Redlion RAM & Control/Micro Logix

So anyone who has played around with alot of Redlion RAM's, know that the RAM can run C scripts in the back ground. Which is a GREAT thing. OEM's can right their own drivers and basically can use the RAM as a type of PLC.

Now, I personally don't know scripting, but my co-worker is a scripting genius.

What I want him to do for me, is figure out how to right a driver which will allow MircoLogix's and Control Logix's to be able to extract some data (tags) from the RAM. Similar to a Message Instruction to some "none AB" hardware.

I have used protocol conversion equipment like the DataStation, Anybus, and Moxa, but for what I need to do, I can not.

Does anyone have any direction that I can send to my geek?

The best person to talk to here might be Archie. His Advanced HMI stuff is all open source, and includes drivers for MicroLogix and ControlLogix, among many others. I believe that the drivers are all written in VB, but if your co-worker is a "scripting genius", he would likely be able to translate from VB to C.

Looks like the RAM 6000 and RAM 9000 support Modbus and DNP3 protocols and can be configured to read and write I/O values to and from Modbus slaves. It is pretty easy to set up Modbus data areas in the Micrologix...

This would be a cyclic message that you can set up based on my reading of the RAM manual.

I've never used a RAM unit, but have done a lot of Modbus communication with the Micrologix1400. I have not tried to use Modbus communication with a Controllogix PAC, but from what I understand it is much more complicated. It might be easiest and most reliable to set up the RAM to talk to the Micrologix and let the Controllogix poll the Micrologix.

The 1400 supports Modbus and Ethernet IP messages simultaneously on the Ethernet port and either serial port can be set up as a Modbus slave or master.