SLC500/5 No Comm Ports

I need access to a 500/5 and the ethernet port is used for a radio modem and the second port goes to the panel veiw on the door which does not have a connection point. System is giving alarms for the radio modem error counts and the manufacture says to go online, but there is no access point. Do I need to add a switch? This is a common configuration for this company, but this is the first time I have tried to go online at these remote pump stations. Thanks for any help.

doc48, you may add a switch to have another free port for your programming PC.

Only you have to know how the Ethernet port of SLC is configured, in order to succeed RSLinx driver on your PC to be connected.

- [font=comic sans ms,sans-serif]fuzzy logic[/font]

That's the beauty of the 5/05 -- ETHERNET! You can use standard ethernet networking devices/tools/techniques for communicating with the 5/05. Just as you would use a switch to add connections on a network, you use a switch to add connections to an ethernet PLC.

You ~might~ have to change your existing cable to the radio modem if it's using a cross-over cable. Depends on the hardware and the rest of the network...

I agree with the other guys.

If you dont have a switch at hand, and you cannot disconnect the radio modem, then an option could be to go online via the serial port. Disconnecting the panelview wont do anything harmful, apart from that the Panelview is offline for the duration of your programming.

Thanks for the help. The company setup all these stations then left town, so I will add the switch mentioned. The radio modem does have a crossover cable connection. When plugging in the modem to the switch do I still need the crossover? Thanks

No, you'll want to change that to a patch cable.