ABB Drives and DeviceNet.

Andybr

Member
Join Date
Oct 2004
Posts
588
I recall that some time ago there was a thread concerning several peoples problems with ABB drives on DeviceNet. We are currently considering a move to ABB drives and as we normally use DeviceNet to connect our drives to Control Logix/Flex Logix controllers I would be interested to hear whether the issues with these drives have been resolved.I have used a lot of AB Powerflex and Control Techniques drives on DeviceNet without problems and I would like to think that I can get a similar level of functionality with the ABB drives so any information concerning recent experience would be appreciated.
Andybr
 
rPraveenkum said:
Then why you have planned to use ABB drives, better go with ab powerflex drives

I work for a large multinational company which has used Rockwell as a global standard for a number of years. Any decision to move away from Rockwell will be made globally on the basis of our worldwide experience. I personally do not have a problem with Rockwell but I am very aware that others within our company do not share my view. If the consensus eventually forces a change I would like to be prepared for it.
Andybr
 
I dont know about now but 18months ago i was going to do a devicenet job with 3 ABB drives (2 ac 7.5Kw and 1 DC 800KW). Tech support from ABB in the UK was abismal, there sample eds files did not work for all the parameters i needed without doing messaging. I changed the customer to SSD (Formerly Eurotherm - Now Parker SSD) and the Devicenet went like a dream. Rock solid support, tech notes that were up to date and eds files that worked.
 
Dave.
It was your thread that I remembered. It is possible that we will be forced down the ABB route so I want to be prepared. It is now a while since the last comments were posted on your thread so I am wondering if the situation has improved.
Andybr
 
We've been using ABB ACS drives and DeviceNet for a few years now for plastic extruders and also some puller belts that are switchable between speed and torque mode. In my experience using just the basic ABB drives communication profile, they work great. I have not had the need to use any of the extended EDS files, so I cannot comment on that. The ABB tech support for these drives has been slack. Luckily these have proven to be reliable drives for us.
 
As an ABB rep and certified startup tech in the Upper Midwest, I encounter DeviceNet communications as well as a dozen other protocols and have never had a problem with communications.

It is distressing to me to hear of poor tech support in other areas of the world. ABB builds a very reliable flexible and rather high performance drive when programmed and applied properly.

If you have problems, it will be due to local people, not the hardware. I would not put up with poor local support very long before I was in communication with the tech support people at the factory (that would be New Berlin WI in North America). I test them with really nasty field problems frequently and find them very conscientious and capable.

Having said all that, I am not meaning to imply that other brands are junk. I routinely commission around six other brands as a self-employed tech consultant and find strengths and weaknesses with all brands. The key is people. Finding the right help at the right time can make even weak hardware look like a small miracle in action!
 
Acs800

My first exposure to ACS800 on DeviceNet.

I just set up 7, 5HP ABB ACS800 VFDs on DeviceNet yesterday and the main problem I encountered was the documentation. From the RDNA manual, I thought I should use instances 21 and 71 to get the Run Reverse function from the fieldbus. After much playing around it turned out that instances 100 and 101 gave me the functions described as 21 and 71. The Generic profile was used.

It seems that not all parameters are read over DeviceNet and therefore cannot be saved as part of a DeviceNet file. It also appears that not all parameters are saved in the keypad when uploaded. I thought I could set up one VFD, upload and then download to the others. After doing so the settings accessed as functions "FUNC" key were still at default.

These VFDs have little braking capability without adding external resistors. Other brands have more braking capability standard (~20%). I was hard pressed to get a 5HP motor with no load to ramp to a stop in lesss than 3 seconds with a 5HP VFD.
 
My experience was that the EDS files were hard to find on the Internet and impossible to get from the local dealer (actual quote: "DeviceNet is Allen-Bradley's problem"), but when you got in touch with one guy in New Berlin who knew the fieldbus interfaces he had everything that was up-to-date.

Maybe there's another guy in Switzerland who knows the fieldbus interfaces too.

But we still ran into problems using the full EDS files and ended up just using stubs.

The problem as I recall it was that the drive returned an out-of-range value for several parameters (usually zero) when RSNetworx uploaded all the parameter values, then rejected that out-of-range value when RSNetworx tried to download all parameters. We could have manually entered valid values into those parameters before downloading, or removed those parameters from the EDS, but we figured that would be too complicated for the maintenance staff.

I could not find my notes on the last time I used these, so the problems must not have been insurmountable.
 
Derek, you probably did not have the Flux Braking option turned on at Parameter 2602. Having this feature turned on will get you some extra braking capacity with having to add resistors.

Just how much extra braking you get depends on the efficiency of the motor. An inefficient motor will produce more braking; an efficient motor less.
 
Andybr said:
Dave.
It was your thread that I remembered. It is possible that we will be forced down the ABB route so I want to be prepared. It is now a while since the last comments were posted on your thread so I am wondering if the situation has improved.
Andybr

I dont know, i haven't dealt with them (ABB) since as we mainly use AB, Siemens, Klockner and SSD Drives. When i spoke to tech support here in the UK and emailed them it was like a week or two for a reply and then i didnt get the answers i wanted. I also had real hassle getting an eds file for the drives. But it may well have got better and perhaps i was just having a bad month!
 
I could be wrong, but I think ABB's preferred network is profibus. I've done one system with devicenet and several with profibus (ACS600 & 800). I think we'll be trying ethernet/ip on the next job.
 

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