GE-Fanuc 90-30 to Siemens S7-400

Hi,

Received a last minute question to check out which possibilities we have to connect a GE-Fanuc 90-30 365 CPU to a Siemens S7-414.

Our S7-414 has both Profibus and Ethernet capabilities, now I'm wondering what the GE-Fanuc can do.

Tried to check out the GE-Fanuc site, but GE-IP doesn't have a 365 CPU, so now I'm kinda stuck.
Decided to try the next best thing....and here I am.

All I know is, the CPU has serial and ethernet sockets, connected through ethernet to an industial PC running "home made" HMI software, so I'm hoping it can do Modbus. That we can do and would make the comms much more straightforward.

Anyone knows this 365 CPU and can point me in the correct direction, or provide a link to a manual of the thing or something?

Thnx
Jeebs

The IC693CPU36x family of controllers consists of:

IC693CPU360 CPU 360 Module (240K Bytes configurable user memory, 4K I/O, 8 Racks), no built-in Serial Ports .22msec/K

IC693CPU363 (240K Bytes configurable user memory)

IC693CPU366 (240K Bytes configurable Supports Profibus DP Master (Version 1 supported). One Profibus port and one RS-232 service port.

IC693CPU367 (240K Bytes configurable Supports Profibus DP Slave (Version 1 supported). One Profibus port and one RS-232 service port.

Unless this is a 'special' processor not released to the general public.
There used to be a CPU364 which had an Ethernet daughter board, but it is no longer available because of obsoleted chips used.
Also the IC693CPU367 is listed as "Mature" so it is on its way out also.

I haven't seen the particular module in ages so maybe its still available or maybe not but you USED TO be able to buy a profibus module for the 90/30 series. See also http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=57021

As I recall the one I used was made actually by SST but I have no idea whatever happened to SST - they were bought by Woodhead, then Woodhead was bought by Molex but I don't see any mention of SST stuff on the Molex site. I hope they're still out there somewhere because they made good product. I've also used SST profibus modules in AB SLC504 racks back in the day to make SLCs talk to S7s.

You could maybe do it ethernet using modbus-over-tcp. I know the S7 supports this but I don't know about the 90/30. But in my experience getting non-Siemens hardware to talk to Siemens hardware via ethernet is not for the fainthearted; Profibus is simpler.

The least common denominator would be Modbus RTU over RS485 or RS232. You'd need either a serial CP442 in the S7-400 rack or a CP342 in a remote I/o rack, and the equivalent on the GE side. Slow, but rock solid reliable.

There is a Master Profibus DP module (IC693PBM200) available and a separate slave module (IC693PBS201) for the 90-30 PLC family, these are both made and supported by GEIP.

Hate it when people give you wrong info.

It's a 364 CPU, onboard ethernet.
Problem is, we can't change anything in the config, need to use what is already there, not our machine.
Is this CPU capable of ethernet comms to and from S7 CPU?
Modbus over tcp perhaps?

Maybe, have you asked Siemens if they can talk GE - EGD, or GE - SRTP, or Modbus TCP/IP either slave or master? If they answer yes to any of these you should be able to make it work.

We've been using Modbus TCP/IP with a Schneider PLC for some time now, with an almost identical S7 setup.
Modbus it'll be.

Now need to get the guy's who's machine it is, to change the IP to our accepted range.
Always such a hassle.

That means changing the hardware configuration, thought this was not an option? You may need to change yours.

Chinging HW I meant was adding cards, or changing the physical composition of the racks.

If it's only changing parameters in the HW-Config,it shouldn't be too big a problem, it's just their programming specialist doesn't know how to do it. He's a programming specialist, not a configurator (spelling?)

Oh well, bosses decided to go with the method of quickest install. Add a desktop PC to the machine, let it gather the info and use thumb-drive to move it from said desktop to yet another PC from where they can view the data. (any bets on the amount of thumb-drives that are suddenly gonna get 'lost'?)

That the machines will not be integrated in our plant-wide scada or that our MES won't have data from it, suddenly doesn't seem like an important issue.
Guess they'll be waiting till I'm busy on another project to suddenly make this priority nr 1......