Print Label from SLC5/04 to Zebra Serial Printer

[richardwangwei]

Hi guys

I am doing a project,which I need to print label from SLC05/04 PLC straight to Zebra Printer. I tried a couple of times, it does not work. Could you please help me a couple of questions?
1. What kind cable I sould use from Channel 0 port to Zebra printer?
2. Can you just give me an example to show me how can I write "hello "in Sring File? for example:
ST25:0: ^XA^F010,10,^B3N,N,200,Y,N^FDHELLO^XZ
3.Is it correct that I just write a AWT command which send this string file straight to Channel 0?

I tested this printer connected with PC,under DOS mode, I succeed to print some lables, but when I tried to make same label to PLC, it does not work. I think maybe the string format or my commnunication cable has been wrong.Can anyone give me any suggestion to help me out?

Really appreciate for your help.

Wei

 

[OkiePC]

You will need to correctly configure CH0. Check the printer documentation for its requirements. In RSL500 under controller, open the channel config dialog. Ch0 can be set up with two modes: user and system. The general tab of the channel config is where you choose user or system mode for the channel. You will probably want to set it to user. On the CH0 user tab , notice that you can set up append characters that may save you a few bytes in your string files if you always end your strings with certain characters.

Every time I write a serial driver in a PLC I ususally have to spend at least a few hours (sometimes several days) playing with it to get it to talk correctly without errors or locking up.

Good Luck!

 

[Eric Nelson]

It will probably be helpful to connect a PC running hyperterminal in place of the printer to see exactly what the SLC is sending... :nodi:



-Eric

 

[Krakker]

Agreed, HyperTerminal on a remote PC using your DB9 serial comm port is the best method to debug the SLC CH0. Keep in mind that the SLC will not send some of the "Cntrl" characters the zebra printer requires for "Command" statements using the ZPLII language for the Zebra printer. I have had to change the "Cntr" characters in the past in the SLC500 string commmands and on the setup for the Zebra printer. I suggest downloading the ZPLII manual from the Zebra website and using hyperterminal to debug your output.

Regards

 

[Steve Crotty]

The cable you need is a cross over cable (Pins 2 and 3 swapped).

You print from a computer and it works ok. If you want to look at what code the software generated you can print to a .TXT file, and open it up in notepad. There will be a lot of extra code for formatting etc..

In a project I did, I just downloaded 10 labels to the printer, and kept them there in the printers flash memory. From the PLC I would just recall what label I wanted printed based on the product.

I also found that using a 3rd party ASCII card from prosoft was very easy to use. They supply the code to make it work, and all you need to do is copy your string over to their addresses. It also leavers the serial port on the processor available.

BTW, if you call tech support for zebra, dont even bother mentioning a PLC because the phone call will end right there.

Good Luck!

 

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