Ethernet Interfaces and Ethernet-to-RS485 Device Servers

The Laureate Ethernet Interface Board plugs into a host 1/8 DIN digital panel meter, counter, timer or remote display to provide a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet interface via an industry-standard RJ45 connector. Multiple meters, each with their own Ethernet cable, can be connected to a local area network (LAN) or to the Internet via a router. LAN, WAN, and Internet connectivity are fully supported so that the meter can be read and set up remotely. Laurel Ethernet nodes are automatically discovered by Instrument Setup Software.

Built-in DHCP server capability allows Laurel Ethernet Nodes to constitute themselves into a network and be connected directly to a host computer when no router or dedicated DHCP server is present, as illustrated to the right. When a node or multiple nodes fail to find a DHCP server, they mutually agree to make one of the nodes a temporary DHCP server, thereby creating a network and allowing direct connection to a computer.

The Ethernet-to-RS485 Converter Board plugs into a host 1/8 DIN digital panel meter, counter or timer to provide a 10/100 Base-T Ethernet interface via an industry-standard RJ45 jack for that meter. It also provides an RJ11 jack for interface to an RS485 bus, which can support up to 31 Laurel meters equipped with Laurel's RS485 interface board. That board features dual RJ11 connectors for RS485 daisy-chaining using commercial 6-wire RJ11 data cables, with no need for a hub.

Instrument Setup Manager Software is downloadable at no charge. This free Windows-based application automatically discovers all Laurel Nodes (or Laurel Ethernet boards) on a LAN or WAN, plus any meters connected to the nodes. These will be the host meter for Ethernet-to-RS485 converter board, plus any meters and transmitters on the RS485 bus. It is also used to set up and scale individual meters or transmitters.

Node Manager Software, which is also downloadable at no charge, provides utilities to used to configure each node, such as naming the node and associated devices on an RS485 bus, entering email addresses for alarm notification and data requests, selecting the node's time zone for time-stamping of streaming data, setting communication parameters for associated meters,setting static IP addresses if required, and updating node firmware.