ABB Totalflow EFM Communications Information 1

[robertjo24]

Does anyone know of a good primer on the ABB Totalflow EFM communications protocol?

We are troubleshooting a communications issue, and it would be greatly simplified if I understood the protocol. I look online, and all I find is reference to protocol drivers and software simulators.

If I could find a primer that discusses how requests for data are structured, what data is typically requested, and how the data is formatted, I might actually have a chance to get my arms around this thing.

Does anyone know of a decent master and/or slave simulator for communications testing?

I can work easily enough with Modbus, but this Totalflow communications is a P.I.T.B.

 

[danw2]

It's all new to me, but when ABB's web page states, "set you free from hassles and outside integrators when it comes time to extend into new ideas", I have to chuckle, when it's tough to get the comm link up and running.

http://www.abb.com/totalflow

There's a 55 page pdf called "Universal Server ABB Totalflow Protocol Getting Started Guide",

http://www.mtlmost.com/Portals/MOST/PDFs/Universal/ABB Totalflow Getting Started.pdf

that provides what appears to be a fairly comprehensive setup checklist on page 5..

When it says, "Ensure that DCOM is properly configured", it immediately raises some configuration flags.

Did you configure DCOM? Did you enable it (XP Pro SP2 disables DCOM by default)?

Have you disabled Windows's firewall?

Dan

 

[danw2]

1) There's a totalflow support web site, not affiliated with ABB:

http://www.totalflowsupport.com/

that has a boat load of bulletins.

2) Some ABB devices branded "Totalflow" (an RTU, several flow computers and a BTU meter) apparently use Modbus, according to Modbus IDA.

http://www.modbus.org/viewcompany.php?id=6

3) A list of "Modbus Register" documents, which a quick view shows that they are the Modbus memory maps for a whole slew of which are TotalFlow branded ABB instruments is here:

http://www.abb.com/cawp/seitp161/001041a8068d70fd85256cd300539fd6.aspx

Sounds like some portion of Totalflow might be Modbus based.
Is your instrument on the list?

Dan

 

[robertjo24]

Thanks for the posts.

We are using the WINCCU protocol talking DB2 to the field devices.

I would love it if we would have used Modbus, as it is a fairly straight forward standard.
I talked with the ABB Totalflow guys at the ENTELEC conference yesterday, and they are going to get one of their application engineers to call me and work with us on our "issues" with the system.

My basic problem is that there is no documentation I can find that discusses ABB's proprietary protocol. The polls going to the field are huge, compared to Modbus. A status poll could be 300 bytes. A daily poll is upwards of 1300 – 1600 bytes. This seems wasteful and inefficient to me, but my underlying communications infrastructure should handle the traffic. Yet, it does not.

If I had a basic understanding of the poll structure, how it asks for data, and the requirements for data delivery and inter packet delay, I could more easily troubleshoot the issue. As it stands today, I cannot tell what is good or bad data

Hopefully the Totalflow engineer will help work this out and explain their protocol.