Moxa Industrial Networking, New Zealand

RFQ / Moxa

Almost everything Moxa makes is a configured device. The hardware is the cheap part and the configuration is what makes it work with your plant. A replacement arrives at factory defaults with a default IP address, which means it is invisible to your network and does nothing until somebody sets it up.

Moxa turns up wherever old serial equipment has to talk to a modern network, and on industrial switch and gateway duties across water, transport and process plant in New Zealand.

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Reference pages

Page	Covers
NPort serial device servers	Operating modes and why the same hardware behaves completely differently, RS-232 against RS-485, termination and biasing, and how to capture a configuration before it is lost

The families

Prefix	What it is
NPort	Serial device servers. Serial equipment onto Ethernet
EDS	Industrial Ethernet switches, managed and unmanaged
MGate	Protocol gateways. Modbus, EtherNet/IP, PROFINET and others
EDR	Industrial secure routers and firewalls
AWK	Industrial wireless access points and clients
ioLogik, ioThinx	Remote and networked I/O
IMC, TRC	Media converters and repeaters
CP	Multiport serial cards for PCs
UC, DA, MC	Embedded and industrial computers
DR	DIN rail power supplies

Managed or unmanaged decides what the switch can do

The first question on any EDS enquiry, and the same distinction that appears on every switch range we cover.

	Unmanaged	Managed
Configuration	None. Plug in and it works	Web interface, addressable
Ring redundancy	No	Yes
VLANs, priority, diagnostics	No	Yes
On replacement	A genuine swap	Needs its configuration back

Fitting an unmanaged switch into a redundant ring breaks the ring. The network may keep working while everything is healthy and then fail to recover when a cable is cut, which is exactly when the redundancy was supposed to earn its keep.

That failure is invisible on a good day. Nothing alarms, nothing looks wrong, and the fault only appears months later during the incident the ring existed to survive.

So tell us whether the switch is part of a ring. Same trap as on our Schneider ConneXium page and the Siemens SCALANCE page.

Ring protocols are not all the same

Moxa switches support both standard spanning tree protocols and Moxa's own faster ring technology.

Point	Detail
The proprietary ring is Moxa to Moxa	A third party switch will not join it
Recovery is much faster than standard spanning tree	Which is why it was chosen
One switch is the ring master	Replacing it without that setting breaks the ring
Mixing protocols carelessly causes loops	Which take the network down completely

So an existing Moxa ring generally has to stay Moxa. That is worth knowing before somebody buys a cheaper switch to replace one node in it.

The backup configurator is worth its price on day one

The most useful thing on this page, and hardly anybody uses it.

Moxa makes a small plug-in backup device that stores a switch or device server's configuration and restores it automatically to a replacement unit.

Situation	Outcome
Backup device fitted, unit fails	Fit the replacement, it takes the configuration, done
No backup, configuration file saved on a PC	Load it manually. Straightforward if you can find the file
No backup and no file	Somebody works out the addressing, VLANs and ring settings from scratch

On an unmanned site this changes what a failure costs. A pump station switch that restores itself means a technician can swap hardware without knowing anything about the network.

Failing that, export the configuration file from every managed device now and keep the files somewhere findable, named by location. That is free and it takes an afternoon.

We supply the backup devices, and they are inexpensive relative to a callout.

Protocol gateways are configuration, not hardware

An MGate translates between two protocols, and the translation is a mapping that somebody built. Which register on one side corresponds to which tag on the other, in what data type, at what scaling.

Situation	Outcome
Configuration file kept	Load it and the gateway works
No file	The mapping is rebuilt from both sides' documentation, if it exists

That mapping is often undocumented, because it was built by an integrator during commissioning and lives only inside the device.

So on any gateway: export the configuration while it works. The hardware is replaceable and the mapping may not be.

And check the serial side before blaming the gateway. A Modbus gateway that has stopped polling is very often a wiring, termination or device address problem on the serial side rather than a gateway fault.

Fibre and SFP details

Aspect	Why it matters
Multimode or single mode	Different fibre, different optics, not interchangeable
Connector type	SC, ST and LC all appear
Fixed ports or SFP slots	SFP modules are separate parts
Distance rating	Has to suit the actual run

A switch with SFP slots arrives without the modules. That is the most common omission on a fibre switch order, and it stops the job on the day.

Tell us the fibre type, the connector and the run length, or move the existing SFPs across and say so.

Two details specific to industrial hardware

Redundant power inputs

Many of these devices have two power inputs so they can be fed from two supplies. Wiring only one gives you a device that looks the same and has no redundancy.

If the site was designed with dual supplies, check both are actually connected after any panel work. It is a common thing to lose during a modification.

Temperature rating

Extended temperature versions exist and are indicated in the model number. They cost more and they are specified for a reason.

On an outdoor kiosk, a reservoir site or an unventilated enclosure in the sun, the standard version will fail early. If the device you are replacing was the extended range version, match it rather than saving money on the substitute.

Same pattern as panel temperature elsewhere on this site: if one location keeps eating devices, the location is the fault.

Before ordering a replacement

Symptom	Check first
New unit fitted, nothing communicates	IP address and configuration. It arrives at defaults
Network fine until a cable fault, then it stays down	Ring configuration, or an unmanaged switch in the ring
Serial device intermittent	Termination, biasing and wiring, before the hardware
Gateway stopped polling	The serial side and device addresses
Fibre link will not come up	Multimode against single mode, and the SFPs
Device keeps failing at one site	Temperature rating and the enclosure
Site lost after a power event	Whether both power inputs are wired

What to send us

The full model number, including any temperature or fibre suffix.

Whether a switch is managed or unmanaged, and whether it is in a ring.

Whether you have the configuration file.

For fibre, the type, connector and run length.

For a gateway, what protocol is on each side.

For a serial device server, how the serial side is wired.

Whether the location is outdoors, unventilated or otherwise harsh.

What we can supply

Switches. EDS unmanaged and managed across the port counts, copper and fibre, plus SFP modules.

Serial. NPort device servers in current and obsolete generations, and CP multiport cards.

Gateways and routers. MGate protocol gateways and EDR secure routers.

Wireless. AWK access points and clients.

I/O and computers. ioLogik and ioThinx remote I/O, and embedded computers.

Accessories. Backup configurators, DIN rail power supplies, media converters and antennas.

Obsolete models. Where an older device is the only thing that keeps a site on its existing configuration.

A sensible networking spares position

Item	Why
Configuration files exported and named by location	Free, and it is most of the value
A backup configurator on remote or unmanned sites	Turns a network job into a hardware swap
One switch per type in use	Sites are often identical, so one spare covers many
Spare SFPs	Small, easy to be caught without
A record of IP addressing	The thing nobody can guess

On a water or wastewater network with dozens of similar stations, one spare switch and a folder of configuration files covers the lot. That is an unusually good return for the money.

We buy Moxa

NPort and EDS hardware resells steadily, particularly obsolete models that sites are still standardised on.

Keep SFP modules with their switches and any backup configurator with the device it served. See Sell To Us.

Common questions

Can you get a part that is not listed on your site?
Usually. The site shows what we hold, not what we can source.

My new switch does nothing.
If it is managed it arrives at a default address with no configuration. It needs setting up before it does anything useful.

Can I put a cheaper switch in my ring?
Not if the ring uses Moxa's own redundancy. That is Moxa to Moxa.

Do SFP modules come with the switch?
No. They are separate parts and they are the usual omission.

My gateway stopped working.
Check the serial side first. Termination, wiring and device addresses cause most of these.

Why does one site keep killing switches?
Usually temperature. Check the enclosure and whether the original was the extended range version.

Do you supply used equipment?
Yes, tested before it ships. On obsolete models it is often the only route.

What is the lead time?
Ex stock items ship the next working day within New Zealand. We give you a firm lead time with the quote.

Do you quote in NZD?
Yes, in NZD including GST for New Zealand customers.

Send us your model numbers

And tell us whether you have the configuration file. On this brand that answer matters more than the hardware does. Quotes in NZD including GST.

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Industech is an independent supplier of new, surplus and used industrial automation equipment. We are not an authorised distributor of, approved by, sanctioned by, or affiliated with Moxa. Moxa, NPort, MGate, ioLogik and ioThinx are trademarks of Moxa Inc. Modbus is a trademark of Schneider Electric. EtherNet/IP is a trademark of ODVA. PROFINET is a trademark of PROFIBUS Nutzerorganisation. All trademarks, brand names and model numbers are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification purposes only.