X20 system for remote IO over Wi-Fi bridge

Hi. I am looking for a best way to expand my 4PPC70 based system (Powerlink for IO, Ethernet for local network at the moment) to have an option of reading out remote IO.

I have a well pump station which I would like to control VFD setpoint remotely (so one AO 0-10V, read out some 24VDC DI, count running hours and impulses from water counter)

This well is roughly 100m from the main building and getting Ethernet cable there is not possible at the moment. I want to use two bridged WiFi APs.

Question is - what protocol to use? I don’t need the speed/features of Powerlink. I don’t even care if I occasionally lose connection for 1-60 seconds if this means the analog output will freeze and counters will keep counting.

Can i simply make an IO station with X20BC0083 and AO, DI, DO could be all covered by X20CM8281?

Is the X20BC0083 a good choice for WiFi bridge with possible latency/signal quality issues that come with it?

If you need simple IOs without hard realtime then I would always go for ModbusTCP
In this case the X20BC0087

Simple to use and it offers all benefits of TCP
This device can also be operated within WiFi if you do not care if the conneciton is slow(er) and might even break

A BC0083 is Powerlink ONLY and will not work on WiFi as the latency is way to high for Powerlink

3 Likes

Hello

If tou have a new version of Automation Studio.
I will try to go with new technologies. OPC UA
It gives options to cybersecurity, (you know… WIFI, IT networks…) OPC UA is easier to share data and complex data in comparision with modbus.

X20BC008T | B&R Industrial Automation (br-automation.com)

Thank you both, I shall go with BC0087 for this project, since I am already talking to Modbus TCP HVAC systems.

OPC UA is an interesting addition with interesting possibilities, I shall order one module for playing with too. I see AS 4.11 which I am on at the moment has AsOpcUas/c libraries, so this should be easy.

2 Likes