To configure settings in 4-20mA mirror products connect either the transmitter or receiver board to your computer via USB micro connector. Transmitter and Receiver can each be configured. These commands may be written to the controller using any terminal application capable of writing ASCII string data to a Serial port. The board will mount to the computer as a virtual COM/Serial port. Carriage returns and new line characters are not necessary.
Possible settings to configure on transmitter are remote device address and transmit interval.
The remote device address should be set to the address printed on the bottom of the XBee module installed in the receiver board. Serial string format for configuring this setting is remote:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX an example of this command is remote:0013A20001020304. This setting will be set by NCD production staff and would only need to be changed in the event a new receiver were purchased or the board were being configured to communicate to an alternate device.
Transmit Interval may be set to any value greater than 100. This is the interval in milliseconds at which the board will transmit the status of it’s inputs to the receiver device. Serial string format for configuring this setting is interval:XXXX an example of this command(setting transmit interval to 3 seconds) is interval:3000 Default settings is 3000(3 seconds).
Possible settings to configure on receiver are remote device address, transmit interval, receive signal timeout, low end reference, and safe disconnect state.
The remote device address should be set to the address printed on the bottom of the XBee module installed in the transmitter board. Serial string format for configuring this setting is remote:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX an example of this command is remote:0013A20001020304. This setting will be set by NCD production staff and would only need to be changed in the event a new transmitter were purchased or the board were being configured to communicate to an alternate device.
Transmit Interval may be set to any value greater than 100. This is the interval in milliseconds at which the board will transmit the status of it’s outputs to the remote device. Serial string format for configuring this setting is interval:XXXX an example of this command(setting transmit interval to 3 seconds) is interval:3000 Default settings is 3000(3 seconds).
Receive Timeout may be set to any value greater than 100. This is the amount of time(in milliseconds) after which the receiver will assume communication with the transmitter device has been lost. At this time the board will set it’s outputs to whatever is stored in the safe disconnect state setting. This setting should be set to a value of 55555 if you do not wish the board to change the state of it’s outputs when communication is lost. Format for this command is timeout:XXXXX an example of this command setting the timeout to 12 seconds is timeout:12000 Default setting is 12000(12 seconds).
Low End Reference may be set to any value greater than 0 and less than 65535. This parameter is the raw ADC reference to 4.0 mA. If you notice that output settings are not accurate this parameter can be changed to increase accuracy of the output. The format for this command is lowreference:XXXX an example for setting the lower reference value to 415 is lowreference:415 Default setting is 415.
Safe Disconnect state is the state the board will set all outputs to in the event communication is lost with the transmitter device. Valid range for this parameter is 0.00 – 20.00. This is the state in milliamps the outputs will be set to. Format for this command is disconnectstate:XX.XX an example of this command setting the safe disconnect state of all outputs to 0.00 is disconnectstate:0.00 Default setting is 0.00(0.00 milliAmps).