Add a device from the catalog
The device catalog is a list of off-the-shelf meters and sensors whose connection settings and register maps are already worked out. Pick one when adding a device and the form fills itself in: protocol, baud rate or bus pins, and one tag per reading with the right address, data format and scaling. You still choose the gateway and can change anything before saving.
It saves the part that goes wrong most often — reading a datasheet's register table and typing forty numbers into tag rows.
Adding one
- Go to Devices → Add device and choose the sensor kind.
- Click Start from a catalog device and pick an entry. Entries are grouped by category (energy meters, environment sensors, …); use the search box to find a model number.
- Select the gateway the device is wired to.
- Check the connection settings the entry filled in against your hardware — the Modbus unit ID and baud rate in particular, since both are often changed from the factory defaults.
- Save. The gateway needs its config resent before the new device starts reporting, exactly as with a hand-entered device.
Each entry's page (Docs on the picker, or synacl.com/devices/<name>) has the wiring, the notes that matter for that model, and a link to the vendor's datasheet.
What "verified" means
Every entry carries a verification level — be honest with yourself about what it promises:
| Level | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bench | Read on real hardware through a Synacl gateway. |
| datasheet | Built from the vendor's protocol document only. Register addresses and scaling are as published; nobody has confirmed them on this platform yet. |
| community | Reported working by a user. |
If a datasheet entry does not match what your meter's own display shows, use the Report a mismatch link on the entry's page — say which reading and what the meter shows — so the entry can be corrected and promoted.
Firmware requirements
Most meters store their values as 32-bit floats or as signed numbers across two Modbus registers. Reading those needs gateway firmware that reports the modbusFormats capability (the firmware that ships with this release or newer). An entry that needs it says so on the picker; if the gateway you selected has not reported the capability, the form warns you, and saving is refused with Gateway firmware doesn't support 16-bit signed / 32-bit Modbus formats — update the gateway firmware. Update the gateway from its page and try again. See Modbus data formats for what the formats mean.
Entries in the catalog
Energy meters: Eastron SDM120, SDM230, SDM630 (Modbus RTU), Peacefair PZEM-004T v3. Environment: XY-MD02 (SHT20 over RS-485), BH1750 light sensor, BME280, SHT31 (I²C), DS18B20 (1-Wire). The list grows with each release; the public catalog is always current.
From an AI assistant
A connected AI assistant can browse the same catalog (list_catalog) and create a device from an entry by name — "add the SDM630 on gateway Panel-1 as unit 3" is enough. Creating a device moves nothing: it registers configuration only, and the gateway's config still has to be resent from the web app.