MT Printer communication protocol

Protocol specification
Communication line configuration
Communication station configuration
I/O tag configuration
Set of I/O tags
Document revisions

Protocol specification


The Mettler Toledo weighing terminals can print the results from the measurement and the information about the asynchronous activities on their own special printers, e.g. GA-46 serial printer. The MT Printer communication protocol is used for processing the information from the terminal output and publishing them in the form of I/O tags.

Communication line configuration


When setting the serial communication interface, you should realize that the interface for the printer has the fixed parameters.

  • Baud rate: 9600
  • Parity: even
  • Flow control: XON/XOF
  • Data bits: 8
  • Stop bits: 1


Supported line categories for the protocol: "Serial" and "SerialOverUDP Device Redundant".


Communication station configuration


Station protocol parameters

ParameterDescriptionDefault value
Full Debug
Logging is enhanced with listings that enable fast error detection.NO

I/O tag configuration


Allowed I/O tags: Ai, Ci, Co, Di, TxtI, TiA

Set of I/O tags


The outputs from the printer, which are necessary to analyze the weighing results can be categorized into four basic groups:

  1. Components necessary to prepare the formulas
  2. The start time of weighing the components
  3. Weighed components
  4. End of weighing the components

Data from the printer are asynchronous. To ascertain their reading, they must be processed synchronously. For synchronization, two I/O tags with addresses "TRIGGER_IN" and "TRIGGER_OUT" are used. When publishing the new data, the value of the I/O tag with the "TRIGGER_IN" address is incremented. Set the value of the I/O tag with address TRIGGER_OUT to the same value, as an acknowledgment that that data was processed.

At the beginning of weighing, the terminal informs about the formula number (a unique identifier of formula), which will be weighted. Then, the list of all necessary components is sent sequentially. I/O tags in the table below are used for receiving these data.

AddressValue typeUnits
FORMULA NO.Ci
COMPONENT NO.Ci
NAMETxtI
TARGAikg
LIM1Aikg
LIM2Aikg
TOLAikg
END TIMERCiS
VALVECi
OUTPUT 2TxtI


After a list of components, the start of weighing follows. The I/O tags that contain this information are:

AddressValue typeUnits
FORMULA NO.Ci
START TIMETiA


I/O tags that inform about the results of weighing:

AddressValue typeUnits
FORMULA NO.Ci
NAMETxtI
ACTUAL V.Aikg
TGT - ACTUALAikg
TARGETAikg


I/O tags that inform about the end of weighing:

AddressValue typeUnits
FORMULA NO.Ci
STOP TIMETiA

Document revisions


  • Ver. 1.0 – October 8, 2012 – Creating of the document.

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