Handling relais measurements with Modbus

I recently had to measure the number of products passing a light emitting sensor. I got this Photo Electric switch E3JK-DS30M1 which has a relais to indicate if something is reflecting the infrared light it emits or not.

The schema is pretty simple:

You just attach 24V DC to the BLUE (-) and BROWN (+) wires. Then the sensor device behaves like a relais where the WHITE and BLACK wires resemble the ‘normally open’ state. The WHITE and GREY wires are used for the ‘normally closed’ state.

I tested the relais with my multimeter (set to Ohm). The relais was truly indicating objects passing by the beam of the photo electric switch.

The measuring distance can differ. My device has a range from 5 to 40 centimeters (it is adjustable with a potentiometer). But white and shiny objects reflect the beam better than dark objects. And do not hold the sensor directly into the sun, you get a lot of false readings!

I used an Advantech Wise 4012E IO module to measure the state of the relais. Let’s check out the settings.

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