C-More EA9 HMI to FANUC Robot

Robot_Guy

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May 2022
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I have read every post I can find on how to interface an Automation Direct C-More EA9 series HMI to a FANUC robot with no luck. Some say it is possible, while others say it is not.

FANUC robot has the R-553 HMI option installed (which emulates a GE 90/30 PLC). I have verified robot controller option is functional and that the robot registers are mapped correctly. This was done using Kepware on my computer.

The HMI is configured to use the GE 90/30 SRTP Ethernet driver which FANUC states is supported, but I am receiving a PLC-001 PLC Communincation Timout on the HMI.

Any advice on how to get these talking? There have been enough breadcrumbs along the way that I believe they are at least trying to interface, but I'm either missing something or they really are not compatible.

Thanks in advance.
 
Do you need to do any configuration of the robot's HMI option? The SRTP driver on the C-More is looking for %I addresses for inputs, %Q addresses for outputs, %M addresses for internal discretes, %R addresses for 16-bit data registers. Those aren't native to the robot, so my guess is that the HMI option performs some mapping of robot addresses to SRTP addresses.
 
Yes, I have done the memory mapping on the robot and have verified I can read the various types of I/O and registers using the Kepware server software on my computer.
 
Sounds like time for a call to AD tech support. My only experience with C-More and a GE driver is an EA-7 using serial communications (SNPX protocol). The ethernet driver (SRTP protocol) for GE was introduced when the EA-9 series came out. I have no hands-on experience with it.
Could it be a port number issue? According to this document the robot probably defaults to using port 18245. What port is the C-MOre trying to use?
https://doc.ipesoft.com/display/D2D...RTP+protocol#GeneralElectricSRTPprotocol-R30i
 
FANUC and AD tech support have been helpful, but have not provided solutions. Mostly pointing the finger at each other. The port is correct; I have verified that as well.

This has been an ongoing process over the last few weeks. Just today I have made measurable progress by getting the HMI communicating using a modbus driver. Memory mapping for the robot is all over the place with Modbus, but it might just work well enough for what I need it to do. Not ideal, but it's something.
 
FANUC and AD tech support have been helpful, but have not provided solutions. Mostly pointing the finger at each other. The port is correct; I have verified that as well.

This has been an ongoing process over the last few weeks. Just today I have made measurable progress by getting the HMI communicating using a modbus driver. Memory mapping for the robot is all over the place with Modbus, but it might just work well enough for what I need it to do. Not ideal, but it's something.

Have you found a solution ?

I am trying the same here on a R-30iB Mini Plus (CRX-10iA). Wish to show the ALARM and others infos of the pendant to the HMI screen. The screen is connected through ethernet to a switch. The robot and A.B. CompactLogix PLC is connected on that switch as well.

I configured the C-More HMI panel to the PLC Protocol "GE Ethernet SRTP (90/30 Rx3i)" and the robot as standard SNPX. I know SNPX is normally direct connection with robot using RS-232/485 but ??

In Panel Manager of C-More, I put the IP address of the robot in the connection. In tags of C-More I've used ASCII String in registers %RXXX. Using a dynamic text trigger by a tag (DO of robot, receive by PLC, for test, later I am thinking to using the UO6-Fault)

Is the IP Port specified in Panel Manager makes a difference ? I tried 8193 (found that on FANUC CNC ethernet documentation) and default one (18245)

The robot is able to ping the HMI panel.
 
Sorry for the late reply. I thought I had posted, but seems it didn't take the first time.

Yes, I was able to get it working.

I was initially confused on how to communicate as well- RS232/485, Ethernet, etc. I was able to ping the HMI from the robot with the GE Ethernet SRTP (90/30) protocol selected, but beyond that, it was a flop. I kept getting SNPX connections full on the robot controller even if I increased the number of allowed SNPX connections. Nonetheless, I tried everything for weeks before finding some breadcrumbs that lead me to figure out the solution listed below.

On the HMI I am using the Modicon Modbus TCP/IP Ethernet driver. Do not ask me how it works; all I know is that it does work.
I have my HMI configured as follows:
PLC IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Robot IP)
PLC Port: 502
PLC Slave: 1
Byte Order: High, Low
Word Order: Low, High
Character Order: Char1, Char2
Registers per MSG: 64
Coils per MSG: 64
Register Write FNCT: Code 16
Coil Write FNCT: Code 05
Retries: 3
Timeout: 10
Poll Time: 50

I am connected direct HMI to robot over an ethernet cable, although I did have a switch at one point and it worked too.

The hardest part is configuring the SNPX assignment variable(s) in the robot controller. You will not be able to do this if you don't have the HMI/SNPX user manual from FANUC. I believe you may need to map Digital I/O (especially Inputs) to flags, and you read/write flags from the HMI- it's quirky. Start with that and then get more advanced with data transfer with the SNPX assignments.

If you have a CompactLogix PLC already in the mix I would go Robot -> PLC -> HMI. That is what I typically do, but this was a special one off case where I did not have a PLC in the mix.
 
Last edited:
Sorry for the late reply. I thought I had posted, but seems it didn't take the first time.

Yes, I was able to get it working.

I was initially confused on how to communicate as well- RS232/485, Ethernet, etc. I was able to ping the HMI from the robot with the GE Ethernet SRTP (90/30) protocol selected, but beyond that, it was a flop. I kept getting SNPX connections full on the robot controller even if I increased the number of allowed SNPX connections. Nonetheless, I tried everything for weeks before finding some breadcrumbs that lead me to figure out the solution listed below.

On the HMI I am using the Modicon Modbus TCP/IP Ethernet driver. Do not ask me how it works; all I know is that it does work.
I have my HMI configured as follows:
PLC IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (Robot IP)
PLC Port: 502
PLC Slave: 1
Byte Order: High, Low
Word Order: Low, High
Character Order: Char1, Char2
Registers per MSG: 64
Coils per MSG: 64
Register Write FNCT: Code 16
Coil Write FNCT: Code 05
Retries: 3
Timeout: 10
Poll Time: 50

I am connected direct HMI to robot over an ethernet cable, although I did have a switch at one point and it worked too.

The hardest part is configuring the SNPX assignment variable(s) in the robot controller. You will not be able to do this if you don't have the HMI/SNPX user manual from FANUC. I believe you may need to map Digital I/O (especially Inputs) to flags, and you read/write flags from the HMI- it's quirky. Start with that and then get more advanced with data transfer with the SNPX assignments.

If you have a CompactLogix PLC already in the mix I would go Robot -> PLC -> HMI. That is what I typically do, but this was a special one off case where I did not have a PLC in the mix.
Nice post. Thanks for spelling out your solution :)
 
After rereading the posts in this thread, I think the original problem may have been, "Who's in charge". Generally, the HMI acts as the client in communications and the PLC is the server. That means the HMI asks the PLC to provide the information it needs to update its display pages.
To me, the robot's "R-553 HMI option" suggests that it makes the robot take on the role of the HMI. That's going to be in conflict with the HMI using the GE SRTP protocol, putting two SRTP clients on the line.
Selecting the Modbus TCP driver on the C-More makes it the Modbus client. In setting up the robot for Modbus TCP communications Robot_Guy must must have made the robot the Modbus server.
 

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