EZTouch Panels and DH485 Networking

Hello,

I am planning a new project, and have a question about the networking capability of EZTouch panels, in case anyone has any experience with such an application.

I'm duplicating the basic layout of a current machine, where I have a SLC 5/04, with a DH485 Network, with about 5 PV300 Micro's on it. I want to replace the PV300's with the EZtouch 6 Inch Mono panels.

Automation Direct sells a connector for their panels which is basically a DB15 (to go into the panel) with a terminal block on it, so that you can connect your (belden cable I assume?) comm cable to it. BUT it says RS422 on their website when looking at this connector.

My question is, with this connector or not, Is this setup possible? I'm willing to make my own cables.

I planned on calling Automation Direct tech-support, but wanted to ask the real professionals before doing so, as last time I called them they weren't extremely helpful when talking AB-Networking.

Thanks for reading, and any help you can give!

I've used multiple EZ-Touch panels with DH-485 to a single PLC. The set-up is very simple, and works well.

I used two Allen Bradley AIC+ modules. Because of my physical layout one panel was close to the PLC. I used the standard EZ-Touch cable, connected the EZ-Touch RS-232 pins to the BD-9 port on the AIC and the Micro-Logix 1200 PLC to the DIN connector on that same EZ-Touch. The terminal strip was connected to field wiring to another AIC+ mounted in a VFD eclosure, which was also the location of the other EZ-Touch. I connected the field communications wiring (shielded twisted pair) to the terminal strip on that second AIC+ and I also connected the EZ-Touch RS-485 pins to that same terminal strip. For this we built our own cable. The pinouts are in the EZ-Touch manual.

You can mix and match the layout and the components and the 232 or 485 connections to suit your needs. One advantage with my setup is it let me connect my laptotp to the second AIC+ DB9 port and monitor the PLC and have the EZ-Touch "live" at the same time. Note: you can see the EZ-Touch in RSLinx as a big "?" but you can't program them through that serial port. I've got one of the AutomationDirect.com USB to serial converters that works great, and I can monitor the PLC and download panel configurations through the USB port simultaneously without problems.

AutomationDirect.com has always had trouble differentiating between RS-422 and RS-485 communications. Since the two are electrically compatible, it doesn't matter much. In their manuals where they talk about RS-422 you can safely substitute RS-485.

Fantastic! Thanks for your quick reply, Tom.

I don't have a need to plug in to the network from any of the panels with the EZTouch-es in them, so I should just be able to skip the AIC+'s and connect the field wiring directly to the terminal block on the Automation Direct connector, right?

Dave McGlynn said:

Fantastic! Thanks for your quick reply, Tom.

I don't have a need to plug in to the network from any of the panels with the EZTouch-es in them, so I should just be able to skip the AIC+'s and connect the field wiring directly to the terminal block on the Automation Direct connector, right?

Click to expand...

Well, no.

First, I believe the DH-485 port CH0 on the SLC 5/04 is RS-232 electrically, so you can't multi-drop from it. The second port (CH1) on the 5/04 is DH+. You can configure CH0 to be either DF1 or DH-485, but it is still RS232 so you need at least one AIC+

Second, you should connect the communications cable to the DB-15 port on the EZ-Touch. I believe the terminal on the EZ-Touch is just for power connections. The DB-15 port has pins for both RS-232 and RS-485 wiring. Use the RS-485 pins, and take your connections out to an external terminal strip. You can multi-drop thiese connections to the AIC+ terminal strip. Note that you may need a terminating resistor on the AIC+ and the last EZ-Touch terminals.

Tom..

You're Correct, I failed to tell you that there's already an AIC+ between the 5/04 and the DH485 network.

The connector that I'm talking about is a separate purchase from Automation Direct EZ-COMCON3 .

According to the description, this connector provides access to the RS485/422 pins on the DB15, so I think I should be OK.