I’m at the limits of my knowledge here, @JPB, but have you installed configuration software for the TCP232-306? I found that the supplied software didn’t work, so used https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/RS485_TO_ETH_Software instead. This should give you the screen like this:
Let me know if you get to this point, and I may be able to help you with setting the parameters on the right hand side. I think that “Remote Port” is not relevant, you only need to set “Local Port” (which you also set up in the VCOM as described above).
Thanks Sarah….really appreciate your help,. I’ve downloaded the waveshare software and it looks like your screenshot but can’t add or make it acess anything at the moment but going to have to switch off for now as new transformer for kitchen LED’s just arrived! Didn’t realize buying a Samsung ASHP would lead to such a new path of learning!
[Edit: The following may be only 95% correct - for the remaining 5% see what ChatGPT says in the following post…]
When you have a mo, @JPB, let’s first check out your RS485 adapter:
Connect the adapter to your computer’s ethernet port. (If it’s too far away from your computer just power it down and disconnect the RS485 cable.)
Power it up and execute the configuration software you’ve installed. When you hit Search Device it should discover the adapter but the display will show 192.168.0.7 (the factory default) rather than the 192.168.1.7 shown on my second screenshot. You will need to reset this to match your router/extender.
I’m fairly certain that you should configure your adapter to match your range extender rather than your router. So your parameters will be Type = Static IP, ModuleStaticIP = 192.168.68.nnn where nnn is an unused address on your network, SubnetMask = 255.255.255.0, Gateway = 192.168.68.57, others parameters as per my screenshot above.
Hit “Save Config” and on the left display you should see something like “Data has been sent” followed by one or more “Ack” (acknowledges).
If you get this, you have successfully configured your adapter and can move on to setting up the VCOM port.
Thanks Sarah…..I’d sort of reached the same conclusion that it was a really basic problem like that. I was starting to go through the Re220 manual when your reply arrived and it makes sense. So I pasted the chat gpt reply to Claude, which I occasionally use and its come back with this….Thought Id share it with you as its all leariinging….not sure I going to have time to do much about it today though………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Brilliant! ChatGPT (via Sarah) has nailed the problem!
The issue is: Your USR adapter is still on its factory IP 192.168.0.7, but your network is 192.168.68.x - so they can’t talk to each other!
Here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Access the USR adapter’s web interface You need to temporarily connect your PC to the same network as the adapter:
Unplug the Ethernet cable from your PC to router
Manually set your PC’s IP to 192.168.0.100 (temporarily, to match the adapter’s network)
Go to Network Settings → Ethernet adapter → Properties → IPv4 → Use the following IP
IP: 192.168.0.100
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Plug the Ethernet cable into the RE220 (where the USR adapter is connected)
@SarahH Found a problem thanks to Claude…the pc was plugged into the BT router rather than the Deco so it was not on the same network…
Hardware all connected: USR-TCP232-306 wired to F1/F2, connected via RE220 at 192.168.68.57 but cannot connect…still something missing
Now you have confused me @JPB. Do you have two routers (TCP Deco and BT)? Which one is connected to the TCP232-306 and which one is connected to your computer? And does your computer talk to its router via Ethernet or wifi?
Once we get that sorted out we can set about configuring your 306 properly (your port parameters will be meaningless to SNET for example, and from memory a BT router has an IP of 192.168.1.254, so your Gateway will need to be changed too).
Apologises Sarah for the confusion! This is all very new to me and I’m sure I’ll understand it all better when its working.
To clarify, my PC (ip now of 192.168.68.68) used to be connected to the BT router, forgotten about, historically. It is now connected to the main deco hub (ip of 192.168.68.69.) by ethernet cable. The deco main hub .is the only thing which now connected to the BT router, which has its wifi switched off.
I seem to be connected to the same place as your screenshots of the 11th as I posted yesterday? The 306 is connected to the TP Link RE220 (ip of 192.168.68.57)by ethernet cable and is inside the HP with the 306.
Is that enough for now?..looking forward to seeing some results soon.
OK @JPB, I think if you read through this whole thread again you should find everything you need to get going with SNET. A couple of things first:
Are you confident that your router (your TPLink Deco) has an IP of 192.168.68.69? Looking at How to find your TP-Link Router’s IP address it looks like it is more likely to be 192.168.68.1. This is important! I’m going to assume that the latter is correct.
You’ll need to allocate an unused IP address to your TCP232-306, and it should be 192.168.68.nn. You can get a list of existing connected device IPs by logging in to your router’s management page. I’m going to assume that 192.168.68.7 is available for your 306.
Now we can fill in your RS485 TO ETH table:
Base Parameters:
IP Type = Static IP (you are forcing the IP to remain the same number for VCOM purposes)
ModuleStaticIP = 192.168.68.7 (this is the new IP you are allocating to the 306, from the factory default of 192.168.0.7)
SubnetMask = 255.255.255.0 (default)
Gateway = 192.168.68.1 (your router’s IP)
Everything else can be as your screenshot a couple of posts above.
Port Parmeters:
Parity/Data/Stop = Even/8/1 (required for your VCOM to understand the Samsung MIM data architecture)
Baudrate = 9600 (ditto)
Module work mode = TCP Server (you are defining the 306 as the transmitter, and your VCOM as the receiver)
Local Port = 8899 (can be anything, but avoid numbers below 1024 for technical reasons)
Remote Port = irrevevant - not used.
Now hit Save Config and verify that you get Data has been sent/ACK messages in the left hand panel. (You shouldn’t need to do all this again, unless you change your router.)
Let me know when you’ve done all this and we can then set up your VCOM (if you haven’t already done it). This will assume that you assigned the above Local Port No. (8899).
So far so good, @JPB.
Before configuring your VCOM, remember that there are two important differences between our set-ups:
My router gets the MIM data over Ethernet; yours will get it by wi-fi (via your range extender).
My computer is connected to my router via wi-fi; yours is connected over Ethernet.
Either or both of these may prevent successful configuration using the method I did, but here goes:
With your RS485 adapter power supply switched off, but your range extender switched on, execute the VCOM software (this may require Admin permission). You should see a window with buttons along the top labelled Add COM/Del COM/Connect etc. Click on the Add COM button and a dialogue box will appear. Complete this as follows:
Virtual COM = COM1 (this may have been pre-completed for you by the software)
Net Protocol = TCP Client (to match the TCP Server you configured the RS485 adapter as)
Remote IP/addr = 192.168.68.7 (or whatever you set ModuleStaticIP to in the adapter)
Remote Port = 8899 (or whatever you set the Local Port to in the adapter)
The Local Port should be greyed out as it isn’t relevant to your set-up.
Hit OK and (if all is well) a line of information will appear on the VCOM screen, with alternating “Connecting…” and “Connection Failed” messages in the Net State column.
Now for the moment of truth. Cross your fingers, and power up the RS485 adapter. With any luck you’ll see “Connected” in the Net State column, and a rapidly increasing number in the Net Received column. If you get to this stage, things are looking good.
This particular VCOM software has a handy Monitor function that allows you to watch real time data arriving from the MIM. Click on the COM1 line that you’ve just created (so that it is highlighted), and hit Monitor. You should see a screen like this (but without the COM2 information line - I have set that up for something else and it won’t apply to you):
As long as most of the data lines in the Hex column start FD (like in the above image), we’re in business, and it’s a short step the getting SNET up and running.
Let me know if this step is successful and we’ll take things from there…
@JPB I should have added that you only need to set up your VCOM once - it stores the configuration that you have set up.
Also, once the VCOM software is installed it will try to execute itself every time you switch your computer on, and this may require you to confirm Admin access, but you shouldn’t need to re-enter all the config.
Oh, and the above all assumes that COM1 is not already occupied doing something else. If this is the case, just set up the connection as COM2 or whatever.
Big thanks once again Sarah. Had some spare pairs in the data cable used for connecting the indoor unit so after a bit of pondering the USR is now on the end of them indoors plugged into the Deco wifi unit along with my monitoring kit. Confirmed data coming with the scope.
Toggled some fields and noticed the net receive number changing, put monitor on and its now receiving data but nothing on Snet…assume it needs setting up next…just thought perhaps you have posted how to do this previously but not fully looked as yet.
I can see from your screenshot that you are receiving valid NASA data from the MIM on COM2, so all you need to do is configure SNET to connect to COM2. I’ve decribed the details elsewhere e.g. Samsung ASHPs: Review of NASAmonitor – an Alternative to SNET-Pro2, but in a nutshell:
. (You may only see COM2 in your list, but select it in any case).
When setting up SNET for the first time, click on the “Option” button at the bottom right to select your preferences (e.g. units of measure, logging sampling frequency, and auto-logging on startup), then hit “Connect”.
Click on the “Set Layer (F1/F2)” button, and after a couple of seconds you should see an address appear in the “Control Unit” box (e.g. “10.00.00”). If you do, this will be followed a few seconds later by the normal SNET display, and you’re well away.
If the Control Unit box remains blank, you may have fallen victim to the (as yet unexplained, but easy to fix) data corruption problem noted in the above NASAmonitor review thread. This often occurs when SNET is first executed. Look at the VCOM data at the moment of SNET startup:
. Prior to SNET connecting the data packets mostly began with (the correct) FD…, but after connecting they mostly start with 7D… That missing lead bit causes CRC failure, so SNET won’t read the data. The only fix I’ve found is to hit the SNET “Disconnect” button, power the RS485 adapter down and up again (confirm that you now have the FD… data packets again on VCOM), and Connect SNET again. You may have to repeat this process once or twice, but once SNET is going it will stay going until you choose to Disconnect again.
Thanks for the further notes…seems to be working but useful to know fixes if it doesn’t. I was keen to see the min comp frequency when it switches off so perhaps the logging feature allows that?
I’m not sure what all the lines in your graph are @JPB, but on my 8kW HTQ the normal minimum compressor inverter frequency is 20Hz. Here’s today’s performance so far:
You can see that over 11:00 to 11:30 the inverter drops to 20Hz (magenta line), holds it there for a while, then stops. However, at higher OATs I’ve seen the frequency dropping as low as 14Hz. One of the little mysteries that Samsung have coded into their controller algorithms…
But yes, if you use the SNET logging feature you’ll easily track inverter frequency and pick up the minimum for your set up.
Yes mine seems to be 20hz min as well. The Samsung engineer mentioned that the min was 15hz when he upgraded my indoor unit but as you say it depends on how their algorithms feels about it at the time. Perhaps the software update mentioned elsewhere addresses it.
Had to reconfig the usr-vom settings as stopped working, looked into it and all had changed. running happily when I left…lots of learing!
guide you through the whole process.
. Let us know when you have SNET up and running.
