User Manual: Ibox-Mbs-Esser
User Manual: Ibox-Mbs-Esser
User Manual: Ibox-Mbs-Esser
IBOX-MBS-ESSER
Gateway for the integration of ESSER 8007 / 8008 / IQ8 fire panels in
Modbus enabled monitoring and control systems.
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INDEX
1. Description .................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Functionality .................................................................................................. 5
1.3 Capacity of IBOX-MBS-ESSER .......................................................................... 6
2. Modbus interface of IBOX-MBS-ESSER............................................................... 7
2.1 Description .................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Definition of signals ........................................................................................ 7
2.3 Functions supported........................................................................................ 7
3. ESSER interface of IBOX-MBS-ESSER ................................................................ 8
3.1 Main features ................................................................................................. 8
4. LinkBoxMB. Configuration & monitoring tool for IBOX-MBS-ESSER Modbus Server
series ........................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 9
4.2 Project definition............................................................................................ 10
4.3 Connections configuration ............................................................................... 14
4.4 Signals ......................................................................................................... 16
4.5 Sending the configuration to IBOX-MBS-ESSER .................................................. 18
4.6 Signals viewer ............................................................................................... 19
4.7 System commands ......................................................................................... 20
4.8 Files ............................................................................................................. 21
5. Set-up process and troubleshooting ................................................................ 22
Pre-requisites ..................................................................................................... 22
Set-up procedure ................................................................................................ 22
6. Connections................................................................................................. 25
7. Mechanical & electrical characteristics.............................................................. 27
8. Functional characteristics............................................................................... 28
9. Dimensions.................................................................................................. 29
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1. Description
1.1 Introduction
Integration of ESSER 8007/8008/IQ8 fire panels into a Modbus master device or system,
using Box Modbus Server - ESSER gateway.
The aim of this integration is to make available points states of ESSER 8007/8008/IQ8 fire
panels from a Modbus master device or system. For this IBOX-MBS-ESSER gateway works,
from the Modbus system point of view, acting as a Modbus slave device responding to data
polls coming from the Modbus master, and from the ESSER system point of view, acting as
a serial device connected to its serial port, and serving the data received from ESSER to the
Modbus side.
IBOX-MBS-ESSER connects to the serial port of the ESSER panel, either through the RS232
port or the RS485 port, software selectable.
LAN
WAN Master
INTERNET Modbus TCP
Modbus
TCP
Ethernet
Modbus
RTU
Master RS232/RS485 ESSER
Modbus RTU Fire Panel
RS232/RS485
IBOX-MBS-
LinkBoxMB RS232
configuration
software Only needed for configuration
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1.2 Functionality
General overview:
The ESSER communication protocol is based on events, the states of the system elements
(detectors, modules, etc.) are transmitted through the protocol in the form of events
whenever they occur.
The role of IBOX-MBS-ESSER consists in associate the elements of the ESSER system with
Modbus register addresses.
The numerical values that will represent, in the Modbus registers, the different possible
states of the ESSER points can be selected in the configuration process.
The control of the ESSER panel is permitted, and commands toward the panel are
permitted.
All ESSER elements (detectors, outputs and zones) are configured in IBOX-MBS-ESSER by
default for a single panel.
Also all the general events are detected by IBOX-MBS-ESSER and translated to Modbus:
Once IBOX-MBS-ESSER is configured and connected to both systems (ESSER and Modbus),
it maintains a "keep alive" message with the panel, being this message the
request/response of panel status, also it listens continuously the ESSER serial port for new
events. With every event, the new status received is updated in the IBOX-MBS-ESSER
memory and become available to be read by the Modbus master device.
As mentioned before, the protocol in the serial port of the ESSER is based in spontaneous
messages, that is, only changes of status are sent through the protocol whenever they
occurs. Because of this, when IBOX-MBS-ESSER starts up, actual status of elements is
unknown, but the panel will inform to IBOX-MBS-ESSER about the actual state of the panel
and elements when it receives the message requesting the status.
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Ref.: IBOX-MBS-ESSER
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2.1 Description
IBOX-MBS-ESSER acts as a slave device in its Modbus interface, this interface can be the
Ethernet port (if using Modbus TCP), or the RS232 port or the RS485 port (if using Modbus
RTU). To access the points and resources of the IBOX-MBS-ESSER from Modbus system,
you must specify as the Modbus register addresses, those fixedly configured inside IBOX-
MBS-ESSER corresponding to ESSER elements. See details of the Modbus address map
below in this document.
Modbus functions 03 and 04 (read holding registers and read input registers) can be used to
read Modbus registers.
If poll records are used to read more than one register, it is necessary that the range of
addresses requested contains valid addresses, if not the corresponding Modbus error code
will be returned.
All the registers are of 2 bytes and its content is expressed in MSB..LSB.
Modbus error codes are fully supported, they will be sent whenever a non valid Modbus
action or address is required.
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This section describes the ESSER part of the IBOX-MBS-ESSER configuration and
functionality. This section assumes the user is familiar with ESSER technology and technical
terms.
From the ESSER system point of view, IBOX-MBS-ESSER acts as a serial device connected
to its serial port, and serving the data received from ESSER to the Modbus side.
IBOX-MBS-ESSER ESSER interface use IDT protocol through RS485 or RS232 connection
(TTY board required). The ESSER communication protocol is based on events, the states of
the system elements (detectors, modules, etc.) are transmitted through the protocol in the
form of events whenever they occur.
The 3 general states of the ESSER fire panel are available as independent Modbus registers.
Each Modbus register corresponds to a single element of the panel: detector, output or
zone. The value offered per each Modbus register reflects the state of the element
associated in the panel, the possible values are from 0-Normal, 1-Alarm… to 7-TEST. Each
element to detect is defined in a table indicating zone number, output or detector number,
and type of element (detector, output or zone).
Commands toward the panel are allowed for reset, disconnect and test the elements. When
a communication error with the panel occurs it is indicate in the panel.
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4.1 Introduction
From LinkBoxMB, as well as configure the integration signals list and connection parameters
for every external protocol, it is permitted to select the serial port to use to connect to
IBOX-MBS-ESSER Modbus Server and the use of some tools for monitoring and debugging
de device. Some of these tools will be explained in this document but only some of them,
the rest of available debugging tools and commands will not be explained here because they
are for exclusive use under the recommendations of our technical support.
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The first step to do in LinkBoxMB for a new installation is to create the installation’s project
giving a descriptive name to it. When you create a project, a new folder is created with the
name of the project containing the configuration files needed depending on the external
protocol selected for the project. It is strongly recommended that you create a new project
for every installation, if not, overwriting of configuration files of previous installations using
the same external protocol may occur, loosing the configuration data for those previous
installations. The projects folder is located in AppFolder\ProjectsMB, where AppFolder is the
installation folder of LinkBoxMB (by default C:\Program Files\Intesis\LinkBoxMB). Inside the
projects folder, a new folder will be created for every project defined in LinkBoxMB with the
files needed for the project.
When you open LinkBoxMB, the project selection window will appear inviting you to select a
project or create a new one. A demo project for every external protocol supported is
provided with the standard installation of LinkBoxMB. You can create a new project or select
a demo project based on the external protocol desired, and create a new one from the
demo one selected.
To create a new project, select a project using the same external protocol you want to use
in the new project and click on New button. You will be prompted to create a copy of the
selected project (useful for similar installations) or create a brand new one.
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If you select Yes you will be prompted to specify a name and a description for the new
project that will be based on the same external protocol than the selected one. If you select
No you can specify a name, a description and an external protocol to use from the list of
available external protocols.
On Accept, a new folder will be created inside the projects folder with the name given to the
project, this folder will contain the template configuration files if the project is a brand new
one, or a copy of the configuration files if it is a copy of a selected one.
A description of the files created for an ESSER protocol based project can be found in
section Files in this document.
From all the possibilities of LinkBoxMB, only changes in configuration for the integration and
configuration file generation can be performed while disconnected from IBOX-MBS-ESSER
(working off-line), allowing you to do these tasks in the office more comfortably. Before any
monitoring or downloading action to IBOX-MBS-ESSER can be performed, the connection
between IBOX-MBS-ESSER and the PC running LinkBoxMB must be established (working on-
line). To do so follow these steps:
2. Connect a free PC serial port to the IBOX-MBS-ESSER serial port marked as PC Console.
(Use the standard serial cable supplied with the device or a customer’s cable following
the pin assignments specified in section Connections in this document).
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3. Select in LinkBoxMB the PC serial port used for the connection to IBOX-MBS-ESSER. Use
menu Configuration -> Connection.
4. Check the checkbox off-line under the menu bar (it will change automatically to on-line)
and LinkBoxMB will ask for INFO about the IBOX-MBS-ESSER connected to it via the
serial connection, if the connection is ok then IBOX-MBS-ESSER will respond with its
identification (this can be monitored in the IBOX-MBS-ESSER Communication Console
window, as showed below).
Once connected to IBOX-MBS-ESSER, all the options of LinkBoxMB are fully operative.
To monitor the communication between IBOX-MBS-ESSER and the Modbus master device,
select the menu View -> Bus -> Modbus. The Modbus communication Viewer window will be
opened. This window show in real time all the communication frames between IBOX-MBS-
ESSER and the Modbus master device as well as debugging messages referent to internal
protocol (Modbus) sent by IBOX-MBS-ESSER.
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To monitor the communication between IBOX-MBS-ESSER and the external system (ESSER
in this case), select the menu View -> Bus -> ESSER. The External protocol communication
viewer window will be opened. This window show in real time all the communication frames
between IBOX-MBS-ESSER and ESSER panel as well as debugging messages referent to
external protocol (IDT) sent by IBOX-MBS-ESSER.
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To configure the IBOX-MBS-ESSER connection parameters and the Modbus values for each
possible state, select menu Configuration -> IBOX-MBS-ESSER. The ESSER Configuration
window will be opened.
Two kinds of information are configured using this window, the referent to the Modbus side
and the referent to the ESSER side.
2
3
1 4
6
7
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1
5
6
4 7
ESSER Configuration
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4.4 Signals
Points list
This window is just for information purposes about the datapoints existing into the IBOX-
MBS-ESSER and its functionality.
1. #. Signal’s number (edit not permitted). Every line in the grid corresponds to a signal
(group of ESSER points). Signals (lines in the grid) can be added or deleted selecting the
desired line and clicking Add or Delete buttons. Special signals (see below) are fixed
(deletion not permitted). This column is used only to enumerate the lines in the grid
(signals).
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9. A/D. Signal type. Possible values: 0-Analog, 1-Digital. Edit not permitted.
10. Active. Indicates if the signal is active or not for the integration. Possible values: 0-No,
1-Yes. Edit using the mouse right-button-click menu available on the column.
In column Point value you can enter the desired value individually per cell or you can auto
enumerate some consecutive cells, for this last follow these steps:
5. Select using the left mouse button (clicking and dragging) all the rows in the list to
which you want to automatically assign values (must be consecutive rows).
6. Click right mouse button over the selected fields and select Auto Enumeration option
from the pop-up menu that will appear.
8. Enter the increment between consecutive assignments. For example selecting 2 for
the first value and an increment of 0, the values generated will be always 2.
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When the configuration has been saved (button Accept) and the IBOX-MBS-ESSER
configuration binary file has been generated (remember to select yes when asked if you
want to generate the IBOX-MBS-ESSER file), to send the configuration file to IBOX-MBS-
ESSER click on the button Send File. The process of file transmission can be monitored in
the IBOX-MBS-ESSER Communication Console window. If the file transmission is ok, IBOX-
MBS-ESSER will reboot automatically with the new configuration loaded.
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Once IBOX-MBS-ESSER is running with the correct configuration, to supervise the status of
the configured signals, select menu View -> Signals. The Signals Viewer window will be
opened. This window shows all the active IBOX-MBS-ESSER signals with its main
configuration parameters and its real time value in the column Value. After a reset of IBOX-
MBS-ESSER or after sending a configuration file to the IBOX-MBS-ESSER, all the signal's
values will be updated automatically in the signals viewer, in case you connect to the IBOX-
MBS-ESSER when it is already running, you should press the Update button to get updated
values, press just once the button to update all the signal values, from this moment the
signal values will be maintained updated until the connection is closed.
The signals viewer can be used although only one system is connected to the IBOX-MBS-
ESSER, ESSER or Modbus, and is very useful for supervision and test.
It is possible to force a specific value to any signal for test purposes, to do so just double
click on the row and select the desired value and Accept in the Data Test window. The new
value entered will be available through the Modbus interface, the same way as if it has been
received from the ESSER panel.
This tool is very useful to test the communication in the Modbus side from the Modbus
master device for example, without the need to have the ESSER panel connected and
running.
The signals viewer window has a button to copy to the Windows Clipboard all the contents
of the window (in tab separated text format).
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4.8 Files
LinkBoxMB saves the integration configuration in the following files inside the project folder:
It is strongly recommended to back up the project folder containing these files in external
media, once the installation process is finished. This way you will be able to do future
configuration changes in case of reinstallation of LinkBoxMB due, for example, to a failure of
the hard disk in the PC where LinkBoxMB was installed.
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Pre-requisites
It is necessary to have the Modbus master device operative and well connected to the
Modbus port of IBOX-MBS-ESSER, remember to respect the maximum of 15 meters cable
distance if using RS232 communication.
It is necessary to have the ESSER panel with an RS232 port operative and at a distance of
IBOX-MBS-ESSER installation site of 15 meters maximum (due to RS232 communication).
Connectors, connection cables, PC for LinkBoxMB, and other auxiliary material, if needed,
are not supplied for this standard integration. The items supplied for this integration are:
IBOX-MBS-ESSER Modbus Server device with ESSER IDT external protocol firmware
loaded.
LinkBoxMB software to configure IBOX-MBS-ESSER.
Console cable needed to download the configuration to IBOX-MBS-ESSER.
Product documentation.
Set-up procedure
1. Install LinkBoxMB on your laptop, use the setup program supplied for this and follow the
instructions given by the Installation wizard.
2. Install IBOX-MBS-ESSER in the desired installation site. The mounting can be on DIN rail
or on a stable not vibrating surface (DIN rail mounted inside a metallic industrial cabinet
connected to ground beside the Panel is recommended).
3. Connect the communication cable coming from the Modbus master device to the port
marked as Modbus of IBOX-MBS-ESSER (used RS232, RS485 or Ethernet port
depending on the type of Modbus communication to use). (See details for this
communication cable in section Connections of this document).
4. Connect the communication cable coming from the RS232 or RS485 port of the ESSER
to the port marked as ESSER of IBOX-MBS-ESSER. (See details for this communication
cable in section Connections of this document).
5. Power up IBOX-MBS-ESSER. The supply voltage can be 9 to 30 Vdc or just 24 Vac. Take
care of the polarity of the supply voltage applied.
WARNING! In order to avoid earth loops that can damage IBOX-MBS-ESSER and/or
any other equipment connected to it, we strongly recommend:
The use of DC power supplies, floating or with the negative terminal connected to
earth. Never use a DC power supply with the positive terminal connected
to earth.
The use of AC power supplies only if they are floating and not powering any other
device.
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6. Connect the communication cable coming from the serial port of your laptop PC to the
port marked as PC Console of IBOX-MBS-ESSER. (See details for this communication
cable in section Connections of this document).
7. Open LinkBoxMB, create a new project selecting a copy of the one named DEMO ESSER
and give it the name desired, select the serial port used to connect to IBOX-MBS-ESSER
(menu Configuration -> Connection) and switch working mode to on-line (checkbox off-
line/on-line). The IBOX-MBS-ESSER identification must appear in the IBOX-MBS-ESSER
communication console window as showed below.
8. Modify the configuration as desired, save it and download the configuration file to IBOX-
MBS-ESSER as explained before.
9. Open the Modbus Communication Viewer window (menu View -> Bus -> Modbus) and
check that there is communication activity, some TX frames and some other rx frames.
This means that the communication with the Modbus master device is ok. In case there
is no communication activity between IBOX-MBS-ESSER and the Modbus master device
check that it is operative, check the baud rate, and check also the communication cable
used to connect both devices. (See details for this communication cable in section
Connections of this document).
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10. Open the External Protocol Communication Viewer window (menu View -> Bus ESSER)
and check that there is communication activity, some RX frames as showed in the figure
below. This means that the communication with the ESSER panel is ok. In case of no
communication activity between IBOX-MBS-ESSER and ESSER, check that the RS232
port of ESSER panel is operative and well configured, and check also the communication
cable used to connect both devices. (See details for this communication cable in section
Connections of this document).
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6. Connections
ESSER
RS232 RS485
Ethernet C4
RJ45
- + ETH + -
CMN 24Vac
Modbus RTU
PC (LinkBoxMB)
RS485 RS232
- + PC Console
C2 C3
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RX 2 2 TX
TX 3 3 RX
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1
Standard cable DB9male - DB9female 1,8 meters long is supplied with the device for connection to a PC COM port for
®
configuring and monitoring the device. The configuration software, compatible with Windows operating systems, is also
supplied.
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8. Functional characteristics
ESSER interface
Type Serial connection.
Configuration Baud rate, data bits, parity.
parameters RS232/R485.
Waiting timeout for a response of the ESSER panel.
Waiting timeout for change status point back to normal.
ESSER codes that will force alarm activation.
Interactivity with ESSER points can be read and write from the gateway.
ESSER system Modbus value reflecting each possible state is fully configurable.
Modbus
interface
Device type Slave.
Modbus modes TCP, RTU RS232 or RS485.
supported
Modbus TCP IP address.
configuration Subnet mask.
parameters Default gateway.
TCP port.
Modbus RTU RS232/RS485.
configuration Baud rate, parity.
parameters Slave number.
Points
Modbus data types All the points are of data type UNSIGNED INT in the Modbus interface.
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9. Dimensions Power
+
Ethernet port
ESSER
ports
Modbus RTU
ports
Console
58 mm port
107 mm 105 mm
Recommended available space for its installation into a cabinet (wall or DIN rail mounting),
with space enough for external connections:
100 mm
130 mm
115 mm
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Esser by Honeywell