Guide by PLC Type
Pick the guide that matches your PLC or equipment model. 44 protocols plus Motor Sense are supported.
Which category should you start with?
- Factory automation / production lines — Mitsubishi, Siemens, LS, AB, OMRON, Panasonic, FATEK, Beckhoff
- General purpose / standards — OPC-UA, Modbus TCP/RTU, HTTP
- Automotive fastening (screwdrivers) — Atlas Copco Open Protocol
- Energy / utilities — DNP3, IEC 61850, M-Bus, HART-IP
- Building / facilities — BACnet/IP, KNXnet/IP, DALI
- Semiconductor fab — SECS/GEM
- Robotics / AGV / motion — ROS 2, CANopen, IO-Link
- Marine / shipboard — NMEA 0183
- DCS / process — Emerson DeltaV (via OPC-UA)
If you're not sure which guide to read
General-purpose / standard protocols
| Your equipment / environment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Kepware / Matrikon / OPC-UA server | OPC-UA | OPC-UA |
| General instruments / inverters / standard industrial devices (TCP) | Modbus TCP | Modbus TCP |
| RS-485 / RS-232 serial instruments (via gateway) | Modbus RTU | (coming soon) |
| External IT / MES / ERP pushes values | HTTP | HTTP Push |
Factory automation / general PLC lines
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| MITSUBISHI — Q / iQ-R / iQ-F / FX | MELSEC (MC Protocol) | MELSEC |
| SIEMENS — S7-1200/1500/300/400 | S7 (TIA / Step7) | Siemens S7 |
| LS ELECTRIC (formerly LSIS) — XGI / XBC / XBM | LS XGT FEnet | LS ELECTRIC |
| Allen-Bradley / Rockwell — ControlLogix / CompactLogix | EtherNet/IP CIP | AB EtherNet/IP |
| Allen-Bradley legacy — PLC-5 / SLC-500 / MicroLogix | AB-EtherNet | (coming soon) |
| GE Fanuc — RX3i / RX7i / 90-30 | SRTP | (coming soon) |
| OMRON — CJ / CS / NJ / NX (FINS) | OMRON FINS | (coming soon) |
| Panasonic / Matsushita — FP series | MEWTOCOL | (coming soon) |
| FATEK — FBs / FB-MC | FATEK FBs | (coming soon) |
| Beckhoff TwinCAT — CX / IPC | ADS / AMS | (coming soon) |
Automotive / fastening / torque management
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Atlas Copco / Bosch Rexroth / automated screwdrivers (fastening result collection) | Open Protocol | (coming soon) |
Energy / utilities / metering
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Substation IEDs / protective relays / power SCADA | IEC 61850 (MMS) | (coming soon) |
| Transmission & distribution / RTUs / power utility SCADA | DNP3 (IEEE 1815) | (coming soon) |
| HART 4-20mA transmitters (refining/chemicals) — HART-IP gateway | HART-IP | (coming soon) |
| Gas / water / heat meters (EN 13757) | M-Bus | (coming soon) |
Building / lighting / HVAC
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Building automation — HVAC / FCU / AHU controllers | BACnet/IP | (coming soon) |
| Lighting automation (KNX-based buildings) | KNXnet/IP | (coming soon) |
| Lighting dimming / lighting automation (DALI master required) | DALI | DALI Guide |
Motion / robotics / sensors
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Profinet-based PLCs / IO devices | Profinet | (coming soon) |
| CAN-based motion / drives / AGVs | CANopen | (coming soon) |
| IO-Link sensors (via sensor master) | IO-Link | IO-Link Guide |
| ROS 2-based robots / autonomous AGVs | ROS 2 | ROS 2 Registration |
Semiconductor fab
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Semiconductor / display fab equipment (E5 / E37) | SECS/GEM (HSMS) | (coming soon) |
Marine / shipboard / navigation
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Ship navigation / GPS / AIS / anemometers (read-only) | NMEA 0183 | (coming soon) |
DCS / process control
| Your equipment | Recommended protocol | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Emerson DeltaV DCS (via OPC-UA Connect recommended) | DeltaV | DeltaV Guide |
KOPENS integration
| Environment | Recommended guide |
|---|---|
| KOPENS Motor Sense (motor vibration / diagnostics) | Motor Sense |
Input fields common to all PLCs
These fields are asked for regardless of PLC type.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Connection ID | Unique code identifying this PLC within the gateway |
| Connection name | Name shown on screen |
| IP address | Network address of the PLC |
| Port | Communication port of the PLC (default varies by PLC type) |
| Collection interval (ms) | How often values are read, in ms (typically 1000 = 1 second) |
| Auto start | Whether collection starts automatically when the gateway reboots |
Serial / non-IP protocols
Serial and fieldbus protocols such as Modbus RTU, M-Bus, NMEA 0183, DALI, IO-Link, and CANopen require a separate gateway / master / converter. In these cases, enter the converter's IP for the IP address and port (e.g., USR-TCP232, MOXA NPort).
Comparison table (all 25 protocols)
| Guide | Category | Default port | Authentication | Special options | Write | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPC-UA | General | 4840 / 49320 | Optional (User/X.509) | discovery mode | Yes | Released |
| Modbus TCP | General | 502 | None | request-timeout, unit-id | Yes | Released |
| Modbus RTU | General (serial) | (serial converter IP:port) | None | baud / parity / unit-id | Yes | Stable |
| HTTP Push | General | (n/a) | API key | pushed from outside | Yes | Released |
| MELSEC | Factory automation | 5000 (Q/L) / 1500 (iQ-R) | None | controller-type | Yes | Released |
| Siemens S7 | Factory automation | 102 | None | rack / slot | Yes | Released |
| LS ELECTRIC | Factory automation | 2004 (XGT) | None | use-checksum | Yes (Bit/Byte/Word/DWord/Float/Double) | Released |
| AB EtherNet/IP | Factory automation | 44818 | None | backplane / slot | Yes (varies by firmware) | Released |
| AB-EtherNet (PLC-5/SLC-500) | Factory automation | 2222 (CSP) | None | station | No (read-only) | Stable |
| GE SRTP | Factory automation | 18245 | None | controller-type | Yes | Released |
| OMRON FINS | Factory automation | 9600 | None | network/node/unit | Yes | Released |
| Panasonic MEWTOCOL | Factory automation | 9094 | None | station-no | Yes | Released |
| FATEK FBs | Factory automation | 500 | None | station-no | Yes | Released |
| Beckhoff ADS | Factory automation | 48898 (TCP) / 851 (target AMS port) | None | target-netid, target-port | Yes | Released |
| Atlas Copco Open Protocol | Automotive / fastening | 4545 | None | MID filter | No (fastening results read-only) | Released |
| IEC 61850 | Energy | 102 (MMS/COTP) | None | LD/LN, FC | No (polling read-only) | Stable |
| DNP3 | Energy | 20000 | None | master/outstation addr | Yes | Released |
| HART-IP | Energy (refining/chemicals) | 5094 | None | command set | Partial (4-20mA) | Released |
| M-Bus | Energy (metering) | (serial converter) | None | primary address | No (read-only) | Released |
| BACnet/IP | Building | 47808 | None | device-id, object-id | Yes | Stable |
| KNXnet/IP | Building | 3671 | None | group address | Yes | Stable |
| DALI | Building (lighting) | (DALI master IP) | None | short-address | Yes (dimming/color temperature) | HW-dependent stub |
| Profinet | Motion / IO | 34962-34964 | None | device name | Yes | Stable |
| CANopen | Motion / drives | (CAN gateway) | None | node-id, PDO | Yes | Stable |
| IO-Link | Sensors | (master IP) | None | port-id, ISDU | Yes | HW-dependent stub |
| ROS 2 | Robotics | rosbridge (WebSocket 9090) | ws/wss | path, tls | None (read-only) | rosbridge implementation |
| SECS/GEM | Semiconductor fab | 5000 (HSMS) | None | T3-T8 timer | Yes (S2F41 host command) | Stable |
| NMEA 0183 | Marine / navigation | 10110 (TCP) | None | sentence filter | No (read-only) | Released |
| DeltaV | DCS | 4840 (OPC-UA) | User/X.509 | via OPC Connect recommended | Yes | Guide (uses OPC-UA) |
| Motor Sense | KOPENS integration | 4840 (OPC-UA) | Optional | automatic asset discovery | Yes | Released |
What write support means
"Write" indicates whether an external system (REST /api/v1/tag/{tagId}/value, the Node-RED tag value write node, etc.) can change PLC values.
In production, systems are generally operated read-only for safety, with write permission granted only to the specific tags that need to be changed.
EIP / SECS / IEC 61850 compatibility
- EIP: Depending on PLC firmware/patch level, writes of certain data types may be rejected.
- SECS/GEM, IEC 61850: Core messages (S1F1/F3, S2F41, MMS Read) are fully supported, but GEM/IED options vary widely by equipment model, so advance verification is recommended.
- Always verify on a test slot or a field-approved test tag before applying to live equipment.
Broad industrial protocol support
Modbus RTU / AB-EtherNet (PLC-5) / BACnet/IP / KNXnet/IP / CANopen / Profinet run on a common integration engine aimed at broad device compatibility. Their options are simple, but they operate reliably across many verified devices.
HW-dependent stubs
DALI / IO-Link / DeltaV require a separate master / gateway / DCS system. (ROS 2 collects directly as long as rosbridge_server is running on the robot.) PlantPulse Edge is responsible only for communicating with that master.