openHAB

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# Modbus Binding

This is the binding to access Modbus TCP and serial slaves. RTU, ASCII and BIN variants of Serial Modbus are supported. Modbus TCP slaves are usually also called as Modbus TCP servers.

The binding can act as

  • Modbus TCP Client (that is, as modbus master), querying data from Modbus TCP servers (that is, modbus slaves)
  • Modbus serial master, querying data from modbus serial slaves

The Modbus binding polls the slave data with a configurable poll period. openHAB commands are translated to write requests.

The binding has the following extensions:

The rest of this page contains details for configuring this binding:

# Main Features

The binding polls (or reads) Modbus data using function codes (FC) FC01 (Read coils), FC02 (Read discrete inputs), FC03 (Read multiple holding registers) or FC04 (Read input registers). This polled data is converted to data suitable for use in openHAB. Functionality exists to interpret typical number formats (e.g. single precision float).

The binding can also write data to Modbus slaves using FC05 (Write single coil), FC06 (Write single holding register), FC15 (Write multiple coils) or FC16 (Write multiple holding registers).

# Caveats And Limitations

Please note the following caveats or limitations

  • The binding does not act as Modbus slave (e.g. as Modbus TCP server).
  • The binding does support Modbus RTU over Modbus TCP, (also known as "Modbus over TCP/IP" or "Modbus over TCP" or "Modbus RTU/IP"), as well as normal "Modbus TCP".

# Background Material

Reader of the documentation should understand the basics of Modbus protocol. Good sources for further information:

Useful tools

# Supported Things

This binding supports 4 different things types

Thing Type Description
tcp Bridge Modbus TCP server (Modbus TCP slave)
serial Bridge Modbus serial slave
poller Bridge Thing taking care of polling the data from modbus slaves. One poller corresponds to single Modbus read request (FC01, FC02, FC03, or FC04). Is child of tcp or serial.
data Thing thing for converting polled data to meaningful numbers. Analogously, is responsible of converting openHAB commands to Modbus write requests. Is child of poller (read-only or read-write things) or tcp/serial (write-only things).

Typically one defines either tcp or serial bridge, depending on the variant of Modbus slave. For each Modbus read request, a poller is defined. Finally, one ore more data things are introduced to extract relevant numbers from the raw Modbus data. For write-only communication, data things can be introduced directly as children of tcp or serial bridges.

# Binding Configuration

Other than the things themselves, there is no binding configuration.

# Serial Port Configuration

With serial Modbus slaves, configuration of the serial port in openHAB is important. Otherwise you might encounter errors preventing all communication.

See general documentation about serial port configuration to configure the serial port correctly.

# Thing Configuration

In the tables below the thing configuration parameters are grouped by thing type.

Things can be configured using the UI, or using a .things file. The configuration in this documentation explains the .things file, although you can find the same parameters in the UI.

Note that parameter type is very critical when writing .things file yourself, since it affects how the parameter value is encoded in the text file.

Some examples:

  • parameter="value" for text parameters
  • parameter=4 for integer
  • parameter=true for boolean

Note the differences with quoting.

Required parameters must be specified in the .things file. When optional parameters are not specified, they default to the values shown in the table below.

# tcp Thing

tcp is representing a particular Modbus TCP server (slave).

Basic parameters

Parameter Type Required Default if omitted Description
host text "localhost" IP Address or hostname
port integer 502 Port number
id integer 1 Slave id. Also known as station address or unit identifier.
rtuEncoded boolean false Use RTU encoding instead of regular TCP encoding.

Advanced parameters

Parameter Required Type Default if omitted Description
timeBetweenTransactionsMillis integer 60 How long to delay we must have at minimum between two consecutive MODBUS transactions. In milliseconds.
timeBetweenReconnectMillis integer 0 How long to wait to before trying to establish a new connection after the previous one has been disconnected. In milliseconds.
connectMaxTries integer 1 How many times we try to establish the connection. Should be at least 1.
afterConnectionDelayMillis integer 0 Connection warm-up time. Additional time which is spent on preparing connection which should be spent waiting while end device is getting ready to answer first modbus call. In milliseconds.
reconnectAfterMillis integer 0 The connection is kept open at least the time specified here. Value of zero means that connection is disconnected after every MODBUS transaction. In milliseconds.
connectTimeoutMillis integer 10000 The maximum time that is waited when establishing the connection. Value of zero means that system/OS default is respected. In milliseconds.
enableDiscovery boolean false Enable auto-discovery feature. Effective only if a supporting extension has been installed.

Note: Advanced parameters must be equal for all tcp things sharing the same host and port.

The advanced parameters have conservative defaults, meaning that they should work for most users. In some cases when extreme performance is required (e.g. poll period below 10 ms), one might want to decrease the delay parameters, especially timeBetweenTransactionsMillis. Similarly, with some slower devices on might need to increase the values.

# serial Thing

serial is representing a particular Modbus serial slave.

Basic parameters

Parameter Type Required Default if omitted Description
port text ✓ Serial port to use, for example "/dev/ttyS0" or "COM1"
id integer 1 Slave id. Also known as station address or unit identifier. See Wikipedia (opens new window) and simplymodbus (opens new window) articles for more information
baud integer ✓ Baud of the connection. Valid values are: 75, 110, 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200.
stopBits text ✓ Stop bits. Valid values are: "1.0", "1.5", "2.0".
parity text ✓ Parity. Valid values are: "none", "even", "odd".
dataBits integer ✓ Data bits. Valid values are: 5, 6, 7 and 8.
encoding text "rtu" Encoding. Valid values are: "ascii", "rtu", "bin".
echo boolean false Flag for setting the RS485 echo mode. This controls whether we should try to read back whatever we send on the line, before reading the response. Valid values are: true, false.

Advanced parameters

Parameter Required Type Default if omitted Description
receiveTimeoutMillis integer 1500 Timeout for read operations. In milliseconds.
flowControlIn text "none" Type of flow control for receiving. Valid values are: "none", "xon/xoff in", "rts/cts in".
flowControlOut text "none" Type of flow control for sending. Valid values are: "none", "xon/xoff out", "rts/cts out".
timeBetweenTransactionsMillis integer 35 How long to delay we must have at minimum between two consecutive MODBUS transactions. In milliseconds.
connectMaxTries integer 1 How many times we try to establish the connection. Should be at least 1.
afterConnectionDelayMillis integer 0 Connection warm-up time. Additional time which is spent on preparing connection which should be spent waiting while end device is getting ready to answer first modbus call. In milliseconds.
connectTimeoutMillis integer 10000 The maximum time that is waited when establishing the connection. Value of zero means thatsystem/OS default is respected. In milliseconds.
enableDiscovery boolean false Enable auto-discovery feature. Effective only if a supporting extension has been installed.

With the exception of id parameters should be equal for all serial things sharing the same port.

These parameters have conservative defaults, meaning that they should work for most users. In some cases when extreme performance is required (e.g. poll period below 10ms), one might want to decrease the delay parameters, especially timeBetweenTransactionsMillis. With some slower devices on might need to increase the values.

With low baud rates and/or long read requests (that is, many items polled), there might be need to increase the read timeout receiveTimeoutMillis to e.g. 5000 (=5 seconds).

# poller Thing

poller thing takes care of polling the Modbus serial slave or Modbus TCP server data regularly. You must give each of your bridge Things a reference (thing ID) that is unique for this binding.

Parameter Type Required Default if omitted Description
start integer 0 Address of the first register, coil, or discrete input to poll. Input as zero-based index number.
length integer ✓ (-) Number of registers, coils or discrete inputs to read. Note that protocol limits max length, depending on type
type text ✓ (-) Type of modbus items to poll. This matches directly to Modbus request type or function code (FC). Valid values are: "coil" (FC01), "discrete" (FC02), "holding"(FC03), "input" (FC04).
refresh integer 500 Poll interval in milliseconds. Use zero to disable automatic polling.
maxTries integer 3 Maximum tries when reading.

Number of tries when reading data, if some of the reading fail. For single try, enter 1.
cacheMillis integer 50 Duration for data cache to be valid, in milliseconds. This cache is used only to serve REFRESH commands. Use zero to disable the caching.

Polling can be manually triggered by sending REFRESH command to item bound to channel of data thing. When manually triggering polling, a new poll is executed as soon as possible, and sibling data things (i.e. things that share the same poller bridge) are updated. In case the poller had just received a data response or an error occurred, a cached response is used instead. See Refresh command section for more details.

Some devices do not allow to query too many registers in a single readout action or a range that spans reserved registers. Split your poller into multiple smaller ones to work around this problem.

# data Thing

data is responsible of extracting relevant piece of data (e.g. a number 3.14) from binary received from the slave. Similarly, data thing is responsible of converting openHAB commands to write requests to the Modbus slave. n.b. note that some numerics like 'readStart' need to be entered as 'text'. You must give each of your data Things a reference (thing ID) that is unique for this binding.

Parameter Type Required Default if omitted Description
readValueType text (empty) How data is read from modbus. Use empty for write-only things.

Bit value type must be used with coils and discrete inputs. With registers all value types are applicable. Valid values are: "int64", "int64_swap", "uint64", "uint64_swap", "float32", "float32_swap", "int32", "int32_swap", "uint32", "uint32_swap", "int16", "uint16", "int8", "uint8", or "bit". See also Value types on read and write.
readStart text (empty) Start address to start reading the value. Use empty for write-only things.

Input as zero-based index number, e.g. in place of 400001 (first holding register), use the address "0". Must be between (poller start) and (poller start + poller length - 1) (inclusive).

With registers and value type less than 16 bits, you must use "X.Y" format where Y specifies the sub-element to read from the 16 bit register:
  • For example, "3.1" would mean pick second bit from register index 3 with bit value type.
  • With int8 valuetype, it would pick the high byte of register index 3.
readTransform text "default" Transformation to apply to polled data, after it has been converted to number using readValueType.

Use "default" to communicate that no transformation is done and value should be passed as is.
Use "SERVICENAME:ARG" or "SERVICENAME(ARG)" (old syntax) to use transformation service SERVICENAME with argument ARG.
Any other value than the above types will be interpreted as static text, in which case the actual content of the polled value is ignored. You can chain many transformations with ∩, for example "SERVICE1:ARG1∩SERVICE2:ARG2".
writeValueType text (empty) How data is written to modbus. Only applicable to registers. Valid values are: "int64", "int64_swap", "float32", "float32_swap", "int32", "int32_swap", "int16". See also Value types on read and write. Value of "bit" can be used with registers as well when writeStart is of format "X.Y" (see below). See also Value types on read and write.
writeStart text (empty) Start address of the first holding register or coil in the write. Use empty for read-only things.
Use zero based address, e.g. in place of 400001 (first holding register), use the address "0". This address is passed to data frame as is. One can use "X.Y" to write individual bit Y of an holding X (analogous to readStart).
writeType text (empty) Type of data to write. Use empty for read-only things. Valid values: "coil" or "holding".

Coil uses function code (FC) FC05 or FC15. Holding register uses FC06 or FC16. See writeMultipleEvenWithSingleRegisterOrCoil parameter.
writeTransform text "default" Transformation to apply to received commands.

Use "default" to communicate that no transformation is done and value should be passed as is.
Use "SERVICENAME:ARG" or "SERVICENAME(ARG)" (old syntax) to use transformation service SERVICENAME with argument ARG.
Any other value than the above types will be interpreted as static text, in which case the actual content of the command value is ignored. You can chain many transformations with ∩, for example "SERVICE1:ARG1∩SERVICE2:ARG2".
writeMultipleEvenWithSingleRegisterOrCoil boolean false Controls how single register / coil of data is written.
By default, or when 'false, FC06 ("Write single holding register") / FC05 ("Write single coil"). Or when 'true', using FC16 ("Write Multiple Holding Registers") / FC15 ("Write Multiple Coils").
writeMaxTries integer 3 Maximum tries when writing

Number of tries when writing data, if some of the writes fail. For single try, enter 1.
updateUnchangedValuesEveryMillis integer 1000 Interval to update unchanged values.

Modbus binding by default is not updating the item and channel state every time new data is polled from a slave, for performance reasons. Instead, the state is updated whenever it differs from previously updated state, or when enough time has passed since the last update. The time interval can be adjusted using this parameter. Use value of 0 if you like to update state with every poll, even though the value has not changed. In milliseconds.

# Channels

Only the data thing has channels. It has several "data channels", serving the polled data in different formats, and for accepting openHAB commands from different item types.

Please note that transformations might be necessary in order to update some data channels, or to convert some openHAB commands to suitable Modbus data. See Transformations for more details.

Channel Type ID Item Type Description
number Number Data as number
switch Switch Data as switch (ON / OFF)
contact Contact Data as contact (OPEN / CLOSED)
dimmer Dimmer Data as dimmer
datetime DateTime Data as a date time
string String Data as string
rollershutter Rollershutter Data as roller shutter

You can send a REFRESH command to items linked to any of the above channels to ask binding to explicitly poll new data from the Modbus slave. See Refresh command section for more details.

Furthermore, there are additional channels that are useful for diagnostics:

Channel Type ID Item Type Description
lastReadSuccess DateTime Last successful read
lastReadError DateTime Last erroring read
lastWriteSuccess DateTime Last successful write
lastWriteError DateTime Last erroring write

# Item configuration

Items are configured the typical way, using channel to bind the item to a particular channel.

For example, in the following example, item Temperature_Modbus_Livingroom is bound to channel number of thing modbus:data:siemensplc:holding:livingroom_temperature.

Number  Temperature_Modbus_Livingroom                       "Temperature Living room [%.1f °C]"           <temperature>   { channel="modbus:data:siemensplc:holding:livingroom_temperature:number" }

Make sure you bind item to a channel that is compatible, or use transformations to make it compatible. See Transformations section for more information on transformation.

# autoupdate parameter with items

By default, openHAB has autoupdate enabled. This means that item state is updated according to received commands. In some situations this might have unexpected side effects with polling bindings such as Modbus - see example below.

Typically, you see something like this

1 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light' received command ON
2 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from OFF to ON
3 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from ON to OFF
4 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from OFF to ON

Let's go through it step by step

// openHAB UI switch changed command is sent
1 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light' received command ON
// openHAB immediately updates the item state to match the command
2 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from OFF to ON
// modbus binding poll completes (old value)
3 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from ON to OFF
// (the binding writes the command over Modbus to the slave)
// modbus binding poll completes (updated value)
4 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from OFF to ON

To prevent this "state fluctuation" (OFF -> ON -> OFF -> ON), some people prefer to disable autoupdate on Items used with polling bindings. With autoupdate disabled, one would get

// openHAB UI switch changed command is sent
1 [ome.event.ItemCommandEvent] - Item 'Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light' received command ON
// modbus binding poll completes (STILL the old value) -- UI not updated, still showing OFF
// (the binding writes the command over Modbus to the slave)
// modbus binding poll completes (updated value)
4 [vent.ItemStateChangedEvent] - Kitchen_Bar_Table_Light changed from OFF to ON

Item state has no "fluctuation", it updates from OFF to ON.

To summarize (credits to rossko57's community post (opens new window)):

  • autoupdate="false": monitor the actual state of device
  • autoupdate="true": (or defaulted) allows faster display of the expected state in a sitemap

You can disable autoupdate as follows:

Number  Temperature_Modbus_Livingroom                       "Temperature Living room [%.1f °C]"           <temperature>   { channel="modbus:data:siemensplc:holding:livingroom_temperature:number", autoupdate="false" }

Main documentation on autoupdate in Items section of openHAB docs (opens new window).

# Profiles

# modbus:gainOffset

This profile is meant for simple scaling and offsetting of values received from the Modbus slave. The profile works also in the reverse direction, when commanding items.

In addition, the profile allows attaching units to the raw numbers, as well as converting the quantity-aware numbers to bare numbers on write.

Profile has two parameters, gain (bare number or number with unit) and pre-gain-offset (bare number), both of which must be provided.

When reading from Modbus, the result will be updateTowardsItem = (raw_value_from_modbus + preOffset) * gain. When applying command, the calculation goes in reverse.

See examples for concrete use case with value scaling.

# Discovery

Device specific modbus bindings can take part in the discovery of things, and detect devices automatically. The discovery is initiated by the tcp and serial bridges when they have enableDiscovery setting enabled.

Note that the main binding does not recognize any devices, so it is pointless to turn this on unless you have a suitable add-on binding installed.

# Details

# Comment On Addressing

Modbus Wikipedia article (opens new window) summarizes this excellently:

In the traditional standard, [entity] numbers for those entities start with a digit, followed by a number of four digits in range 1–9,999:

  • coils numbers start with a zero and then span from 00001 to 09999
  • discrete input numbers start with a one and then span from 10001 to 19999
  • input register numbers start with a three and then span from 30001 to 39999
  • holding register numbers start with a four and then span from 40001 to 49999

This translates into [entity] addresses between 0 and 9,998 in data frames.

Note that entity begins counting at 1, data frame address at 0.

The openHAB modbus binding uses data frame entity addresses when referring to modbus entities. That is, the entity address configured in modbus binding is passed to modbus protocol frame as-is. For example, Modbus poller thing with start=3, length=2 and type=holding will read modbus entities with the following numbers 40004 and 40005. The manufacturer of any modbus device may choose to use either notation, you may have to infer which, or use trial and error.

# Value Types On Read And Write

This section explains the detailed descriptions of different value types on read and write. Note that value types less than 16 bits are not supported on write to holding registers (see poller thing documentation for details).

See Full examples section for practical examples.

# bit:

  • a single bit is read from the registers
  • address is given as X.Y, where Y is between 0...15 (inclusive), representing bit of the register X
  • index Y=0 refers to the least significant bit
  • index Y=1 refers to the second least significant bit, etc.

# int8:

  • a byte (8 bits) from the registers is interpreted as signed integer
  • address is given as X.Y, where Y is between 0...1 (inclusive), representing byte of the register X
  • index Y=0 refers to low byte
  • index Y=1 refers to high byte
  • it is assumed that each high and low byte is encoded in most significant bit first order

# uint8:

  • same as int8 except value is interpreted as unsigned integer

# int16:

  • register with index is interpreted as 16 bit signed integer.
  • it is assumed that register is encoded in most significant bit first order

# uint16:

  • same as int16 except value is interpreted as unsigned integer

# int32:

  • registers index and (index + 1) are interpreted as signed 32bit integer
  • it assumed that the first register contains the most significant 16 bits
  • it is assumed that each register is encoded in most significant bit first order

# uint32:

  • same as int32 except value is interpreted as unsigned integer

# float32:

  • registers index and (index + 1) are interpreted as signed 32bit floating point number
  • it assumed that the first register contains the most significant 16 bits
  • it is assumed that each register is encoded in most significant bit first order

# int64:

  • registers index, (index + 1), (index + 2), (index + 3) are interpreted as signed 64bit integer.
  • it assumed that the first register contains the most significant 16 bits
  • it is assumed that each register is encoded in most significant bit first order

# uint64:

  • same as int64 except value is interpreted as unsigned integer

The MODBUS specification defines each 16bit word to be encoded as Big Endian, but there is no specification on the order of those words within 32bit or larger data types. The net result is that when you have a master and slave that operate with the same Endian mode things work fine, but add a device with a different Endian mode and it is very hard to correct. To resolve this the binding supports a second set of valuetypes that have the words swapped.

If you get strange values using the int32, uint32, float32, int64, or uint64 valuetypes then just try the int32_swap, uint32_swap, float32_swap, int64_swap, or uint64_swap valuetype, depending upon what your data type is.

# int32_swap:

  • registers index and (index + 1) are interpreted as signed 32bit integer
  • it assumed that the first register contains the least significant 16 bits
  • it is assumed that each register is encoded in most significant bit first order (Big Endian)

# uint32_swap:

  • same as int32_swap except value is interpreted as unsigned integer

# float32_swap:

  • registers index and (index + 1) are interpreted as signed 32bit floating point number
  • it assumed that the first register contains the least significant 16 bits
  • it is assumed that each register is encoded in most significant bit first order (Big Endian)

# int64_swap:

  • same as int64 but registers swapped, that is, registers (index + 3), (index + 2), (index + 1), (index + 1) are interpreted as signed 64bit integer

# uint64_swap:

  • same as uint64 except value is interpreted as unsigned integer

# REFRESH Command

REFRESH command to item bound to any data channel makes poller thing to poll new from the Modbus slave. All data channels of children data things are refreshed per the normal logic.

REFRESH can be useful tool if you like to refresh only on demand (poller has refresh disabled, i.e. refresh=0), or have custom logic of refreshing only in some special cases.

Note that poller has cacheMillis parameter to re-use previously received data, and thus avoid polling the Modbus slave too much. This parameter is specifically limiting the flood of requests that come when openHAB itself is calling REFRESH for new things.

# Read Steps

Every time data is read by the binding, these steps are taken to convert the raw binary data to actual item State in openHAB:

  1. Poll the data from Modbus slave. Data received is stored in list of bits (discrete inputs and coils), or in list of registers (input registers and holding registers)
  2. Extract a single number from the polled data, using specified location readStart and number "value type" readValueType. As an example, we can tell the binding to extract 32-bit float (readValueType="float32") from register index readStart="105".
  3. Number is converted to string (e.g. "3.14") and passed as input to the transformation. Note that in case readTransform="default", a default transformation provided by the binding is used. See Transformations section for more details.
  4. For each data channel, we try to convert the transformation output of previous step to a State type (e.g. ON/OFF, or DecimalType) accepted by the channel. If all the conversions fail (e.g. trying to convert ON to a number), the data channel is not updated.

In case of read errors, all data channels are left unchanged, and lastReadError channel is updated with current time. Examples of errors include connection errors, IO errors on read, and explicit exception responses from the slave.

Note: there is a performance optimization that channel state is only updated when enough time has passed since last update, or when the state differs from previous update. See updateUnchangedValuesEveryMillis parameter in data thing.

# Write Steps

# Basic Case

Commands passed to openHAB items that are bound to a data channel are most often processed according to following steps:

  1. Command is sent to openHAB item, that is bound to a data channel. Command must be such that it is accepted by the item in the first place
  2. Command is converted to string (e.g. "3.14") and passed to the transformation. Note that in case readTransform="default", a default transformation provided by the binding is used. See Transformations section for more details.
  3. We try to convert transformation output to number (DecimalType), OPEN/CLOSED (OpenClosedType), and ON/OFF (OnOffType); in this order. First successful conversion is stored. For example, "3.14" would convert to number (DecimalType), while "CLOSED" would convert to CLOSED (of OpenClosedType).' In case all conversions fail, the command is discarded and nothing is written to the Modbus slave.
  4. Next step depends on the writeType:
    • writeType="coil": the command from the transformation is converted to boolean. Non-zero numbers, ON, and OPEN are considered true; and rest as false.
    • writeType="holding": First, the command from the transformation is converted 1/0 number in case of OPEN/ON or CLOSED/OFF. The number is converted to one or more registers using writeValueType. For example, number 3.14 would be converted to two registers when writeValueType="float32": [0x4048, 0xF5C3].
  5. Boolean (writeType="coil") or registers (writeType="holding") are written to the Modbus slave using FC05, FC06, FC15, or FC16, depending on the value of writeMultipleEvenWithSingleRegisterOrCoil. Write address is specified by writeStart.

# Advanced Write Using JSON

There are some more advanced use cases which need more control how the command is converted to set of bits or requests. Due to this reason, one can return a special JSON (opens new window) output from the transformation (step 3). The JSON directly specifies the write requests to send to Modbus slave. In this case, steps 4. and 5. are skipped.

For example, if the transformation returns the following JSON

[
    {
        "functionCode": 16,
        "address": 5412,
        "value": [1, 0, 5]
    },
    {
        "functionCode": 6,
        "address": 555,
        "value": [3],
        "maxTries": 10
    }
]

Two write requests would be sent to the Modbus slave

  1. FC16 (write multiple holding register), with start address 5412, having three registers of data (1, 0, and 5).
  2. FC06 (write single holding register), with start address 555, and single register of data (3). Write is tried maximum of 10 times in case some of the writes fail.

The JSON transformation output can be useful when you need full control how the write goes, for example in case where the write address depends on the incoming command. Actually, you can omit specifying writeStart, writeValueType and writeType with JSON transformation output altogether.

Empty JSON array ([]) can be used to suppress all writes.

Explanation for the different properties of the JSON object in the array.

Key name Value type Required Default if omitted Description
functionCode number ✓ (-) Modbus function code to use with write. Use one of 5, 6, 15 or 16.
address number ✓ (-) Start address of the first holding register or coil in the write. Use empty for read-only things.
Use zero based address, e.g. in place of 400001 (first holding register), use the address 0. This address is passed to data frame as is.
value JSON array of numbers ✓ (-) Array of coil or register values. Encode coil values as 0 or 1.
maxTries number 3 Number of tries when writing data, in case some of the writes fail. Should be at least 1.

# Transformations

Transformations serve two purpose

  • readTransform: doing preprocessing transformations to read binary data and to make it more usable in openHAB
  • writeTransform: doing preprocessing to openHAB commands before writing them to Modbus slave

Note that transformation is only one part of the overall process how polled data is converted to openHAB state, or how commands are converted to Modbus writes. Consult Read steps and Write steps for more details. Specifically, note that you might not need transformations at all in some uses cases.

Please also note that you should install relevant transformations in openHAB as necessary. For example, openhab-transformation-javascript feature provides the javascript (JS) transformation.

# Transform On Read

readTransform can be used to transform the polled data, after a number is extracted from the polled data using readValueType and readStart (consult Read steps).

There are three different format to specify the configuration:

  1. String "default", in which case the default transformation is used. The default is to convert non-zero numbers to ON/OPEN, and zero numbers to OFF/CLOSED, respectively. If the item linked to the data channel does not accept these states, the number is converted to best-effort-basis to the states accepted by the item. For example, the extracted number is passed as-is for Number items, while ON/OFF would be used with DimmerItem.
  2. "SERVICENAME:ARG" for calling a transformation service. The transformation receives the extracted number as input. This is useful for applying complex arithmetic of the polled data before it is used in openHAB. See examples for more details.
  3. Any other value is interpreted as static text, in which case the actual content of the polled value is ignored. Transformation result is always the same. The transformation output is converted to best-effort-basis to the states accepted by the item.

Consult background documentation on items (opens new window) to understand accepted data types (state) by each item.

# Transform On Write

writeTransform can be used to transform the openHAB command before it is converted to actual binary data (see Write steps).

There are three different format to specify the configuration:

  1. String "default", in which case the default transformation is used. The default is to do no conversion to the command.
  2. "SERVICENAME:ARG" for calling a transformation service. The transformation receives the command as input. This is useful for applying complex arithmetic for commands before the data is written to Modbus. See examples for more details.
  3. Any other value is interpreted as static text, in which case the actual command is ignored. Transformation result is always the same.

# Example: Inverting Binary Data On Read And Write

This example transformation is able to invert "boolean" input. In this case, boolean input is considered to be either number 0/1, ON/OFF, or OPEN/CLOSED.

// function to invert Modbus binary states
// variable "input" contains data passed by openHAB
(function(inputData) {
    var out = inputData ;      // allow UNDEF to pass through
    if (inputData == '1' || inputData == 'ON' || inputData == 'OPEN') {
        out = '0' ;  // change to OFF or OPEN depending on your Item type
    } else if (inputData == '0' || inputData == 'OFF' || inputData == 'CLOSED') {
        out = '1' ;
    }
    return out ;      // return a string
})(input)

# Full Examples

Things can be configured in the UI, or using a things file like here.

# Basic Example

This example reads different kind of Modbus items from the slave.

Please refer to the comments for more explanations.

things/modbus_ex1.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:localhostTCP [ host="127.0.0.1", port=502, id=2 ] {

    // read-write for coils. Reading 4 coils, with index 4, and 5.
    // These correspond to input register numbers 000005, and 000005
    Bridge poller coils [ start=4, length=2, refresh=1000, type="coil" ] {
        // Note the zero based indexing: first coil is index 0.
        Thing data do4 [ readStart="4", readValueType="bit", writeStart="4", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
        Thing data do5 [ readStart="5", readValueType="bit", writeStart="5", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
    }
    // read-write for holding registers. Reading 4 registers, with index 1500, 1501, 1502, 1503.
    // These correspond to holding register numbers 401501, 401502, 401503, 401504.
    Bridge poller holding [ start=1500, length=4, refresh=1000, type="holding" ] {
        Thing data holding1500 [ readStart="1500", readValueType="float32", writeStart="1500", writeValueType="float32", writeType="holding" ]
        Thing data holding1502 [ readStart="1502", readValueType="float32", writeStart="1502", writeValueType="float32", writeType="holding" ]
    }
    // read-only for input registers. Reading 4 registers, with index 1500, 1501, 1502, 1503.
    // These correspond to input register numbers 301501, 301502, 301503, 301504.
    Bridge poller inputRegisters [ start=1500, length=4, refresh=1000, type="input" ] {
        Thing data input1500 [ readStart="1500", readValueType="float32" ]
        Thing data input1502 [ readStart="1502", readValueType="float32" ]

        // Extract high or low byte of the 16-bit register as unsigned 8-bit integer (uint8)
        Thing data input1502lo [ readStart="1502.0", readValueType="uint8" ]
        Thing data input1502hi [ readStart="1502.1", readValueType="uint8" ]

        // Extract individual bits of the 16-bit register
        // bit 0 is the least significant bit, and bit 15 is the most significant bit
        Thing data input1502bit0 [ readStart="1502.0", readValueType="bit" ]
        Thing data input1502bit1 [ readStart="1502.1", readValueType="bit" ]
        Thing data input1502bit2 [ readStart="1502.2", readValueType="bit" ]
    }

    // read-only for discrete inputs. Reading 4 discrete inputs, with index 1200, 1201, 1202, 1203.
    // These correspond to input register numbers 101201, 101202, 101203, 101204.
    Bridge poller discreteInputs [ start=1200, length=4, refresh=1000, type="discrete" ] {
        Thing data di1200 [ readStart="1200", readValueType="bit" ]
        Thing data di1201 [ readStart="1201", readValueType="bit" ]
    }

    // Write-only entry: thing is child of tcp directly. No readStart etc. need to be defined.
    // Note that the openHAB state might differ from the physical slave since it is not refreshed at all
    Thing data holding5write [ writeStart="5", writeValueType="int16", writeType="holding" ]
}

items/modbus_ex1.items:

Switch DO4            "Digital Output index 4 [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:coils:do4:switch" }
Switch DO5            "Digital Output index 5 [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:coils:do5:switch" }

Contact DI1200            "Digital Input index 1200 [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:discreteInputs:di1200:contact" }
Contact DI1201            "Digital Input index 1201 [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:discreteInputs:di1201:contact" }

Number Input1500Float32            "Input registers 1500-1501 as float32 [%.1f]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:inputRegisters:input1500:number" }
Number Input1502Float32            "Input registers 1502-1503 as float32 [%.1f]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:inputRegisters:input1502:number" }

DateTime Input1502Float32LastOKRead            "Input registers 1502-1503 last read [%1$tA, %1$td.%1$tm.%1$tY %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:inputRegisters:input1502:lastReadSuccess" }
DateTime Input1502Float32LastBadRead            "Input registers 1502-1503 last read [%1$tA, %1$td.%1$tm.%1$tY %1$tH:%1$tM:%1$tS]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:inputRegisters:input1502:lastReadError" }

Number Holding5writeonly            "Holding index 5 [%.1f]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP:holding5write:number" }

sitemaps/modbus_ex1.sitemap:

sitemap modbus_ex1 label="modbus_ex1"
{
    Frame {
        Switch item=DO4
        Switch item=DO5
        Setpoint item=Holding5writeonly minValue=0 maxValue=100 step=20

        Default item=DI1200
        Default item=DI1201

        Default item=Input1500Float32
        Default item=Input1502Float32

        Default item=Input1500Float32LastOKRead
        Default item=Input1500Float32LastBadRead

    }
}

# Writing To Different Address And Type Than Read

This updates the item from discrete input index 4, and writes commands to coil 5. This can be useful when the discrete input is the measurement (e.g. "is valve open?"), and the command is the control (e.g. "open/close valve").

The sitemap shows the current coil status. It also has switches to set/reset coil status, for debugging purposes. Toggling these switches always have the same effect: either setting or resetting the bit.

things/modbus_ex2.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:localhostTCPex2 [ host="127.0.0.1", port=502 ] {

    Bridge poller items [ start=4, length=2, refresh=1000, type="discrete" ] {
        // read from index 4, write to coil 5
        Thing data readDiscrete4WriteCoil5 [ readStart="4", readValueType="bit", writeStart="5", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
        Thing data resetCoil5 [ writeTransform="0", writeStart="5", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
        Thing data setCoil5 [ writeTransform="1", writeStart="5", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
    }

    Bridge poller coils [ start=5, length=1, refresh=500, type="coil" ] {
        Thing data index5 [ readStart="5", readValueType="bit" ]
    }
}

items/modbus_ex2.items:

Switch ReadDI4WriteDO5            "Coil 4/5 mix [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPex2:items:readDiscrete4WriteCoil5:switch" }
Switch ResetDO5            "Flip to turn Coil 5 OFF [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPex2:items:resetCoil5:switch" }
Switch SetDO5            "Flip to turn Coil 5 ON [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPex2:items:setCoil5:switch" }
Contact Coil5            "Coil 5 [%d]"    { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPex2:coils:index5:contact" }

sitemaps/modbus_ex2.sitemap:

sitemap modbus_ex2 label="modbus_ex2"
{
    Frame {
        Switch item=ReadDI4WriteDO5
        Switch item=ResetDO5
        Switch item=SetDO5
        Text item=Coil5
    }
}

# Scaling Example

Often Modbus slave might have the numbers stored as integers, with no information of the measurement unit. In openHAB, it is recommended to scale and attach units for the read data.

In the below example, modbus data needs to be multiplied by 0.1 to convert the value to Celsius. For example, raw modbus register value of 45 corresponds to 4.5 °C.

Note how that unit can be specified within the gain parameter of modbus:gainOffset profile. This enables the use of quantity-aware Number item Number:Temperature.

The profile also works the other way round, scaling the commands sent to the item to bare-numbers suitable for Modbus.

things/modbus_ex_scaling.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:localhostTCP3 [ host="127.0.0.1", port=502 ] {
    Bridge poller holdingPoller [ start=5, length=1, refresh=5000, type="holding" ] {
        Thing data temperatureDeciCelsius [ readStart="5", readValueType="int16", writeStart="5", writeValueType="int16", writeType="holding" ]
    }
}

items/modbus_ex_scaling.items:

Number:Temperature TemperatureItem            "Temperature [%.1f °C]"   { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP3:holdingPoller:temperatureDeciCelsius:number"[ profile="modbus:gainOffset", gain="0.1 °C", pre-gain-offset="0" ] }

sitemaps/modbus_ex_scaling.sitemap:

sitemap modbus_ex_scaling label="modbus_ex_scaling"
{
    Frame {
        Text item=TemperatureItem
        Setpoint item=TemperatureItem minValue=0 maxValue=100 step=20
    }
}

# Commanding Individual Bits

In Modbus, holding registers represent 16 bits of data. The protocol allow to write the whole register at once.

The binding provides convenience functionality to command individual bits of a holding register by keeping a cache of the register internally.

In order to use this feature, one specifies writeStart="X.Y" (register X, bit Y) with writeValueType="bit" and writeType="holding".

things/modbus_ex_command_bit.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:localhostTCP3 [ host="127.0.0.1", port=502 ] {
    Bridge poller holdingPoller [ start=5, length=1, refresh=5000, type="holding" ] {
        Thing data register5 [ readStart="5.1", readValueType="bit", writeStart="5.1", writeValueType="bit", writeType="holding" ]
        Thing data register5Bit1 [ readStart="5.1", readValueType="bit" ]
    }
}

items/modbus_ex_command_bit.items:

Switch SecondLeastSignificantBit            "2nd least significant bit write switch [%d]"   { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP3:holdingPoller:register5:switch" }
Number SecondLeastSignificantBitAltRead            "2nd least significant bit is now [%d]"   { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCP3:holdingPoller:register5Bit1:number" }

sitemaps/modbus_ex_command_bit.sitemap:

sitemap modbus_ex_command_bit label="modbus_ex_command_bit"
{
    Frame {
        Text item=SecondLeastSignificantBitAltRead
        Switch item=SecondLeastSignificantBit
    }
}

# Dimmer Example

Dimmer type Items are not a straightforward match to Modbus registers, as they feature a numeric value which is limited to 0-100 Percent, as well as handling ON/OFF commands.

Transforms can be used to match and scale both reading and writing.

Example for a dimmer device where 255 register value = 100% for fully ON:

things/modbus_ex_dimmer.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:remoteTCP [ host="192.168.0.10", port=502 ]  {
   Bridge poller MBDimmer [ start=4700, length=2, refresh=1000, type="holding" ]  {
          Thing data DimmerReg [ readStart="4700", readValueType="uint16", readTransform="JS:dimread255.js", writeStart="4700", writeValueType="uint16", writeType="holding", writeTransform="JS:dimwrite255.js" ]
   }
}

items/modbus_ex_dimmer.items:

Dimmer myDimmer "My Dimmer d2 [%.1f]"   { channel="modbus:data:remoteTCP:MBDimmer:DimmerReg:dimmer" }

sitemaps/modbus_ex_dimmer.sitemap:

sitemap modbus_ex_dimmer label="modbus_ex_dimmer"
{
    Frame {
        Switch item=myDimmer
        Slider item=myDimmer
    }
}

transform/dimread255.js:

// Wrap everything in a function (no global variable pollution)
// variable "input" contains data string passed by binding
(function(inputData) {
    // here set the 100% equivalent register value
    var MAX_SCALE = 255;
    // convert to percent
    return Math.round( parseFloat(inputData, 10) * 100 / MAX_SCALE );
})(input)

transform/dimwrite255.js:

// variable "input" contains command string passed by openHAB
(function(inputData) {
    // here set the 100% equivalent register value
    var MAX_SCALE = 255;
    var out = 0
    if (inputData == 'ON') {
          // set max
         out = MAX_SCALE
    } else if (inputData == 'OFF') {
         out = 0
    } else {
         // scale from percent
         out = Math.round( parseFloat(inputData, 10) * MAX_SCALE / 100 )
    }
    return out
})(input)

# Rollershutter Example

# Rollershutter

This is an example how different Rollershutter commands can be written to Modbus.

Roller shutter position is read from register 0, UP/DOWN commands are written to register 1, and MOVE/STOP commands are written to register 2.

The logic of processing commands are summarized in the table

Command Number written to Modbus slave Register index
UP 1 1
DOWN -1 1
MOVE 1 2
STOP 0 2

things/modbus_ex_rollershutter.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:localhostTCPRollerShutter [ host="127.0.0.1", port=502 ] {
    Bridge poller holding [ start=0, length=3, refresh=1000, type="holding" ] {
        // Since we are using advanced transformation outputting JSON,
        // other write parameters (writeValueType, writeStart, writeType) can be omitted
        Thing data rollershutterData [ readStart="0", readValueType="int16", writeTransform="JS:rollershutter.js" ]

        // For diagnostics
        Thing data rollershutterDebug0 [ readStart="0", readValueType="int16", writeStart="0", writeValueType="int16", writeType="holding" ]
        Thing data rollershutterDebug1 [ readStart="1", readValueType="int16" ]
        Thing data rollershutterDebug2 [ readStart="2", readValueType="int16" ]
    }
}

items/modbus_ex_rollershutter.items:

// We disable auto-update to make sure that rollershutter position is updated from the slave, not "automatically" via commands
Rollershutter RollershutterItem "Roller shutter position [%.1f]" <temperature> { autoupdate="false", channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPRollerShutter:holding:rollershutterData:rollershutter" }

// For diagnostics
Number RollershutterItemDebug0 "Roller shutter Debug 0 [%d]" <temperature> { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPRollerShutter:holding:rollershutterDebug0:number" }
Number RollershutterItemDebug1 "Roller shutter Debug 1 [%d]" <temperature> { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPRollerShutter:holding:rollershutterDebug1:number" }
Number RollershutterItemDebug2 "Roller shutter Debug 2 [%d]" <temperature> { channel="modbus:data:localhostTCPRollerShutter:holding:rollershutterDebug2:number" }

sitemaps/modbus_ex_rollershutter.sitemap:

sitemap modbus_ex_rollershutter label="modbus_ex_rollershutter" {
    Switch item=RollershutterItem label="Roller shutter [(%d)]" mappings=[UP="up", STOP="X", DOWN="down", MOVE="move"]

    // For diagnostics
    Setpoint item=RollershutterItemDebug0 minValue=0 maxValue=100 step=20
    Text item=RollershutterItemDebug0
    Text item=RollershutterItemDebug1
    Text item=RollershutterItemDebug2
}

transform/rollershutter.js:

// Wrap everything in a function
// variable "input" contains data passed by openHAB
(function(cmd) {
    var cmdToValue = {"UP": 1,  "DOWN": -1, "MOVE": 1, "STOP": 0};
    var cmdToAddress = {"UP": 1, "DOWN": 1, "MOVE": 2, "STOP": 2};

    var value = cmdToValue[cmd];
    var address = cmdToAddress[cmd];
    if(value === undefined || address === undefined) {
        // unknown command, do not write anything
        return "[]";
    } else {
        return (
            "["
              + "{\"functionCode\": 6, \"address\":" + address.toString() + ", \"value\": [" + value +  "] }"
            + "]"
        );
    }
})(input)

# Eager Updates Using REFRESH

In many cases fast enough poll interval is pretty long, e.g. 1 second. This is problematic in cases when faster updates are wanted based on events in openHAB.

For example, in some cases it is useful to update faster when a command is sent to some specific items.

Simple solution is just increase the poll period with the associated performance penalties and possible burden to the slave device.

It is also possible to use REFRESH command to ask the binding to update more frequently for a short while.

rules/fast_refresh.rules:

import org.eclipse.xtext.xbase.lib.Procedures
import org.openhab.core.types.RefreshType

val Procedures$Procedure0 refreshData = [ |
    // Refresh SetTemperature. In fact, all data things in the same poller are refreshed
    SetTemperature.sendCommand(RefreshType.REFRESH)
    return null
]

rule "Refresh modbus data quickly after changing settings"
when
    Item VacationMode received command or
    Item HeatingEnabled received command
then
    if (receivedCommand != RefreshType.REFRESH) {
        // Update more frequently for a short while, to get
        // refereshed data after the newly received command
        refreshData()
        createTimer(now.plus(100), refreshData)
        createTimer(now.plus(200), refreshData)
        createTimer(now.plus(300), refreshData)
        createTimer(now.plus(500), refreshData)
    }
end

Please be aware that REFRESH commands are "throttled" (to be exact, responses are cached) with poller parameter cacheMillis.

# Troubleshooting

Modbus, while simple at its heart, potentially is a complicated standard to use because there's a lot of freedom (and bugs) when it comes to implementations. There are many device or vendor specific quirks and wrinkles you might stumble across. Here's some:

  • With Modbus TCP devices, there may be multiple network interfaces available, e.g. Wifi and wired Ethernet. However, with some devices the Modbus data is accessible via only one of the interfaces. You need to check the device manufacturer manual, or simply try out which of the IPs are returning valid modbus data. Attention: a device may have an interface with a port open (502 or other) that it responds to Modbus requests on, but that may have no connection to the real bus hardware, resulting in generic Modbus error responses to every request. So check ALL interfaces. Usually either the IP on Ethernet will do.

  • some devices do not allow to query a range of registers that is too large or spans reserved registers. Do not poll more than 123 registers. Devices may respond with an error or no error but invalid register data so this error can easily go undedetected. Turn your poller thing into multiple things to cover smaller ranges to work around this problem.

  • there's potentially many more or less weird inconsistencies with some devices. If you fail to read a register or you only ever get invalid values (such as 00 or FF bytes), try with various poller lengths such as the exact length of a register in question or twice the amount. In extreme cases you might even need more than a poller for a single register so you have two or more poller with two or more data things and need to combine these into another item using a rule.

# Changes From Modbus 1.x Binding

The openHAB 1 Modbus binding is quite different from this binding. The biggest difference is that this binding uses things.

Unfortunately there is no conversion tool to convert old configurations to new thing structure.

Due to the introduction of things, the configuration was bound to be backwards incompatible. This offered opportunity to simplify some aspects of configuration. The major differences in configuration logic are:

# Absolute Addresses Instead Of Relative

The new Modbus binding uses absolute addresses. This means that all parameters referring to addresses of input registers, holding registers, discrete inputs or coils are entity addresses. This means that the addresses start from zero (first entity), and can go up to 65 535. See Wikipedia explanation (opens new window) for more information.

Previous binding sometimes used absolute addresses (modbus.cfg), sometimes relative to polled data (items configuration).

# Register And Bit Addressing

Now 32 bit value types refer start register address. For example valueType="int32" with start="3" refers to 32 bit integer in registers 3 and 4.

The old binding could not handle this case at all since it was assumed that the values were addressed differently. Read index of 3 would refer to 32 bit integer in registers 3*2=6 and 3*2+1=7. It was not possible to refer to 32 bit type starting at odd index.

It is still not possible to read 32 bit value type starting "middle" of register. However, if such need arises the addressing syntax is extensible to covert these cases.

Bits, and other <16 bit value types, inside registers are addressed using start="X.Y" convention. This is more explicit notation hopefully reduces the risk of misinterpretation.

# Polling Details

The new binding polls data in parallel which means that errors with one slave do not necessarily slow down polling with some other slave.

Furthermore, once can disable polling altogether and trigger polling on-demand using REFRESH.

# Transformation Changes

With the new binding the transformations get slightly different input. In polling, the transformation always receives number as input (see Read steps). Old binding had converted the input based on item type.

# Trigger Removed

The old binding had trigger parameter in item configuration to react only to some openHAB commands, or to some polled states. There is no trigger anymore but one can use transformations to accomplish the same thing. See Transformations for examples.

# Support For 32, 64 Bit Value Types In Writing

The new binding supports 32 and 64 bit values types when writing.

# How to manually migrate

Here is a step by step example for a migration from a 1.x configuration to an equivalent 2.x configuration. It does not cover all features the 1.x configuration offers, but it should serve as an example on how to get it done.

The 1.x modbus configuration to be updated defined 4 slaves:

modbus.cfg

    poll=500

    tcp.slave1.connection=192.168.2.9:502
    tcp.slave1.type=coil
    tcp.slave1.start=12288
    tcp.slave1.length=128
    tcp.slave1.updateunchangeditems=false

    tcp.slave2.connection=192.168.2.9:502
    tcp.slave2.type=holding
    tcp.slave2.start=12338
    tcp.slave2.length=100
    tcp.slave2.updateunchangeditems=false

    tcp.slave3.connection=192.168.2.9:502
    tcp.slave3.type=holding
    tcp.slave3.start=12438
    tcp.slave3.length=100
    tcp.slave3.updateunchangeditems=false

    tcp.slave4.connection=192.168.2.9:502
    tcp.slave4.type=holding
    tcp.slave4.start=12538
    tcp.slave4.length=100
    tcp.slave4.updateunchangeditems=false

As you can see, all the slaves poll the same modbus device (actually a Wago 750-841 controller). We now have to create Things for this slaves.

The 2.x modbus binding uses a three-level definition. Level one defines a Bridge for every modbus device that is to be addressed. The 1.x configuration in this example only addresses one device, so there will be one top level bridge.

Bridge modbus:tcp:wago [ host="192.168.2.9", port=502 ] {

}

Host and Port are taken from the 1.x modbus config.

Within the top level Bridge there are one or more second level bridges that replace the former slave configurations. The poll frequency can now be set per poller, so you may want to define different poll cycles up to your needs. The slave Bridge configs go inside the top level config. For the four pollers defined in this example the 2.x configuration looks like this:

Bridge modbus:tcp:wago [ host="192.168.2.9", port=502, id=1 ] {

    Bridge poller wago_slave1 [ start=12288, length=128, refresh=500, type="coil" ] {
    }

    Bridge poller wago_slave2 [ start=12338, length=100, refresh=4000, type="holding" ] {
    }

    Bridge poller wago_slave3 [ start=12438, length=100, refresh=5000, type="holding" ] {
    }

    Bridge poller wago_slave4 [ start=12538, length=100, refresh=10000, type="holding" ] {
    }
}

Address, length and type can be directly taken over from the 1.x config.

The third (and most complex) part is the definition of data Thing objects for every Item bound to modbus. This definitions go into the corresponding 2nd level Bridge definitions. Here it is especially important that the modbus binding now uses absolute addresses all over the place, while the addresses in the item definition for the 1.x binding were relative to the start address of the slave definition before. For less work in the following final step, the update of the Item configuration, the naming of the data things in this example uses the offset of the modbus value within the poller as suffix, starting with 0(!). See below for details.

Here a few examples of the Item configuration from the 1.x binding:

The first Item polled with the first poller used this configuration (with offset 0):

Switch FooSwitch  "Foo Switch"  {modbus="slave1:0"}

Now we have to define a Thing that can later be bound to that Item.

The slave1 poller uses 12288 as start address. So we define the first data Thing within the poller wago_slave1 with this address and choose a name that ends with 0:

Thing data wago_s1_000 [ readStart="12288", readValueType="bit", writeStart="12288", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]

The second Item of the 1.x binding (offset 1) is defined as follows.

Switch BarSwitch  "Bar Switch" {modbus="slave1:1"}

This leads to the thing definition

Thing data wago_s1_001 [ readStart="12289", readValueType="bit", writeStart="12289", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]

Note the absolute address 12289 (12288+1) which has to be used here.

Incorporating this definitions into the thing file leads to:

wago.things:

Bridge modbus:tcp:wago [ host="192.168.2.9", port=502, id=1 ] {

    Bridge poller wago_slave1 [ start=12288, length=128, refresh=500, type="coil" ] {
        Thing data wago_s1_000 [ readStart="12288", readValueType="bit", writeStart="12288", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
        Thing data wago_s1_001 [ readStart="12289", readValueType="bit", writeStart="12289", writeValueType="bit", writeType="coil" ]
    }

    Bridge poller wago_slave2 [ start=12338, length=100, refresh=4000, type="holding" ] {
    }

    Bridge poller wago_slave3 [ start=12438, length=100, refresh=5000, type="holding" ] {
    }

    Bridge poller wago_slave4 [ start=12538, length=100, refresh=10000, type="holding" ] {
    }
}

Save this in the things folder. Watch the file events.log as it lists your new added data Things. Given that there are no config errors, they quickly change from INITIALIZING to ONLINE.

Finally the Item definition has to be changed to refer to the new created data Thing. You can copy the names you need for this directly from the events.log file:

Switch FooSwitch  "Foo Switch" {modbus="slave1:0"}
Switch BarSwitch  "Bar Switch" {modbus="slave1:1"}

turn into

Switch FooSwitch  "Foo Switch" {channel="modbus:data:wago:wago_slave1:wago_s1_000:switch", autopudate="false"}
Switch BarSwitch  "Bar Switch" {channel="modbus:data:wago:wago_slave1:wago_s1_001:switch", autoupdate="false"}

If you have many Items to change and used the naming scheme recommended above, you can now use the following search-and-replace expressions in your editor:

Replace

{modbus="slave1:

by

{channel="modbus:data:wago:wago_slave1:wago_s1_00

in all lines which used single digits for the address in the 1.x config. Instead of wago, wago_slave1 and wago_s1_00 you have to use the names you have chosen for your Bridge, poller and data things. Similar expressions are to be used for two-digit and three-digit relative addresses.

Replace

"}

by

:switch"}

in all lines dealing with switches. For other Item types use the respective replace strings.

That way you can update even a large amount of Item definitions in only a few steps.

The definition of autoupdate is optional; please refer to autoupdate to check whether you need it or not.

Continue to add data Things for all your other Items the same way and link them to your Items.

Save your updated item file and check whether updates come in as expected.

# Troubleshooting Tips

# Thing Status

Check thing status for errors in configuration or communication.

# Enable Verbose Logging

Enable DEBUG or TRACE (even more verbose) logging for the loggers named:

  • org.openhab.binding.modbus
  • org.openhab.core.io.transport.modbus
  • net.wimpi.modbus

Consult openHAB logging documentation (opens new window) for more information.

# For Developers

This binding can be extended in many ways. If you have a Modbus enabled device that you want to support in openHAB please read the developer section (opens new window).

Caught a mistake or want to contribute to the documentation? Edit this page on GitHub (opens new window)

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