Here at APG, we are proud of our Tank Cloud Remote Tank Level Monitoring service. The ability to monitor tank levels remotely via a private and personalized website saves our customers time and money every day.
But remote monitoring isn’t the answer for everyone. For customers who want the ease of automated tank monitoring combined with local Ethernet controls, we offer the RST-5000 series control module and LOE ultrasonic sensors with Embedded Web Server technology. Both families of devices are designed to monitor networks of up to 10 APG Modbus sensors and allow for local control via Ethernet.
This local control is both advantageous and critical, as it is the best way to initialize an LOE or RST-5000, and is the easiest way to set up each sensor as it is added to the Modbus network.
Today we’ll give a quick tour of the Embedded Web Server pages, as they appear on an RST-5000 or LOE. Since the required settings for menu parameters will depend on the sensor being configured, we are not going spend much time here on detailed configurations.
To start, open an Internet browser and in the address bar and enter the server LOE or RST-5000 serial number (ex. Loe_xxx, RST_xxx). The xxx are the last three digits of the serial number.
After typing the serial number, the Main View should be displayed:
Note: the Analog Input shown in this Main View is a 4-20 mA sensor attached to an RST-5000.
The LOE Main View looks like this:
Next, click the “Home” button to bring up the Menu Page.
For the RST-5000.
And for the LOE.
During each session, first time you select a menu from this page, you will be redirected to the login screen:
After successfully logging in, the Menu Page will be displayed again.
The nine menus can be understood in groups of three. For the LOE:
LOE Sensor Input Configuration Menus
Modbus Sensor Configuration Registers
LOE Utility Menus
The groupings for the RST-5000 are similar:
4-20 mA Sensor Input Configuration Menus
Modbus Sensor Configuration Registers
RST-5000 Utility Menus
The LOE Sensor Input Configuration Menus and the 4-20 mA Sensor Input Configuration Menus are similar, but different enough that we will take a look at each.
First, the LOE Sensor Input Configuration Menus.
This is the Basic Parameters menu for the LOE sensor. These parameters correspond to the Modbus Input Registers and most of the Holding Registers for the ultrasonic sensor of the LOE.
Here is a better view of each side:
The remaining Holding Registers are located in the Application Settings Menu.
As mentioned above, the 4-20 mA Sensor Input Configuration menus on an RST are similar to the menus for the LOE we just looked at, but are critically different in that the RST is converting a 4-20 mA input signal from a separate sensor into distance and volume measurements based on the the parameter settings. That sensor is built into the LOE, eliminating one iteration of signal conversion.
Here is the Analog Parameters Menu.
And here is the Analog Application Settings Menu, which is the same as the LOE version.
The remaining menus are identical between the RST and LOE. First, the RS-485 configuration menus for the attached Modbus sensors. These menus reflect the contents of the Input Registers (i.e., sensor readings) and Holding Registers (i.e., sensor settings) for one sensor at a time. That sensor is selected in the RS485 Settings menu below.
First, the Input Registers. As you can see, these are read only.
Next, Holding Registers, Part 1.
And Holding Registers, Part 2.
The final four menus are all related to LOE or RST-5000 Utility functions.
The Network Settings Menu controls the Ethernet settings for the LOE or RST-5000. All of APG’s LOE and RST-5000 devices are shipped with DHCP enabled, so they will automatically configure all of these settings when connected to your Ethernet.
The Security Settings Menu allows you to change the username and password you use to login to your LOE/RST-5000.
The Labels Menu allows you to customize the descriptions for each sensor as it appears on the Main View. You can also give the Main View a title.
The RS485 Settings Menu allows you to change the baud rate of your Modbus network (APG sensors and controllers all use 9600 baud), the number of sensors online (should be set to the highest anticipated number of Modbus sensors), and select which Sensor to configure with the Holding Registers.
Here ends our simple guided tour through the Embedded Web Server pages on your RST-5000 series controller or LOE ultrasonic sensor. For more information on using these pages, please see the user manual for your device.
And as always, if you have questions, please get in touch. You can an email, or use our live chat.
