DEVICENET, what am I missing

rsdoran

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Apr 2002
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I am attempting to learn how to use devicent with some Toshiba G7 drives. They dont offer alot of info in their manual but my PE expects miracles..in a sense.

I went to odva.org to get EDS files for Toshiba but it displays it on the website and I am not sure how to save it as an EDS file. I was trying to see if I could cheat a little and work thru RSNetworx, it says it works with all 3rd party devices. Technically I dont think I can because this system is using an external devicenet card that allows 2 drives per MAC ID.

The problem I am having is if I am going to use these Toshiba drives with DeviceNet then HOW do you setup the communication? How do you transfer data, I am missing something.

Toshiba offers no software (that I can find) to work with devicenet and the drives...what I dont understand is how do you setup the attributes, classes etc? I do not find any devicenet configuration in the drive parameter table. I did find out how to make a cable and use the software to configure the drives. Its the devicenet stuff I dont get...how do you setup and use something when the information given tells WHAT to do but not HOW to do it? Where do you use the SET/GET?

I know I must be missing something, this should not be that hard. The manual for the drive is >HERE<

I have a booklet that mentions some devicenet setup etc but the manual is for a card that doesnt have devicenet on it.

I think the PE screwed up, he wants the drives to do the positioning, I dont think they can. I am sure he will make them work but at this time it is up to me to do the "legwork" on HOW.

I took on a big chunk of whoop my A$$ work I do believe.
I apologize for what seems like a rant but these drives and the devicenet thing are driving me nutz. At this point I havent gotten the drives addon feedback card to power the encoder AND work in feedback vector control with speed/position switching. Thats bad enough but then to have to use devicenet to transfer data that at this point I DONT know how to setup what is mentioned in the books let alone use data that the PE expects to use.

To clarify the last statements, the devicenet card used allows 2 drives to be connected using same address. 8 bytes are consumed and 8 bytes are produced. It seems the 8 bytes are pre-defined, on each drive it uses 4 bytes..2 for in and 2 for out for each. It seems that both are pre-defined as to function. Control bits on first 2 bytes and output frequency msb and lsb on other 2 bytes.

Forgive my ranting, sometimes being able to write this stuff offers solutins and also information from others.

Thank you for your assistance. Darren please expect a call soon, wont over the weekend though because we all need time away from this stuff.
 
We are factory authorized repair shop for the G3, G7 H & S Toshiba drives. I do not have any experience with the comm you are requesting. I have a G7 in our panel shop for training our guys for field service. I will try to go in this weekend and see if I can get you some answers. If nothing else the Toshiba factory is three miles from my shop, I'll forward your question to their comm expert.
 
What kind of Devicenet scanner are you using? I would bet that most of your questions are more or less pertaining to the scanner and not so much the VFD interfaces.


Just curious...I don't have a lot of experience with non-AB Devicenet stuff.
 
That drive doesn't look like it is servo quality to me.

From what you are saying there is no capability to enter an acceleration, deceleration, speed, position and direction.

I don't see how the Drive maps parameters to DeviceNet.

How does one download positive and negative limits using the 4 bytes when they are allocated already.

I don't think drive will do what you want. It is time to call time out and have a talk with the coach and tell him that play won't work.
 
Peter actually I have already done that, Toshiba is emphatic that it will work and a rep will be out Tuesday. My only concern is being left out of the loop on this..new job and info has a tendency to SLOWLY move downhill.

93 good question, I dont know. I think now that you mentioned it that is what I am missing. The plc part of this system I havent gotten yet, didnt consider that the plc would need a scanner and all that is configured with it...DOH.

Knew I was missing something...thanksb
 
What software do you use to setup the DeviceNet. I will assume your using RSNetworx For DeviceNet. This is generally how it works for AB Servo Drives and VFD's that I have used.


First, set up a valid devicenet network by setting up the node addresses and the baud rates on all the devices.

Then you choose what input and output assemblies you want to use in the drives. Each assembly has different paremeters in it that you can read and write. Different assemblies can be different lengths (2byes, 4byes, 6byes ect..), so some are more powerful than others.

Next you have to get the drive and the devicenet scanner on the same page with communications. In the scanner you have to add the drive to the scane list, and tell it how much I/O to expect to receive and send (in your case I thnk it was 8 bytes?), and where that i/o is going to be mapped to (the addresses in the PLC you are going to use to read and write to it). You also have to select the communication type, I do believe Polled i/o is the default.

As far as the EDS file goes, if im not mistake, you should be able to paste the text into notepad, and save it as Blahblah.eds. Make sure its not saved as .txt.eds though.


I hope this gives you a general idea what is supose to happen. I apologize if it was more basic or general than what you wanted. I am by no means a DeviceNet expert, so I might have missed something or be slightly inaccurate in somethings (I dont have RSNetworx in front of me), but the general idea is there.

Good luck!
 
I appreciate all the replies, I feel like an idiot tho.

I finally found the manuals I need that explain, more or less, how the network is setup on the controller (plc) and the relevant information about addressing etc. I havent got all the details figured out yet but have the info.

I am still sceptical that the drive will do what the PE wants but I have found that the drive does have feedback and position references that can be monitored, just not sure that I can get that info to the plc. I am still studying the mapping part. I think Explicit messaging is possible but not sure yet on HOW.

I have one inverter, motor, gearbox and encoder setup on a workbench. I havent gotten the encoder to work because I havent got the addon feeback card to provide power to it. I think I have missed something in the setup that "turns on" the feedback card. I have installed the drive's software on my laptop and will take it to work with me Monday. I have to make a cable but its easier to work with than the Operator interface plus I have ALL the manuals for it on CD so can view them easier.

I was getting frustrated because I didnt have everything I needed to do what I need. I should have realized this from the start. I got in a rush and got frustrated. I just needed to calm down and think the situation over more.

93lt1...thanks very much for stating what should have been obvious but wasnt to me.

Peter, Steve thanks. I dont have everthing I need to setup a workbench model of the system but will get it this week. The Toshiba rep is suppose to be out Tuesday. I hope to have the drive able to work in feedback mode by then and he may be able to tell me how we can transfer data and/or do positioning.

ITs definitely going to be a learning experience.
 
Explicit messaging is not for the faint hearted, a challenge and most enjoyable when you get it right and it works properly. Just make very sure you get all the numbers right. I did not and wasted a day because I could not see the incorrect number - 1 digit in 10 registers. OUCH!!!!
beerchug
 
Even money says that your AC drive rep is going to show up and ask "where's the motion controller ?". This drive appears to have a "position mode", and even has a deadband for holding around a position, but as Peter points out there are none of the typical parameters or features you associate with a motion controller, like distance, acceleration, interpolation, or index parameters. It looks like it will close a speed feedback loop, but not a position feedback loop.

I had an experience with Toshiba drives on DNet with their 2 drives/ 1 node adapter a while ago where the Toshiba rep claimed they weren't intended to allow over-the-network access to parameters with a tool like RSNetworx. They maybe went to a lot of work generating a 14K EDS file with hundreds of parameter objects if they weren't supposed to use it. I never did find out if it worked, as the user just set it up with Toshiba's drive software. Those might not have been G7's but they did use a two-drives-per-node interface. The rep said that Toshiba was working on an onboard DNet interface for release this summer.
 
AB to DeviceNet I/O mapping

"and where that i/o is going to be mapped to (the addresses in the PLC you are going to use to read and write to it".

Where can I get a record of how this was mapped (ie where is this informations stored and how can I read it)?

I have an AB PLC that is connected to several WAGO modules via DeviceNet. I do not completely understand how the two communicate. Any guidance for this newbie would be appreciated.

All I really have is a schematic of the system and the PLC program to go by. An example: The schematic says N10:0/0 for what is physically at Node 10, position 10, output 1 of 2. Output 2 says N10:10/1. The corresponding address in the AB PLC program is N10:20/0 and N10:20/1 respectively. Is the schematic just mislabeled?
 
Ideally, let's open a new thread for this new topic. Ron Doran has been dead for several years and this is a totally different DeviceNet slave device.

A preview: the mapping is stored in nonvolatile memory in the scanner module. You need the RSNetworx *.DNT file, either saved from the original project or uploaded from the network.
 

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