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W. Sussex, UK. RH20 2RY

Product:

MXR Series

Title:
Serial Communications Protocol

Document Number:

81318-21
Issue:

1
Date:
15/November/2021

© 2021 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation

Page 2 of 6

Change History
ISSUE DATE NAME SECTION CHANGE
1 Nov 21 JS All Created from 47811-21 issue C
3 Multiple outputs option removed
3.1 Ramp rate and polarity set command removed (not present in firmware)
3.1 Internal fault request (FT?) - list of responses corrected

Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................3
2. General message format ...........................................................................................................................3
2.1 Message Structure ............................................................................................................................3
2.2 Checksum Calculation ......................................................................................................................4
3. Command Protocol ....................................................................................................................................5
3.1 Command set ...................................................................................................................................5
3.2 Command Examples ........................................................................................................................6

MXR Series – Serial communication protocol Document Number: 81318-21 Issue: 1

Spellman High Voltage Electronics Limited | +44 (0)1798 877000 | [email protected] | Broomers Park, Pulborough, W. Sussex, UK. RH20 2RY

TEMPLATE: 40776 ISS B | ECN I-10887 | DATE: 05/11/2021 QA/ENG/SAL © 2021 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation
Page 3 of 6

1. Introduction
The Series protocol is based on the general protocol used with Spellman HV Electronic Ltd power
supplies which is described in this document. At the hardware level the protocol runs over an RS232
two wire interface. A provision to include an address character has been included such this protocol can
be used on a multi device RS485 system. On an RS232 system the address character will always be 0.

2. General message format

The basic RS232 message parameters are as follows:

Data Rate 19200

Parity None
Stop Bits 1

All data is encoded into ASCII format.

2.1 Message Structure

The first character of any message is an STX character followed by the characters that make up the
data in the message, which usually comprises a command and command argument, the exact format
of this depends on the type of command but generally the command is three characters followed by a
six character argument. The command itself comprises a two character identified followed by a single
character operator. The next character is a checksum followed by a line feed to indicate the end of the
message.

The general message format for communication in both directions is shown below :-

<STX><ADDR>< DATA><CSUM><LF>

Where:
<STX> = 1 ASCII 0x02 Start of Text character.
<ADDR> = 1 ASCII address character for RS485 bus usage (always 0 in RS232 operation for both
directions of communication).
<DATA> = Command Argument, up to 7 ASCII characters.
<CSUM> = Checksum (see below for details)
<LF> = 1 ASCII 0x0A Line Feed character

MXR Series – Serial communication protocol Document Number: 81318-21 Issue: 1

Spellman High Voltage Electronics Limited | +44 (0)1798 877000 | [email protected] | Broomers Park, Pulborough, W. Sussex, UK. RH20 2RY

TEMPLATE: 40776 ISS B | ECN I-10887 | DATE: 05/11/2021 QA/ENG/SAL © 2021 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation
Page 4 of 6

2.2 Checksum Calculation

The checksum is calculated as follows:

• Add the <DATA> and <ADDR> bytes into a 16 bit (or larger) word. The bytes are added as
unsigned integers.
• Take the 2’s compliment (negate it).
• Truncate the result down to the eight least significant bits.
• Clear the most significant bit (bit 7) of the resultant byte, (bitwise AND with 0x7F).
• Set the next most significant bit (bit 6) of the resultant byte (bitwise OR with 0x40).
Using this method, the checksum is always a number between 0x40 and 0x7F. The checksum can
never be confused with the <STX> or <LF>, since these have non-overlapping ASCII values.

Below is an example of how to generate the checksum in Visual Basic

Dim ADDR As Char = "0" ' Address is '0' for RS232

Dim comms_message As String = STX + ADDR + “VA=3000.0” 'Set voltage demand to 3kV
Dim CRC As Int16 = CheckSum(comms_message, Len(comms_message))'CRC = 0x5B in this example
comms_message += Chr(CRC) + vbLf
'we need to send as byte array, not a string as VB only sends signed chars due to ascii
encoding. This is required to correctly send the CRC byte.
Dim encoding As New System.Text.UTF8Encoding()
Dim tx_bytes(50) As Byte = encoding.GetBytes(comms_message)
SerialPort1.Write(tx_bytes, 0, tx_bytes.Length + 1)

Public Function CheckSum(ByVal message As String, ByVal length As Int16) As Int16

Dim I As Integer
CheckSum = 0
If Len(message) <= 0 Then Exit Function ' No arguments passed.
message = Microsoft.VisualBasic.Mid(message, 2, length)

For I = 1 To Len(message)
CheckSum += Asc(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Mid(message, I, 1))
Next I
CheckSum = &H100 - CheckSum
CheckSum = CheckSum And &H7F
CheckSum = CheckSum Or &H40
End Function

MXR Series – Serial communication protocol Document Number: 81318-21 Issue: 1

Spellman High Voltage Electronics Limited | +44 (0)1798 877000 | [email protected] | Broomers Park, Pulborough, W. Sussex, UK. RH20 2RY

TEMPLATE: 40776 ISS B | ECN I-10887 | DATE: 05/11/2021 QA/ENG/SAL © 2021 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation
Page 5 of 6

3. Command Protocol

3.1 Command set

Command Description Typical Response Remarks

VA=xxxxx.x Set Channel A output VA=xxxxx.x Where xxxxx.x is a voltage from 0
voltage to the maximum voltage of the unit.
VA? Request present value of VA=xxxxx.x
Channel A set voltage
UA? Request Channel A UA=xxxxx.x 0V to the maximum voltage of the
Voltage Monitor unit.
IA? Request Channel A IA=xxxxx.x 0µA to the maximum current of the
Current Monitor unit.
SM? Request Supply rail SM=xxxx.xx Where xxxx.xx is the rail voltage
Monitor
TM? Request Temperature TM=xxxx.xx Where xxxx.xx is the temperature in
Monitor degrees C.
EA0 Disable Channel A output EA0
EA1 Enable Channel A output EA1
EA? Request Channel A EA=x Where x is 0 for disabled or 1 for
output state. enabled.
PA? Request Channel A PA=x Where x is 0 for positive and 1 for
polarity negative polarity.
SW? Request software version V1.00R0
number and unit type MX30PN24/736
ID? Read the units address ID=x Address is 0 in RS232 operation
ID=X Set the unit address IDx Not used in RS232 operation
IL? Request Interlock status IL=0 IL=0 Interlock open, IL=1 Interlock
closed.
FT? Internal fault status FT=0 Internal fault e.g. over temperature
request or I/P voltage failure.
FT=0 No fault,
FT=1 Over Temperature Fault
FT=2 Voltage Input out of range
FT=3 Over Voltage Fault
Invalid Incorrect command or ERR
Command syntax error

MXR Series – Serial communication protocol Document Number: 81318-21 Issue: 1

Spellman High Voltage Electronics Limited | +44 (0)1798 877000 | [email protected] | Broomers Park, Pulborough, W. Sussex, UK. RH20 2RY

TEMPLATE: 40776 ISS B | ECN I-10887 | DATE: 05/11/2021 QA/ENG/SAL © 2021 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation
Page 6 of 6

3.2 Command Examples

Example to set the voltage demand to 3kV

<STX>0VA=3000.0#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “VA=3000.0” is the
command to set 3kV and “#” (0x5B) is the checksum

Response:

<STX>0VA=3000.0#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “VA=3000.0 is the echo of
the command and “#” (0x5B) is the checksum.

Example to read the voltage demand

<STX>0VA?#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “VA?” is the command and
“#” (0x7A) is the checksum

Response:

<STX>0VA =600.0#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “600.0” is the demand
voltage and “#” (0x48) is the checksum.

Example to read the polarity

<STX>0PA?#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “PA?” is the command and
“#” (0x40) is the checksum

Response:

<STX>0PA=0#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “PA=0” is the polarity and “#”
(0x52) is the checksum.

Example to change the enable HV output

<STX>0EA1#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “EA1” is the command and
“#” (0x59) is the checksum

Response:

<STX>0EA1#<LF> Where “0” is the unit address (always 0 in RS232), “EA1” is the echo of the
command and “#” (0x59) is the checksum.

MXR Series – Serial communication protocol Document Number: 81318-21 Issue: 1

Spellman High Voltage Electronics Limited | +44 (0)1798 877000 | [email protected] | Broomers Park, Pulborough, W. Sussex, UK. RH20 2RY

TEMPLATE: 40776 ISS B | ECN I-10887 | DATE: 05/11/2021 QA/ENG/SAL © 2021 Spellman High Voltage Electronics Corporation