Connect with the Moduline.

If the minimal connection requirements are meet, the controller can be started. If the controller is started, a physical connection can be established in a number ways which are described here.

After making a physical connection with the controller, the user can login to the controller using Node-RED or the Linux command line interface (CLI). For low-level configurations, the CLI is used most of the time. For common configurations, GOcontroll made a settings node for Node-RED in which basic settings are covered.

It is important that at least connector C is connected to a power supply (ground, K30 (battery) and a K15 (activate pin)).

Setup the physical connection.

If the controller is activated, it’s time to make a physical connection using a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, wired Ethernet or USB/serial.

Connect via Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module

Necessary equipment:

  • A controller equipped with a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module
  • An existing wireless network/hotspot or a Laptop/PC capable of connecting to a Wi-Fi network

When the controller is accessed via Wi-Fi, There are two options:

  1. Via the controllers access point:

A controller equipped with a Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module will set up an access point by default, this can be disabled when it is desired.
The credentials are by default:
SSID:
GOcontroll-AP
PASS:
Moduline

Once connected to the network, continue to the Login using the command line interface (CLI) page.

  1. Via an existing Wi-Fi network or hotspot

Connect to the controller with the GOcontroll configuration app, browse to the communication settings menu and then the WLAN/Wi-Fi menu.
Set the controller to Wi-Fi Receiver Mode, the page should refresh and it will show available networks in the area. If it does not yet show new networks after this refresh you can manually refresh the list of network with the refresh button at the top of the screen.
Now connect with the desired network, and it will show the IP address that the device has been assigned, again this might need another refresh as it is possible that the controller has not received an IP address yet.
Now if your Laptop/PC is connected to the same network you can use this IP address to connect as described on the Login using the command line interface (CLI) page.

Connect via wired network

Necessary equipment:

  • An M12-to-RJ45 Ethernet cable
  • Either a router, a Laptop/PC with a DHCP server or if the controller is equipped with Bluetooth the ethernet interface can be configured with a static ip address via the GOcontroll Android app
  • A Laptop/PC with an SSH tool, for example: PuTTY or the CMD SSH tool

With a Router:

Connect the controller to an existing network that your Computer is also connected to. Use either the GOcontroll app if the controller has a Bluetooth interface or the router’s web interface to find the IP address that the controller was assigned.
It can also be done using a tool like angry IP scanner on Windows or arp-scan on Linux

After the IP has been found, continue to the Login using the command line interface (CLI) page.

With a personal DHCP server:

Connect the controller directly to your Laptop/PC using the ethernet cable. Use a tool like angry IP scanner on Windows or arp-scan on Linux to find the IP of the controller.

After the IP has been found, continue to the Login using the command line interface (CLI) page.

With a static IP address:

When the orange Bluetooth indicator led is turned on, connect to the controller with the GOcontroll configuration app, browse to the communication settings menu and then to the ethernet settings. Switch the controller to static IP mode and enter a desired IP address, save the changes at the top of the screen. Now connect the controller to a Laptop/PC with the ethernet cable and continue to the Login using the command line interface (CLI) page, with the IP address that was configured with the app.

Connect via USB/serial

Necessary equipment:

  • Either an M12-to-USB cable if the controller is configured with the USB interface or an M12-to-SUBD9 cable with an RS232-to-USB converter if the controller is configured with the RS232 interface.
  • A Laptop/PC with some kind of serial interface program like PuTTY

USB:

When a USB cable is attached between the M12 USB connector and a pc it will show up as a serial device.
On Windows it should show up in device manager as a COM# port, this COM# port can then be used with a program like PuTTY to get a Linux shell over USB. The baudrate can be set to 115200.
On a Linux host machine a program like screen can be used, the controller will be mounted in the /dev/serial folder. The command to connect could be something like this:

sudo screen /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Linux_5.10.72+g80c3c020decd_with_dwc3-gadget_Gadget_Serial_v2.4-if00

The device will most likely have a slightly different version number so don’t copy this command 1 for 1. instead type sudo screen /dev/serial and then press tab to autocomplete the command

Serial:

The USB connector can also be setup to serve as an RS232 interface, in this case a seperate RS232 to USB connector is needed to communicate with the controller. The rest is the same, RS232 to USB converter will show up as a COM# port on windows and a /dev/serial device on Linux. However, the baudrate is now essential and should be set to 115200. For Windows this doesn’t change this instructions, but for Linux a slight change has to be made to the command it should have 115200 at the end, for example:

/dev/serial/by-id/usb-Prolific_Technology_Inc._USB-Serial_Controller-if00-port0 115200

Your RS232 -to-USB converter will most likely have a different name so use the same autocomplete trick.

When connecting with either these connections it might be necessary to press enter once or twice to get the login prompt to show up.

Continue to the Login using the command line interface (CLI) page.