TECO OP10 HMI to SLC500?

I am somewhat new to incorporating an HMI for a PLC user control. I have on hand a TECO OP10 HMI that i was wondering if it could be interfaced with an AB SLC500 or if purhaps it may be restricted to just the TECO brand product line. Anyone have information on this? If it can be integrated for the SLC 500, is there online documentation on how this is accomplished? I am aware of the OptiMate brand and that it is suppose to be compatible with AB. I just thought that since I had the OP10 i would look into those. Thanks for ALL you comments and Best Regards! Randall

Seems like you are trying to do something that would not be economically practical if your time is worth anything. Having said that, if your time is free then I would suggest the following approaches.
1. Get the Optimate software and try to connect to the OP-10. If it will connect perhaps you could then determine if the OP-10 is equal to any Optimate model.
2. If that doesn't work, perhaps you could contact TECO to see if they have any drivers developed for their software that would allow the OP-10 to communicate with the AB SLC500.
3.Contact TECO and see if they would provide you with the source software for the OP-10. That way you could write the code needed to connect to the SLC500.

Thank you for your input. I am currently talking with a FactoryMation rep that says i have to make sure my AB is RS485 compatible. That isnt so much of the issue as is knowing how to set the OP10 up for communication. There is VERY little information online in regards to anything TECO related. . . hence the issue at hand

Please post the exact model number of the SLC500. Many of them use Data Highway (DH485) which is similar to RS485, others use RS232 (DF1), or Ethernet connections.

Edit:
Here is the link to the OP-10 manual.
http://factorymation.info/plr/OP10-user-manual.pdf
The COM1 option shown on page 57 in the manual is RS232 (using pins 2,3,and 5) which would be the same as RS232 DF1.

Next,which is pure speculation on my part, The RS485 might connect directly to the DH port on the SLC500 if the SLC500 has a DH port.

Thank you again for your help! The Model is a SLC5/03 CPU. We currently use the DH485 connector to communicate through to our laptop via the appropriate software. I do have the manual printed and on hand and have been discussing this with Factorymation tech support as well. The Tech support told me IF our Model was RS485 compatible, then yes it could be used. Are DH485 and RS485 compatible? Thats the unknown i suppose. Thanks again!

RanMan said:

Are DH485 and RS485 compatible? Thats the unknown i suppose. Thanks again!

Click to expand...

RS485 is the physical medium (how it is wired and the electrical properties). DH485 is a communication protocol that may be used on that medium.

I am sure others can give more of the finer points, but you are comparing apples to orange trees. Or fuji apples to golden delicious trees... No, nevermind that analogy isn't quite right either...somebody else take over here...

Your HMI needs to "speak" DF1 or DH485 to communicate with the 5/03. DF1 can only be used on channel 0 (the nine pin serial port), but DH485 protocol could be used on either port.

Here is a link discussing the compatibility issue.
http://www.control.com/thread/1026218553

I am just not that familiar with the ModBus or DataHighway protocol. I suspect that the registers where the data is stored in the SLC may be difficult to interface or access with the OP-10 register requests. Perhaps FactoryMation Tech Support has that already accounted for or can provide that info. A Gateway that can handle this may be required.

Edit:
At least two other forum members (Archie) and (Ken Roach) are very knowledgeable about interfaces and protocol for connecting to the SLC500. Search their posts for more info.

Here's a link to a gateway company that might handle the protocols needed.
Link:
http://www.prosoft-technology.com/P...dbus-Master-Slave-to-DF1-Master-Slave-Gateway

Unless the OP10 came wrapped in a thick wad of $20 bills, I would set it aside and get an HMI that can work with your controller.

There is nothing in that user manual that suggests that the OP10 can communicate with an SLC-5/03 controller.

The OP10 does appear to support Modbus RTU protocol, but in general it would be a Master and the controller would need to be a Slave.

The SLC-5/03 controller with OS302 FRN10 or FRN11 can be a Modbus RTU Master, but not a Modbus RTU Slave.

Chapter 4 of the OP10 user manual refers to configuring the OP10 as a Modbus RTU Slave, but appears to be doing that in order to provide a sort of data bridging function to a TECO controller. I don't know if the data objects it describes in that chapter can be used with visualization objects on the screen.

Buying a network bridge and sinking the time into figuring out how to cross-link these incompatible devices does not seem like a cost-effective project.

Just curious as to what was the outcome of this project. If you decided to abandon the OP10 here is a link to another alternative.
Link:
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=42656
The thread is very long but worth the read. There have been many updates and version changes but the latest download is available at the link below.
Link:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/advancedhmi/