Industrial Analog to Wi-Fi Converter

Wire the transmitter's output to a channel on the MacSync WX1 and open the Maya app over Bluetooth. Set the channel's type to 4–20 mA, give it a name, and choose the power output and warm-up time if the converter is to power the transmitter. Then select the Wi-Fi network and enter the broker's host, port and topic. Check shows the live reading and Send Uplink confirms a message reached the broker. From then on the value is published on the schedule you set.

An analog to Wi-Fi converter is a device that measures an analog signal — usually 4–20 mA or 0–10 V from a pressure, level, flow or temperature transmitter — and sends the value over a Wi-Fi network to a server, broker or cloud platform. It replaces the signal cable back to a control room. The same device is described as a 4–20 mA to Wi-Fi converter, a Wi-Fi analog input module, a 4–20 mA Wi-Fi transmitter or an analog to MQTT gateway.

Each upload is published to the topic you set, for example macsync/device001/data, and carries one value for each configured channel under the name you gave it in the Maya app, such as Tank_Level. The sample on this page shows an example; ask us for the current payload reference before you write a parser.

Subtract 4 mA, divide by 16, and multiply by the instrument's span, then add its lower range value. For a pressure transmitter ranged 0 to 10 bar, a reading of 12 mA is (12 − 4) ÷ 16 × 10 = 5 bar. A level transmitter ranged 0 to 5 m reading 8 mA gives (8 − 4) ÷ 16 × 5 = 1.25 m. Apply the scaling in your platform, in a broker rule or in a Node-RED flow, so the dashboard shows bar, metres or litres rather than milliamps.

Yes. The MacSync WX1 supplies power to the connected sensor from a selectable power output and waits a configurable warm-up time of 0 to 2,000 ms before taking each reading, so the transmitter is energised only while it is being measured. Check that the available output level meets your transmitter's minimum supply voltage — send us the model and we will confirm. A sensor that needs a longer warm-up, or that must stay powered continuously, is better fed from an external supply with the 9–36 V DC variant.

Up to two 4–20 mA transmitters, or two 0–10 V sensors, or two contacts. Each channel is set independently in the app, so one can be a current loop and the other a contact. If more signals meet at one point, tell us what they are before ordering and we will confirm the combination; otherwise use one converter per instrument, or a transmitter with a Modbus output and the MacSync WX1 in RS485 mode.

Choose 4–20 mA whenever the cable is longer than a few metres or the environment is electrically noisy. Current is the same at every point in the loop, so cable resistance does not change the reading, and the 4 mA live zero lets you detect a broken wire. A 0–10 V signal is simpler and common on HVAC and building sensors, but it loses voltage along the cable and cannot distinguish a fault from a genuine zero. The MacSync WX1 reads both, so use whichever output the instrument provides.

On a 4–20 mA input the reading drops below 4 mA, which a healthy loop never does, so the fault is detectable. The NAMUR NE 43 recommendation treats currents at or below 3.6 mA and at or above 21 mA as fault signals rather than measurements. Set a trigger with a minimum limit on the channel and the converter publishes as soon as the current falls out of range, instead of reporting a misleading zero. A 0–10 V input cannot do this, because 0 V is also a valid reading.

A 12-bit converter divides the input range into 4,096 steps. On the 0–10 V input that is about 2.4 mV per step, and on the current input roughly 0.005 mA per step, or about 0.03% of the 16 mA span between 4 and 20 mA. For a 0–10 bar pressure transmitter that works out to steps of about 0.003 bar. Resolution is not the same as accuracy: it is the smallest change the device can register, while the accuracy of the whole chain also depends on the transmitter's own accuracy class and calibration.

Yes. A channel set to digital input reads a contact as high or low. Put a trigger on that channel and the converter publishes as soon as the state leaves the limits you set, rather than waiting for the next interval. That suits float switches, alarm relays and pump or generator run status, where what matters is knowing when something changes.

No, and it is worth knowing the difference before you buy. Point-to-point wireless 4–20 mA pairs take a loop signal in at one unit and regenerate an analog output at the other, so a PLC input sees a normal current loop. An analog to Wi-Fi converter instead delivers the value as data to a broker, dashboard or SCADA. If your controller needs a physical 4–20 mA input, a transmitter pair is the right tool; if you want readings from many instruments on one platform, this is.

Usually yes, but not without opening the loop once. A current input sits in series, so the loop has to be broken to insert it, which is best done during a planned stop. Every receiver in a loop adds burden, so the transmitter's supply must still cover its own minimum voltage plus all the inputs and the cable. Where the loop cannot be disturbed, or the two receivers must stay electrically separate, a signal splitter or isolator is the clean solution. Send us the loop details and we will check it before you order.

Any standard MQTT broker, such as Mosquitto, EMQX or HiveMQ, whether it runs in your own server room or in the cloud. You enter a hostname or an IP address, so a local broker on the plant network works exactly like a hosted one. The datasheet also lists AWS IoT Core, Microsoft Azure IoT Hub and Google Cloud, alongside on-premise servers, private cloud, REST APIs, webhooks, SCADA and BMS platforms. Where there is no broker, the device can post to an HTTP or HTTPS endpoint instead. The standard firmware signs in with a username and password, so a platform that expects a client certificate on every device needs the client-certificate firmware option, which is offered on orders of 1,000 devices or more.

Yes to TLS: turn it on in the MQTT settings and use port 8883 for an encrypted connection, with a toggle to validate the broker's server certificate. Plain MQTT on port 1883 remains available for a closed local network. In the standard firmware, authentication is by username and password. Client-certificate authentication (mutual TLS) and a change to the MQTT QoS level are firmware customisations, available on orders of 1,000 devices or more.

Nothing is lost. The MacSync WX1 keeps measuring and stores the readings in onboard memory, up to 30,000 records, then forwards them once the connection returns. At one record every five minutes that is roughly 100 days of cover.

Yes to both bands. The MacSync WX1 is dual-band and supports IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac, so it joins Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 access points, and connects to Wi-Fi 6 access points as an 802.11ac client since those remain backward compatible. In a plant, 2.4 GHz usually reaches further and passes through walls and machinery better, while 5 GHz has more clean channels where access points are close by. The battery variant uses Wi-Fi Power Save Mode between uploads to cut idle power.

With the sensor powered from its own supply, the Macnman Wi-Fi battery life calculator estimates about 0.9 years at 5-minute uploads, 2.5 years at 15 minutes, 4.3 years at 30 minutes and 6.7 years at hourly uploads on the 19 Ah cell, with DHCP and a TLS connection each time. A static IP raises those figures to about 3.5 years at 15 minutes and 8.2 years hourly. If the converter also has to power a loop-powered transmitter, the figures fall by an amount that depends on the transmitter's current and warm-up time, so send us both for a realistic estimate. For reporting every few seconds, choose the 9–36 V DC variant.

No. The converter joins your existing Wi-Fi as an ordinary client and talks to the broker directly. There is no gateway or hub to buy, no SIM and no monthly data plan per device.

Yes. The broker can be a machine on your local network, entered by IP address, so readings never have to leave the site. The device supports on-premise servers and private cloud as well as public platforms, which suits plants that need local data ownership or have no outbound internet access from the production network.

Choose Wi-Fi when the instrument sits inside good Wi-Fi coverage and you want frequent readings delivered straight to a broker, with no gateway or network server. Choose LoRaWAN when instruments are spread across a large site, outdoors or beyond the reach of Wi-Fi, or when battery life matters most: the MacSync LX1 analog to LoRaWAN converter reads the same signals and lasts longer on the same cell.

Yes. The same hardware includes an RS485 port that acts as a Modbus RTU master, for energy meters, flow meters, PLCs and any instrument with a serial output. The RS485 and analog inputs share the same terminals, so a unit runs in either RS485 mode or analog mode, not both at once. See the MacSync WX1 RS485 Modbus to Wi-Fi converter page for function codes, data types and register limits.

No. The MacSync WX1 carries no hazardous-area certification and must not be installed inside a classified hazardous area. For a transmitter located in one, mount the converter in the safe area and bring the loop out through a barrier or isolator matched to that transmitter, as you would for any safe-area receiver. Bear in mind that a barrier drops several volts, which the loop supply has to cover.

Six things. The device joins Wi-Fi as an ordinary client using WPA2-PSK or WPA3, on 2.4 or 5 GHz. It takes an address by DHCP or a static IP. It makes one outbound connection to the broker, on port 8883 for TLS or 1883 for plain MQTT, so no inbound port or port-forward is needed. Traffic can be encrypted with TLS and the broker's certificate validated. It signs in to the broker with a username and password; client-certificate authentication is a firmware option on orders of 1,000 devices or more. And the broker can sit inside your own network, so no data has to leave the site.

Yes. Macnman Technologies designs and manufactures the MacSync WX1 in Pune, Maharashtra. It is WPC compliant and conforms to the RoHS directive, and support comes directly from the engineering team in Indian Standard Time.