Messaging between CLX PLC

Dear All ,

We have around 10 PLC-5 System which we are upgrading to Control logix V19.0

Now these PLC used to exchange data between them , so we are planning to use Message instruction .

We gotta some feedback that for messaging it is required that the Data type should be DINT and not INT .

Is it true that the Data type shall be DINT always for messaging between CLX PLC as there are some existing PV1000e connected to this Control logix PLC (since previously they were connected to PLC-5 on controlnet) and data type there is INT

Source and Destination type need to match. You can even use UDT's if you want.

if you are doing the swap one PLC at a time there may be issues, depending on PLC5 firmware and communication medium.

PLC-5 controllers can easily exchange INT data types with ControlLogix using the MSG instruction.

Some older PLC-5E controllers and 1785-ENET "sidecar" communication modules do not support the CIP Ethernet, aka "EtherNet/IP" messaging protocol used by ControlLogix.

A full list of the required Firmware revisions for each hardware Series of the PLC-5 is in RA Knowledgebase Article ID #19325 (Access Level: Everyone).

All PLC-5E controllers can be upgraded but some older ones require a physical firmware chipset to be installed. I believe that Rockwell Automation is no longer offering these as field kits but rather only as part of a remanufacturing process.

Ken Roach said:

...I believe that Rockwell Automation is no longer offering these as field kits but rather only as part of a remanufacturing process.

Click to expand...

Just went through it and you are (as always) correct. Its a policy that must have been instituted within the last year or so because most of the people I spoke to in the distribution channels thought that update was still available and perhaps even at no cost. Sadly that path is not an option any longer. You must spend around $1500 (plus downtime) to have the PLC-5 reworked. In my case it was cheaper just to replace it with something else.

Which is probably the reason for the new policy in the first place.

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