Red Lion Data Station Plus connecting to Mitsubishi FX

klauricella

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Join Date
Jan 2016
Location
Upstate NY
Posts
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I am trying to connect a Allen Bradley CompactLogix to a Mitsubishi FX3U plc using DSPSX unit. I have the CompactLogix working fine but the FX is not working correctly. I am using 485 and it is sending and receiving both lights flashing and I am receiving data it is just completely wrong. I have contacted Red Lion tech support but they do not seem to have any documentation on these units on how the should be set up. Just wanted to know if anyone has had any luck with these units.

Thanks
Kevin
 
First of all if you are using the programming port on the FX then this is 422 not 485, secondly the FX programming port always defaults to 9,600 baud on power up, I have never found out how you can change this on the FX, however by connecting either GX Dev. or GX works, you set the rate at say 19200 and somehow the software tells the PLC to communicate at this rate, powering down & back up resets it back again.
I had this problem with Kepware I set the kepware driver to 19200 and it worked without a problem, however after powering down & back up it would not. I found that if I connected GX works and went on-line (at any baud rate) I could communicate at that rate in Kepware, I realised at this point that I had been on-line with GX Works and not re-booted the PLC.
So check you have the settings at the default values for FX. I noticed however that Beijers HMI's seem to coerce the plc in communicating at the baud rate selected, but the kepware opc server did not.
 
Sorry should of mentioned I am using an FX3U-485ADP-MB module and also a FX3U-ENET. I have tried both 485 and Ethernet with the same results. It connects but the info receive is incorrect.


Thanks
Kevin
 
Can you be more specific, you are getting data from the FX but do you mean the values are wrong etc. or is it not returning any data, only errors.
 
Yes I am getting data back but it is incorrect. Not receiving errors. I can open up watch window in Crimson software and monitor just tags with out mapping and data comes in but not the same as what is in the FX.




Thanks
Kevin
 
Any chance it is to do with endianess. Simple to check, go to a Tag and in the Data tab is Manipulation, reverse the bytes or words depending on the number of bits in the tag.
 
Have you set the 485 adapter for the correct communication parameters or are you using the programming protocol.
I'm not familiar with the RED Lion unit but on some systems it has been known that the data is byte reversed i.e. a 16 bit word has the two bytes swapped. an example is 412 in a word if byte reversed might report 255 as
-255 again if reading 32 bit reals the data might seem wrong due to type of conversion.
 
The only thing I can think is parity settings but I assume you have tried that.
What are you actually reading for example signed unsigned integer real or have you tried bits in the M area.
 
Well it turns out after going back and forth with Red Lion is they have no idea how it works. They have no documentation of how it was done and I talked to someone else that had the same experience with them. It is amazing when a company this size will sell a product they cant make work.


Thanks
Kevin
 
Some years ago I attended their offices in Manchester in England, however I believe then the only HMI I was aware of was the one programmed in Edict dos software, this turned out to be very advanced in it's time. I was there for a hardware upgrade on an existing system. I was speaking to one of their development team regarding com port protocol as they only had L2 for Siemens and said If I found the protocol they would be interested. At this time they seemed to be a small company only based in Manchester and assume they have been incorporated into a global concern.
I'm surprised that they cannot help & assume that this unit must be produced by someone else & badged in that case.
 
Is there any information on what the FX module should be set up to.
There are settings for port1 (add on board), also if it uses the standard programming protocol Register D8120 must be set to 0, do this on a first scan bit at start of program. In GX Dev. or Works you can set PLC Parameters and communication settings for the board PLC System 2 CH1.
 
and there is a file on this site from 504bloke who has an FX2 talking to RedLion.
http://www.plcs.net/downloads/index...ip3bi6&direction=0&order=&directory=HMI_Files[/quote]




I have a FX2 and set up just like this and it still doesnt work. The only difference is that I have version 3.0 and he has 2.0 Crimson. So going to change that and try again. All tried this setup with the FX3 with no luck. Tried the ethernet that didnt work. Also tried using it as Modbus master and that didn't work. May try the Modbus again just do not use it enough to like it and if I new I had to use Modbus would of gone it a different direction.


Tanks
Kevin
 
First of all if you are using the programming port on the FX then this is 422 not 485, secondly the FX programming port always defaults to 9,600 baud on power up, I have never found out how you can change this on the FX, however by connecting either GX Dev. or GX works, you set the rate at say 19200 and somehow the software tells the PLC to communicate at this rate, powering down & back up resets it back again.
I had this problem with Kepware I set the kepware driver to 19200 and it worked without a problem, however after powering down & back up it would not. I found that if I connected GX works and went on-line (at any baud rate) I could communicate at that rate in Kepware, I realised at this point that I had been on-line with GX Works and not re-booted the PLC.
So check you have the settings at the default values for FX. I noticed however that Beijers HMI's seem to coerce the plc in communicating at the baud rate selected, but the kepware opc server did not.

GX Developer even connects at 115200 baud through the programming port.

Many years ago I was investigating why other software can only connect to 9600.

I discovered that GX Developer first connects at 9600 then reads two 16-bit registers and using some unknown algorithm calculates and writes two other 16-bit registers to the PLC, then at this point the PLC allows high speeds.
 

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