Atrax ABS960+

Hello Everybody

I am using anAtrax ABS960+ luggage scalein a project. It has a RS 232 serial port in it.

I want show this luggage scale data onSCADAusing aS7-300.

but i am unable find theGSDfile for this luggage scale.

Has anybody used this scale before or where can i find the GSD file for this luggage scale?

I really appreciate the help.

Thanks & Kind Regards

Hello mafa;

A manufacturer will produce a gsd file when he markets a Profibus slave, since a gsd file is designed to help integrate a Profibus slave to a master's configuration.

In your case, Atrax never mentions a Profibus interface,  and in that case I doubt you will locate a gsd file.

In the Atrax website it is mentionned that the ABS960+ has "· A serial communication port for connection to computers or printer.". It is a «RS 232 port, for point-to-point communications, for which we need a bit more information, namely the protocol that runs over RS-232.

https://www.atraxgroup.com/check-in-conveyor-scales/

On the PLC side, there re only 2 CP serial modules that can connect to a RS 232 bus, the CP 340 and the cP 341. To tell you which one you need, you must locate information on the protocol used to communicate with the Atrax module. It could be Modbus RTU (doubtful, it would have been mentioonned by name) or a master-slave exchange using ASCII for example.

That is where you next job lies: locate that information from the vendor, from the manufacturer, from the web...

Note: on the main page of Atraxgroup, Under Contacts, there is this note: "For technical and service support please contact support@atraxgroup.com..." I suggest you start with this enail to  request détails on the serial protocol spécifications for the ABS960+.

Hope this helps,

Daniel Chartuer

 dchartier thanks for the help.

i will try to get some help from the manufacturer.

is it possible to communicate between PLC and the Atrax Luggage Scale without locating the GSD file?

 Thanks 

Hello mafa;

Have you read the first answer I gave you? There is no Profibus network possible with your Atrax weigher, therefore there can be no gsd file.

Unless you have access to documentation showing at least a RS 485 interface on the Atrax system, there is no way a Profibus link is available in this project. You need to get this clear in your mind: you are going to use serial communications between your PLC and your ABS960+, not Profibus.

While you are waiting for a reply from the manufacturer, please take a few moments to educate yourself on serial protocols and Communication Processors (CP) for the S7-300; you will then understand better the information that you will receive from Atrax.

https://support.industry.siemens.com/tf/WW/en/posts/communication-s7-300-with-rs232/5074?page=0&pageSize=10

Hope this helps,

Daniel Chartier

You will need to:

1. Configure the rs232 port on your plc to mate up with the rs232 settings on the scale. 

2. Get command / response details from Atrax or reverse engineer it.

3. Write PLC code to zero / tare and accept scale reading.

4. Configure scale to spit out weight via rs232 upon successful settling.

5. Write plc code to handle the weight value and pass it along to whatever needs the weight

If you are lucky, you can set up the scale to auto-send values after settling down.  You can then do math in the PLC to compare the last 2 values to detect when bag is loaded and unloaded, and the weight of that bag.

If I could not get the command/response details from the scale manufacturer, I would connect up my PC using a terminal emulator and use the help command (maybe it's H, HELP, ?...) to see what the scale needs and how it terminates each response (CR / LF, CR, LF, break, long pause).

If you can configure the rs232 to terminate each response, choose something that is easy to detect, like CR, and then you can configure your plc to receive everything terminating with CR as a single response.  Will save many headaches.

Good luck.

mafa123

 dchartier thanks for the help.

i will try to get some help from the manufacturer.

is it possible to communicate between PLC and the Atrax Luggage Scale without locating the GSD file?

 Thanks