How to control Mitsubishi and Omron plc via PC based program?

ckkhin

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Join Date
May 2007
Location
Penang
Posts
9
I'm working as an engineer with a factory which uses mostly Mitsubishi(FX series) and Omron(CQM1H and CPM1A) plcs. Due to some improvement reason, I am looking a way to communicate with and control all plcs via a PC based program(VB.NET or C#). Any suggestion? And what are the communication cables needed?

This is my first time doing such a project. I have experience doing PLC programming but I'm new to PC based program. Where can I find information on regarding PC based programming for machine?

Thanks.
 
For this I use OPC.
I particularily like Kepware, but they all do the same thing, and cost the same amount of money.

There might be comm functions you can make yourself, I have on Omron. But OPC is far quicker and easier to program with


edit

Kepware provides examples with the download.
 
Mitsubishi & probably omron keep their program port protocol a secret, at least I don't know of any published articles on them.

You could use a 232BD board on the mitsi, this is a simple protocol & just accepts data sent to it & stores it in the data memory.

You can also send data from plc i.e D100-D120.

Obviously you would have to work out what bits of the words to use as digital signals & analog.

Most plc's have some form of ascii communications & it's only a matter of converting the data ito what would be type of ascii & with code in the plc convert it back.
 
I have tested KEPServerEX v4.0 demo. It can do the job but it doesn't have a user friendly interface. I have to manually click and key in 0 or 1 to active and deactivate certain bit.


Thanks for all the help!
 
Hi ckkhin and welcome to the forum.



An OPC server isn't ment as a user interface but as a tool to gather and send data from PLC's.

You can then transfer your data from and to other programs (eg. a homemade one) via sql or dde or similar.
 
Actually for the CPM1A I wasn't able to use Kepware, not yet supported. I wrote my own VB interface. I like I got it from MrPLC.com. If you like I can send you that.

The FX processor looks as though its supported by Kepware.
Its really not that hard to get working. Your best bet is to use one of the OPC vendors products.
 
OPC is great & it's not too difficult to use the wrapper that comes wth Kepware to write your own client to et & send data via kepware, however there is MX component from Mitsi, it's about £250 so not quite so expensive & it's a direct driver with plenty of docs on how to use it in VB etc.
The opc interface dll can be a bit tricky with VB as the data type for the arrays is a little difficult to configure.
 
Hi nettogrisen, noted that. I have yet to discover that part. Still doing try and error.

averellen, that would be great. I haven't test CPM1A yet as I don't have any spare PLC, just tested FX1S and FX2N and both were working fine. Have you try ClientAce? There are many example codes for VB and C#. However, it requires VB.NET as prerequisite for installation which I don't have :(

parky, I have requested for MX Component demo copy through Mitsubishi US website. Not sure whether will they response to my request.

My email address: [email protected]
 
I think they do a demo CD containing a number of their plc programming programs, I assume that the demo version will only run in the IDE of VB/C++ so that you will not be able to compile a standalone.
It's so easy to use once the setup of the comms has been configured, as for Ethernet it uses reg entries but calling the functions are easy i.e. acteasyIf1.read(R20,100) etc.
So read & write of variables is quite simple.
 
A couple years ago I did a very simple communication bridge between some Omron controllers and Beckhoff TwinCAT. The code was written in Visual Basic 2005 and I still have it. If you would like a copy of it to see some basic Host Link commands over RS232, I will send you the program. Just send me a private message with an email address and I will send you the program.
 
averellen said:
I've tried to stay away from .net as much as possible.
Not really a fan of it yet.

I was initially reluctant to move to .NET because of the learning curve, but eventually dove in head first. I now dread ever having to do anything in VB6 because I feel so crippled from lack of tools. No exaggeration, I can literally write applications in about a 1/3 of the time using Visual Basic 2008 as opposed to VB6.

Trust me, its worth the move if you can take the time to learn it thoroughly.
 
Archie said:
I was initially reluctant to move to .NET because of the learning curve, but eventually dove in head first. I now dread ever having to do anything in VB6 because I feel so crippled from lack of tools. No exaggeration, I can literally write applications in about a 1/3 of the time using Visual Basic 2008 as opposed to VB6.

Trust me, its worth the move if you can take the time to learn it thoroughly.

I havn't tried 2008, I hear its been changed to suit the VB6 people. Last time I played was Version 2005. Better then when it was first released, but the learning curve sucked.
.net eventually will be the only language supported by OS's. Vista I'm pretty sure is the start of that with 64 bit processing.
 

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