Siemens’ Diagnostic Repeater aids Profibus troubleshooting

Alpharetta, GA—Siemens Energy & Automation introduced Feb. 25 its Simatic Diagnostic Repeater, which it reports is the only device capable of delivering online diagnostic information about RS485 Profibus cable during operation.

By Control Engineering Staff February 28, 2003

Alpharetta, GA— Siemens Energy & Automation integrate system diagnostics in new or existing networks, installations and components.

The company adds that Diagnostic Repeater is more than a pure RS485 repeater. It also detects physical problems during operation by measuring the time it takes for a signal to travel through the network and then evaluating the data.

Diagnostic Repeater also monitors and detects wire breaks, short circuits and missing terminations between sections of RS485 Profibus cable segments, and instantly reports this information to the DP master, which forwards the data, including the cause of a fault and location, to all connected HMI devices. The information can be displayed in clear text, eliminating the need for hex code interpretation. A graphic display depicting the fault and fault location is available with Step 7 or COM Profibus. In addition, diagnostic and statistical data may be saved with Siemens Step 7 V5.2 software.

Diagnostic Repeater can be snapped onto a standard DIN rail or Siemens S7-300 mounting rail. Siemens’ Fast Connect terminals connect sections of Profibus in seconds.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskJim Montague, news editor jmontague@reedbusiness.com