Micrologix 1200 to PV+ Comm problems

Hi all,

I am using a Micrologix 1200 (1762-L40-AWA) and a Panelview Plus 600 (2711P-T6C20D). I have been unable to establish communications between them for quite some time now.


The micrologix only has 1 comm port, so I have to disconnect my PC before attempting to connect the PV+, making it rather annoying to troubleshoot.

If test my application from my laptop, the application works great. I have full control over the micrologix. After downloading to the PV+ (and checking Replace Communications box in the Transfer Utility), all my tags show up error-ed.

I believe that the problem is either in my FTVSME runtime communications settings or the actual cable I am using.


The cable I am using from Micrologix to PV+ is the 1761-CBL-PM02. This Cable is for DTE to DTE devices so i am also using a null modem adapter.
Will this work?


I have attached snips of my design and runtime Comm tabs in FTVSME. The local works great, but I cannot copy it to runtime, because the path is different.

Any suggestions to get this working are much appreciated!

Thanks a lot.


P.S. I dont have a whole lot of experience and I learned on Contrologix 5000, with ethernet communications. 500 and serial comm are new to me.

Try copying from Design to Runtime anyway. The path is the same, out the serial port (either your PC's or from the panleview)

Thanks for the quick reply,

I have just tried that with no luck.

When I am online with the micrologix, i use the following settings
baud19200
stop bits 1
error check CRC
Timeout 3000
Max Retries 3

Com5 (of my PC)



I set the PV+ to station number 0, is this correct? The micrologix is node 1.

Thanks

Here are snips of my serial network settings that are working in design.

That initial Runtime configuration where you browse through the PV+ serial port will not work. As Bernie suggested, you need to configure the DF1 driver in the runtime tab or copy it over from the Development tab.

When you create or copy the Runtime configuration, set it for COM 1. On the PanelView, the serial port is always COM 1.

Also use CRC error checking only. It is default for SLC and MicroLogix controllers.

Thank you so much Bernie and Ken! It is finally operational!

So the solution to my problem was to copy design to runtime, change the Com port to 1, and set it to CRC error checking.

If you dont mind, could you answer a few questions for next time I run into this situation.

When setting Runtime, why did it work to have the serial network under my PC. I would have thought the serial network should be under the panelview+ (ethernet, Panelview, then the serial network). My PC isnt even in the network when the PV+ and Micrologix are communicating.

Does Name of the Micrologix in my runtime config have to match the name of the project running on the plc? Before copying design to runtime, I just had it as the default name of MicroLogix on the runtime tab. After copying it shows the name of my processor.

Thank you so much!!

As far as I understand when you copy the 'design' to 'runtime' the PC, in the 'design' setup, is replaced by the Panelview in the 'runtime' setup. Just as the PC has Ethernet or COM ports so does the Panelview. If you are using the equivalent port from your PC to the PLC as the Panelview will have to use then copying should work. Our typical 'copy' is concerning the Ethernet port of both units. Obviously the COM5 on your PC would have to change to the COM1 of the Panelview. I am not sure about the error check. Whatever worked from the PC should have worked from the Panelview.

Oh ok, that makes sense. I noticed that when the serial network was added under the PV+, there were less configuration options on the network properties screen. So that also indicates that it should be done as you suggested.

Thanks again for your help.

I have spent a lot of time on my own trying to set this up, and within a few hours of posting here, I had a solution.

Thank you so much!