Controlling powerflex 40 over ethernet/ip

hello,
I have a drive I am trying to write a program for over ethernet/ip. this is the first time I've ever wrote a program like this and am having trouble getting the drive to take commands. In looking the my tags, I can see feedback values from the drive, and I understand how the drive communicates and the different commands within the words, but its my understanding that if I change the value in the controller tags, the drive should move. Its wired up to a motor which will spin if the command is set from the keypad, but not the controller. I've matched the drives and am online and everything seems to be communicating as far as I can tell, Just feels like there is a step I'm missing. I've tried to set it up just like the instruction manual for the comm card as far as I can tell. I'm not trying to do explicit messaging as I have a 22-comm-e card for every drive I'm using. Any help to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Dan

One piece of advice, Rockwell provides an AOI(add on instruction) that makes contorolling these pretty simple.
If you can, I'd install that into your Rs5000 program.
http://www.ab.com/support/abdrives/webupdate/powerflex4class.html#

When you install a communication module, you need to configure the drive to accept its Commands and Reference from the network port.

On the PowerFlex 40, these are Parameter 36 (Start Source) and Parameter 38 (Speed Reference).

After you've made those settings, you need to cycle power to the drive to make them take effect. That's generally true any time your change the control mode of a drive.

Also, I noticed from your screenshot that the PLC is in PROG mode; it won't apply those output bits to the network until it's in RUN mode !

Yeah, the start and speed reference parameters were both set to receive from the comm port.. and I did cycle power after parameter changes.. I learned my lesson after changing baud rates and not cycling power before matching drives. It wasn't working in program or run mode.. I probably should have mentioned it. It turned out to be a problem with my logic and making sure to toggle the right bits.. This is all just setup on a test bench. Thanks again for your help Ken.. I'm just making the transition from mostly on shift troubleshooting and work orders to designing and programming my own projects and this forum is a very valuable resource. I'm going to have to upgrade my membership.

Ken Roach said:

...
Also, I noticed from your screenshot that the PLC is in PROG mode; it won't apply those output bits to the network until it's in RUN mode !

Click to expand...

Wow, good eye!