Great in the school world. new to the real world.

peelseeds

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Join Date
Mar 2012
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Not at your house.
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Hey everyone, I think i'm in a little over my head. school made me very confident with the familiarity of Rockwells software; RSLogix5000, FactoryTalk view studio, RSLinx, and some of the tools each of these application comes with. come the real world, I'm losing my confidence.

one of the main things I need to learn is how to download to the actual HMI's. I've never done this before, I have a strong IT background, great at operating computers, understand technical terminologies; I've done some searches here to find some insight, and I've read some things about using panelbuild32, using memory cards to transfer etc. not sure what method to use.

since the HMI application is created in FactoryTalk view studios, I messed around with that (offline of course and with a copy of the original application. I have a list/link of all the panels IP addresses (the shortcuts point to a FTP server where an existing .MER file exists for each panel). we are using DeviceNet.

NOTE: within FactoryTalk I've made sure all necessary users have been added, runtime security is setup properly for my users, my communication setup right now, points to the PLC so I can use my laptop as a 2nd hmi.

Assumption #1, create a runtime application --> .MER file. use the transfer utility --> select the created .MER file as the SOURCE file, select option parameters (run application at startup, and Replace communications) then in the destination terminal window --> select the HMI's IP I want to download to.

this is my assumption #2, create a runtime application and export/save to a .MER file --> since I have a list/link of all the panels IP addresses (the shortcuts point to a FTP server where an existing .MER file exists for each panel). Do I just copy or replace the existing .MER file on the FTP server?

I hope I'm not missing any critical information.

any pointers would be greatly appreciated and of course a precise answer to my question if possible.

also some pointers about configuring DeviceNet with RSNetworx would be a good idea to learn, just in case I need to add nodes. (is the RSnetworx tutorial.bat a good place to start?)

Thank you to anyone who's attempted to read this and provide their input. it is greatly appreciated.

take care,

-peelseeds .
 
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Hi PeelSeeds,

From the info you've given, Assumption #1 is the way to go. I myself only have just recently started using FT View and that's pretty much the process I've just used a couple weeks back to set up a replacement Panelview 1000+ (They don't seem to like swimming much...).

I think your FTP server is probably a "storage area" for the runtime files, just incase anyone needs to restore a runtime file to an existing or replacement panel. Hopefully someone else knows, if it is a repository for the runtime files then it will probably need updating if you update a panel.

Cheers,

Steve
 
Saffa,

Thank you very much for your response.

can anyone else suggest ways I can understand and learn DeviceNet thoroughly in the shortest amount of time?

Thanks,

-peelseeds .
 
I've always uploaded my .MER files to my panelviews in one of two ways.

1) You can put the file on a USB flash drive, then copy the file from the USB flash drive to the Panelview file system. Just note that the .mer files have to be in an certain folder structure, don't remember the exact details.

2) In FactoryTalk Studio, go to Tools -> ME Transfer Utility. Using the program, you can find a path to the Panelview in RSlinx and upload directly to the filesystem.

Also, learning how to use DeviceNet and RSNetworks may be a good thing. I know we had a machine where i used to work that used DeviceNet and it gave the regular maintenance guys fits. They would just grab a photoeye or proc sensor out of the store room and change it out to try to troubleshoot a problem. Well before long, all the spares in the storeroom had random node addresses and caused more problems than it answered. You would then have to go reset all the nodes back to the correct address, and then find out what the problem with the machine was.
 
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All good except "replacing communication" part. Do you really want to do that? That means, whatever you programmed via offline setup can be overwritten to online enterprise file. I won't mess with that if I was you. Welcome to PLC & FT world. You'll love it.
 
Doylen, I don't think I fully understand what you're trying to say. could you provide an example when someone might want to use that parameter? I think I understand why someone might not want to use it, but some clarification would help greatly.

Thanks
 
Doylen, I don't think I fully understand what you're trying to say. could you provide an example when someone might want to use that parameter? I think I understand why someone might not want to use it, but some clarification would help greatly.

Thanks

What he is saying is that it is not necessary to tick the "Replace communications" box unless you have made some changes to the RSLinx Enterprise communications setup in FT View Studio and specifically want to replace/update the communications settings on the HMI.

If you are just doing some minor changes to a screen then the majority of the time it is not necessary to replace the comm's settings.

An example of when you would want to replace the comm's settings is if you are adding in a new PLC that the HMI has to talk to.
 
What he is saying is that it is not necessary to tick the "Replace communications" box unless you have made some changes to the RSLinx Enterprise communications setup in FT View Studio and specifically want to replace/update the communications settings on the HMI.

If you are just doing some minor changes to a screen then the majority of the time it is not necessary to replace the comm's settings.

An example of when you would want to replace the comm's settings is if you are adding in a new PLC that the HMI has to talk to.

brendan.buchan, Got it. Thanks
 

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