The only tool you need to begin configuration and diagnostics for any Control Solutions BACnet MS/TP device is this tool and your PC’s browser. No more USB to serial adapters, no more RS232 to RS485 adapters. And this tool can run at 76800 baud, something your PC can’t do.

The Model MTX-1 Control Solutions Tool Box is an MS/TP device configuration and diagnostic tool for Control Solutions MS/TP devices, including MS/TP gateways and network I/O. We offer free software based configuration tools for all of our non-web based products. Most of the time these tools work pretty well. MS/TP is the one exception that pushes Windows and PC hardware right to, and a little past, the limits. If the PC software based MS/TP tools are working for you, keep using them. If you have trouble running MS/TP reliably on your PC, the Tool Box will interest you. We could go on fixing Windows drivers, but there are some PC hardware limitations that no driver will ever fix. We decided to invest in a better “fix”.

Even if you are not having reliability problems with the free MS/TP software on Windows, PC hardware does not support 76800 baud at all. The Tool Box allows you to configure devices at 76800 baud. The Tool Box is also programmed to behave as just another MS/TP device on the network, meaning you can check configuration or perform diagnostics without removing devices from the network. For example, you can view Modbus RTU device error counts from the Tool Box while on a live network.

"Wait a minute", you say. "I know of a Windows product that runs MS/TP just fine". As it turns out, we do, too. In fact we sell a couple of such third party products right here on this web site. We know that with persistence and enough cash, we could buy and resell somebody's MS/TP driver. But if we are going to sell a $500 product, why not sell one that addresses all of the problems? That is what we decided to do instead of spend more money on Windows.