node-modbus-stack

A StreamStack implementation of the MODBUS protocol for Node.

This module exposes two concrete StreamStack implementations: ModbusRequestStack can be used as a MODBUS client (i.e. Master), and can write MODBUS compliant requests and listen for the response. ModbusResponseStack can be used to create a MODBUS server (i.e. Slave), by listening for requests and providing a convenient API to respond with.

MODBUS is an open building automation protocol that is widely used in various monitoring and controlling equipment. It's used with a variety of different transports, including TCP.

Currently only communication through the TCP protocol is supported, however RS-485 serial support should be possible with node-serialport. I haven't had a chance to look into it yet.

A MODBUS Master (Client)

You will need to know which Function Code (defined in the MODBUS specification) you are invoking on the remote MODBUS slave. In this example, we'll request to read from the current values of the first 50 Input Registers on the slave:

// 'RIR' contains the "Function Code" that we are going to invoke on the remote device
var RIR = require('modbus-stack').FUNCTION_CODES.READ_INPUT_REGISTERS;

// IP and port of the MODBUS slave, default port is 502
var client = require('modbus-stack/client').createClient(502, '10.0.1.50');

// 'req' is an instance of the low-level `ModbusRequestStack` class
var req = client.request(RIR, // Function Code: 4
                         0,    // Start at address 0
                         50);  // Read 50 contiguous registers from 0

// 'response' is emitted after the entire contents of the response has been received.
req.on('response', function(registers) {
  // An Array of length 50 filled with Numbers of the current registers.
  console.log(registers);
  client.end();
});

A MODBUS Slave (Server)

node-modbus-stack makes it dead simple to create a compliant MODBUS Slave (or Server) written in pure JavaScript. Here's an example of a server that would respond to the request above:

var FC = require('modbus-stack').FUNCTION_CODES;

// 'handlers' is an Object with keys containing the "Function Codes" that your MODBUS
// server will handle. Anything function code requested without a handler defined here
// will have the Server transparently respond with Exception Code 1 ("Illegal Function")
var handlers = {};

// Define a handler for "Read Input Registers". We'll just respond with the register
// number requested. In a real-world situation, you'd probably look up these values from
// a database, etc.
handlers[FC.READ_INPUT_REGISTERS] = function(request, response) {
  var start = request.startAddress;
  var length = request.quantity;
  
  var resp = new Array(length);
  for (var i=0; i<length; i++) {
    resp[i] = start + i;
  }
  response.writeResponse(resp);
}

require('modbus-stack/server').createServer(handlers).listen(502);

A "catch-all" function can be passed to createServer() instead of a "handlers" object, if you'd rather have a single callback invoked for all MODBUS requests. Just be sure to call writeException() manually for any "Function Codes" your server isn't going to handle.