Red Lion Data Station + A-B Ultra3000?

[rsdoran]

The DEM instruction is in the latest SLC500 Instruction manual;
http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/rm/1747-rm001_-en-p.pdf
Chapter 12 Page 44.

One thing to note is that you have to have RSL500 ver 7.10 or higher and if I read correctly it may only work with the 5/03, 04, and 05, maybe Ken can verify if it works with other models.

 

[jstolaruk]

I'm a little concerned about this statement. Why would they add this feature--and document it in the manual--if it doesn't work? The Red Lion device would simply be handling the ASCII parsing and it will still depend on the multi-drop capability to communicate with multiple drives.

Initially, I'm intending to buy the necessary components to operate just one axis, in order to verify that everything works. Perhaps I should buy the DeviceNet version of the first drive even if I'm planning to go serial (it's only a few hundred dollars more). Then, DN could be a fallback if the Red Lion + Ultra3000 strategy doesn't pan out.

As I said, just check it out. I was just passing on what was told to me when I asked about multi-dropping for Ultraware connections. If its works great! But it seems to me that having the Red Lion connected to the PLC is a better arrangement than connecting to the drive directly. If you connect to the SLC you'll be able to display drive parameters AND anything in the SLC data table.

 

[jstolaruk]

Host Protocol absolutely does work, fast and reliably. The best Host Protocol driver is the one embedded in Ultraware.

Glad to hear my local guy is wrong about multidrop for Ultraware because I need this to work.

 

[504bloke]

The DEM instruction is in the latest SLC500 Instruction manual;
http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/rm/1747-rm001_-en-p.pdf
Chapter 12 Page 44.

One thing to note is that you have to have RSL500 ver 7.10 or higher and if I read correctly it may only work with the 5/03, 04, and 05, maybe Ken can verify if it works with other models.

Thanks

 

[kolyur]

update

I just finished up the project that I originally posted about, so I wanted to share my experiences in case it may help someone make a decision in the future.

I ended up using the Red Lion Data Station to communicate with the 11 Ultra3000 drives, over the multidropped RS485 connection. I have to admit it has worked pretty much flawlessly. The folks at Red Lion didn't seem to overlook anything when implementing the U3k host protocol. There was one minor issue I encountered where some of the U3k parameters cannot be accessed using gateway blocks in Crimson (you have to use programming instead--no big deal).

I was debating whether to go this route or use the DeviceNet drives, and I have found that there are really only two disadvantages to the Red Lion solution (both of which I was aware of before diving in):

1. Speed. The U3k serial connection is only 38.4k, so that's the bottleneck even though the Red Lion and SLC are on Ethernet. I am transferring about a dozen parameters to each of the 11 drives and it sometimes takes a few seconds to see the changes reflected in the motion. But for this application the changes are usually made during setup so that speed is perfectly acceptable.

2. Lots of I/O needed. I'm still using hardwired PLC I/O to control the drives and select the motion profiles, which requires 8 outputs and 5 inputs for each drive (143 points total). I used Flex I/O on RIO for this since the 32-point modules are available.

In retrospect I think I made the right choice, although DeviceNet would have worked just as well. We just don't have any DeviceNet experience and I was reluctant to go down that road unless it was necessary. I am sure DN would be the way to go if you had higher speed requirements, and many would suggest going CLX but we haven't made that jump yet either.

Thanks for everyone's replies to my original post. I always appreciate the advice I receive on this forum!

-John

 

[jstolaruk]

Kolyur, thanks for the feedback on the Red Lion - U3K interface.

Yes, D-Net would have saved a lot of wiring. On the flip side, with that many Ultras and depending on which I/O assemblies (maps) were chosen for interfacing, multiple SDN cards would have been required. (I generally don't use more than 4 Ultras per SDN card).

 

[CharlesM]

Great follow up. I love to see the results after a good thread like this one.

 

[DanYost]

Thank you very much for following up on this application, I am glad our product worked out well for you.

Regards,
Dan