Understanding allen bradley paths

Background:
Maintenance tech 3 years at current factory.
New position in controlls group.
I thought i was intermediate plc user before i got job in controls group and now realize i have alot to learn.
Plant has allen bradley 5,500, 5000, microlgix plcs.
All allen bradley are net work together.
I would assume 100s of individual plcs.

Im fine with writing logic and understanding condition and in order to make other conditions fire.

From office to go online with equipment the paths are hard for me to understand.
My plant uses a host file to name the ip addresses line locations. Makes the 2nd part path easy. Understanding the drill down to the actually processor of equipment is another animal. The equipment i work on today had 6 drill downs. I understand first 2. Plant/line/ then lost.
I was afraid to try open the last saved program on server. Iwas under the impression program makes map it out if the first time opening that path on new desktop. Also i herd that comments dont come up in some instances depending on how you open program

Desktops at equipment if you open the last saved program on our server. Go online. No issues.
Is there a property page i can go to on who active that shows its current path? I can only find title of program and node address. Be nice to see each drill down i can see path.



Im not even sure what information i need to put on forum so that those of you with experience can help.

Our plant is crazy. We have many networks. 1 I some what do understand. Information on how to build specfic part. Some equipment uses this network and some dont.
Breaks each line into x quadrants. Each quadrant has up to 25 nodes. To verify you are on correct proccesor have some one hit input see if address goes high.

Any helpful advice would be great.
I wish it was as simple as tracing the networking hard connections to relate to network path on desktop. But plant i think is to big to do this.

Thanks

"Also i herd that comments dont come up in some instances depending on how you open program"

In any AB PLC below V.28 comments are saved in the .ACD file saved on your computer (in your case probably on a network drive). If you open a blank project and do a straight upload to get online, you will lose the comments as they are not saved in the PLC. You need to open the project file (.ACD file), then open WhoActive and 'drill down' to the desired PLC and hit Go Online. This ensures you will not lose the comments.

In PLCs that are V.28, there is an option to save comments to the PLC. You will likely not have any this new as the lines in your plant are likely older.


With regards to your Comm Path to get online, I am guessing you are going through the backplane of a PLC and out onto another network (likely a different type, such as DeviceNet or ControlNet.

If you can post a picture of your communication path (drill down) then maybe i can explain each step of it.

Mike

m_ryzebol said:

"Also i herd that comments dont come up in some instances depending on how you open program"

In any AB PLC below V.28 comments are saved in the .ACD file saved on your computer (in your case probably on a network drive). If you open a blank project and do a straight upload to get online, you will lose the comments as they are not saved in the PLC. You need to open the project file (.ACD file), then open WhoActive and 'drill down' to the desired PLC and hit Go Online. This ensures you will not lose the comments.

In PLCs that are V.28, there is an option to save comments to the PLC. You will likely not have any this new as the lines in your plant are likely older.


With regards to your Comm Path to get online, I am guessing you are going through the backplane of a PLC and out onto another network (likely a different type, such as DeviceNet or ControlNet.

If you can post a picture of your communication path (drill down) then maybe i can explain each step of it.

Mike

Click to expand...

This feature has been available since well before v28 - I think from memory it was from v21. But ultimately, it depends on the PLC you're using, not the software version - it's only the newer models of PLC that have the separate memory area that allow you to store comments in the PLC.

I agree though that we'll probably be able to be a lot more helpful if you can post some screenshots of the specific areas that have you stuck, and explain what it is that you're not following - otherwise we'll just be giving generic, big-picture advice that might not actually be related to what you're seeing, and will only serve to confuse you further.

In any case, welcome to the forum!

"But ultimately, it depends on the PLC you're using, not the software version"

Good to know!

I was miss-informed. Thanks for the correction.

For Logix5000/Studio5000,

IF the "path" to the PLC won't change depending on which building you are in, then the "path" to the controller can be stored in the project file.

When you use the path browser to find the target PLC to go online to, there's a button to "Set Project Path".

Hit that, then save the project.

Next time you open the project, just click "Go Online" - job done

Route paths can be complex to initially understand, but once you get the basic concept it becomes easier. Think of each device (Ethernet card, DH+ card, backplane, etc) having doors/ports and the route path tells which doors to enter and exit. Here is a short write up explaining some of the concepts:

http://advancedhmi.com/documentation/index.php?title=Routing_Paths