ABB ACS800 drives on EthernetIP?

Derek McFarland

Member
Derek McFarland
Join Date
Apr 2004
Location
Vernon, BC
Posts
133
Has anyone controlled ABB ACS800 VFDs on EthernetIP? The Tech Specs list Modbus TCP as the protocol, but the supplier simply states they can be controlled over Ethernet. My hunch is that they cannot be controlled form the AB Logix plaform over ethernet easily.
 
The ACS800 drives DO NOT support EtherNet/IP. You CANNOT control them easily from a ControlLogix platform the way you can run Allen-Bradley PowerFlex drives.

I had one customer attempt to run about 2 dozen Modbus/TCP enabled drives with a Prosoft MVI56 module in ControlLogix. The drives did in fact communicate with the controller, but the performance was nowhere near the 30 ms scantime he needed. We replaced the communications circuit with DeviceNet and he was able to get barely-acceptable performance from those drives (they only used Polled I/O connections and a slow serial interface with the main control board). I could have controlled as many PowerFlex drives with a DeviceNet COS connection in under 10 ms.
 
Thanks Ken,

I obtained some more info that states that the interface is EthernetIP compliant and lists classes, instances and objects, etc. I assume that explicit messaging is required.

Would ControlNet on these drives be better? With both EthernetIP and ControlNet being CIP, I imagine that they look the same to a CLX on either network.
 
Quoting ABB description of the Ethernet option card for ACS800:

"The RETA-01 module supports Modbus/TCP and EtherNet/IP network protocols. Modbus/TCP is a variant of the Modbus family of simple vendor-neutral communication protocols intended for supervision and control of automation equipment. Ethernet/IP is based upon the Common Industrial Protocol (CIP) which is also the framework for both the ControlNet and DeviceNet networks. The RETA-01 supports 10/100 Mbps transfer rate with network connection made with standard RJ45 connector."

This is straight from the ABB ACS800 Price Book.

I am not an expert on fieldbus and don't wish to inject myself into this discussion except to provide the above quotation.
 
I was incorrect !

Gentlemen, I shall gracefully retract my statement.

My knowledge of the ABB ACS800 (and it's entirely possible I was thinking of an earlier drive model) drive pre-dates the documentation you have quoted. The last time I looked at these for a customer, I could only find Modbus/TCP protocol support.

If the drive does claim EtherNet/IP connectivity and provides the Assembly objects for I/O, then go ahead and connect it up in RSLogix 5000 as a Generic Module and it ought to run.

If you can post the link to the EtherNet/IP object data I'd like to take a look at that.
 
Last edited:
Derek, what did you end up using? I'm waking up all the old threads that have anything to do with ABB drives and networking them on various protocols. I have several drive projects coming up, using the ACS550's...


Greg
 
Alan, I think we may have talked about this in the past, at least the DeviceNet on the 550's. I never did get the expanded *.EDS file to work with the 550, just the standard one. The DeviceNet setup on the ABB drives is very convoluted...The Ethernet module does look a little more straightforward. The ABB support on the DeviceNet modules was absolutely horrible. It's a good thing they make good drives, if not that experience alone would have soured me enough to not buy them anymore.

Greg
 
When we first put ABB drives (ACS600 & 800) on CLX 3 years ago, we opted for profibus as that was the only network faster than devicenet that the local ABB people were comfortable with. I'm just now starting commissioning of our third conversion of a tissue rewinder from line shaft to sectional drives. Still profibus.

We have recently obtained and tested the ethernet/ip interface - it works. Found out about it too late for this project, but will likely use it in future projects.

I think convoluted is a constant for these drives on any network.
 
Reta-01

I'd also like to know the outcome of this. At the same time has anyone managed to communicate with ABB drive via PLC? I've got a M1100 & PV1000 HMI of which are TCP/IP at current and are communicating, but require torque & speed readings from the drive.

Cheers
Daniel
 
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Daniel,

I'll answer your PM here so others can see it if you don't mind.

Ethernet/IP is a CIP pathway over Ethernet. Only the CLX & CompactLogix are capable of speaking Ethernet/IP to control & read devices.

The ML1100 does not use Ethernet/IP, even though it works over Ethernet. I wouldn't imagine that you could use the ML1100 to read any parameters over the Ethernet/IP pathway.
 
M1100 & Reta-01 again...

Thanks for that. Clear and clean cut to the possibilities of the M1100 Ethernet communication.

Cheers
Daniel
 

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