AB SLC500 RS232 com problems

Rikc_AB

Member
Join Date
Mar 2006
Location
Alberta
Posts
1
I have spent several hours trying to establish communication via RS232 with an AB SLC500 /w an L532 CPU that has its DH485 port tied up w/ a Panelview that can't be taken down w/o dumping the plant. It's the only overall view HMI in the plant and has been programmed failsafe if it loses communication w/ the PLC so RS232 is the only option. I have tried everything that I can think of to talk to this rack but no joy. The RSLinx DF1 RS232 drivers fail on error checking or come back with "unable to establish communication" and "check cables and connections" messages. I can simply unplug from the CPU and tie onto my own test unit L531 CPU)and be online everytime. Does any one know if firmware rev can cause this issue? Has anyone else encountered this problem or one similar? If anyone here has advice that may help me resolve this difficulty please post or email me.

Thanks, Rick
 
The RS232 port might also be configured for DH485. Do you have the offline file, if so check the port config. Did you try autoconfig?
 
The DF1 driver will NEVER work on RS232 port configured for DH485.

You need to use the PIC/DH485 driver. That will work.

However, the PIC driver does not work on some computers, and all USB RS232 ports. You need a good PC with a built in RS232 port. If it doesn't work, try another computer.

As a general rule, I avoid configuring this port for DH485, and always buy DF1 panelview.
 
If you have a 1747-PIC and a functional DH485 driver in RSLinx, you should be able to plug into the RJ45 jack on the PanelView itself, which will allow you access to the DH485 network and thus to the SLC. It would be best to know that your DH485 driver is up and running with a different controller before connecting to this HMI that can stop your plant.

It would be even better if you had a 1747-UIC, which doesn't require so much hand-wringing over ports and drivers.

It's possible that the system designer configured the Channel 0 port on the controller to ASCII mode or disabled it, specifically to keep you from doing what you are trying to do.
 

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