PiXtend eIO Hardware Manual
2. Important Information
This chapter contains information about the subject to change topic, the intended use, the
technical condition of the described product, the disclaimer, the safety notices and where
to get help.
2.1. Subject to Change
The company Qube Solutions GmbH reserves the right to revise or amend this
documentation in whole or in part if this serves the technical progress or if existing
software components have to be changed or new ones have been created. The user will
always find the latest version of this documentation at
s ://www.pixtend.de/downloads/
2.2. Intended Use
The PiXtend eIO devices fulfill the function of input and output units for electrical signals.
Sensor signals can be detected, evaluated and actuators activated. The specifications of
the inputs and outputs comply with the international standard for programmable logic
controllers, in short: PLC - IEC / EN 61131-2. In addition, the devices comply with the EMC
requirements of Zone B (general industrial environment) from the cited standard.
Communication between PiXtend eIO and other devices takes place via a serial interface
(RS485 / EIA485). It is a so-called bus system in which up to 32 participants can
communicate with each other. PiXtend eIO fulfills the function of a "slave" in such a bus
system (also called a network). This means that information can be sent or requested to
devices. A slave always only becomes active on the bus if it is addressed by a "master", ie
it is requested to communicate. A direct data transfer between the slaves does not take
place. Possible masters for the PiXtend eIO devices are personal computers (PC),
industrial controllers (PLC, IPC), Raspberry Pi computers, Arduino, embedded devices,
specially equipped smartphones & tablets and many more computer systems that have an
RS485 interface or can be retrofitted with this kind of interface. In particular, the
combination of PiXtend eIO devices with the PiXtend V2 -L- control should be mentioned.
This is the reference bus master recommended by Qube Solutions.
The PiXtend eIO devices master two protocols - "Modbus RTU" and the "PiXtend eIO
ASCII protocol". Basic settings for operation on the bus (baud rate, parity, stop bits,
address, protocol and terminator) are set using mechanical switches on the device before
use. The intelligence of the modules, data processing, bus communication, I/O control, etc.
is provided by a central microcontroller installed on each of the devices.
The programming of the inputs, outputs and special functions can be done among other
things with the professional software "CODESYS V3" of the company 3S Smart Software
Solutions GmbH. Qube Solutions also offers other automation, IT and home automation
programming languages and systems that customers can use to control PiXtend eIO
devices (C, C ++, C #, Python, Java, FHEM, Node-RED). Information and examples from
Qube Solutions exist for this languages. Both protocols are disclosed and can be
www.pixtend.com
Copyright by Qube Solutions GmbH
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