Red Lion G315C2 with very slow comms to CompactLogix

phuz

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We have a very consistent 3 second delay between hitting a pushbutton on the Red Lion and seeing it in the PLC. We originally thought it was an issue with a Prosoft module talking to 60-some Schneider electric motor starters over TCPIP but the issue is clearly with lag between HMI and PLC. I don't know much about these, but the config settings seem pretty straight forward in the Crimson software. I am showing 100mbps on the link light, so I think speed is good. I can't find someone with an ethernet cable tester, so I cannot rule that out; however I am plugged into the same switch as the Red Lion and I have no issues being online with the CompactLogix.
 
Did it work correctly before? Can you view the connections status in the Logix controller? (use a browser)

What firmware version are you running?

Can you post the files (zip them first)?
 
This is a brand new system. I cannot post the files unfortunately due to client's request. The firmware is v19.11. I looked at the ethernet stats in the logix task monitor and the ethernet usage is PEGGED! We actually have 3 smaller Red Lion units on the same network, but the main one is the one I previously described. One thing that I noticed is the previous programmer working on this used the L5K import for the tags and we are not using all the tags that were imported. Does the Red Lion put all these tags on scan or just the ones used in the display? Is there a way to turn down the refresh rate? First thing I am going to do tomorrow is disconnect the 3 smaller units from the network and see if usage improves.
 
I checked the task monitor utility in logix and with all 4 Red Lion units and the PointIO, we were at 100%. This network was not built very well. I unplugged all the PointIO and 3 of the Red Lions and the network usage dropped to 50% with my laptop and one Red Lion. I still have this terrible delay, though. It is not every time; sometimes I hit the button and the response is immediate, sometimes 3 seconds. I called Red Lion directly and got ONE attempt to help. I enabled "favor UI writes" but this did nothing.
I did find out that my unused tags are not being scanned, though, so I am leaving them alone for now.

I have no idea how to proceed because Red Lion does not have any other suggestions.
 
It sounds like the issue has more to do with the limitations of the Compactlogix ethernet capacity than the new G3.

Without seeing the files, I am unsure what to propose. I would suggest examining the RPI for your ethernet I/O and perhaps the periodic rates of tasks, maybe even (if you have a continuous task) the system overhead timeslice. You will need to be careful in making any changes which may affect other aspects of the system and make sure you think through the impact this may have on real inputs and outputs.

Ideally, you would have two ethernet ports, one for HMI traffic and another for I/O. Depending on which compactlogix controller you used, this may not be possible.
 
I've already attempted cranking the overhead timeslice up to 90% and the RPI for each module to 50ms, but it didn't even make a small dent in the response. Unfortunately this is an L32E, so we have (1) ethernet port. I've managed to get the network traffic to a reasonable level, but the response from the Red Lion is just as slow as when it was pegged at 100%.
 
Without seeing the programs its really hard to say why this might be happening. With the native tags driver you will want to make sure that your tag names are as short as possible. The longer names will impact your communications speed. If you can't send your exact file, can you create a similar dummy file and see if that behaves the same way? If so send that for us to look at.

Thanks
Jeremy
 
The Red Lion is approx. 200' from the PLC.
Basically, like this:

CompactLogix -- 2' ethernet cable --> unmanaged switch --> ~200' ethernet cable --> unmanaged switch --> 2' ethernet cable --> Red Lion

No way to use a serial cable unfortunately, nor should we have to.
 
Last edited:
phuz said:
The Red Lion is approx. 200' from the PLC.
Basically, like this:

CompactLogix -- 2' ethernet cable --> unmanaged switch --> ~200' ethernet cable --> unmanaged switch --> 2' ethernet cable --> Red Lion

No way to use a serial cable unfortunately, nor should we have to.
Click to expand...
no problem, just throwing out an alternate suggestion.
 
Update:
I made a new app with one widget (start/stop PB) and the tags associated with only that widget. With that downloaded, the response time is great now.

The Red Lion had approximately 900-1000 tags in the original application, but Red Lion support said that shouldn't be an issue because they are only being scanned if they are on a screen (or if trigger or alarm are used, which they aren't).

That being said, the ethernet usage is still just as high with one widget and 7 tags as it is with 7 screens full of widgets and 900-1000 tags. I would have expected that to drop.
Why is the Red Lion pounding the network?
 
samyost said:
Sorry to necro this thread, but is the above still true?
Click to expand...

Yes, as far as I know. There are ways to slow down the Red Lion if necessary (in most cases it is not). On your Communications settings, click on the device and put in a value for Comms Delay (ms). I have had to do this once or twice over the years to keep from overwhelming the target device.
 

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