Red Lion G308 to CompactLogix issues

I am having some fits with my new project.
Here are the details of the system:
PLC: 1769-L33ER v21.11
RsLogix Studio V21
HMI: G308C100
Crimson 3.0 Build 548.001
Using Native Tags via L5K file v2.00
PLC to HMI communications via Ethernet
PC: Windows 7 64 Bit

This is my first time using a G3 with a RSL5K controller. Up till now I have only used them with the SLC and Micrologix.

I have imported the tags from the .L5K file. I have created the HMI tags and assigned them to the PLC tags. Everything up to this point has been pretty straight forward.

During testing I have had issues with the items on the display not working correctly. For example the Valve for the Tank1 In the Loading page will change states based on the PLC tag status. The pipe will turn green just like it should. But when I test Tank2 it does nothing. Tank 3,5 & 6 show no state changes. Tank 4 Valve seems to work but the pipes don't change state. I have looked at the tags in the PLC and they show a 1. I have looked at the HMI tags and the displays and everything looks like it should. I cant find any obvious reason for why some tags work and some don't. In the past when I would have issues with the G3 to SLC it was obvious what the problem was. I ether had the wrong address or the wrong tag. This is more of a head scratch-er as everything seems to be as correct.

When I am doing my test I am using forces on the inputs. Just in case it helps.

I have attached the HMI program and the L5K file. Hopefully one of you guys can see what I am doing wrong. Any way it could be related to using V21 RSL5K?

Thanks for the help. This site is the best.

I have done some more testing and I think I have the issue narrowed down. If I power up the HMI with my tags forced the screen will show properly for a second but then revert back to the "Wrong" state. So I put some delay in the coms. Then the items on the screen would show the proper status. After the delay time the items would slowly start dropping out one item at a time. Until I had a screen that showed some items properly but nothing like it should be.

Any ideas what would cause something like that?

I have attached the screen shots of what is going on. Hopefully this helps visualize the issue.

The Crimson 3 project you posted has no comm's delay for the AB protocol, try setting it to 1000ms and see if it improves.

the original file didn't have any delay. I haven't needed it on any of my past projects. I have added that just recently for testing.

The screen shots I posted was at about 1000 ms. The screen will look good for a few seconds and then work it way back to the second screen. If I don't have any delay in the coms it goes so fast you don't notice the change. It just looks like nothing is working.

I have unplugged all the other PLC's on my test bench just to make sure I wasn't getting any data collisions or ip address issues. No luck still have the problem.

It is like the HMI is reading the tag status on one poll and then not updating on the next. Although I am sure the tag status doesn't change as you can see by the screen shot the forces are still there.

I really hope this isn't some "rookie" mistake. I will feel pretty stupid

Doesn't sound like a rookie mistake at all. I've heard that sometimes re-importing the L5K will work (for some unknown reason). The few comms issues I've had have been so profound that this didn't help. It's worth a shot, though. failing that, Red Lion's tech support folks are pretty good and easy to get in touch with.

I am in touch with Red Lion's Support at the same time I am posting here. Hopefully one will pan out.

Here is what I have done today: I downgraded my Processor to V20 just in case there were some issues there. I downloaded the V20 file and put the processor in the TEST mode and started forcing inputs. Long story short: Its not the Firmware in the PLC. I get the same issues with the V20 stuff.

It is weird that some things work fine. My indicator lights seem to work fine. They turn green when they should and hold their status. This project is just a scaled down version of another I have done for this company. That panel is working fine with a SLC 5/04 and NET-ENI. All I did with this one was change the tag sources to the L5K instead of the SLC files. Any way that could be the issue?

I was thinking of maybe downgrading my Crimson as I have the most current version. I cant find the older versions on the web site.

Let me know if you have any ideas for me to try. I will keep the thread updated so if I finally get a resolution everyone can learn from it.

Bullzi said:

I am in touch with Red Lion's Support at the same time I am posting here. Hopefully one will pan out.

Here is what I have done today: I downgraded my Processor to V20 just in case there were some issues there. I downloaded the V20 file and put the processor in the TEST mode and started forcing inputs. Long story short: Its not the Firmware in the PLC. I get the same issues with the V20 stuff.

It is weird that some things work fine. My indicator lights seem to work fine. They turn green when they should and hold their status. This project is just a scaled down version of another I have done for this company. That panel is working fine with a SLC 5/04 and NET-ENI. All I did with this one was change the tag sources to the L5K instead of the SLC files. Any way that could be the issue?

I was thinking of maybe downgrading my Crimson as I have the most current version. I cant find the older versions on the web site.

Let me know if you have any ideas for me to try. I will keep the thread updated so if I finally get a resolution everyone can learn from it.

Click to expand...

I don't know that you need an older version of Crimson 3.0 but if you do, go to the Revision History page and you can download many older versions.

By the way, have you rebuilt the comms blocks and recompiled the project? Do this by right clicking where it says Error near the bottom right of the status bar.

Just tried to do that. No luck. Thanks for the info!!

Tried a older version of Crimson 530.00. No luck with that either.

Two comments on this topic:

1. I have experienced 'corruption' of the SLC data table addresses in Crimson 3 when I changed the driver associated with a network port in Crimson 3 from one A-B driver to another. Tags that were addressed to 'N7:0' were suddenly addressed to 'B3:24', or something similar. I never identified a pattern for the corruption.

Two workarounds were found: Either do a 'rebuild comms blocks' before changing the driver, or export the tag database, change the driver, then re-import the tag database.

This may not affect you, because you probably changed the driver and then re-addressed all the tag to ControlLogix native tag names instead of SLC-500 data table addresses.

2. Crimson 3 doesn't have a great comms error reporting mechanism. In my experience if you have one mis-addressed tag, over the course of a few dozen seconds the G3's inability to read that tag seems to put other tags (maybe there's a 'scan group' or something) into a failed mode.

There is a 'CommsError' system tag in Crimson 3 that gives you a bit mask telling you if PLC devices are online or offline. But that's all the detail you get. I am unaware of any way to put Crimson3 into a debug mode or get some sort of output that will tell you exactly which tag or address is failing.

I removed a bunch of the screens from my original program so that I had only one screen. The loading screen. Same issue.

I am now going to try and create a new screen from scratch and see if it acts up. I will let you know what happens.

Created a new simple screen like the Loading screen on my first file from scratch. I get the same results.

The only thing I can think to try now is to create a new PLC program and test that against the test screen.

This has really got me by the short ones!! I cant for the life of me figure out what could be happening.

You might also try the new screen with only the absolute minimum tags. Export the tag database, delete the extras from a copy, then re-import it.

I finally have it figured out. I know what is causing the problems. It seems that Crimson is not dealing with the Alias tags well. If I change all the tags to just straight Bool (internal) tags everything works just fine.

The strange part is that it isn't consistent with the Alias Tags. Some tags it works just fine. Other tags will not display unless I have a lot of delay in the system. There is no real pattern.

So now my question is: Is this how Crimson is supposed to work? Do I have to “map” all my I/O to internal bits? Isn't that kind of what Alias does? Or do I have to set my HMI tags to the physical I/O tag and not the Alias? Kind of seems a little backwards to me.

OkiePC once told me that “Mapping” the I/O to internal bits is considered “good practice” when programming a HMI. I understand with a RSL500 project that might be a good idea. But with the RSL5K Alias feature isn't that what we do when we Alias a I/O Point?

I am working with Red Lion on this but any comments or ideas please let me know.

BTW: OkiePC hope you and all your family is safe down in OKC!

You might want to look at Ron B's thoughts on RSLogix5000 Alias tags in Post #4. It seems that two different Aliases can fight for control over the same tagname memory address.

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=79720&highlight=alias

...in RSLogix5000 it is possible to have several different "aliases" tied to just ONE address ... (for example: the alias "ALARM_LAMP_RED" and the alias "LO_PRESSURE_PUMP" can BOTH be tied to just the ONE address "Local:2:O.Data.7") ...

Click to expand...

PS: You did an excellent job of describing the problem in your very first post! That is an uncommon but welcome exception around this site.