RS232 or RS485?

Plastic said:

The easiest way to send ASCII data from AB to serial devices over distance.

You only have to load the ASCII string(s) into a single string tag in the PLC.
The RTA 435 will handle the serial part.

Flawlessly Robust.

http://www.rtaautomation.com/product/435nbx-2/

We used dozens for ASCII inputs from scanners, and ASCII outputs to printers and dot marking equipment

Click to expand...

Seconded. This is a fantastic device.

I'll add my .02 cents as well.

I use Lantronix Xpress DR devices for this type of application. I'm sure they're similar to the RTA Automation device. They'll accept TCP or UDP, can be configured to a specific IP address or will respond to the broadcast address, and will do 232/422/485. I find programming a PLC to manipulate ASCII to be rather clunky. I'd use one of these serial to Ethernet devices and the HMI to handle my ASCII comms.

I could never overstate how helpful this forum has been to me over the last couple of years.

Thanks!

Oh yeah, I forgot RS-232 is dead

Now that I am at a new company, we use USB bar code scanners.

Thank you RTA for having my back.

I pointed a peer engineer at this to scan in lot and serial number data. Before she started, she was apprehensive on the PLC programming required.

In two minutes from un-packaging this:
http://www.rtaautomation.com/product/435usb-compact/
And clicking it onto the DIN rail, the scans appeared in the string tag in the PLC before her eyes could blink. She "Whoo-hoooed" loudly, and gave me a complimentary fist-bump.