Ken Roach
Lifetime Supporting Member + Moderator
This is one of those 'Doctor, it hurts when I do this' issues, where the solution is 'don't do that !', but it concerned me enough I wanted to share it with other users.
Red Lion's Crimson 3 HMI editing software has several different communication drivers for Allen-Bradley controllers. A detailed explanation of each one is in the Support section of their website:
http://www.redlion.net/Support/Downloads/DeviceDrivers/G3/AllenBradley.html
In my case, I was testing an application with an SLC-5/05 that had been originally developed using a MicroLogix 1400.
That meant I had to change from "DF1 Master via PCCC/ENI", which is appropriate for the MicroLogix 1400, to the "DF1 Master" over Ethernet, which is appropriate for the older PLC-5 and SLC-5/05 controllers.
That's where things went wrong. As soon as I changed the driver, the PLC addresses for many of the Tags in my project got corrupted. I figured this out when upon the next download of the project, many of my indicators weren't working. The effect was... disconcerting.
An example of what I mean by "corruption";
Reset_Mark_Count [Micro1400.B043:0000] became
Reset_Mark_Count [Micro1400.I000:0080]
and
FH_Flyer_Reported_Caption [Micro1400.R012:014] became
FH_Flyer_Reported_Caption [Micro1400.R012:003]
In some cases the address changed to a different data file entirely, and sometimes to a different element inside the same data file. I couldn't really find a pattern.
The data type never changed, nor any of the other aspects of the Tag. Just the PLC data table address.
To their credit, within a few hours of me figuring out what was going on, Red Lion Technical Support jumped right on it, re-creating the issue and providing two recommended workarounds:
1. Before changing the driver, go to the top level of the Tag view and Export the Tag databse. After changing the driver, Import the tag database. This worked 100% of the time.
2. Before changing the driver, go the the File -> Utilities menu and choose Rebuild Comms Blocks. Each time we did this, the tag database appeared to remain uncorrupted.
Red Lion explained that while the drivers are very similar, the "tag mapping" under the hood could be a little different, and that most users don't switch between drivers for the same vendor.
My takeaways from this experience are:
1. The "DF1 Master" driver on Ethernet is only for old PLC-5E and SLC-5/05 controllers. Don't try it with MicroLogix 1100 or 1400.
2. Make daily archives of all of your project files, with unique daily names.
3. If you must change drivers, export the tag database, then import it afterwards.
4. Crimson 3 isn't monkey-proof.
5. Red Lion Technical Support is very good.
Red Lion's Crimson 3 HMI editing software has several different communication drivers for Allen-Bradley controllers. A detailed explanation of each one is in the Support section of their website:
http://www.redlion.net/Support/Downloads/DeviceDrivers/G3/AllenBradley.html
In my case, I was testing an application with an SLC-5/05 that had been originally developed using a MicroLogix 1400.
That meant I had to change from "DF1 Master via PCCC/ENI", which is appropriate for the MicroLogix 1400, to the "DF1 Master" over Ethernet, which is appropriate for the older PLC-5 and SLC-5/05 controllers.
That's where things went wrong. As soon as I changed the driver, the PLC addresses for many of the Tags in my project got corrupted. I figured this out when upon the next download of the project, many of my indicators weren't working. The effect was... disconcerting.
An example of what I mean by "corruption";
Reset_Mark_Count [Micro1400.B043:0000] became
Reset_Mark_Count [Micro1400.I000:0080]
and
FH_Flyer_Reported_Caption [Micro1400.R012:014] became
FH_Flyer_Reported_Caption [Micro1400.R012:003]
In some cases the address changed to a different data file entirely, and sometimes to a different element inside the same data file. I couldn't really find a pattern.
The data type never changed, nor any of the other aspects of the Tag. Just the PLC data table address.
To their credit, within a few hours of me figuring out what was going on, Red Lion Technical Support jumped right on it, re-creating the issue and providing two recommended workarounds:
1. Before changing the driver, go to the top level of the Tag view and Export the Tag databse. After changing the driver, Import the tag database. This worked 100% of the time.
2. Before changing the driver, go the the File -> Utilities menu and choose Rebuild Comms Blocks. Each time we did this, the tag database appeared to remain uncorrupted.
Red Lion explained that while the drivers are very similar, the "tag mapping" under the hood could be a little different, and that most users don't switch between drivers for the same vendor.
My takeaways from this experience are:
1. The "DF1 Master" driver on Ethernet is only for old PLC-5E and SLC-5/05 controllers. Don't try it with MicroLogix 1100 or 1400.
2. Make daily archives of all of your project files, with unique daily names.
3. If you must change drivers, export the tag database, then import it afterwards.
4. Crimson 3 isn't monkey-proof.
5. Red Lion Technical Support is very good.