PV+ to TI505 Comm Issues

I'm currently trying to get a PanelView Plus 1000 running 5.10 firmware to communicate with a Simatic TI505. I'm also using KepServer 4.3 loaded onto the PV to connect. The problem is that the PV doesn't communicate with the TI505 correctly. When testing the PV project on my computer with FT View Studio and KepServer running the displays work fine, but when loading it to the PV the indicators only light up green but don't display correctly and I get a '[device].[device] is not responding' error. I've been trying every possible cable I can find between the devices and still no luck. I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with this kind of set up and can give some advice on what could be wrong?

The fact that the development computer and the TI-505 communicate correctly is excellent.

Is the connection serial or Ethernet ? If serial, remember that the PanelView Plus RS-232 port is a "DCE" type, while all computers are "DTE" type, so you'll need a null-modem adapter on the serial cable.

Have you done a firmware upgrade to the PV+ terminal to install the TI-505 driver ? KepServer drivers aren't loaded onto a terminal except during a firmware load.

The most common problem I've run into is how the KepServer configuration file gets packed into the *.MER runtime file.

KepServer Enterprise has a field where you designate the Path and Filename for the "default configuration file". The default filename is "default.pfe".

When FactoryTalk View Studio creates a Runtime file, it checks that setting in KepServer Enterprise and grabs the file that KepServer is pointing to.

This gave rise to the myth that the KepServer file had to be named "default.pfe", but that is untrue. It can have any name.

I have installed the firmware with the TI-505 port selected and the connection is serial. I was told the PV would need a straight through cable though I did try a null modem adapter, but I just tried a true null modem cable and it's the same thing. When the application starts on the PV it turns the indicators green for a few minutes then the '[device].[device] is not responding' error comes up and the indicators all turn to 'Error'.

When the app runs on the PV I can see in the message box that it starts KepServer and it loads all of the tags from the KepServer file so the file seems to be getting compiled correctly. I'm just not understanding how it can work on the development computer with the same app and KepServer file running with the same cable but it doesn't work on the PV.

I don't know the pinout or port type on the TI-505, so my comments about DTE versus DCE were just to distinguish between the cable used to connect to a PC port versus the cable used to connect to the PanelView port.

In general, if you need a null-modem cable to connect to a PC serial port, then you'll need a straight-through cable to connect to the PanelView Plus serial port.

You may have to use a protocol analyzer to determine if any data is getting through between the PanelView Plus and the TI-505. I don't know if the "indicators turning green" means the connections are establishing and working for a few minutes, or if it just means they haven't timed out yet.

Another common issue with PanelView Plus serial drivers is the COM port number. The serial port on the PV+ is always COM1 or SERIAL1, while in your development environment you might be using COM3 or something else. Make sure that RSLinx Enterprise doesn't have any drivers configured to use your serial port.

Yeah sorry, the indicators in the application display don't seem to be timing out at first but after a while they turn to errors. I thought it was an issue with the RSEnterprise on the PanelView but I made sure there wasn't a serial port configured.

I've got a newer PanelView now with 6.0 firmware and I've reconfigured the KepServer file to V5 firmware and the same issue persists. The TI-505 serial port is selected in the server config on the Windows CE control panel and it seems to be running the server.

The error message block:

Device 'Platform.Platform' is not responding.
[FactoryTalk]: The item is no longer available: Platform.Platform.
Unable to activate connection: Platform.Platform.Test Sep Status
Unable to activate connection: Platform.Platform.Test Sep FO
Unable to activate connection: ...etc

Click to expand...

Could it just be a cable issue? These TI processors are pretty old and I've never worked with them before, but maybe the new PanelViews can't communicate with such outdated equipment?

The PanelView terminals use a totally normal RS-232 serial port, so I doubt there's anything physically incompatible, since your PC can communicate with the same port on the TI-505 controller.

Are you using the same cable between your PC and the TI-505, with an added null-modem adapter, to connect to the PanelView ?

The next troubleshooting step I would take is to try to capture the traffic between the PanelView and the TI-505, to see if the TI-505 ever responds to a PanelView query.

Yes and I've also tried a regular null modem cable as well as the straight through and they all give the same error and the application reacts the same way. I've even built two cables with pinout diagrams I found in some Simatic manuals.

We might have a different port card that has lights to show if the PanelView is sending requests and the TI is responding. I've currently got a TI 545-1104 in but I'll try to find the other one.

Thanks for the help by the way.