Siemens S7-300 OPC - basics

Hello all,

We are producing a stand-alone product with its own control system, using a siemens 315-2 PN/DP cpu. The only interface to the customers control system has usually been hardwired (start/stop/fault). Now one of our customers wants to read status/alarm bits and a couple of analogue values from our system and display it on their PCS7 system using OPC via ethernet. As the cpu we are using already has ethernet (connected to the hmi panel via ethernet), can I use the existing hardware, or do I need to install a separate CP for this?

I have never used OPC before so I don't know much about it, do I need to setup something in our PLC to make the connection work, and do I need any extra software? Our customer is of course doing the programming of their pcs7 system themselves, so I just have to make sure our PLC has the correct hardware/software/setup to accomodate for this OPC connection.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Sorry if this has been covered in a previous topic.

Regards,
Andreas

Hei Andreas.

You can use the onboard PN interface, no need for a CP.
All the customer needs to know is the IP adress of the PLC, and which adresses to access in the PLC program.

Awesome mate, thanks a lot for the quick answer