Display Devicenet values on a PC

Ken Roach said:

Is there a logic controller involved in the system ?

No PLC, but there is a PC running Wonderware InControl with 4 DeviceNet cards that does all of the logic. My initial thought was to modify the InControl code to write existing values to to a new node (the new node would be the new PC with FactoryTalk ME Station on it)

To use the old serial 1770-KFD, you would need a license for RSLinx Classic, and some substantial knowledge about the class/instance/attribute objects of the devices you want to communicate with.

To use the 1770-KFD for what? My only intention was to use that to troubleshoot the DeviceNet network from my laptop if necessary, not to use it with the new PC. I was hoping that the new PC would only communicate with the InControl PC over DeviceNet. Does that make sense?

To my knowledge the modern RSLinx Enterprise CIP generic driver only bridges over Ethernet to other CIP networks (ControlNet and DeviceNet) and does not have a 1770-KFD or other direct device driver.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. My intention was to add a DeviceNet card to the PC to make it a node on one of the existing DeviceNet networks, not to use the 1770-KFD.

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dmargineau said:

DeviceNet is a low-level, serial bus based protocol intended to allow a system controller(PLC) connect to remotely located I/O and instrumentation.

The 'DeviceNet data' consists of PLC Reads/Writes from/to field located I/O and instrumentation.

My point is, as Ken also inquired about, that HMI data always originates from or ends up within a PLC; HMIs(Terminals) and HMI applications(SCADA) read from and write to PLCs.

Your DeviceNet network is connected to a PLC; the data you are intending to display is located on said PLC.

Locate the system controller, acquire its logic application, locate the DNet originating data and 'extract' it via HMI application (terminal or PC based)- that's it...

You will most likely need the software the PLC application was created with (and the currently running application file) in order to point the HMI application to the memory locations which contain the DNet data. We do not know about the controller type hence the CPU software requirements.

As for the PC running FTV ME application, depending of the intended complexity (how many displays you will need to use), acquire the corresponding FactoryTalk View ME Station licenses listed within https://www.rockwellautomation.com/...factorytalk-view-me.page#ordering-information.

The HMI application will be created using the FactoryTalk View Studio and ran using a PC containing the FTV ME Station purchased license.

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Ken Roach said:

Are you planning to monitor the I/O data going to and from the InControl controller to the slave devices, or do you want to read parameters from programmable devices, independently of the controller ?

Planning to monitor/modify the I/O data going to and from the InControl controller to the slave devices. Similar to an old DeviceNet PanelView Standard but substitute a PC running something similar to FactoryTalk ME Station. My real questions are: is FactoryTalk ME Station the way to go or is there a more appropriate application (not looking to break the bank)? Should I use a DeviceNet PC card or is there some other gateway? What is there an RSLinx driver that will work? Are there any DeviceNet HMIs that I might consider using instead?

A computer equipped with a 1784-U2DN (USB) or a 1788-EN2DN (networked) bridge device might be suitable for giving an HMI computer access to parameters in programmable devices.

This isn't the normal use of an HMI connected to a low-level fieldbus, but it's possible to do.

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