ZigBee to ModBus interface - Zipabox compatible?

According to this:

http://www.smartofthehome.com/2014/03/4-noks-zb-connection/

it doesn't sound as if you could chain together other ZigBee devices with this gadget:

"When I purchased these I automatically assumed they would work with ZigBee’s Home Automation (HA) Profile and would be compatible with other ZigBee devices of the HA standard, unfortunately this was not the case. 4-Noks have developed their own propriety protocol based on an older serial communication protocol called Modbus which they have re-branded ‘ZB-Connection’. This means the 4-Noks ZigBee devices are only compatible with other devices in their ZB-Connection range."

But what if you don't have any other ZigBee devices and don't care? Would it talk to the Zipabox's ZigBee module?

Or perhaps:

http://www.zb-connection.com/zigbee-wireless-plug-play-network/gateway/gateway-modbus-rs485/

Dear David,

We have forwarded your question for compatibility to our responsible team.

Please be patient.

Best regards,

Pero Zovkic

Excellent, thanks!

I can not guaranty that this bridge would work with our Zigbee module. It is possible that it would, but I do not have enough information to be certain and I do not have any such a device here to test it. But.....

I wonder what kind of Modbus devices you have?

These days I am upgrading our Modbus IP network and trying to integrate CoolMasterNet cool controller to work with Zipabox. Possibly, this new implementation might help in your case. If not, I might be able to support your devices remotely. What you need to know is first of all the IP address of your device and you need to have an information on how to address each register of your device (address number) in order to be able to read/write in it and in that way to get the device info or to have control over the device. The device manufacturer itself may provide you with this register addressing information as well as the meaning of register content.

Hi Željko,

OK, first of my device is a Brink (aka Siber) Renovent Sky 150+ ventilation unit, and it comes with an eBus connector (not ModBus). I don't know how similar ModBus and eBus are, but it was suggested to me that they're pretty similar, and I gather there are converters to convert from one to the other. But I'm not sure!

The manual details the registers corresponding to each setting from page 86 onwards. The device doesn't have an IP address - for that I would need a TCP to eBus adapter, presumably? Something like this maybe?

https://www.eservice-online.de/produkte/ebus/142/ebus-koppler-ethernet

Thanks!

I suppose you are right, but I really can't help you much with this conversion devices. You do need some kind of converter to convert ebus to Modbus TCP and to connect to our Modbus IP network, but I can't advise you on that matter simply because I haven't tested any such device yet.

OK, I understand.

I see the ModBus icon in the new device window now. Nice!

To clarify, for it to have any chance of working, I would need to use an eBus to ModBus converter, and then a Modbus TCP adapter? eBus TCP would not work? (eBus and ModBus are different?)

I have discovered that Brink have a Modbus adapter for my ventilation system!

http://www.brinkclimatesystems.nl/getattachment/91934fb7-7250-47d0-aa23-2dd8ce83c795

Unfortunately, its interface is RS485! I have a Zipabox serial module, but Modbus support is TCP only, correct?

Correct. We only have support for Modbus IP.

Hello, I've been following this thread very interested. So I want to ask if it would work with this Informations and what I have to do? Thanks a lot.

Quickly looking at the manual, it connects via RS485, which is a serial protocol. Unfortunately the Zipabox serial module is no use for connecting this, because the Zipabox only supports Modbus TCP (i.e. you connect your Modbus device to your router and it's accessed via an IP address).

If you want to get deeper and deeper into the mire, there are ModBus RS485 to TCP adapters, but who knows if these would work with the Zipabox.

http://gridconnect.com/modbus-rs485.html

https://www.expertdaq.es/conversor/conversor-ethernet-rs485rs422/ex9132c-rs485/?gclid=CJTyiM7r0cwCFU4o0wod3gwBhA

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XModbus+TCP+RS485.TRS0&_nkw=Modbus+TCP+RS485&_sacat=0

In theory, the adapter would connect to your router and to your RS485 device, and your ModBus device would then acquire an IP address. You could then add it to the Zipabox. In theory.

I have no clue how the programming of ModBus works in the Zipabox.

If I've got my terminology right, the serial RS485 protocol is called ModBus RTU. The TCP/IP ethernet protocol is called ModBus TCP. The adapters convert between those two.