Panasonic FP Integration Guide

Talk directly to Panasonic FP-series PLCs with MaestroHub's Panasonic connector. It speaks MEWTOCOL-COM, the ASCII command protocol every FP PLC answers, and MEWTOCOL7, the FP7's own format that reaches its whole memory. Both run over TCP, through the FP7 and FP0H built-in LAN ports, the FP-X AFPX-COM5 cassette or an FP2 ET-LAN unit. This guide covers connection setup, device addressing, the data types, authoring read and write functions, the tag map, and the matching pipeline nodes.

Overview

The Panasonic connector provides:

• Contacts: read X, Y, R, L, T and C; write Y, R and L
• Registers: read and write DT, LD, FL, the contact words WX, WY, WR, WL, and timer/counter set and elapsed values SV, EV
• The FP7's whole memory over MEWTOCOL7: DT up to 999423, R up to 2047F, the 32-bit timer, counter and index values (TS, TE, CS, CE, I0–IE), the system areas SR, WS, SD, pulse and error alarm relays (P, E), program-block local devices (PB1:_DT10) and unit devices by slot (S1:WI0, S2:UM00081)
• Typed values: BIT, WORD, INT, DWORD, DINT, REAL, LREAL or STRING (UTF-8, Shift-JIS or Windows-1251), and a bit inside a register as BIT
• Block reads: many named points in the fewest requests, split to the frame limit
• Safe bit writes: a contact is set or reset on its own, never by rewriting its word
• FP2 ET-LAN framing for FP2 ET-LAN units and connections set to "Connect with FP2 ET-LAN"
• Symbolic tag mapping: friendly names for device addresses, importable from CSV or JSON

Supported PLCs

FP7 and FP0H through their built-in LAN port, FP-X and FP-XH through the AFPX-COM5 Ethernet cassette, and FP2/FP2SH through an FP2 ET-LAN unit. Any FP PLC reachable over a MEWTOCOL-COM TCP connection works.

TCP only. UDP, the < extended header and multi-frame messages, RUN/PROGRAM mode changes, monitor registration and system register writes are not supported.

MEWTOCOL7 is checked against the legacy driver, not a published specification

Panasonic publishes MEWTOCOL7's frame (header, station, frame number, CRC) but not the fields of its read and write commands. MaestroHub sends them exactly as the legacy FP7 driver does, which has run against FP7 PLCs in the field. Try MEWTOCOL7 on your FP7 before relying on it, and use MEWTOCOL-COM when your addresses are within its range.

Connection Configuration

Creating a Panasonic Connection

Navigate to Connections → New Connection → Panasonic FP and fill in the form. It has five tabs: Connection, Tag Map, Functions, Scaling and Health. Functions, Scaling and Health unlock after the connection is saved.

1. Profile Information

Field	Default	Description
Profile Name	—	A descriptive name for this connection profile (required, max 100 characters). Must be unique across all connections.
Description	—	Optional description for this connection
Labels	—	Key-value pairs to categorize and organize the connection (max 10 labels)

2. MEWTOCOL Settings

Field	Default	Description
Address	—	PLC host name or IP address (required)
Port	9094	TCP port of the PLC's MEWTOCOL connection. 9094 is the FP-X AFPX-COM5 cassette's default. FP7 and FP0H serve MEWTOCOL-COM on their system connection at 32769, and MEWTOCOL7 on a user connection whose port you set in FPWIN GR7.
Protocol	mewtocol-com	mewtocol-com works with every FP PLC but addresses only DT0–DT99999 and R0–R999F. mewtocol7 is FP7 only: it reaches the FP7's whole memory and its 32-bit timer and counter values, on a user connection whose communication mode is MEWTOCOL7-COM.
Framing	plain	plain when the PLC connection's MEWTOCOL communication type is "Not connect with FP2 ET-LAN", the default. fp2-etlan puts the 12-byte FP2 ET-LAN header in front of every frame: for an FP2 ET-LAN unit, or a connection set to "Connect with FP2 ET-LAN".
Station	EE	The PLC's station number, 1 to 99. EE, the default, is answered by the PLC on the other end of the connection whatever its number. Set a number only when a gateway forwards to several PLCs.
Connection Timeout	5s	Maximum time to open the TCP connection and read the PLC's status
String Encoding	utf-8	How STRING values are stored in the PLC: utf-8, shift-jis (Japanese) or windows-1251 (Cyrillic)

Each function has its own Timeout (default 30m) that bounds one request. The connector sends each request once: if the PLC does not answer in time, the connection is closed and reopened rather than reused, because MEWTOCOL replies carry no request number and a late reply could otherwise answer the next request.

FP7 and FP0H close a system connection that carries no traffic for 60 seconds. MaestroHub reads the PLC's status on a connection that has been idle for 30 seconds, so a pipeline that polls less often finds its connection open.

3. Tag Map

The Tag Map tab attaches an optional symbolic tag list; see Symbolic Tag Map. Every operation can always use a raw device address.

Testing the Connection

Click Test Connection at the bottom of the form. The probe opens the connection and makes one round trip: it reads the PLC's status (RT) over MEWTOCOL-COM, or DT0 over MEWTOCOL7, then reports the latency. A wrong port, station, protocol or framing fails here: a PLC ignores a frame that is not for it, so the probe times out and the error says what to check.

Device Addressing

A device address is an area followed by a number, e.g. DT100, R10F, WR3.

• Contacts X, Y, R, L are a word number followed by one hexadecimal bit digit 0–F: R10F is word 10, bit 15, and the bit after it is R110. X5 is word 0, bit 5. Leading zeros are fine (R0010F).
• Timer and counter contacts T, C are numbered in decimal: T5, C12.
• Registers are decimal: DT100, LD5, FL0, WR3, SV5, EV5.
• A bit inside a register is the register, a dot, and one hexadecimal digit: DT100.F. It is read as BIT. A bit of a contact word is the contact itself: WR10.F is R10F.
• Contact words WX, WY, WR, WL hold 16 contacts each, lowest in bit 0: WR10 is R100–R10F.

Supported Devices

Area	Device	Read as	Writable	MEWTOCOL-COM range
X	External input	BIT	No	X0–X999F
Y	External output	BIT	Yes	Y0–Y999F
R	Internal relay	BIT	Yes	R0–R999F
L	Link relay	BIT	Yes	L0–L999F
T	Timer contact	BIT	No	T0–T9999
C	Counter contact	BIT	No	C0–C9999
WX	Input word	word types	No	WX0–WX9999
WY	Output word	word types	Yes	WY0–WY9999
WR	Internal relay word	word types	Yes	WR0–WR9999
WL	Link relay word	word types	Yes	WL0–WL9999
DT	Data register	word types	Yes	DT0–DT99999
LD	Link register	word types	Yes	LD0–LD99999
FL	File register	word types	Yes	FL0–FL99999
SV	Timer/counter set value	word types	Yes	SV0–SV9999
EV	Timer/counter elapsed value	word types	Yes	EV0–EV9999

These are the limits of MEWTOCOL-COM's address fields; your PLC's own ranges are usually smaller, and an address it does not have fails with error 61 (data error). The FP7's MEWTOCOL-COM has no SV/EV commands: use MEWTOCOL7's TS/TE/CS/CE.

MEWTOCOL7 (FP7)

With Protocol set to mewtocol7, the areas and ranges are the FP7's (FP7 programming manual, WUME-FP7CPUPGR, 2.3):

Area	Device	Read as	Writable	Range
X, Y, R, L	Contacts	BIT	Yes	X/Y to 511F, R to 2047F, L to 1023F
SR	System relay	BIT	Yes, where the PLC allows it	SR0–SR999F
P	Pulse relay	BIT, 16 points per request	No	P0–P255F
T, C	Timer and counter contacts	BIT, one per request	No	T0–T4095, C0–C1023
E	Error alarm relay	BIT, one per request	No	E0–E4095
WX, WY, WR, WL, WS	Contact words	word types	Yes	as their contacts
DT, LD	Data and link registers	word types; a bit as DT100.F	Yes	DT0–DT999423, LD0–LD16383
SD	System data register	word types	Where the PLC allows it	SD0 up
TS, TE	Timer set / elapsed value (32-bit)	DWORD, DINT	Yes	0–4095
CS, CE	Counter set / elapsed value (32-bit)	DWORD, DINT	Yes	0–1023
I0–IE	Index register (32-bit)	DWORD, DINT	Yes	I0–IE (hex)

Local devices. A program block has its own copy of X, Y, R, L, P, T, C, the contact words, DT, LD and the timer/counter values. Name the block, then the device with its underscore, as the LCRD/LCWT instructions do: PB1:_DT10 is _DT10 of program block 1, which is not DT10.

Unit devices. Direct input and output and unit memory belong to a unit and are addressed with its slot: S1:IN0F and S1:WI0 (direct input), S1:OT3 and S1:WO5 (direct output), S2:UM00081 (unit memory, a hexadecimal address 0–7FFFF; a bit is S2:UM00081.3).

FL, SV and EV do not exist on the FP7. A bit inside DT, LD or UM is written with one command, so nothing else in the register is touched.

Supported Data Types

Data Type	Registers	Value	Example
BIT	—	boolean	true
WORD	1	unsigned 16-bit (0–65,535)	1234
INT	1	signed 16-bit (−32,768 to 32,767)	-100
DWORD	2	unsigned 32-bit	70000
DINT	2	signed 32-bit	-70000
REAL	2	32-bit float	72.5
LREAL	4	64-bit float	3.141592653589793
STRING	1 + ⌈length / 2⌉	text	LOT-42

Multi-register values are stored low register first: a DINT at DT0 is DT0 (low 16 bits) and DT1 (high 16 bits), as the FP instructions store them. On MEWTOCOL7's TS, TE, CS and CE each number already holds one 32-bit value.

A STRING is laid out as the SSET instruction stores it: the character count in the first register, then the characters two per register, the first in the low byte. "ABC" at DT0 is DT0 = 3, DT1 = 4241H, DT2 = 0043H. Its String Length is the capacity in bytes: one per ASCII character, two per Shift-JIS Japanese character. A read returns at most the count the first register holds. Text longer than the length is refused, not cut.

Symbolic Tag Map

The tag map lets functions use a friendly name (Filler.Count) instead of an address (DT100). Each tag maps a name to a device, a data type and, for strings, a length:

Field	Required	Description
name	Yes	Tag name, unique within the connection
device	Yes	Device address, e.g. DT100 or R10F
dataType	Yes	BIT, WORD, INT, DWORD, DINT, REAL, LREAL or STRING
length	No	String length in bytes, for STRING tags

Saving refuses a duplicate name, an address the connection's protocol cannot reach (DT500000 on MEWTOCOL-COM), or a data type the device cannot hold (DT100 as BIT).

Importing tags (CSV or JSON)

Paste tags into the Import box and click Import Tags.

name,device,dataType,length
Filler.Count,DT100,DINT
Filler.Alarm,R10F,BIT
Filler.Lot,DT300,STRING,10

[
  { "name": "Filler.Count", "device": "DT100", "dataType": "DINT" },
  { "name": "Filler.Alarm", "device": "R10F", "dataType": "BIT" }
]

Function Builder

Creating Panasonic Functions

After the connection is saved:

1. Open the connection and go to the Functions tab
2. Click New Function and choose Read Device, Read Block (Multi) or Write Device
3. Fill the Basic fields (name, description, labels) and the Configuration fields
4. Use Test Function to run it against the live PLC before saving

Read Device (panasonic.read.device)

Read one typed value from a device or tag, or Count consecutive values as a list.

Field	Required	Default	Description
Device / Tag	Yes	—	A device address (DT100, R10F, T5, DT100.F) or a tag name
Data Type	No	WORD	How to interpret the value
Count	No	1	Consecutive values to read (1–1000). More than 1 returns a list. Ignored for STRING.
String Length	No	1	Bytes, for STRING
Timeout	No	30m	Bound on this operation

A read larger than one frame carries (27 registers on MEWTOCOL-COM, 256 on MEWTOCOL7) is split into several requests. A BIT with a Count reads consecutive contacts: R10F with Count 3 is R10F, R110, R111. MEWTOCOL7 reads one timer or counter contact per request, so T and C there take Count 1.

Read Block (Multi) (panasonic.read.block)

Read many named points. Each point has a name (the key in the result; names must be unique), a device (address or tag), a data type, and for strings a length. Neighbouring addresses of the same area share one request; contacts share their word's request. If any point is invalid, nothing is sent.

Write Device (panasonic.write.device)

Write one typed value, or a JSON list such as [1, 2, 3] to consecutive registers in one request.

Field	Required	Default	Description
Device / Tag	Yes	—	A writable device address or a tag name
Data Type	No	WORD	How to encode the value
Value	Yes	—	The value, or a JSON list. Supports ((paramName)) templates.
String Length	No	1	Bytes, for STRING
Timeout	No	30m	Bound on this operation

• A contact (Y, R, L) is set or reset on its own, with one command. Write one bit at a time; to write 16 contacts at once, write their word (WR10) as WORD.
• A bit inside a register (DT100.F) is written with one command over MEWTOCOL7. MEWTOCOL-COM has no command for it, so MaestroHub reads the register, changes the one bit and writes the register back, with none of its own requests in between, and skips the write when the bit already has the value. A change the PLC program makes to the register's other bits between the read and the write can still be overwritten, so keep bits the PLC writes in a different register, or use an R contact for control bits.
• The whole value is checked before anything is sent. A value the type cannot hold, a non-whole number for an integer type, text longer than the string length, or a read-only device (T, C, E and P contacts; X and WX on MEWTOCOL-COM) is refused.
• A write that would need more than one frame (over 24 registers on MEWTOCOL-COM, 256 on MEWTOCOL7) is refused, so a list is never half written.
• A write is sent once. If the PLC does not answer in time, the result says so; MaestroHub does not repeat the write, because the PLC may already have applied it.

Using Parameters

The Value field supports ((parameterName)) placeholders; they appear in the Function Parameters block, where you set each one's type, whether it is required, and a default. For example, Device DT200, Data Type REAL, Value ((setpoint)) writes the node's setpoint parameter to DT200.

Testing Functions

Click Test Function on the function form, enter values for any ((parameters)), and click Execute Test. The dialog shows the decoded value or the PLC's error reply. You do not need to save the function first. Testing a Write Device function writes to the PLC.

Pipeline Integration

Each operation has its own node: FP Read (connected.panasonic.read.device), FP Block Read (connected.panasonic.read.block) and FP Write (connected.panasonic.write.device), plus the FP Read Group (connected.panasonic.readgroup) for several reads in one node. To poll a PLC, drive the reads from a Schedule trigger.

See Panasonic FP Nodes for the node reference.

Common Use Cases

Line monitoring to a historian or the UNS

A Read Block of the line's counts, speeds and alarm relays on a Schedule trigger, routed to the Unified Namespace or a historian.

Setpoints and recipes

Parameterized Write Device functions (Value: ((setpoint))) fed from an MES or an operator form, with a Condition node checking the range first.

Machine control relays

Set or reset R relays to acknowledge alarms or start sequences. Only the addressed contact changes.

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

Symptom	Possible cause	Solution
Test Connection times out and says to check the port, station and framing	Nothing answers MEWTOCOL on that port: a wrong port, a station number the PLC does not have, the wrong protocol, or the wrong framing	Check the port in FPWIN GR7's connection settings; leave Station at EE; use mewtocol7 only on a connection set to MEWTOCOL7-COM; set Framing to match the connection's MEWTOCOL communication type.
Connection refused	No server connection on that port, or all of them in use	An FP-X COM5 cassette serves three connections and an FP0H one system connection: close other tools' connections, or configure a user connection.
Connections drop after a minute	The PLC's idle cut on a system connection	MaestroHub keeps an idle connection alive; if drops continue, check that nothing between MaestroHub and the PLC closes idle TCP connections sooner.

Read / Write Issues

Symptom	Possible cause	Solution
error 61: data error	The address does not exist on this PLC, or the read runs past the end of the area	Check the area's range for your model.
error 60: parameter error	The area does not exist on this PLC	Use an area your PLC has.
error 42: command not supported	The PLC does not support that command, e.g. SV/EV on an FP7 over MEWTOCOL-COM	Use MEWTOCOL7's TS/TE/CS/CE on an FP7.
error 63: mode error	The PLC's mode does not allow the command	Check the PLC's RUN/PROG and remote settings. The failure is transient, so a retry succeeds once the mode allows it.
error 65: protect error	The memory is write-protected	Remove the protection in FPWIN, or write another area.
DT0 is a register: use WORD …	BIT chosen on a register	Read a register as a word type, or one bit of it as DT0.F.
"DT500000": MEWTOCOL-COM addresses DT 0 to 99999	An FP7 address beyond MEWTOCOL-COM's fields	Use Protocol mewtocol7 on an FP7.
An R address reads the wrong contact	The last digit is a hexadecimal bit	R10F is word 10, bit 15; R16 is word 1, bit 6.
A STRING reads only one character	String Length left at 1	Set the capacity in bytes on both the write and the read.
Japanese or Cyrillic text reads as garbage	Wrong String Encoding	Set the connection's String Encoding to shift-jis or windows-1251.