Controlling ABB ACS800 via ControlNet

Hi there,

I have been tasked with getting this drive to communicate with an Allen Bradley PLC. My experience with PLC's and RSLogix 5000 is minimal which makes the hardest part of this knowing which questions or what exactly to ask. With that said, I'll give it my best...

My confusion here is mostly centered around being able to use (and the very concepts of) control words and status words. I don't know how to use the data in RSlogix in order to manipulate the drive. Any insights here would be greatly appreciated - Ive spent many days reading the related documentation/pdfs but am not gaining any ground here.

I am an electrician and have spent a little time with PLCs in school as well as working with a simulator.

Thanks ahead of time.

Welcome to the Forum !

Can you point to some of the documentation you know about for the ACS800 and its ControlNet adapter module ?

It's necessarily going to be harder to use a third party competitive product than it will be to use the A-B product with its built-in module profiles and integration of the drive configuration software.

Let's start by agreeing on the exact device you're using with the ACS800 drive to connect it to ControlNet.

Are you using the RCNA-01 interface module ?

Have you downloaded the "Add On Instructions" for the module ?

Hi there and thanks for the reply.

The module is in fact the RCNA-01 controlnet adapter.
Some of the documents I've been attempting to use as references are: (I have them all currently stored locally)

Allen Bradley 1756-CNB manual
Allen Bradley ControlNet Network configuration
User's manual for ControlNet Adaptor module RCNA-01
ACS800 manual
Networx for controlnet manual
Controlnet manual

I do realize that using a generic profile will make this more complicated... I havent yet downloaded the add-on instructions for the module. I will look into this right now.

So far I've managed to connect to the drive... albeit now with a fault code on the drive that indicates a com module fault (7510) that I am not able to solve. Though the lights on the module seem to indicate that communication is okay.

Okay, so describe the Generic Module configuration you've made in RSLogix 5000.

What Assemblies and data sizes did you use ?

Have you calculated and saved a ControlNet network schedule configuration using RSNetworx for ControlNet software ?

There's an I/O tree in RSLogix 5000 software that will show you the status of the I/O connection. Does it give you an error code ?

There has been a network schedule that has been saved in RSNetworx.
The tree is showing that it is good.

I do not know what you mean by assemblies and data sizes used? Apologies, but my background here is weak.

The error code I get is on the ABB drive. Maybe this is referring to an issue with the remote module situated on the device? Going through the manual doesnt seem to suggest this.

Also, I appreciate your quick responses - but I should let you know that this is a training exercise. There is no real urgency. I do want to learn as much as I can about this though.

When you created the Generic Module in the I/O tree, you had to configure a Data Type (INT or DINT) and set up three Assemblies: Input, Output, and Configuration. Each Assembly had an ID number and a Size value.

The default assemblies are 20 and 70, but you can configure different Assemblies for different purposes, and they will have different contents.

The different Assemblies are described starting on page 26 of the RCNA-01 user manual.

That user manual doesn't have a good RSLogix 5000 example. Did ABB provide one ?

In general the data Produced by the Logix controller and Consumed by the ABB drive is the "Command" data. That block of data includes command bits like Start, Stop, Jog, and Reset, as well as speed or torque reference information to tell the drive how fast to go.

The data Produced by the ABB drive and Consumed by the Logix controller is the "Status" or "Feedback" data. That block of data includes status bits like Running, At Speed, or Fault, as well as feedback data like Actual Speed or Average Current.

The RCNA-01 is fairly powerful and flexible, so there is no one right way to set it up. The simple way is to stick with Assemblies 20 and 70 to start.