When laying new cables is not an option, wireless technology saves the day

How do you modernize an existing energy monitoring system when you need to install 146 meters of Modbus cable in a building with limited space and existing tenants?

SmartNode, a Hungarian building automation expert, was part of a project to update an existing energy monitoring system in a warehouse in a logistics park in Fót, Hungary. The newly-built, 46,000m2 warehouse was already finished when the owner decided to divide the space into several smaller areas. New control cabinets needed to be installed to monitor the energy consumption of the new tenant’s technological equipment.

The new control cabinets and energy meters were located up to 146 meters from the power distribution cabinet with the Building Management System (BMS). Since the project was already finished and the tenants were already occupying the space, SmartNode’s customer, FISS Automatika Kft, was curious to test the functionality of LumenRadio’s wireless Modbus product.

Wireless Modbus solution eliminates the need for cables

A W-Modbus unit from LumenRadio was installed in the new control cabinets, powered by the same 24V DC power supply as the I/O modules.

In the power distribution cabinet, a W-Modbus was connected to the energy meter and the energy meter was integrated into the BMS system, based on Niagara. With W-Modbus, the cabling problem was solved and a stable, seamless data connection was established between the BMS system and the meters.

Róbert Hadházi – Head of BMS Department at FISS Automatika Kft was extremely satisfied with the result.

“The connection between the two devices and the establishment of the communication was very fast and trouble-free thanks to the wireless mesh technology. I’m impressed by the amount of time and money we saved on this project – and without disturbing the existing tenants.”