| Experion HS R530.1 User Assistance

# Main properties for a Honeywell Universal Modbus channel

The Main tab defines the basic properties for a Honeywell Universal Modbus channel The communications port used by the server to connect to a controller. Channels are one slot, point, or screw terminal of an I/O device for a single I/O value, and are defined using the Quick Builder tool..

For information about how to create a channel, see "Building controllers and channels" in the Quick Builder User’s Guide.

Property | Description
--- | ---
Name | The unique name of the channel. A maximum of 10 alphanumeric characters (no spaces or double quotes). Note: In Station Experion's main operator interface. Station presents information using a series of displays. See also: display. displays, underscore characters ( _ ) appear as spaces.
Description | (Optional) A description of the channel. A maximum of 132 alphanumeric characters, including spaces.

Associated Asset An entity representing fixed plant equipment, facilities, or buildings. All assets have a tag name, an item name, and a full item name. An asset can be assigned to an operator or Station for the purposes of scope of responsibility, that is, for the purposes of controlling what an operator or Station can view or control in your Experion system. Previously known as an area.

The Tag Name A unique identifier given to a point or an asset. Compare: item name. See also: asset, point. of the Asset to be associated with the controller Also known as remote terminal unit, RTU. A generic term for a device that is used to control and monitor one or more processes in field equipment. The most common control and monitoring device in an access control and security system is an access control panel. Other devices include security monitoring panels, elevator controllers, and fire monitoring devices. Controllers include programmable logic controllers (PLCs), loop controllers, bar code readers, and scientific analyzers. See also: C200 controller, control processor, CPM, hybrid controller, network node controller, PLC..

Marginal Alarm An indication (visual and/or audible) that alerts an operator at a Station of an abnormal or critical condition. Each alarm has a type and a priority. Alarms can be assigned either to individual points or for system-wide conditions, such as a controller communications failure. Alarms can be viewed on a Station display and included in reports. Experion classifies alarms into the following types: - PV Limit - Unreasonable High and Unreasonable Low - Control Failure - External Change. Limit

The communications alarm marginal limit at which the channel is declared to be marginal. When this limit is reached, a high priority alarm is generated. To change the priority of the alarm system wide, see the topic titled "Configuring system alarm priorities" in the Server and Client Configuration Guide. To change the priority of the alarm for one channel, see the topic titled "About configuring custom system alarm priorities for an individual channel or controller" in the Server and Client Configuration Guide.

A channel barometer monitors the total number of requests and the number of times the controller did not respond or response was incorrect. The barometer increments by two or more, depending on the error, and decrements for each good call.

To calculate an acceptable marginal alarm limit, use the formula In ISA-S88.01 terms, a category of recipe information that includes process inputs, process parameters, and process outputs. In Honeywell terms, the recommended implementation of a formula is through using Phase block formula and report parameters.: Square root of the number of controllers on the channel × Marginal Alarm Limit defined on those controllers (Normally, you specify the same value for all controllers on a channel).

For example, if there are 9 controllers on the channel and their Marginal Alarm Limit is set to 25, the value would be 3 (which is the square root of 9) × 25 = 75.

Fail Alarm Limit

The communications alarm fail limit at which the channel is declared to have failed. When this barometer limit is reached, an urgent alarm is generated. To change the priority of the alarm system wide, see the topic titled "Configuring system alarm priorities" in the Server and Client Configuration Guide. To change the priority of the alarm for one channel, see the topic titled "About configuring custom system alarm priorities for an individual channel or controller" in the Server and Client Configuration Guide.

Set this to double the value specified for the channel Marginal Alarm Limit.

Write Delay

If the channel is on a serial port, the length of time (in milliseconds) that the server The computer on which the Experion database software and server utilities run. See also: Experion server TPS. waits before writing to the Port and the Redundant Port of any controller on the channel. The default value is 10 milliseconds for both the Port and the Redundant Port. You can set different values for these two ports.

For redundant HC900 Hybrid controller. networks, the suggested Write Delay is 0.

Connect Timeout

The time (in seconds) the server waits to connect to the Port and the Redundant Port of the controller before abandoning the connection. The default is 10 seconds for both the Port and the Redundant Port. You can set different values for these two ports.

Use the default values unless the communications lines have a high error rate or you are using modems.

For redundant HC900 networks, the suggested Connect Timeout is 1.

Read Timeout

The time (in seconds) that the server waits for a reply from the Port and the Redundant Port of the controller. The default is 2 seconds for both the Port and the Redundant Port. You can set different values for these two ports.

Use the default values unless the communications lines have a high error rate or you are using modems.

For redundant HC900 networks, the suggested Read Timeout is 1.

Item Type | The type of channel specified when this item was created.
Last Modified | The date and time the channel properties were modified.
Last Downloaded | The date and time the channel was last downloaded to the server.

Item Number

The unique item number currently assigned to this channel, in the format CHN cccc, where cccc is the channel number.

You can change the Item Number if you need to match your current server database configuration. The number must be between 0001 and the maximum number of channels allowed for your system. For more information about setting the maximum value, see the topic titled "Adjusting sizing of non-licensed items" in the Supplementary Installation Tasks Guide. Note that the maximum number of channels that may be used in a system is defined in the Experion specification for that Experion release, This number is likely to be less than the maximum number that can be configured in the database as shown in "Adjusting sizing of non-licensed items."

## Channel write delay settings

Serial devices using the RS-485 protocol require a minimum period during which no communications occur. Different devices have different requirements. You should configure the write delay to be the largest value required by any device on your RS-485 network. See the following table for requirements of individual devices.

Where a delay is specified in number of characters, convert the value to milliseconds using this formula:

    Time(ms) = (1,000 × characters)/baud

Write delay should be rounded up to the nearest whole number.

For example, 3.5 chars at 9600 baud = (1,000 × 3.5)/9600 = 3.6 ms (round to 4 ms)

UMC800 | DPR100, DPR180, DPR250 | DR4300 | DR4500 | UDC3300, UDC2300
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
3.5 Chars | 3.5 Chars | V 4: 20 ms V 5 or later: 3.5 Chars + 2 ms | V 57 and 58: 20 ms V 59 or later: 3.5 Chars + 2 ms | 20 ms