Cable for Siemens Siemens TP270-6

[JesperMP]

I'll bet that these two checkmarks are what will fix your problem:
[attachment]

good luck

 

[panic mode]

Jasper, I was trying with or without checkmarks - no luck.
I believe, they are not for COM2 but for COM1 (PLC connection).
I agree that they should be checked in order to communicate with
PLC (at least that's how it looks to me) but this should not
affect downloading of application to the touchscreen.
I didn't try to use CF card yet (I always have one on me)
but that's not the point, I have to make the RS232 connection.
About auto-deceting port settings of Protool, that's fine but
I don't like that I cannot select port settings if I want to.
For example, On the TP270 it is possible to select parity, stop bit
and handshaking while Protool doesn't have such options.
Who can convince me that this transfer didn't fail because
Protool guessed it's port settings wrong?
But I'll follow your advice and try to load the software on
another machine just to try it out.

BTW:
I see quite often that serial ports do not work with this or
that device. This is just not acceptable. I don't care if the
COM port of some laptop is saving energy. If the lower power
still meets the spec, it must work.
If some device DOESN'T work because of "low power COM port",
it is not the PC to be blamed for (or the USB<>RS232 converter).
It's the designers of the picky device that didn't do proper job.
Hacking port to obtain power (like in dreaded PIC for AB PLCs
just to name one) is just not professional design.
Dragging 6-8 year old desktop or tower PC with monitor, keyboard,
UPS and power bar is NOT what I call mobile computing.

 

[JesperMP]

I know what is wrong, proceed as stated below:

Grab a bible and, while waving it in front of the TP270, speak out with a stern and demanding voice:
"HEAR ME DEMON. IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS SACRED, LEAVE THIS TP270 AND GO BACK FROM WHERE YOU ONCE CAME. BEGONE !"

Now, that should take care of the problem once and for all !

Sidenote: RS232 is an age-old definition stating that the voltage levels should be +/- 15V. As 5V is the norm inside most PCs, there is often an extra pair of leads from the PSU for the 15V - only for the serial port.
The thing is that the laptop manufacturers have discovered that most equipment will work with +/- 5V or even lower, so they have simply decided that it will suffice.

NB: The transfer settings ARE for download. It says so clearly in the manual.

 

[panic mode]

Thanks Jesper


I'll ask for Bible to be part of my lab uragod


If I'm not mistaken EIA232 spec says that signals
levels are +/- 3..25V.
My point is that even +/-3V should be ok since
232 is communication port not the power outlet.
And it is totaly lame to come out with product that runs
on WinCE, requires multitasking 32-bit OS on
development station but sticks to standards from
the dinosaurs time.

Ok, just received desktop (gee, it's a bit dusty...)

 

[panic mode]

Ok, although I didn't have all day to play with it I think
I tried everything and so far tech support is confirming that
everything sounds good and it should work fine.
The cable was verified as correct, so is the software version,
so is the procedure and all settings but it just won't work.


There is only two things I can think of:
- the actual display is not working
- something is wrong with the software

I always install everything but the tech support guy
had more options and better selection in couple of widows
although we both are running same version. He said he
installed some patches as well. I guess I try to look it
up in the morning... I'm going home to play with my
z8 encore kit.

 

[JesperMP]

I am quite sure about the 15V for RS232.

If you dont have a bible at hand to expell the demon, then there are still four "easy" things you can do:

1. You mention that you have an AB online cable. Maybe you have RSLinx setup with a DF1 driver and/or the PIC driver ? These will hook the serial port. To remove the PIC driver completely you will have to reboot the PC (thats what I hear from others).

2. Ask the Siemens support guy to email you a working image for a TP270. The neat thing about restoring an image is that everything will be restored - also elusive settings that play hide and seek. You should then come back to a factory default, with serial download enabled.

3. Try to download via USB. You should know that the port that is used for downloading IF2 is NOT the same as is used for a serial online connection IF1A. The serial settings on the "TRANSFER" dialog is for IF2 only. In the same dialog box you would have to select USB and enable it.

4. Install Protool on a desktop PC.

 

[panic mode]

Hi JesperMP,

You seam to know plenty about this unit. Someone is comming
tomorrow to make it work or replace it. I have plenty of
other things to work on and this is not exactly burning
issue (yet) so I will just wait to see what he(she) are
gonna do about it.
I do have an AB cable and a bunch of others, all for
serial port but this is not part of the problem. PC ports are
not tied by some other application.
An image for TP270 is not bad idea. I did install ProTool on
two more machines (laptop and desktop) with same results.
I just got USB cable but I'm bussy with other things.
We'll see how it goes tomorrow

 

[panic mode]

We had two guys who came to check it out. (this is back in
hands of guy who started it so technically I shouldn'y
worry about this). They've spent couple of hours and couldn't
make it work. Then they brought one more TP270 and still
same thing. Then they called me in just to tell that they
decided to quit.
I had to make something out of it so I started whole thing
from scratch. I created my own project and it worked!!!
The problem was that original project we strugled with
was using TP27 instead of TP270.


And yes, AllenBradley cable CP3 worked fine as well (any
crossover...). Everyone is celebrating this success so
I need my beer now...

 

[JesperMP]

Congrats panic

I am just appalled that none of the experts noticed the little difference, tsk. tsk.

 

[panic mode]

Neither did I. We all tried to download same project.
And then when everyone was frustrated, one last shot
did it. I guess this will be lesson to remember...