MASTERBUS
8
July 2010 / DC Distribution / EN
4 MASTERBUS
4.1
WHAT IS MASTERBUS?
All devices that are suitable for
MasterBus are marked by the MasterBus
symbol.
MasterBus is a fully decentralized data network for
communication between the different Mastervolt
system devices. It is a CAN-bus based
communication network which has proven itself as a
reliable bus-system in automotive applications.
MasterBus is used as power management system
for all connected devices, such as the inverter,
battery charger, generator and many more. This
gives the possibility for communication between the
connected devices, for instance to start the
generator when the batteries are low.
MasterBus reduces complexity of electrical systems
by using UTP patch cables. All system components
are simply chained together. Therefore each device
is equipped with two MasterBus data ports. When
two or more devices are connected to each other
through these data ports, they form a local data
network, called the MasterBus. The results are a
reduction of material costs as only a few electrical
cables are needed and less installation time.
For central monitoring and control of the connected
devices Mastervolt offers a wide range of panels
which show full status information of your electrical
system at a glance and a push of a button. Four
different panels are available, from the small
Mastervision compatible 120 x 65mm LCD screen
up to the full colour MasterView System panel. All
monitoring panels can be used for monitoring,
control and configuration of all connected MasterBus
equipment.
New devices can be added to the existing network in
a very easy way by just extending the network. This
gives the MasterBus network a high degree of
flexibility for extended system configuration, not only
today, but in the future as well!
Mastervolt also offers several interfaces, making
even non-MasterBus devices suitable to operate in
the MasterBus network. For direct communication
between the MasterBus network and a product
which is not from Mastervolt, the Modbus interface is
recommended.
CAUTION: Never connect a non-
MasterBus device to the MasterBus
network directly! This will void warranty of
all MasterBus devices connected.
4.2
EVENT BASED COMMANDS
With MasterBus each device can be programmed to
initiate an action at an other connected device. This
is done by means of event based commands.
Example: if the shore power of a boat in the harbour
is almost in overload, the onboard generator must be
started.
As for instance the shore power is measured by the
Mass Systemswitch, this device is considered as the
command source. The generator is the device that
should initiate an action (start the generator), and is
therefore considered to be the target. This means
that the Mass Systemswitch must be programmed
as follows:
Event source:
Shore pre overload
Select from
list of events sources
(see manual of the
Mass Systemswitch
)
Event target:
Generator
Select from the
device list
(devices connected to the
MasterBus)
Event command:
Status
Select event command from the
list of event commands
of
the target (see manual of the of the
Generator)
Event data:
On
Select event action from the
list of event commands
of the
target (see manual of the of the
Generator)
The
list of events sources
and the
list of event commands
of the
DC Distribution are stated in chapter 5 of this
manual.
