Micro8xx CIP communication (to a PC?)

Hello,

I am very new to PLC programing, I am able to program very basic system (stand alone machines) and HMI, but that about it ...

I now need to be able to have my machine able to communicate with the master/plant PLC system. This would be simple alarm code, maybe status code and maybe a few Boolean.
We currently send the variable monitoring over analog output (4-20mA) but i would like to just send it over through the same protocol.

From doing some digging, it seams like CIP would be the best way to go.
We mostly use Micro820 and 850 which have a ethernet port. The HMI usually goes over serial, so we always have a spare ethernet port available.

So far so good ....

I went through the A&B "Getting Started with CIP Client Messaging". This is where my questions start ...

In theory, it makes sense: I have a function block (MSG_CIP...?) sending a variable out with specific communication instruction (explicit) or pre-agreed instruction (symbolic) and the other PLC have a function block to receive this variable.
I assume at this point the receiving PLC "assimilate" the transmitted variable and we can use the received value as a local variable?
From my understanding this is done with MSG_CIP... function block on both ends?
And the setup values need to match?

I would love to be able to test this with my PLC, but i only have 1 PLC.
Is there a way to use a computer to send and receive CIP message to test the code on the PLC?

Any guidance, tip and help would greatly help me wrap my head around this.

Also, it seams we can also send entire arrays, so i could eventually see having a custom array for the status of the system and send it over every x seconds for monitoring/logging. but this is way down the road ...

Thanks on advance for all your help,
X

If you are looking to read tag values, or write values to tags, then there are options out there. AdvancedHMI has a driver compatible with Micro800 that will read/write tags. I maintain a python library that supports the Micro800 series if you are into python.

https://www.advancedhmi.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=20
https://github.com/dmroeder/pylogix

Thanks for the quick reply.

I downloaded the python code and watched a few of the linked videos, i dont know anything about Python ... it looks very intimidating.

I am just trying to read a few tags with the master PLC.
Is MSG_CIP... the proper function block to use?
Is it the same on both PLCs? or do i need a function block to send the message and a different one to receive the tag?

The only reason i am interested to use the PC is to confirm the code on the PLC is working as it should.

I can always help you with python specific things.

So yes, if you have one Micro800 PLC and a 2nd Micro800 PLC needs to read some tags, a MSG is how you do it. If you only have one of the PLC's, you can have python send that data to one of them as if it were the other one. The only got-ya is that if you need to write a structure (UDT), you will need to write the tags individually. Let me know some details if you want to try it, I can help you out.

XEMON said:

I would love to be able to test this with my PLC, but i only have 1 PLC.
Is there a way to use a computer to send and receive CIP message to test the code on the PLC?

Click to expand...

XEMON said:

Thanks for the quick reply.

The only reason i am interested to use the PC is to confirm the code on the PLC is working as it should.

Click to expand...

Hi. I cannot program in Python or any other such language. I am more a tester kind-of-guy than a developer kind-of-guy. So I can provide some advice in a hands-on language, very empiricly and without the rigour of expression that developers can provide. I hope this helps. You can achieve what I understand you need in about an hour without coding, just configuring a couple of (in my view) very nice tools, which are free of charge for evaluation so the only cost is the power of your PC and air conditioning.

Yes there is an easy way to be able to read and write tags to a Rockwell PLC, but I am not 100% sure if this will work with Micrologix. Assuming it is a CIP capable device supporting CIP symbolic messages, this is an easy way to do an quick test on your PLC application.
Download the Softing dataFEED OPC Suite and install the evaluation version. Run the configurator and configure the IP address of the Micrologix in the Rockwell data sources. Go all the way until you reach the items for the PLC and have the tool read the tags on the PLC so the address space is configured. Save the configuration and start dataFEED OPC suite.
https://data-intelligence.softing.com/products/opc-software-platform/datafeed-opc-suite/
If you have an OPC client open it up, if you do not download the Softing sample OPC Client, install it and start it. Initiate an OPC session and add the dataFEED OPC server configuration which you configured with the dataFEED configurator. After adding the dataFEED OPC server select the tags you want to see on the OPC client and add them to the OPC items screen. If you save the OPC Client configuration you can reuse it so you do not need to configure the OPC clinet every time. The evaluation version of dataFEED works for 72 hours, and you can restart it after these 72 hours expired. The OPC Client will read the tags as per the configuration of the OPC group on which these tags are included. It is also possible to send data by right-clicking the tag and selecting write.

AlfredoQuintero said:

Download the Softing dataFEED OPC Suite and install the evaluation version. ...

Click to expand...

I have a question: if that works out, where can I find the price? Even to the nearest base 10 logarithm would be adequate, otherwise I could not be bothered to even try the eval version.


Why do so many of these companies obfuscate wrt the prices of the software?



Or am I missing the obvious [prices here!] web page accessible from the link.




Hmm, found some prices, but only for services and training, not software.

Hi drbitboy:
Softing's sales policy is to work through distributors. I am the distributor for Japan. I would advice you contact the sales channel in your area. I also would advice you get the USB dongle so you can use the actual dataFEED version in different PCs. Since the evaluation version works for 72 hours, I think this gives you the flexibility to use the software in different PCs for quick testing and only when you need it to work continuously for over 72 hours you can use the USB dongle. The full version may be a little expensive just for testing. The Rockwell license only, which includes OPC (Classic) server may not be that expensive. You can add other licenses later to the same USB dongle if you need say support for other PLCs or to be able to send data to cloud services, and so on. If you want to have also OPCUA it may be better to get the full functionality. the OPC classic functionality is included with any PLC license, but OPCUA is a separate license. If you really need to know the price, you need to ask the sales channel for your area.

I have read here in this forum posts of really smart people who can code in Python or C# or AdvancedHMI all the things that dataFEED can do, so these people do not need dataFEED. I feel humbled at the competency of these guys and their skills. This dataFEED middle-ware is for guys like me who cannot code, but need to exchange data between dissimilar PLCs, log data in Excel or send data to SQL databases with a few clicks of a mouse, and is relatively easy to document for the end-user.

Obviously I cannot comment on Softing's policy for pricing, so I cannot respond this this part of your inquiry/comment. For the US Softing does not show distributors, but they have a subsidiary.

https://data-intelligence.softing.com/partners/sales-partners/
Softing Inc.
7209 Chapman Highway
Knoxville, TN 37920
USA

Phone: +1.865.251-5252
Fax: +1.865-579-4740
Email:[email protected]
Web: https://data-intelligence.softing.com/us/