CONTROLNET - Not recognizing new Nodes?

Good Morning all,

Hope someone can shed some light in to why we cant get the new nodes to be detected thru RSNETWORX.

The existing CONTROLNET has 31 nodes and is working properly w/o any issues. We are attempting to add two NEW nodes but RSNetworx is not picking-up these two new nodes. The cabling from node 31 to 32 is less than 10feet long and node 31 is the last node picked up during the scan. All the terminators are correctly done and wiring has been re-done several times in order to eliminate defective cabling. This is a redundant system (both CPU and Media). The controlnet cards on nodes 32 and 33 has flashing green OK and Channel A/B lights.





Here's what we have done sofar.

A) Added Nodes 32 and 33 I/O config in RSLogix 5000 and downloaded to Primary rack. (Redundant rack synced)

B) Physically connected Nodes 32 & 33 and powered up both racks.

C) Using Rsnetworx, scanned the CONTROLNET network. It picked up all existing nodes up to node 31, but not the newly added nodes 32 & 33. (Node 32 cabling comes directly from node 31 and 33 from 32 and 34 has terminators).

D) Manually added nodes 32 and 33 while in RSNETWORX and saved the keeper file (optimized and re-write).

E) Rescanned CONTROLNET with RSNETWORX. Nodes 32 and 33 showsup (since these were manually added to keeper file) but with a (-) minus sign next to nodes 32 and 33.

Any ideas as to what is wrong here? All the firmware rev's match on all CPU's, CONTROLNET cards, etc, etc. We are using RSNETWORX Ver. 7.0.

Do you have the opportunity to connect to these modules directly with a 1784-PCC card, or on a separate ControlNet network ?

The Channel A and B LED's should be solid green, not flashing, when the modules connect to a functioning ControlNet.

Are you sure that you have the proper EDS files for those devices (the Flex I/O brains) registered on your laptop?

I think I saw this once before where my customer upgraded one of their PLC's to a newer RsLogix release version without telling me. I had not installed the latest RsLinx in a while and did not have that EDS file. Blindly re-scheduled the network as I had always done and thier PLC was not seen and so not scheduled. Got the proper EDS file from the AB website and was able to schedule properly.

Could also so this by swapping the brain module with one of the others and see if the issue stays the same or follows.

I would suggest, don't try to go online and compare what you have created offline for adding the new nodes. I would create a "New File" in RSNetworx and browse all the nodes and hit, go online. In that case, it shall show all the active nodes which can be communicated properly. If still you don't see the last 2 nodes, then I would suggest to swap the last 2 CNBR's with some previous (Which are getting detected). This way, you can troubleshoot whether there is any problem in Hardware (or firmware version) or there is really a problem in the cables you have connected (As because, typically crimping the ControlNET BNC connector needs utmost care).
Please try these options and let us know about your progress.

--Rahul.

another basic check, use rslinx to browse your network. your new nodes should show up there as question marks if you don't have the right eds files. If you don't see them with rslinx, you're not going to see them with networx. My guess is you don't have the right eds files. i'm sure you've tried already but try unseating the cnb and reseating it (after production ends of course)

Thank you all.

Ken,

Ken Roach said:

Do you have the opportunity to connect to these modules directly with a 1784-PCC card, or on a separate ControlNet network ?

The Channel A and B LED's should be solid green, not flashing, when the modules connect to a functioning ControlNet.

Click to expand...

We do not have the capability. We are downloading the keeper file via ethernet to 1756-CNBR/E Rev 11.1

Roy C,

We do have all the EDS files with various rev's for ech of the cards, CPU, etc. etc. registered on our laptop. If you look at the pic in my original post, you will see that they are recognized correctly during a RSNETWORX on line scan, except 32 and 33 come up with a (-) sign next to them after they were manually added and keeperfile was updated. Prior to that 32 & 33 were not showing up during an RSNETWORX scan.

Here's something that I just noticed but not sure if this could cause a problem....

All flex chasis with 1794-ACNR15/C's that are currently being recognized - last one is at node 28 -that were already on the network has Major Revision 4 and Minor Rev. 1.

The two new ones we added, 1794-ACNR15/C (nodes 32 & 33) has Major rev. 4 and minor Rev 3.

Could this be a problem?

lifepreserverplease,

No they did not show up in RSlinx when we checked.

Any other Ideas that I can try?

I will not have the system at our disposal again until Sunday at 6:00AM. Trying to do all the homework before that.

Primary/Redundant Racks:

The two L61 CPU Firmware Version is 15.56

The two 1756-CNBR/E Firmware Version is 11.1

The Two 1756-ENBT/A Rev. is 3.1

All existing Flex nodes 1794-ACNR15/C is Rev 4.1 (up to node 28)

Two new Flex nodes being added 1794-ACNR15/C is Rev 4.3

What about network timing?

NUT is 5 milliSeconds

RPI is 20 milliseconds for all modules

Nodes up to 31 are still good even after Optimize and re-write with manually added 32 & 33. (system is currently up and running and controlnet terminators are at Node 33 even though nodes 32 and 33 are not being detected)

All nodes have scheduled connection checked.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

another thought i had. i don't have any access to rockwell software at home so i can't verify this but i'm quite certain in one of the menus you can specify the maximum node address on the control net network. i can;t remeber the techno speak for this (on my 3rd beer) value but you might want to verify this. i fyou have this set too low, networx won't look past the maximum address and you'll never see anything else. just a thought

Thx. Life preserverplease,

If you look at my original post's network properties,

I have set my max scheduled address (SMAX) to my last node which is 33 as well as unscheduled to 35 (eventhough I don't have any unscheduled nodes. I am clueless at this point to why this is not working.

Thanks again.

Node 32 & 33 is scanned by rslinx rswho?

Hi rPraveenkum,

As far as the information I got, these two nodes were NOT detected during RSLINX RSWHO scan. Site engineer does not recall seing the node #'s or a question marks next to the nodes. Site engineer will be trying to do another RSLINX RSWho this AM to re-verify this. I will know in several hours if Nodes 32 & 33 gets detected (at least with a question mark) or not.

Thx.

Check for the Led A & B should be steady green to get communication with rslinx

I've seen this type of problem before, our solution was to pull the cnb module and reseat it. If you are not seeing an "unrecognized device" in rslinx at this point your not going to get anywhere. I would refrain from changing any other parameters until you've cycled power. good luck!

Yes, the difference in firmware revision of the flex I/O module is what I was suggesting may be an issue. I don't know if a change in minor revision number would cause the EDS file to be invalid.

Although you manually added the modules to the network configuration they would not have been an exact firmware match and therefore the manually addition would not have made a difference in their being detected. I could not find the EDS file for the 4.3 version on the AB website. At this point I would still say this is only possibility... but one that I did run across.

Roy

Roy C. said:

Yes, the difference in firmware revision of the flex I/O module is what I was suggesting may be an issue. I don't know if a change in minor revision number would cause the EDS file to be invalid.

Although you manually added the modules to the network configuration they would not have been an exact firmware match and therefore the manually addition would not have made a difference in their being detected. I could not find the EDS file for the 4.3 version on the AB website. At this point I would still say this is only possibility... but one that I did run across.

Roy

Click to expand...

Roy C,

You are correct that AB does not have an EDS file for 4.3. (EDS is only for 4.1). One wonders what AB did with 4.2?

Latest word from on-site is that RSLINX did not recognize the two new nodes. So this leads me to believe this is a Hardware (possibly Firmware) related issue. Thanks again for everyones help and suggestions. Will know more on Sunday.

Thx.

Those flashing green Channel A and B LED's are a certain indication that the 1794-ACNR15's are not themselves "seeing" a network that they can join. High noise levels can cause this, or a Keeper conflict or invalid Keeper. Use RSNetworx to check the scanner signature and Keeper status.

The UMAX value isn't it; modules that connect to a network with a too-low UMAX will flash their Channel A and B LED's red. You can test this by setting these adapters to Nodes 51 and 52.

This is a redundant controller system, which are less common than simplex systems so there might be something unusual about the 1756-CNB's that is causing them to not properly perform the Keeper functions.

I noticed you have 11.1 firmware in the 1756-CNB's. Update these to 11.2 to avoid the infamous 70.94 day shutdown bug.