Changing from controlnet to ethernet, feasible?

Hello,

I am considering a variety of options for a machine upgrade and was wondering what the feasibility was for changing a 1734-ACNR for a 1734-AENTR structure so to speak.

so for example in the project, rebuilding a given rack of ACNR point I/O into an AENTR rack, what are the considerations from a programming standpoint? is there an elegant way to manage readdressing instances of I/O in the project, or would it be a nightmare to go in and change ever...single...input...and output address.

There are both networks on the machine currently. The entire line is on its own vlan with reserved IP addresses for the PLC hardware. The larger picture is taking the machine from a 1756-L63 to a 1756-L72S processor and doing a complete safety upgrade to the work cell.

If your just changing communication with the same I/O the only think that would change is the tag prefix. Save a backup of what you have already just in case and use the find/replace command to change the prefix of all the tags throughout your program. To clarify, use find/replace in the logic, not the controller or program tags window.

I don't think there's even a prefix to change; the Module Name of the POINT Adapter is the important element.

I just did a little test program in which I set up some POINT I/O on ControlNet and on Ethernet.

The names of all the modules on the Ethernet side were identical to the modules on the ControlNet side but with an "E" appended to them so that there would be no name conflicts.

I created some logic addressed to the ControlNet I/O.

Next, I deleted all the ControlNet I/O modules.

Next, I re-named all the EtherNet/IP I/O modules by removing the "E" suffix.

And automatically all the connections to the ControlNet modules were now connected to the Ethernet modules.

Thanks for the reply's.

It cant be that 'easy'....

just to make sure i get this: your saying it should be possible to just create duplicate POINT I/O racks with AENTR modules, then simply delete controlnet racks and rename ethernet to those original names.

for example, node 34 on CN is:
"1734-ACNR/A Shear_Left_Outputs" w/ 10 slots

I build :
"1734-AENTR/A Shear_Left_OutputsE" w/10 slots

Delete the ACNR set, and delete the E appended to the AENTR set and the project hardly skips a beat?

I think it really is that easy.

MSG instructions or GSVs won't automatically re-address themselves to the new network path, but references to the base Module-type Tags will.

I'm not sure how Alias tags might be affected by such a change.

Save a good backup and give it a try.

I'll bet aliases will need to be looked at. they are peppered in there depending who did programming. The machines 10+ years old so there's the typical hodge podge. Either way, it would be easy enough to manage since its hardly used.

I'm going to lay out my 'upgrade' and see what makes sense to be changed for the newly required I/O but this will be a very useful option for that process. Ive already pulled an upload and started tinkering with the major changes.

One additional question that arises is how to manage the deletion of a controlnet module/rack. No one here knows CN very well and frankly no one has ever added or deleted anything on it, so if i do wind up converting one (very likely), how do i 'properly' delete it?

I suspect in the ladder project its pretty easy, what will be required in the networx file?