OPC to S7-300 over Ethernet

Longhorn

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L
Join Date
Jul 2008
Location
Scotland
Posts
250
I am having problems configuring a connection between a PC and an S7-300 PLC, the PLC has a CP343-1 Ethernet card on R0/Slot4.
I have tried setting up an Iso-on-TCP connection in Netpro between the "Simatic PC" (my laptop) and the CP card but the connection status displays "not available" in Netpro. The station configurator is healthy and the config downloaded to it. I am able to ping the PLC no problem and have used NCM diagnostics tool which also connects to the CP card fine.
Do i need to set-up a connection in the remote PLC as a partner for the connection or should i be able to only configure the PC as long as he subnets are the same??

LH
 
I normally configure an "unspecified S7 connection", rather than an "ISo_On_TCP connection".
For an "unspecified S7 connection" there is no need to setup a connection in the remote partner.
Not sure if it is necessary for an "unspecified ISo_On_TCP connection". I think not.

Anyway, if you are unsure about the remote partner, then create an integrated project with both the S7 PLC and the PC Station (with OPC server) and setup fully specified connections, either S7 or ISo_On_TCP.
STEP7 then checks all the dependencies and updates the configurations if necessary. You must then download to the S7 PLC as well because the fully specified connection must be known by the PLC.
 
Thanks for that Jesper, but i still seem to be having problems getting the system configured, i will post a series of screenshots in the hope someone will spot a problem.
In netpro once i have configured the connection, if i test the connection it still says "not available" - maybe this is because its an OPC connection??
I tried testing the OPC connection through my application and Wonderware OPC Link but the connection says "Bad" for all items.

NetConfig.jpg StationConfig.jpg ConfigConsole.jpg OPCLink.jpg
 
It seems that the OPC server is setup and running.
If you use an OPC test client such as Siemens OPC Scout, then you can browse for both available OPC Topics, and for available PLC addresses.
 
I will try using OPC scout, i aint familiar with it but i'll figure it out. I found a help file from the siemens website which was a step by step guide on how to configure OPC connection (same as yours but for unspecified connection).

Thanks again for your help!
 
o_O

I attempted to test using OPC Scout with no joy, it returned an error as in the screeshot attached, also tried again with OPC link and took a screenshot of the data monitor. Intouch to OPC link is fine, Netpro connection of PC station as per siemens example.
Anything else i should check??

OPCLink_Status.jpg OPCScout.jpg
 
Might not be relevant, but when i am attempting to connect to the PLC - STation configurator does not have a connection symbol beside it although it is healthy, OPC server has both healthy and connection status.
Also, i am running this whole set-up from within a VMware project, are there any other settings i need to know about.

Thanks in advance

LH
 
Please post only screenshots of the relevant message boxes etc. and not the entire desktop. And do not resize. I cannot make out anything in your screenshots.

Apart from that, with OPC scout you should be able to "browse" for the available DBs in the PLC when you add items. Have you done that ?
If you succeed with that it means that the OPC scout can "see" the PLC. And then it should be OK.

Failing that, I suggest that you create a fully specified connection in stead of the unspecified connection. You can then also setup the OPC server to use the symbols of the STEP7 project. Be sure to download to both PLC and OPC server from NetPro when you have setup the fully specified connection.
 
I think i'm making progress, i have configured a fully specified connection in the PLC and downloaded the new netpro config into the PLC. I have then took this project to the PC Station (my laptop) and downloaded the PC station Netpro config into station configurator.
I have opened up OPC Scout and set-up a test group, when i browse down to objects i cannot see any of the PLC objects visible (not sure if i should at this point), i tested the default items and took a screenshot of the results which seemed to show a connection "UP" status fo one of the items. I tried adding memory bit M2.0 (MX2.0 as the item reads)but the status is BAD - am i making progress or chasing my tail??

sorry to be a pain Jesper - your help is appreciated!!

:confused:

Regards

LH

OPCScout.jpg
 
Just curious, and this has nothing to do with your question- but is there an advantage of using the Simatic OPC Server? I have used Kepware for years, and I don't have to do anything at all on the S7 side. I just set up the IP in Kepware, add some tags, and it runs. Takes all of five minutes.

Does the Simatic OPC Server do additional things, like handle arrays or structs or something? I'd give it a try on a project if I had a compelling reason to do so.
 
Longhorn, when you add items, you should be able to browse for the available Merkers and DBs. The OPC Server goes out and scans for them. If you have selected symbols to be added, then you can browse for the symbols. I think they are called S7:[topicname].SY.symbolname or something like that.
I think that it is maybe a naming problem.
I believe that you have to call a merkerword S7:[topicname].MW10:INT. Dont think MX2.0 is correct.

S7Guy.
Yes, you simply chose to add all the symbols from the S7 project. It requires a fully specified connection. Then all structures of all DBs will be available.
 
I still think i have a configuration issue as in OPC scout none of the DB's were visible like you said when browsing under my new group objects. I will try configuring for symbols aswell tonight.
Just to confirm - does what is in my screenshot of OPC scout look like there is communications with the PLC?
Also - when i set-up the specified connection in the project i selected "two-way" which added a connection partner in the PLC CPU in netpro - should it only be one-way?

I know this stupid problem will be a simple tick the box somewhere or summit like that - if nothing else i have become familiar with every concievable setting in Simatic Net.

Thanks for your prolonged assistance!!
 

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