20 COmm E Faultless Fault...

Nova5

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May 2013
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Northern Snowball
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I have several 20 Comm E cards faulting at random on power up.
The drive HIM doesn't indicate anything, controller tree shows the drive as faulted, DE can't talk to it.
If I go through the HIM and reset the 20 Comm E module the network connection comes back up and the drive is responsive.
Params 21 and 22 are set to Stop.

What would cause the 20 Comm E to be faulted/non-responsive to the network and yet not cause a fault to display on the drive HIM?
 
faulting at random on power up.

Please explain more about what appears "random". Do some SMC's go through a power cycle correctly always ? Do all of them sometimes power up correctly ?

The drive HIM doesn't indicate anything
I think you mean that it doesn't indicate a fault. That makes sense on powerup because a connection has not yet been established, so the usual "fault on I/O connection failure" or "fault on I/O connection Idle" conditions are not present.


controller tree shows the drive as faulted

Go to the Connection tab for the SMC. What is the description or code related to the fault ?

DE can't talk to it.

I presume you're referring to Drive Executive utility software.

Does RSLinx Classic see the SMC in a browse ?
Can you PING the SMC ?
If the Web Server is enabled in the 20-COMM-E, does the SMC respond to a Web browse ?


If I go through the HIM and reset the 20 Comm E module the network connection comes back up and the drive is responsive.

This suggests that the 20-COMM-E has gone into a mode where it's not connected to the network. What are the link LEDs doing on the connected switch port ? Do you have managed switches ? How long do they take to boot up ?

What would cause the 20 Comm E to be faulted/non-responsive to the network and yet not cause a fault to display on the drive HIM?

Parameters 20 and 21 are the Fault Action and Idle Action, correct ?

In general, I think that you're not getting a fault because you've configured the SMC to Stop in the event of a network failure, OR because it's happening at startup and there hasn't been an I/O connection created that can break and trigger a Fault condition.


Next time you get a chance, do some troubleshooting with PING and HTTP and RSLinx Classic and the switch Link lights.
 
pardon? what do you mean by switch delay?

I'm assuming he's referring to the fact that most network devices (ethernet switches) take much longer to boot than other industrial components.

If you drive is directly connected to the Ethernet card, then that wouldn't be a factor.
 
Please explain more about what appears "random". Do some SMC's go through a power cycle correctly always ? Do all of them sometimes power up correctly ?


I think you mean that it doesn't indicate a fault. That makes sense on powerup because a connection has not yet been established, so the usual "fault on I/O connection failure" or "fault on I/O connection Idle" conditions are not present.
Correct noting is indicated as being amiss, as far as the drive is concerned everything is A-OK.

Go to the Connection tab for the SMC. What is the description or code related to the fault ?

It cannot talk to it, nothing is displayed that I remember. Unfortunately I am not on site at the moment to see and am working this from memory.

I presume you're referring to Drive Executive utility software.
Yes

Does RSLinx Classic see the SMC in a browse ?
Can you PING the SMC ?
If the Web Server is enabled in the 20-COMM-E, does the SMC respond to a Web browse ?
It cannot be pinged, red X in RSlinix. Web server is not enabled.

This suggests that the 20-COMM-E has gone into a mode where it's not connected to the network. What are the link LEDs doing on the connected switch port ? Do you have managed switches ? How long do they take to boot up ?
Switches stay up through a MCC mains powerdown. they are powered elsewhere from what i know.

Parameters 20 and 21 are the Fault Action and Idle Action, correct ?
Yep

In general, I think that you're not getting a fault because you've configured the SMC to Stop in the event of a network failure, OR because it's happening at startup and there hasn't been an I/O connection created that can break and trigger a Fault condition.
Usually under a stop the drive doesn't fall off the network and become non-responsive. Even then they can normally be reset remotley correct? this cannot be done due to the 20CommE's state.

Next time you get a chance, do some troubleshooting with PING and HTTP and RSLinx Classic and the switch Link lights.
Its off the network, cannot be reached. Ping/HTTP/RSLinx fail to reach it.

It takes around 2 minutes before the SMC and its 20 Comm E are up and running from normal. On occasion this problem rears its head whenever it wants to. far less frequent than the powerup issue.
 
I've got to look into the drive param settings when I get back on site to see whats going on, this is the only point on the line showing this however the problem drives are in two separate MCCs around 600ft apart.
 
How much is on the network and are you using managed switches? I had a class c network (192.168.XXX.XXX) with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0. The third octet was set to 0 so the plc could talk to others on the network. When this was done, everytime we powered up the drive panel, one of drives wouldn't connect as you described. It was random on which one would connect. I installed a NAT module and closed the subnet back down to 255.255.255.0 and it connects every time.
 

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