setting up a computer on site, to connect remotely

Hi, I'm trying to connect remotely to a network of 6 plcs. The 6 plc's are allen bradley SLC/505's. They are connected via a router. I'm trying to find a way for me to connect to these plc's from the office. I have a dedicated phone line at the site that i can use. I was thinking of putting a computer on site that I would dial into, and then connect to the plcs with.

something like this

my computer->on site computer->router->plc's

First, i have no idea on how this computer should be set up, and second, would i need to have a copy of RSLynx on the computer, or can i just use the copy i have on my computer. Thanks for any help. I already tried using a 3COM lan modem, but I never could get it to work with the router. Here is the thread for when i tried that

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4163

Thanks for your help.

We have successfully used an AB 9300-RADES. This has 4-port switch plus integrated 56K modem. That way you get remote access without PC. List is around $800. We used a crossover cable to enable more ethernet ports. We have it connected to several compactLogix L35Es and PanelView Plus HMIs.

When you say that you used a crossover cable to enable more ethernet ports, do you mean that you used a crossover cable from this switch into another switch?

<<When you say that you used a crossover cable to enable more ethernet ports, do you mean that you used a crossover cable from this switch into another switch?>> Yes, that is exactly what I meant. We hooked all the processors & PVs to the second switch and used the A-B switch for it's remote access features.

before i go out and spend $800 dollars, i want to just make sure that this is what i'm looking for. since i already spent $200 on the lan modem, i dont think the customer would appreciate another error.

So you are saying that you have the AB unit connected to a phone line, and also an external switch. This external switch is in turn connected to PLC's. When you want to dial in, you dial into the AB unit, you get assigned an IP address on the same network as the PLC's, and you can ping any of the PLC's. How do you actually go and use RSLogix to connect to these PLC's? Thanks for the help. Its really appreciated.

It looks like they may still have a demo unit set up. Look at this link for the connection info:

http://support.rockwellautomation.com/Ethernet_Modem/emodem_demo.asp

Set up a standard PPP dialup account through the operating system & dial in with the info they provide on the page above.

Here is a product link:

http://support.rockwellautomation.com/Ethernet_modem/emodem_main.asp

Dial up through the PPP connection and have a standard RSLinx ethernet driver configured to match the other info that is on the above website. Although I thought I had seen where some people had sucessfully used the LAN modem you list.

Darren

If you chose to stay with computer you need to install RSlinkx and RSlogix and PC anywhere that much more then $800.
The only advanteg of computer that you can connect thru the internet.
I think you can do it by the internet without PC but I dont know how.
we made it in both way with PC Anywhere(internet and telphone line), it work just fine.
AB modem will work for sure other option maybe.

Maybe the best thing to do is walk through what you tried to do before with the LAN modem. I read your previous post on this issue and there was some slight misinformation listed.

It is not necessary for the dial in connection and the PLC networks to be on the same subnet. It is normal for the dialin PC to be on a different subnet.

Could you list how you configured the dialup connection of your PC and what RSLink driver you used.

Also after dialing in what is the results of going to the command line and excuting "ipconfig /all" ? This will tell us a lot.

Next we need to try to ping one of your PLCs of other items on the network. Also you mention a router. How was it configured? Do you have a "dumb" hub/switch you can temorarily replace it with to make sure it is not the cause of your problems.

What happens if you directly connect one of your PLCs to the 3COM LAN Modem? Can you communicate then?


If you can not get the LAN modem to work I doubt the A-B solution will work. The only advantage you would have is that tech support would be geared more towards your exact application where 3COM would be lost.

Also, you may want to look at the A-B quick start guide at http://support.rockwellautomation.com/Ethernet_Modem/emodem_downloads.asp

it will give you an idea of what you need to do on the dialin PC. It may help you find if you missed any critical steps.

Darren

It has been a few months since i tried to use the lan modem, so i dont remember too much. my main question is: Can i connect the lan modem to a 16 port switch.

kinda like this

phone line--lan modem--crossover cable--16 port ethernet switch--plc

i figured that the lan modem wasn't working because of the switch. i assumed that if i had a hub connected to the lan modem, it would work, but since i had a switch, it wasn't working.

if you have used a lan modem connected to a switch which in turn was connected to a plc, and had this work for you, then i'll try to remember what i did step by step. since this site is about 3 hours from my location, i am weary of driving out there to "play" around unless i'm sure that its possible. plus i would have to do this after they close at 11 pm.

i dont remember if we tried to connect just 1 plc to the lan modem. but i do remember that we could not ping any of the plc's once connected to the lan modem. the only address that we could ping was the lan modem itself.

once again, thanks for all your help.

Remote Conn AB

Greetings.
The 9300-RADE works, but if the connection is "temporary", or does not justify the cost, a cheap and dirty way would be use the pc at the site and the dial-up connection. Load "pc anywhere host" on local pc and use remote pc to dial in. Linx and Logix would only have to be installed on the "host", as the remote jsut takes over the keyboard and mouse functions (no license issues). Another option is to look into other 3rd party vendors, such as DataLinc, Locus, etc. Another option would be to use a serial "device" server connected to both modem and ethernet, but I have no actual experience with this option.

blain is a pain

Click to expand...

<<phone line--lan modem--crossover cable--16 port ethernet switch--plc>>

Yes that should work just fine.

Also, you should be able to call into the LAN modem remotely and use the builtin web page to reconfigure it. It is most likely a configuration issue. Of course do this when they are not running, since if you set up any conflicting ethernet settings you may cause ploblems with the SLCs.

Also, you will need to have the gateway address in all your programable devices you want to access set to the LAN address of the 3COM LAN modem.


Darren

The way I always do it is this:

I install a small Dynamic IP redirecting software and setup a Website.

This keeps me informed "live" of the End-user Dynamic IP address.

I then use a router and redirect the listenning port of a given application.

Ex: If i need to use a software which uses ports 6001 and 6002 I just connect to the site with my software and the router will connect me with the device because he listens to this software dedicated ethernet port use. He routes the application with port 6000/6001 to say LAN address 192.168.1.x and this is the IP of the PLC.

The cost of this is about $100 for the router and $50/year for the Dynamic IP services.

I can also setup multiple Web sites/pages with it IF my clients wants/needs it.

taj

Evry software you install you need license even it run on host PC.
Even without keyboard and mouse and screen.
Dont mess with that.You might cause problems to others.

Arik

ArikBY said:

taj

Evry software you install you need license even it run on host PC.
Even without keyboard and mouse and screen.
Dont mess with that.You might cause problems to others.

Arik

Click to expand...

Is this a fact?

I always use Terminal Server to hop through another computer. I sure don't have all those licence on my PC.

I don't thinck that there is a licence issue here.

If you are using a computer more or less as a connection device its not necessary to have much software on it specific to AB, the dialin or internet access allows a gateway to use the software on your connecting PC or it can all be on the connecting PC and your access allows you to use the software thats on it...like a server.

There are numerous ways to do this but I thought this was a simple process with AB and modems, its definitely old stuff.

I havent used a modem in years, the last time I did it was with AB 6200 and a program called CloseUp. I dialed into the system computer and accessed 6200 from it to go online to troubleshoot problems. That would be similar to what was mentioned using PC AnyWhere.

My last plant we did something similar to what Pierre mentioned. I used an IP address and had it setup for internet access, I had to use a gateway(path thru company server) but it wasnt hard to establish.

There are many ways to do it so try once again with what you have and see if you find the missing pieces this time.