OutBack Power Network without a Router

Application Note

For Advanced Users & Developers

OutBack’s Software Engineering team released Outback Modbus Interface Device Client Software in

2012, a development package designed to interface with your AXS Port. This package will not be

updated or maintained by OutBack Power Technologies and may not operate correctly on future models.

As the commands enabled in this shell program enable the user to execute system changes, we

highly advise only advanced users with extensive programming experience attempt to utilize this

software. Other Modbus client software packages are commercially available through other developers.

The software is available on www.outbackpower.com. To run the software, a C compiler must be

installed on your machine. On Windows, if a C compiler is not present, download and install MinGW.

Follow all installation instructions on www.mingw.org/wiki/Getting_Started. You will need to verify your

environment settings as noted in the document in order to run the compiler on the command line.

Unzip the Modbus Development Package file from OutBack Power. Locate the package and READ ME

file for your operating system. The READ ME includes instructions on how to run the program.

To verify connectivity with the Modbus Interface Device Client Software:

 In the command prompt, navigate to the “src” folder and compile the files using the following

command: gcc OutBackShell.c outback.c modbus.c modbus-tcp.c modbus-data.c –o shell

 Run the program: ./shell

 Establish a connection: c

 Enter the IP address: 192.168.0.64

 The program will reply that it has successfully connected to the specified address or that the

connection has failed. If failure occurs, recheck your network configuration settings and ensure

they match the previous diagram.

Figure 3: Connection Success

Figure 4: Connection Failure