using multiple rsemulate 500 on factorytalk

seyednima

Member
Join Date
Apr 2016
Location
houston
Posts
2
Hi ,
i am working on a project which has 4 micrologix 1400 plcs which they are all connected via ethernet switch and the HMI is pvp+6 .is this possible to use 4 emulator on factory talk ? it would be lots off appreciation if helping me with this question thanks
 
Emulate 500 is only capable of running one program at a time. I have in the past put it on two different Virtual machines and ran two different programs but there is no way to make the two emulators talk to each other. Yo might be able to setup some kind of DDE transfers using RSLinx to pass data between them. The PVP+ should be able to use RSLinx Classic rather than RSLinx Enterprise to see both emulators.
Another good source is you local AB or distributor, they may have actual hardware they can loan to you.
 
Hi seyednima, I have almost the same situation as you do. All my 5 MicroLogix will run the same PLC program. I tried running just one instance of RSLogix 500 Emulate, but creating several DDE topics in RSLinx, all pointing to that one Emulator. Then I created several OPC servers in FTView ME, each named the same as each of the DDE topics, but it didn't work...I get "The item xxxx is known to more than one server" error.
 
Yes, you can do this. But it can be a little tricky. Be aware that the emulator will only emulate a DH485 network. But that is OK for what we are doing.

Emulate 500
In RSEmulate 500 go to File Open and select your first project to emulate and assign a unique node number. After selecting, click Run. Go back to File and Open and select your second project to emulate. Assign a different node number. Click Run. Repeat this for however many controllers you need to run.

RSLinx Classic
Open RSLinx Classic and create a new driver. Select the SLC500 (DH485) Emulator driver and assign a unique node number.

In RSLinx open the RSWho menu and browse this driver and you should see each of the emulated controllers. So you'll see, one instance of Emulate can run multiple controllers.

Now FactoryTalk View cannot access these emulated controllers without a little help. It needs RSLinx to create OPC Topics. This means you need a licensed copy of RSLinx Classic. Lite won't help us here.

In RSLinx, browse RSWho to see your emulated controllers. Right click on the first controller and select Create new DDE/OPC Topic. Verify the name used for the topic. Change it if necessary and click Done when you are ready. Repeat this for each controller.

FactoryTalk View
In your FTV ME application from the Application Explorer window right-click on the project name. This is usually the second line and is named the same as the first line (the FactoryTalk Local Directory name). Select Add New Server and select the OPC option. Give it a unique name (don't use the topic names), specify it is hosted on the local computer, then on the bottom click on the browse button and select RSLinx OPC Server. Click OK twice to accept changes.

Now, in your application when you want to select an address from your SLC the tag browser window will show you the OPC Topic names you defined above in RSLinx. Although you might have to refresh folders to get them to appear the first time.

Summary
So in summary that is one instance of Emulate 500 that is running multiple emulated controllers. In RSLinx one DDE/OPC topic for each controller. In FT View, one OPC server that uses those multiple topics.

OG
 
Last edited:
Wow. Thank you OG. It worked perfectly. I didn't know RSLogix 500 Emulate could run more than one program. In the meantime I found that if I renamed the OPC Server in FactoryTalk to anything other than the DDE topics, it worked as well, all tags, regardless of the prefix ::[PLC1]tagname, ::[PLC2]tagname, etc. would refer to the then single program running in RSLogix 500 Emulate.

Excellent explanation. Thank you again.
 

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