to EDS or not to EDS...

A new assignment from the boss man involves doing a full audit of our building's DeviceNet hardware and backing up all the DeviceNet programs. This has been woefully under-documented up until this point (and I'm new to the building so don't blame me ), but I'm still pretty much a noob when it comes to DeviceNet. The big problem I'm running into right now is that pretty much every device is unregistered on my laptop, and there isn't any reliable source of information regarding the EDS files for each scan node on our servers. I'm talking dozens of lines, some of which have up to 10 or 15 scan nodes that are unregistered.

So my question is, if I just go online to each DeviceNet card, upload the program, and save a copy of it without registering any devices, will the important information (scanlist etc) allow us to get a new card up and running without issue if we lose one? Or is it necessary to register every device in the program in order to use it in the future?

If I DO need to register these devices in order for the programs to be of use, does anyone have any advice for how I could go about identifying the unregistered nodes and getting the correct EDS files? Most of them aren't rockwell devices, so it seems like quite a daunting task to track down all the required files...

Thanks in advance for you help!

There really is no way around registering of each device's EDS on the RSNetworx for DeviceNet running PC handling the network's application file; you also need a secure and accurate EDS file database for further reference.

Depending of the device's manufacturer, age or firmware level, you could upload the EDS from the device via RSLinx and/or RSNDN or create one using the RSLinx' s EDS Hardware Installation tool; in most cases though, especially for older devices, you will need to acquire the files directly from the manufacturer; most of them are available for download from the respective websites.

I was afraid of that

At least I know I have something to do for the rest of the week now

Thanks for the quick response!

LoganB said:

I was afraid of that

At least I know I have something to do for the rest of the week now

Thanks for the quick response!

Click to expand...

Methinks you'll need longer.....

I've been through this, and I feel your pain. In RSNetworx if you right click an unknown device and select "no" when it asks you if you want to register the device it will typically give you the manufacturer and device class. Then I call that company's sales rep and tell them to give me every DeviceNet EDS they've ever published. They usually miss a couple, but hopefully you've narrowed down the unknown devices still present.

Oh, and if they are old there might be some errors in them. Use "EZ EDS" to fix them.

Good advice, thanks!

Too often I've found at customer sites that use DeviceNet, the scanner configuration was not archived and when a device fails, panic results. You'll thank yourself later for getting all of this documented now instead of later when the production people are hanging over your shoulder asking you every 5 seconds if its done yet.

Too often I've found at customer sites that use DeviceNet, the scanner configuration was not archived and when a device fails, panic results.

Click to expand...

That sound you heard was Jeff Kiper's eyes rolling so hard it gives him whiplash.

I just go online to each DeviceNet card, upload the program, and save a copy of it without registering any devices, will the important information (scanlist etc) allow us to get a new card up and running without issue if we lose one?

Click to expand...

Uploading the Scanlist will let you replace a Scanner, but it (probably) won't save the settings for the slave devices to let you replace one of them.

I say "probably" because some scanners can be configured for "Auto Device Replace" (ADR), which lets them store the parameter settings for slave devices.

Otherwise, the slave devices generally have their configuration stored in their own nonvolatile memory. RSNetworx is typically the way you access and configure those parameters.

If you don't have the EDS file registered, then RSNetworx can't upload and store parameters for a device because it just doesn't know what they are.

So you're right that you are doing an important maintenance and disaster recovery operation by going around and documenting and archiving all your DeviceNet networks.

Most A-B devices are available off the A-B EDS server, and many A-B devices (notably VFDs) allow you to create an EDS by uploading from them, which sort of reverse engineers the EDS via the Parameter Object.

Thanks Ken! I am indeed going to get all the correct files and create a library for all of the EDS files. Better to put in the time now when I have it than scrambling around later when I don't.

The rockwell EDS files are easy, it's tracking down the 15 year old EDS files from Joe's Robot Emporium that I'm not looking forward to lol