Steve Etter
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
Hey all – just wanted to share something I ran across during a start-up I have been working on for the last few days. I did some searching but haven’t found any reference to this so I thought I would put it up here in case somebody else is having the same problem.
I have a machine-based Ethernet network for a Logix5000 system which incorporates 4 managed switches (2 N-Tron and 2 Hirschmann), 2 CompactLogix processors, 5 remote I/O racks, 5 Powerflex 70 drives, 2 Powerflex 40P drives, and 1 SMC Softstart. As of noon yesterday, everything was communicating nicely and working properly with the exception of one of the Powerflex 40P drives – we could not get it to communicate on the network.
We tried all the usual suspects – changed CAT5 cables, swapped ports on the switch, replaced the 22COMM-E card with a known-good card; replaced the drive with another known-good drive; called AB Tech Support; attempted to find/modify the Hirschmann managed switch configuration – none of these helped. Finally, the only thing left was the managed switch (which, incidentally, was communicating nicely with all the other devices connected to it – 4 Powerflex 70 drives with 20COMM-E cards and 1 remote I/O rack), so we created an ran a long CAT5 cable from one of the other switches (an N-Tron) and the drive started communicating. So now we knew the problem was somewhere within the switch. Luckily I happen to have another, larger Hirschmann switch in my office that was destined for another project, so I swapped it in where the failed switch was and, once again, communications were successful.
Now here is where it gets interesting: This morning, it occurred to me that I have a second Hirschmann switch – identical to the first “failed” switch – working without issue in one of the other cabinets on the same machine. It, however, does not have any drives attached to it at all. So I took it out, put it in place of the first switch and saw the same communications failure with the same 22COMM-E card. Swapping back to the larger switch again restored communications. While I haven’t contacted Belden/Hirschmann yet, it seems there is a problem with this particular switch style.
The switch that seems to have the problem is the Hirschmann - RS20-0800T1T1SDAEE - Rail Managed 8 Port Switch.
FYI – the larger switch that does communicate is exactly the same part number except “-08” is replaced with “-16” for a 16 Port switch.
Steve
I have a machine-based Ethernet network for a Logix5000 system which incorporates 4 managed switches (2 N-Tron and 2 Hirschmann), 2 CompactLogix processors, 5 remote I/O racks, 5 Powerflex 70 drives, 2 Powerflex 40P drives, and 1 SMC Softstart. As of noon yesterday, everything was communicating nicely and working properly with the exception of one of the Powerflex 40P drives – we could not get it to communicate on the network.
We tried all the usual suspects – changed CAT5 cables, swapped ports on the switch, replaced the 22COMM-E card with a known-good card; replaced the drive with another known-good drive; called AB Tech Support; attempted to find/modify the Hirschmann managed switch configuration – none of these helped. Finally, the only thing left was the managed switch (which, incidentally, was communicating nicely with all the other devices connected to it – 4 Powerflex 70 drives with 20COMM-E cards and 1 remote I/O rack), so we created an ran a long CAT5 cable from one of the other switches (an N-Tron) and the drive started communicating. So now we knew the problem was somewhere within the switch. Luckily I happen to have another, larger Hirschmann switch in my office that was destined for another project, so I swapped it in where the failed switch was and, once again, communications were successful.
Now here is where it gets interesting: This morning, it occurred to me that I have a second Hirschmann switch – identical to the first “failed” switch – working without issue in one of the other cabinets on the same machine. It, however, does not have any drives attached to it at all. So I took it out, put it in place of the first switch and saw the same communications failure with the same 22COMM-E card. Swapping back to the larger switch again restored communications. While I haven’t contacted Belden/Hirschmann yet, it seems there is a problem with this particular switch style.
The switch that seems to have the problem is the Hirschmann - RS20-0800T1T1SDAEE - Rail Managed 8 Port Switch.
FYI – the larger switch that does communicate is exactly the same part number except “-08” is replaced with “-16” for a 16 Port switch.
Steve