a data logger. Using the information from our last post, the MQTT information collected (Temperature in Atlanta and Click Analog) will now be logged in two different ways. A micro SD card on the Click Plus will be used to store the data every minute in a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file. Node-RED will also be used to store the same data in a SQL database. Let’s get started on how to use these data loggers. Keep on Reading!
Node-RED SQL Database Spreadsheet Connection
We will now look at the connection to our SQL database using a spreadsheet application. Previously we used Node-RED to communicate Modbus TCP and RTU to our Click PLC and Solo Temperature Controller. The information collected from the controllers was then put into an SQLite SQL database.
Spreadsheets like Excel are great for analysis of the data. We will be connecting to our SQLite SQL database with WPS spreadsheets. This will be accomplished by using an ODBC driver as the translator between the database and spreadsheet. Let’s get started. Continue Reading!
Click Plus PLC MQTT Communication
We will now look at the MQTT communication capability using our Click plus PLC.
MQTT stands for Message Queuing Telemetry Transport. This simple ‘publish and subscribe’ communication protocol, does not take too many resources.
Constrained devices with low bandwidth are ideal for MQTT. This protocol provides machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity which is ideal for the Internet of Things. (IoT) This protocol is not for remote IO or real-time (deterministic) applications. MQTT is a good solution for applications that move data from hundreds or thousands of machines (sensors) to clients in many networks.
We will be installing a windows based broker called Mosquitto. The Click Plus PLC will be one of the clients publishing and subscribing to the MQTT broker. Node-RED will be the other client publishing and subscribing to the MQTT broker. Each client will share information. Let’s get started. Keep on Reading!