Protocol Converter to I/O tree

Hi there,

I need some help adding a protocol converter to my I/O tree in Studio 5000.

In my I/O Tree there is a 1756-EN2T Ethernet module from AB and the Protocol converter is a DA10 from RedLion.

Not sure about which module type to choose from the catalog.

Does anyone here have experience with that?



Thanks,
AD

You only want to add to the I/O tree items that will be implicitly polled as part of the PLC I/O update processing.

Sometimes people add items to the I/O tree just for the sake of making MSG instruction paths easier to pick out.

If your DA10 is taking care of the communications, then the PLC doesn't need to know about it other than the fact that I would highly recommend commenting any PLC addresses that are subject to change by that datastation.

OkiePC,

Thanks for your response. We have a digital weight scale from Ohaus we want to obtain and store data from.

The Red Lion can be programmed to connect to both devices and, using gateway blocks, map data from one to the other. I have not used their latest DA series nor have I used that scale, so I can't spell out any of the details.

Gateway blocks along with all the various protocols supported by Crimson will make just about anything you need to do possible and not too difficult. I have not used Gateway blocks with a Logix5k processor but I expect it to be fairly simple.

Here is an old video (much of what you do will be identical) for setting up comms to the AB PLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg7U_m1miOk&ab_channel=RedLionControls

And here is newer one with general concepts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgEzITddVKs&ab_channel=RedLionControls

The DA10, like its other Crimson 3.x cousins, can both read and write Tags in the ControlLogix with its CIP driver, and act as a cyclic I/O Adapter using EtherNet/IP.

Only put it in the I/O tree if you're using the EtherNet/IP Adapter driver.

Hi Ken,

I am using Crimson 3.1.

So, If I am understanding this correctly then my data path should flow from the "RS323 Mode port -RA Serial" to the "Protocol 1-AB L5k tags".
I have the RS232 mode set as master.

Can you tell me if this looks right to you and what I'm missing.

Thanks,

That looks right based on my memory. You will need to click on that "Tag management" to bring in the PLC tags you want to store scale information in.

You also then need to create some Gateway tags to bridge the two side, I'm quite sure; but I'm not sure how one would handle serial ASCII. Maybe someone else knows.