Sensor Electronics SEC 3000, Instruction And Operation Manual

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SEC 3120 16-bit Modbus Manual Page 22 Of 46 Sensor Electronics Corporation
For Version 1.2 and above December 2012 P/N 1580282, Rev. 1, 20121228
The Query–Response Cycle
Query Message from Master
Response Message from Slave
The Query: The function code in the query tells the addressed slave device which
kind of action to perform. The data bytes contain any additional information that the
slave will need to perform the function. For example, function code 03 will query the
slave to read holding registers and respond with their contents. The data field must
contain the information telling the slave which register to start at and how many registers
to read. The error check field provides a method for the slave to validate the integrity of
the message contents.
The Response: If the slave makes a normal response, the function code in the
response is an echo of the function code in the query. The data bytes contain the data
collected by the slave, such as register values or status. If an error occurs, the function
code is modified to indicate that the response is an error response, and the data bytes
contain a code that describes the error. The error check field allows the master to confirm
that the message contents are valid.
RTU Modbus Message Framing
In RTU serial transmission mode, a Modbus message is placed by the transmitting
device into a frame that has a known beginning and ending point. This allows receiving
devices to begin at the start of the message, read the address portion, determine which
device is addressed (or all devices, if the message is broadcast) and know when the
message is completed. Partial messages can be detected and errors can be set as a result.
In RTU mode, messages start with a silent interval of at least 3.5 character times.
This is most easily implemented as a multiple of character times at the baud rate that is
being used on a network (shown as T1-T2-T3-T4 in Table 5). The first field then
transmitted is the device address.
The allowable characters transmitted for all fields are hexadecimal 0-9, A-F.
Networked devices monitor the network bus continuously, including during the “silent”
intervals. When the first field (the address field) is received, each device decodes it to
determine if it is the addressed device.
Device Address
Function Code
8-bit Data Bytes
Error Check
Device Address
Function Code
8-bit Data Bytes
Error Check