Modbus alarms on WhatsApp / Telegram

Need to connect Modbus and WhatsApp / Telegram? The Weble WBox routes Modbus WhatsApp / Telegram natively: one gateway speaks both protocols and maps data points in real time — no PC, no middleware, no cloud dependency.

The protocols

Modbus

Modbus (TCP/IP and RTU) connects PLCs, meters, variable-speed drives and countless industrial devices.

Modbus driver →

WhatsApp / Telegram

The Internet Messaging driver sends alarms and notifications from the gateway to WhatsApp and Telegram — individual numbers or named groups — and reads replies for acknowledgement, with no WhatsApp Business account and no Telegram bot.

WhatsApp / Telegram driver →

Typical use case

Cold rooms, pumping stations, generator sets, UPS units, air-handling plants: technical equipment speaks Modbus, but small and remote sites have no SCADA and nobody watching a screen. The WBox polls the registers, detects a threshold breach or a status change and sends the alarm to WhatsApp or Telegram — to the site manager and the maintenance group. One reply is enough to acknowledge.

Example deployment

Typical scenario Cold rooms watched around the clock Refrigeration controllers expose their temperatures and faults over Modbus. The WBox polls the registers and, when a cold room drifts above its threshold for too long, messages the shop manager and the refrigeration contractor's Telegram group — with escalation if nobody replies. Technical documentation →

How the WBox bridges Modbus and WhatsApp / Telegram

The Modbus driver polls the slaves over RTU (RS-485) or TCP/IP — input registers for measurements (with scaling), discrete inputs and coils for faults. Local logic — Blockly or JavaScript — applies thresholds, delays and debouncing, then writes the message to %im:whatsapp/… or %im:telegram/…, a person or a named group. Sending goes through the Weble cloud messaging service over a secure outbound link — no WhatsApp Business account, no Telegram bot, no inbound port — and replies come back on #lastMessage for acknowledgement.

Step by step

Wire the Modbus side — RS-485 for RTU slaves, or the LAN for Modbus TCP — and connect the WBox to the internet (Ethernet or LTE).
Enable the Modbus and Internet Messaging drivers — licence-activated, no extra hardware.
Declare the slaves and the registers to poll: discrete inputs and coils for faults, input registers with scaling for measurements.
Write the alarm rule in Blockly or JavaScript — thresholds, delays, debouncing — and send to %im:whatsapp/+417… or a group like %im:whatsapp/Maintenance; Telegram works the same way.
Test end-to-end: force a fault, receive the message, reply — the reply appears on #lastMessage for acknowledgement logic.

Example mapping

A worked example on a refrigeration site:

Modbus input 30012 cold-room temperature above threshold → WhatsApp group %im:whatsapp/Maintenance
Modbus discrete input 10003 (pump fault) → Telegram %im:telegram/+41791234567
Reply in the group → #lastMessage address, read back by the gateway logic (acknowledgement)

Capacity & limits

Modbus — Modbus addresses up to 247 slaves per line (RTU or TCP) — about 32 RTU devices per RS-485 segment before a repeater.
WhatsApp / Telegram — Internet Messaging sends through the Weble cloud messaging service over a secure outbound link — recipients are individual numbers or named groups, with replies routed back to the gateway; no WhatsApp Business account, no Telegram bot, no inbound port.

On the WBox, a driver licence enables the whole protocol — there is no artificial per-point tier to unlock. Capacity scales with the gateway model, from the compact S103 to the E413: you are bounded by the field bus, not by your licence.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a WhatsApp Business account or a Telegram bot?

No. Messages are sent through the Weble cloud messaging service over a secure outbound connection — you configure recipients on the WBox and it works, with no Meta or Telegram-side setup and no bot to host.

Modbus RTU or Modbus TCP — which is supported?

Both: Modbus RTU over RS-485 and Modbus TCP/IP on the same WBox — up to 247 slaves per line. Word order, signed values and scaling are set per register.

Can I get alarms without a SCADA on site?

Yes — the threshold and alarm logic runs locally on the WBox (Blockly or JavaScript): no PC, no SCADA licence, no cloud dependency for the detection itself.

Can the recipient acknowledge a Modbus alarm by replying?

Yes. Replies come back on the driver's #lastMessage address, where your logic reads them — an 'OK' can stop the repetition, log the acknowledgement or escalate to the next person.