Owner's manual
8
2.3 - Modbus Slave Operation
When confi gured as slave, the 7231 HT responds to 
requests for data from a Modbus master. The data 
available is the product, interface, total covered tem-
perature, product temperature, interface temperature, 
span (probe length), max temperature, and the individ-
ual values of the 5 temperature sensors from the probe 
as well as the status of the probe. 
The 7231 HT is capable of communicating using the 
Modbus RTU or ASCII format. The format is selected 
by the on board jumper JP2. The serial communication 
parameters are selected by the on board jumper JP3. 
The baud rate and Modbus device number are selected 
by on board switches. Refer to the table and fi g. 2.1 on 
pg. 9 for the jumper settings. 
Individual data items (product, average temperature, 
etc.) are obtained by issuing a Modbus request with a 
specifi c register number, as per the Modbus protocol 
specifi cation. Multiple values can be obtained by speci-
fying a starting register and the number of registers 
desired.
The data returned from a Modbus request can be in 
many formats: 16 bit integer, 32 bit integer (long), or 
fl oating point. The 7231 HT has a unique feature which 
allows the user to specify the data format desired by 
the selecting the correct register. For example, the 
value for the product reading can be obtained as an in-
teger (16 bits), a long word (32 bits), or a fl oating point 
value (32 bits) by simply choosing different registers. 
In addition to the length of the data, the order of the 
bytes in the returned data must be known by the 
Modbus master in order to assemble the data
 correctly. 
The 7231 HT allows for all byte ordering combinations 
by specifi cation of the correct register number.
In traditional Modbus, 1 register represented 16 bits of 
data. To obtain a 32 bit value, the master requested 2 
registers to get the 32 bits. A variant of Modbus called 
Enron Modbus allows for 32 bits of data to be returned 
with 1 register request. The 7231 HT will work with 
either type of Modbus master. Again, the format type is 
controlled by the register number requested. 
Switch 
position
 Baud (in bps)
0  Sets 7231 HT as a Modbus master
1  600
2 1200
3 2400
4 4800
5  9600
6 14400
 *7 19200
8 38400
9 57600
2.4 - Baud Rate
The baud rate for a Modbus slave confi guration is 
determined by the Baud rate switch, summarized in the 
following table:
Basic
Addressing Confi gurable address from 1 to 247
Broadcast Yes
Baud Rate 600 to 57,600 bps
Mode RTU/ASC II
Parity Even, None
Stop Bits 1 if Even Parity, 2 if No Parity, 
Electrical Interface RS-485 2W-Cabling
Connector Type 3 Wire Terminal 
Implementation Class
The 7231 uses the Basic Implementation Class of the 
Modbus protocol. The table below shows confi gurations 
capabilities of the basic implementation class.
* Default Setting










