Hooking two Red Lion G310 HMI's together

I have an application that has a G310 talking serially to an Allen Bradley Micrologix 1500 PLC. I would like to add a second G310 at another location, and "piggyback" it through the first G310. Can I accomplish this through one of the "System" drivers, either through the other serial port on the first G310, or via the ethernet port? If so, which one should I use? I plan on having the same screens on the second HMI as I do on the first one.

Thanks,

Randy

Randy:
Change your G310 application from serial to ethernet/ip, then install a 1761-net-eni on your plc serial port, do not forget to buy a ethernet switch.
This way same application will run on both G310.

I installed a system where I had a G310 to a ML 1500 via serial cable plus a G308 connected to the G310 using an Ethernet cable. The address assignment is very tedious. A pain in your back.
Buying the NET-ENI, like widelto says, will save you a lot of grief.
Next time use a ML 1400 or a Compact Logix (you will use the same I/O modules).

If you have a G3 talking to anything over comms (232,485,dnet,firewire etc) then you add another G3 all you need to is connect the G3s up by ethernet and pass the data over - depending how much data its not that difficult

Thanks for your replies. I thought that with all of Red Lion's communication capabilities, there would be a fairly simple way to "retransmit" the data from one G310 to another. I would like to avoid the expense of the net-eni card. Elcan, can you give me some insight as to how you went about it, even if it was difficult? The HMI database is pretty simple, and I might only need to map data from a couple of screens.

Thanks again for your replies.

Randy

Randy Turner said:

Thanks for your replies. I thought that with all of Red Lion's communication capabilities, there would be a fairly simple way to "retransmit" the data from one G310 to another. I would like to avoid the expense of the net-eni card. Elcan, can you give me some insight as to how you went about it, even if it was difficult? The HMI database is pretty simple, and I might only need to map data from a couple of screens.

Thanks again for your replies.

Randy

Click to expand...

It is very simple to do. As has been mentioned before, create Modbus/TCP Slave Gateway Blocks and associate the tags that you want to display on the other screen. On the second screen, create Modbus/TCP Master Tags and map them to the Modbus Registers in the other screen. This is the most robust solution.

If you only want to view a few points and speed is not an issue, there is a second option. Enable OPC Proxy in the Main Screen and then add and OPC TCP/IP Master to the Second Screen. The Device that is automatically created in the second screen will be called HMIx (x is some number). Set the IP Address to that of the Main Screen and attach the Main Screen configuration file under Device Address Space.

Then you can create new tags and attach them to the HMIx just like you would other devices.

Thanks, JHarbin. I had not seen this referenced before, probably because this was the first I've been presented with this task. Just doing a "dry run" of this in the Crimson software looks pretty straight forward. When I get the second G310, I'll give it a try.

Randy

I can send you an example at the weekend if your not in a rush ?

Use the OPC TCP/IP Master Driver. That will give you direct access to the variables between Red Lions. Easy - and I think exactly what you are asking for.

Go to comms, create a new protocol, select 'OPC TCP/IP Master' as the driver.
Now click on that new device: you'll see an entry for 'Device Address Space' that will allow you to select a .cd3 file from the other Red Lion so you can share the variables between HMIs. Or if both HMI's are identical, you can just point to the same .cd3 file as the original Red Lion.

Now when you create a variable, it will show up as a Data Source that you can select directly from the neighboring PLC. This shares between Red Lions without further burdening the PLC. Slick.

Love the Red Lion. The answer seems to always be yes

504bloke said:

If you have a G3 talking to anything over comms (232,485,dnet,firewire etc) then you add another G3 all you need to is connect the G3s up by ethernet and pass the data over - depending how much data its not that difficult

Click to expand...

This requires the use of gateway blocks, correct?

Randy Turner said:

Thanks for your replies. I thought that with all of Red Lion's communication capabilities, there would be a fairly simple way to "retransmit" the data from one G310 to another. I would like to avoid the expense of the net-eni card. Elcan, can you give me some insight as to how you went about it, even if it was difficult? The HMI database is pretty simple, and I might only need to map data from a couple of screens.

Thanks again for your replies.

Randy

Click to expand...

Yes, this is what my question was all about.