Panel View Standard pload/Download Help

Guys I need help with a Panel View Standard 1000 Touch screen. I want to upload / Download the screen application so I can add new alarm messages to the file. The screen is part of a ControlNet network. I read that I could use a PCMCIA flash card to transfer the file but I don't have one, is there any other way I could do this.

Hi

I never say a control net panel view standard, learn something new every day
Does it have a serial port. Post the part number and maybe we can have a better look at the unit you have

Donnchadh

You can upload /download over Control Net or the serial port.

Do I need to do anything on the Panel View side setup screen in order to establish the communication with a PC? The HMI screen is talking to a ControlLogix PLC through ControlNet communication protocol. Does the RS232 port on the panel view is setup as port 1, because my PC is assigning ports 3 or 4 to the USB->Serial adapter I'm using?

If the RS232 port on your PV is not setup for a printer then you should be able to connect using the DF1 driver in RSLinx and a straight thru cable connected to your USB to serial adapter.

I had try many different ways with no success. Here is a picture that shows what I think is the setup for the RS232 port.

Thi is what the ports on the HMI look like, if it helps any. I also read that I could use an adapter 1747-UIC to connect through the DH45 port?

Okay, you are going to want to make sure you are using a "Straight-Through" serial cable. We are going to do a bit of basic troubleshooting to verify the hardware is correct.

First, take your DMM and ohm the following pins:

Pin2 to Pin2
Pin3 to Pin3
Pin5 to Pin5

These should all ohm closed and low resistance. If not, you may be using a NULL modem adapter cable. This will cause comms to fail.

Next: Try your serial adapter out. Is it possible for you to make a loopback adapter and a comm sniffing utility? Basically just take a breakout board or a DB-9 connect and connect pins 2 and 3 on your USB->Serial adapter together. Use hyperterminal or a comm sniffing port to send data out and you should receive it right back. A simple ASCII character or two works fine. This will verify your adapter is working. You can also just connect it to something else and see if it connects/talks just fine (like a PLC test bench or something).

Let us know the results.

Edit:
Also-
If any of these steps fail, make sure your USB->Serial is on the proper comm port. You need to check and make sure that nothing else is using the comm port. If you have any other serial devices that could be using the comm port close them. Make sure your computer's comm port settings match the PV config options.

Sparkie, I have access to another computer that has a "Serial Port" built-in and contains all the Allen Bradley suit as well.

Regardless, the above steps will be the same to troubleshoot the connection. Once you have verified the physical aspect we can move on to software.

I will follow up on the test of the cable tomorrow.

Sounds great. I'm still watching the thread.

This sounds like a good reason to come up with a Compactflash card and PCMCIA adapter. It is probably getting harder and harder to locate compatible hardware, but if you do, hang on to it. Transferring files to and from any Panelview standard is so much simpler using a memory card no matter what the communication protocol.

I had good luck with Sandisk Ultra memory cards 2Gb and under formatted FAT16.

JoseM said:

Guys I need help with a Panel View Standard 1000 Touch screen. I want to upload / Download the screen application so I can add new alarm messages to the file. The screen is part of a ControlNet network. I read that I could use a PCMCIA flash card to transfer the file but I don't have one, is there any other way I could do this.

Click to expand...

Donnchadh said:

...Post the part number and maybe we can have a better look at the unit you have...

Click to expand...

Jose,

Some friendly advice for the future. You have thus far ignored the first and important question asked of you above...

Golden Rule! - Always post the catalog number so we know exactly what we are dealing with. 14 posts in and still no catalog number. It may or may not be entirely relevant here but it is always wise to post it regardless. It also saves a lot of the "does it have a serial port?" type questions.

You took the time to take and post up some photos, which are excellent, but the sticker, with that important catalog number, was omitted. It is just about legible in one of your photos and it looks like it's a...

2711-T10C15 (Ser E Rev A FRN 4.41)

Which represents...

2711 = PanelView Standard
T = Touch
10 = 1000
C = Colour
15 = ControlNet 1.5 with RS-232 Printer Port

It is AC powered as there is no "L1" at the end of the catalog number which would denote DC supplied.

JoseM said:

...I also read that I could use an adapter 1747-UIC to connect through the DH-485 port?...

Click to expand...

The RJ45 port is not a DH-485 protocol port. Nor is it an Ethernet port; in case it may be mistaken as such.

The ControlNet 1.5 communications board has three ports which are all for ControlNet connections...

The RJ45 port is known as a Network Access Port (NAP) and is only used for temporary connections with programming terminals. A typical cable that may be used is a 1786-CP, which is an RJ45 to RJ45 cable. This is not a straight-through cable and so this port should not be used with Ethernet or indeed DH-485 cabling.

The 1786-CP cable could be connected from the NAP port directly to a 1786-KTC card in a computer or a 1786-KFC communications interface and then to a computer over serial.

The NAP port can also be found on many other ControlNet communications devices, such as the ControlLogix 1756-CNB/R & 1756-CN2/R modules and the Small Logic Controller (SLC) 1747-SCNR & 1747-KFC15 modules.

Anywhere you see the programming terminal screen symbol |( )| beside an RJ45 port on a ControlNet device, it denotes a NAP port.

The other two ports are BNC connectors and are typically labelled as Channel A & Channel B. They are for direct connections to the ControlNet network using coaxial media. The second port is typically only used in a redundant setup.

Your photos help a lot but see how much information I can provide just from knowing the catalog number?

JoseM said:

I had try many different ways with no success. Here is a picture that shows what I think is the setup for the RS232 port.

Click to expand...

The RS-232 Printer Port can indeed also be used for transferring application files from a computer to the terminal. That user made Printer Port configuration screen would suggest that the Printer Port is being used and normally set to Printing Enabled.

Mickey said:

If the RS232 port on your PV is not setup for a printer then you should be able to connect using the DF1 driver in RSLinx and a straight thru cable connected to your USB to serial adapter.

Click to expand...

If the RS-232 Printer Port on the terminal is set Enabled, then go to the Configuration Mode screen, select Printer Setup, and change the port mode to Printing Disabled.

You would then use a 2711-NC13, 2706-NC13, or an equivalent cable. These are RS-232 9-pin to 9-pin cables which only have pins 2-2, 3-3 & 5-5 populated, as sparkie has correctly pointed out. A standard straight-through RS-232 9-pin cable may also work, but I don't normally recommend to use them as you don't know what other signals may be unintentionally transmitted across the otherwise normally unconnected pins. I know they are still widely used, so that is probably just me being me.

Another option is to use the 1747-CP3 null-modem cable with a null-modem adapter.

The USB to Serial adapter does add the potential for issues, but typically these can be ironed out, and again, sparkie is advising you well on that.

I would attempt to get the terminal visible in RSLinx Classic first before attempting to download using PanelBuilder32. In RSLinx Classic you would use the DF1 driver with the following configuration...

RS-232 DF1 Devices:

Comm Port: COM<Windows Assigned Port Number>
Device: SLC-CH0/Micro/PanelView
Baud Rate: 19200
Parity: None
Stop Bits: 1
Station Number: 00
Error Checking: CRC
Protocol: Full Duplex

Typically "COM1" is assigned if using a real serial port. If using a USB to Serial adapter then it could be anything. If not already, and you are using the USB option, I would advise you to manually set the adapter to any free COM Port number above COM4. This is because Windows tends to share resources between COM1 & 3 and COM2 & 4 respectively. Setting a higher number ensures the adapter has its own resources to itself. However, lower COM Port numbers do also work in many cases, so again, that is just some advice if your running into issues.

Once you can see the terminal in RSLinx Classic you can then proceed to attempt the transfer in PanelBuilder32. On the Download File window, set the Transfer Type to "DF1 Point-to-Point -- <Your DF1 Driver>. Because you know RSLinx Classic can already browse to the terminal via this driver it should be good to go.

Using the older and original PCMCIA ATA Flash Memory Card is also another option, if you are already set up with one that works. But as Paul (OkiePC) has pointed out, a more convenient latter day method is to attempt to use a relatively modern CompactFlash (CF) Card and a PCMCIA adapter. This can be tricky too, depending on the combination you use.

Rockwell actually do not officially support this method...

48312 - Does PanelView Standard family support compactflash memory cards in a PCMCIA adapter?
Access Level: TechConnect

I'll post the contents here as it's pretty old and harmless...

"Not supported. Occasionally, we have seen it work, but just as often it fails to either see the memory card at all, or refuses to copy to/read from the card once it has seen it."

They're hardly trying to sell us something, are they?

Many of us have had success in the past using particular brands and types of adapters. I used to use SanDisk 128MB CF Cards and one of their PCMCIA Type II adapters. You format them for FAT or FAT16, if I recall correctly?

(By the way...I cannot stand BTW, IIRC, PITA, FWIW and the like. Lazy gits! )

ROTFLOL,
George

Here's a photo (sorry it's over-exposed) of the inside of a 2711-T10C15 terminal.
You can see the ControlNet communications board in Gold to the right with the three ports attached...

My apologies George for not posting the correct and right amount of information. I'm getting ready to try to upload the program from the PV Standard.

I can see the PV Standard on my RSLinx Classic