Ethernet/IP to DF1 Panelview ?

[whumphrey]

Doing several PLC upgrades from SLC to the L71 processor (no serial DF1). There are several PLCs with attached serial DF1 panelviews and panelmates. Replacing the panelviews is not really in the budget right now so we are trying to find a relatively inexpensive way to do this and buy some time until PVs can be replaced.

We tested the Moxa EIP3170 but apparently, per Moxa, it works only one way (Ethernet->DF1) and not the other way around...so it would not work in the case.

Has anyone come across this problem and a good solution?

Thanks!

 

[robo77]

I think the AB NET ENI would work for you.

 

[robo77]

Digi One also makes one but don't remember model

 

[whumphrey]

Thanks for the response. We've used the NET-ENI in the past but have not had good luck with their reliability. Seems they become locked up frequently and require a reset.
We did come across the DigiOne IA series as a possibility. Curious if anyone has successfully used it to communicate DF1 PV-to-PLC or PLC-to-PLC.
Thanks!

 

[TWS]

Have you looked at these? http://www.prosoft-technology.com/P...Net-IP/EtherNet-IP-to-DF1-Master-Slave-4-Port.

 

[OkiePC]

The Digi One IAP is more robust than the Net-ENI. They also offer one with the HAZ suffix which handles water and heat much better. Our only failures were in very hot panels after the plastic case melted away.

 

[Ken Roach]

The way the Net-ENI might be able to accomplish this is that it has a "routing table" where you can designate a target DF1 address that is then translated to an IP address, and of course the DF1 packet is converted to a true EtherNet/IP packet.

What I don't know is if this would work with a 1756 series processor.

This is both because I'm not sure if the Slot number is included in the destination packet, and because I'm not sure if you could slow down a PanelView or PanelMate enough to allow for the conversion/translation/routing of the data through the device and across the network. I'm not sure of the capability of the Net-ENI to correctly parse and redirect CIP-over-serial versus PCCC-over-serial either.

Most Net-ENI failures are due to people simple over-taxing them with connections. Some Net-ENI failures are actual failures, especially in the early versions of firmware.

Paul is notorious for baking, drowning, melting, and shattering devices that will run for decades with no trouble for most other users.

 

[dlweber]

What do you classify as relatively inexpensive...relatively Red Lion is inexpensive compared to PV...

 

[Firejo]

I’ve run into this before (I sell a product that emulates a NET-ENI). There is a way, although I don’t remember the details right now, to message from DF-1 to EtherNet/IP (Logix) but I believe it involves making sure the processor and Ethernet card are in particular slots. The NET-ENI can create a path that the Logix needs to see but you can’t define that path, it’s pre-defined.
If it were up to me I’d put a MicroLogix 1100 in between the Logix and PV. Then you can use the channel 0 port to communicate with the PV and message to and from the 1100 and the Logix. A bare bones 1100 would be all that you need (no I/O needed) so it shouldn't be too expensive.

 

[whumphrey]

Thanks for the great replies everyone. By inexpensive I'm thinking a few hundred $$. The Prosoft module is closer to $1500 so by the time we do that, we may as well upgrade the panelview. Rockwell offers a pretty decent discount as part of their step forward program.

I had already thought about using the ML1100 but wasn't sure how this would handle the case where we are writing from PV to PLC. As I understand it, the PV would write to the ML1100 which would the need to message to the register in the ControlLogix. I had not mentioned it but there is also a HMI package on the network that is reading and writing to the same registers as the Panelview.
I suppose we could let the HMI and Panelview write setpoints, start requests, etc. to the ML1100...then the ML110 messages to the ControlLogix where they are used by the logic. Follow me?

Thanks!

 

[Firejo]

All the Logix needs to do is read from and write to the appropriate files in the 1100 which the PV is reading from and writing to. It’s all just 1’s and 0’s.

 

[Firejo]

With that said if replacing the PV is an option I’d do that.

 

[OkiePC]

I inherited those messes

The way the Net-ENI might be able to accomplish this is that it has a "routing table" where you can designate a target DF1 address that is then translated to an IP address, and of course the DF1 packet is converted to a true EtherNet/IP packet.

What I don't know is if this would work with a 1756 series processor.

This is both because I'm not sure if the Slot number is included in the destination packet, and because I'm not sure if you could slow down a PanelView or PanelMate enough to allow for the conversion/translation/routing of the data through the device and across the network. I'm not sure of the capability of the Net-ENI to correctly parse and redirect CIP-over-serial versus PCCC-over-serial either.

Most Net-ENI failures are due to people simple over-taxing them with connections. Some Net-ENI failures are actual failures, especially in the early versions of firmware.

Paul is notorious for baking, drowning, melting, and shattering devices that will run for decades with no trouble for most other users.

Ken is the guru, but in my defense I must play my Obama card. I inherited those messes. The stories about PLC-5 racks flooded while running and melted down SLC chassis are all true and memorable, but it was someone else who left the white house, and I was only there to try to save the economy.

The rev E of the Digi One IAP supports routing tables. There is nothing wrong with the NET-ENI. I have overtaxed a couple of them, and replaced them with digis. I have also had two that had no reason to just freeze up and require a power cycle, until we swapped them for digis. Those that melted down, well, that was not my fault!

 

[whumphrey]

Ok. So we're in the process of trying to get a DigiOne IAP to perform this function. So far it is not working.

My co worker is doing most fo the testing but what I believe he was told is that he DigiOne does only PCCC and does not do CIP. Can anyone confirm or clarify this?

Our test environment is a ML1400 <---RS232---> DigiOne IAP <---ethernet----> 1756-ENBT(slot 1)/L63 processor(slot 0)

We are assuming that a DF1 message from ML1400 will look like DF1 coming from the serial port on an older Panelview or Panelmate.

In the ControLogix we are emulating the N7:x file structure with PLC/SLC mapping to an INT array.....the same way we used to do serial DF1 messaging in the L6x processors.

I get the possible issue where the DF1 message has no way of specifying the slot number of the CLX processor. What I don't understand as well is where we are deailing with CIP and where we are dealing with PCCC. Does "Ethernet/IP" support both of these protocols?

If anyone sees a big bust in our assumptions or what we are trying to do, please let me know.

Many thanks to you all!