Rslinx serial comm with plc 5/04

[graybeard_61]

"stop button" that is

 

[daba]

Channel 0 on the 5/04 is an RS-232 serial port. The driver you need in RSLinx is called RS-232 DF1 Devices.

The 1747-CP3 cable is correct.

Connect your cable to the SLC, and in RSLInx add a new RS-232 DF1 Devices Driver, don't do anything else except click on Auto-Configure.

If you get Auto-configuration Successful response then all is well, and the driver should work with RSLogix500 - I've never seen it not work.

Once the driver is installed and running OK, it announces itself as AB_DF1-1 DH+ Sta.0 COM1 RUNNING in your configured drivers list.

If you don't auto-configure successfully, then there may be another RSLinx driver got hold of the COM port on your laptop. This must be Stopped to continue.

If you can't stop this driver, then make sure you haven't got the RS-Who window open, and you are browsing this branch of the tree.

I have noticed that some drivers can't be stopped, only deleted. Try that.

Until you get auto-configuration successful, and a RUNNING driver in your driver list, forget about RSLogix500, it won't communicate.

 

[Mickey]

Another thing to look at in your offline file is the mode of channel 0. See picture below.

It should be "system" to use the DF1 driver in Rslinx. If it says "User" then the port is
configured for ASCII. Your not going to get connected if it is configured for ASCII.

Post your .rss file (zip it first) if you can.

 

[Operaghost]

Your offline file tells us the port is setup so we should be able to talk to it, but Mickey brings up a really important setting. If set to ASCII, then we cannot use the serial port for communications.

Your ethernet driver won't conflict with the serial driver so it can run side by side. There are other drivers that can conflict, but not the ethernet one.

The device setting will set itself once you successfully complete the auto-configure. For the SLC it will read slc-cho/micro/panelview.

More concerning though, is that it is possible some other software on your computer may have taken over the serial port so RSLinx cannot access it. The serial port cannot be shared between multiple software packages like ethernet can. Usually RSLinx is the culprit taking over your serial port so another package cannot use it. It looks like the reverse could be true here. Do you have any other software on your machine that makes use of the computer serial port? Perhaps rebooting the PC, if you haven't done so recently, would free up your computer serial port.

OG

 

[graybeard_61]

Thanks for all the help. I followed "Daba's" advice and got the autoconfig to work and now I can talk to my processors thru the serial connecction. I still need to talk to one proceesor thru ethernet since a radio modem is connected to the serial port. This processor has an ethernet address of 198.213.62.106. The processor is connected to a linksys 5 port hub model EFAHO5W. I set the laptop address to 198.213.62.105. Pulling up the offline file and looking at channel 1 system , it shows driver as ethernet, boradcast address as 0.0.0.0,ip address as 198.213.62.106 and the subnet mask is set for 255.255.255.0. I would think that connecting the ethernet cable to the one port of the hub, it should work with rslinx. When starting rslinx, I get the "red x" for the 198.213.62.106 and it says "unrecognized device." Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

[graybeard_61]

One more thing, I cannot disconnect the hub as a Panelview 600 touchscreen is connected to the processor thru the hub. The ip address of the Panelview is 198.213.62.107. When I connect the laptop i see the green port light come on the hub corresponding to the the port that I am connected to. Panelview and processor are communicating fine and the ethernet light on the processor is on.

 

[Operaghost]

So whenever we have ethernet issues, the first question to be asked is "Can you ping it?".

Have you tried to ping it yet? What were the results?


Just in case you are not familiar with Ping, here's what you need to do:

1. From Windows, click on the Start button and select Run
2. Type "CMD" without the quotes and click OK. Not case sensitive.
3. Type "ping 198.213.62.106" without the quotes and then press Enter.

If all is well then you should get four "Reply from" messages. If so, then your setup is good. If you get "Request timed out" messages then comms are not working and you should try a different cable, port on the hub/switch, or a different IP address for your PC.

OG

 

[Ken Roach]

I always verify two other protocols before I try RSLinx: ICMP and HTTP.

Open a Command window on your computer and type "PING 198.213.62.106" and hit Enter. The controller should respond to this ICMP PING command. The PanelView should, too, at its own IP address.

Open a web browser and type "198.213.62.106" into the address bar. The diagnostic web page of the controller should show up. PanelViews don't have diagnostic web pages.

If both of these functions work, you can move on to configuring either the Ethernet Devices driver or the EtherNet/IP driver in RSLinx Classic. If they don't work, you need to make sure your computer is configured and connected correctly to the Ethernet network.

One common conflict is having both hardwired Ethernet and WiFi turned on at the same time; I always disable WiFi when I'm using hardwired Ethernet.

 

[Ken Roach]

When you get simultaneous advice from multiple sources it must be good !

One other thing.... please tell me this system isn't connected to the Internet.

The common 192.168.xx.yy addresses are use for private IP networks.

The address 198.213.62.106 actually is a real Internet-facing IP address assigned to the University of Texas.

 

[graybeard_61]

This is not connected to the internet. I get message timeouts when i try to ping the processor and i have not yet tried to turnoff the wifi. I have not pinged the panelview but i could try that.

 

[mykeeplace]

rslinx under the df1- drive, plc-ch0 is for plc 5 series. The other is for all other. You will need serial port nine pin cable and a (a null-modem) adaptor. I alway try the cable first and if then no luck put the (a null-modem) adaptor on. One of these should work, unless the port has been configure for something else

 

[nwboson]

Hmmm. A HUB, rather than a switch, and a public IP address rather than a private IP address. Red flags galore.

What else is connected to the hub? At what IP addresses and masks?

Keep in mind that a hub or unmanaged switch can only service one domain at a time: if you have some devices at 198.213.62.xx and others at, say, 192.168.1.xx your behavior will be crazy intermittent. All those devices need to be in the same domain: all in 192.168.1.xx, for example (assuming the mask is 255.255.255.0). And there is NEVER a reason to have a mask any wider that 255.255.255.0 in a control network.

Pardon me while I hop on my soapbox now

And I hope nobody is planning on leaving a hub, much less a cheapo Linksys device, in a control network. Hubs are bad news in a control network: they promiscuously broadcast everything to every device. And if any one Ethernet device is running at 10K bits, the whole network slows to a 10k rate. Egad. Especially when a good industrial 5 port 10/100 switch can be had for less than $100...

Ken's observation that you are using a public IP address is troublesome. If this is ever in any way connected to the Internet, you have a potential for a strange bug. Always use addresses in the private IP ranges: 192.168.xx.xx, 10.xx.xx.xx, 172.16.xx.xx thru 172.31.xx.xx

OK, done with the soapbox.

 

[Operaghost]

This is not connected to the internet. I get message timeouts when i try to ping the processor and i have not yet tried to turnoff the wifi. I have not pinged the panelview but i could try that.

Ok then, so lets set aside the RA software for a moment as you have a network issue that has to be resolved. Forget everything else until you get PING to work. Set aside the IP addressing too. If this is a stand-alone network that in no way connects to a plant/corporate metwork you should be ok. If that is not the case, and this equipment does connect to a plant network, then step back and get your IT/IS department in there to resolve this issue.

The advice others have mentioned on addressing ranges should be implemented. But for now, let's say it cannot be done. Likewise, that hub should not be used. It should be a switch instead. But let's say you cannot do that either.


At that point, we can troubleshoot:

• The cable. Have you tried a different cable? Do you have a cable tester?
• The hub. Have you tried another port on the hub? How about a different hub?
• The computer. Some computers have an activity light right next to the ethernet connection. Do you see any flashing lights there when the cable is connected? The indicator you mentioned seeing on the hub is a good sign though. Perhaps the IP address the computer is using is being used by another device. Can you access the Command Prompt window (the DOS window) and type in "IPCONFIG /ALL" without the quotes and post a screenshot of the results? Can you try a different IP address? Does this computer connect successfully to any other ethernet networks?

OG

 

[nwboson]

Forget everything else until you get PING to work.

I would suggest that you will be well served by first determining the documented IP address and mask of everything connected to that hub. In your case, they all need to be in the 198.213.62.xx network. If you find anything connected to that hub that is not in the 198.213.62.xx it will not work consistently and you need to resolve that first. Once you know your IP addresses, move on to the ping test.

There is a wonderful little free tool called PingTestEasy you can then use to automatically ping EVERYTHING on your network. If you can ping anything, but not the PLC, that is a much different problem than being able to ping nothing at all.

If this is a stand-alone network that in no way connects to a plant/corporate network you should be ok.

I never understand the thought process when I walk up to a network and find IP address schemes that are just plain wrong. Its usually because I have been called in to diagnose a dead or intermittent network or, more commonly, the customer has decided they want remote access added to their existing network. Then I have to change the IP address of every device in their network because someone thought it was OK to do it wrong in the first place. And many times its close to impossible because the old programs cannot be found.

It happens ALL the time: the original intent was to have a standalone system, then someone (rightly) decides it would be better to monitor and repair that system through the plant or from afar. So PLEASE do it right the first time (pick the proper IP addresses) and you'll make everyone's life easier further down the road. Its easy to do now, potentially really difficult a few years down the road. One thing unique about PLCs is they tend to have amazingly long service lives.

 

[graybeard_61]

I appreciate all the commnets. This system was commisioned right at 10 years ago and I have now inherited the system as the original people have moved on. I do not know why these particluar addresses were used or why a hub instead of a switch, but that is what I have for now. The only items on the ethernet network are the processor, the hub and the Panelview 600. There is a radio modem connected to the rs232 port so the plant can see the remotley located processor. I tried pinging the panelbuilder and it responds back with no lost packets just fine. I do not get any info back when i ping the ip address of the processor. I am using rslinx lite version 2.31. I tried deleting the driver and adding it back. I choose "Ethernet devices" and put in 198.213.62.106 for station "0" under the tab "station mapping." I also added 198.213.62.107 for the panelbuilder address and 192.213.62.105 for the pc address. I put in network number 0 and 1 for the network numbers as I was unsure what to put there. When I scanned the network, it did find and correctly name the panelview and pc, but still had the processor 192.213.62.106 as an "unrecognized device with a big red X. I have made sure that the only driver that is running is ab_eth-1 AB. I went into the offline file on the computer and opened it up under rslogix. The driver shows ab_eth_1 just under the offline edit boxes on the left side of the screen and node address of 0 octal. I appreciate any and all help.