Hi everyone,
I would like to survey a cheaper solution in order to configure smart instruments using HART protocol. HART 275 Communicator is good for this
purpose but too expensive, US$2500+. I have checked out
http://www.hartcomm.org, http://www.thehartbook.com and
http://www.romilly.co.uk, but I did not get any available solutions. I prefer the solution with "PDA + HART modem + software" or "Laptop + HART modem + software". The software should configure HART instruments from at least Rosemount, ABB, Yokogawa. The total price of HART modem & software should not exceed US$1200. I am appreciated with any helps. Thanks.

Hung Lam

 

Hi everyone,
I would like to survey a cheaper solution in order to configure smart instruments using HART protocol. HART 275 Communicator is good for this
purpose but too expensive, US$2500+. I have checked out
http://www.hartcomm.org, http://www.thehartbook.com and
http://www.romilly.co.uk, but I did not get any available solutions. I prefer the solution with "PDA + HART modem + software" or "Laptop + HART modem + software". The software should configure HART instruments from at least Rosemount, ABB, Yokogawa. The total price of HART modem & software should not exceed US$1200. I am appreciated with any helps. Thanks.

Hung Lam

This is a good question

 

Two software and HART modem packages that I'm aware of.

1. Siemens PDM software
A single device license sells in the US for about $100. Siemens sells the private labeled Mactek USB/HART modem.
The PDM package gets updated periodically to include the entire, industry wide. HART DD set.

There is some means of transferring the license (using a USB stick?) from PC to PC if the PC is functional. If you lose the license due to a computer crash, there is no recovery from Siemens, you have to buy another license.

I find the connection process obtuse in the extreme, creating a project and connecting to a device is a 50 click exercise and a number of non-intuitive right click > select from a drop down menu. PDM is designed for a technician who uses it often enough to stay familiar with it. Changes in PDM versions have actually made it more difficult to use over time, which fits with its Teutonic origins.

Printing out a setup is a chore.

I have never discovered a way to import a DD file into PDM. The update files are those Siemens publishes for its own devices.

2. Pactware
Pactware is freeware from vendors like Krohne or Vega. Pactware uses HART as the comm protocol, but the drivers for Pactware are NOT HART DD files, they are Pactware DTM files. That means that an instrument vendor might well produce a DD file, but not a DTM file. DD files do NOT work with Pactware. So it's up to the user to check the availability of HART DTM files for Pactware. Pactware uses any of the USB/HART modems.

The HART driver needs to be downloaded from some German company, for which registration is required. It goes through major version upgrades like HART does.

The connection routine seems a little smoother than PDM.

It is my impression that Pactware, having European roots, is an attempt to bypass the former HART Foundation (now the FieldComm Group) which being dominated by Emerson Rosemount was perceived as 'slow' to give its stamp of approval for new DD's to its competitors.

There is no working documentation for using Pactware, you're on your own.


3. HART modems.
Caveat Emptor.
Older HART modems are not likely to work well, if at all.

The older Mactek serial RS-232 HART modem does not reliably work with USB/RS-232 converters. It needs a hard serial port.
The Mactek USB/HART modems with a serial number lower than or prior to 314387 will not work in Windows 10. Be warned.

I've had minor copper corrosion on the inside of the probe clip on a HART modem that causes it to work intermittently. I wish they'd nickel plate the probe tips.

HART modems require the same physical conditions as a HART handheld - minimum 230 ohms in the loop, good filtering on a switching loop power supply.