logging onto PLC

I am a tech at a plant. I have been just clicking an ACD file to access a PLC. Controllogix 5000 L6. I never loaded RSLinx. However, yesterday I had problem going online. So, I loaded RSLinx Classic for the first time in a long time. I saw the yellow question mark and big x mark over the PLC address. I called my senior tech and he said I should still be able to go online.

If I understand it correctly, with RSLogix 5000 I do not need to load RSLinx separately since it is integrated into the software.

After I load RSLogix 5000, I open WhoActive, I still see the PLC address with yellow question mark and x sign.
I thought my laptop's local network card has to have the same network address as the PLC. When I Ipconfig at the command prompt, my laptop's local network address is not the same as the PLC network address. However I cannot change it since I do not have the administrative access.
So, my questions are...

1) In RSlogix 5000 (not 500) I do not have to load RSLinx separately, am I right?

2) In order to go online with a PLC, my laptop's local network address has to match the PLC's network address, right?

unsaint32 said:

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1) In RSlogix 5000 (not 500) I do not have to load RSLinx separately, am I right?

2) In order to go online with a PLC, my laptop's local network address has to match the PLC's network address, right?

Click to expand...

1) It depends on how RSLinx is setup to on your machine. If it is set up to work as a service, you do not have to open RSLinx first. However that is sometimes buggy, so a lot of people disable it. This is not exclusive to RSLogix5000, Rslogix500, and I believe RSLogix5 all act the same way in this regard.

2) It depends! If your network is setup where there is routing between subnets, you can still communicate with a PLC even if it is on another subnet. It all depends on how your network is configured. Check to see if you can ping the plc from the command prompt.

Helliana said:

1) It depends on how RSLinx is setup to on your machine. If it is set up to work as a service, you do not have to open RSLinx first. However that is sometimes buggy, so a lot of people disable it. This is not exclusive to RSLogix5000, Rslogix500, and I believe RSLogix5 all act the same way in this regard.

2) It depends! If your network is setup where there is routing between subnets, you can still communicate with a PLC even if it is on another subnet. It all depends on how your network is configured. Check to see if you can ping the plc from the command prompt.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the helpful answers. When i go back to work, I will definitely check to see if the RSLinx is set up as a service, and i will ping the PLC.

But either way, if I open RSLinx or WhoActive and see that the PLC address is X'ed, does that not mean I cannot go online to the PLC?

A red X means RSLinx cannot see the device.
A yellow ? means that RSLinx does not have the correct EDS file. (electronic data sheet).

Alan

alan_505 said:

A red X means RSLinx cannot see the device.
A yellow ? means that RSLinx does not have the correct EDS file. (electronic data sheet).

Alan

Click to expand...

In other words, when I see the red ex marks, I cannot logon, no matter how the network is setup, right?

Yeah, the RED X means RSLinx can't find those PLC's. However, it is finding four devices which means RSLinx and your ethernet network is working to some extent.

Zooming in on your picture, here's what I see:
10.0.11 - devices not found by RSL
10.1.11 - devices not found by RSL
10.1.12 - devices found by RSL

If your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and there is no router between these networks you will not be able to connect because they are on different sub nets.

So, as said above you should open a command prompt (start-run-cmd, or look under accessories in windows) and "Ping" the plc you want to connect to. If you can't ping it your PC can't connect to it, so you'll need to work with you network people to fix that first before trying RSLinx again.

Good luck!