S7-300 Practice Rack- Adding Profinet??

[AutomationTechBrian]

I'm building a S7-300 rack to work on my Siemens Classic Step 7 programming skills. I've worked now and then with Siemens hardware, usually troubleshooting or adding small program edits, but I really don't have the depth of knowledge that I'd like to make some higher level edits in my customer's automation. I've thrown together some components that I've collected, and added some of my customer's no-longer-used or spare components. Here's a picture of the rack I'm working on today, but I'm also adding an AS-i network, and a G120C VFD through the Profibus network. I have some used HMIs to add, but one would need Profinet to connect to the CPU. Is there an inexpensive way to add Profinet to this rack, or would I need to change my CPU?

 

[AutomationTechBrian]

The CPU: 317-2AJ10-0AB0

 

[JesperMP]

For an HMI to connect to an S7 PLC you dont need Profinet, ethernet will do.
So a CP343-1 LEAN is enough to add ethernet to the 317 CPU.

A Profinet capable CP343-1 will be more expensive.

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

A Profinet capable CP343-1 will be more expensive.

Will that work? The S7-300 back plane is terribly slow. I doubt it would work for anything but messaging.
The Profinet really should be built into the CPU as suggested in the second post so the data doesn't need to go over the slow back plane.

 

[mk42]

Will that work? The S7-300 back plane is terribly slow. I doubt it would work for anything but messaging.
The Profinet really should be built into the CPU as suggested in the second post so the data doesn't need to go over the slow back plane.

It "works" yes. How WELL it works, well, depends entirely on how much data is involved. I have a feeling that for a demo rig it would be fine.

 

[AutomationTechBrian]

Yeah... I should probably look around for a used S7-300 that already has Profinet. I've probably past the point where it makes sense to throw some money at this. I just don't want to go overboard... this is just my shop setup. Maybe Paul has one... he said he had a bunch of Siemens items if I needed something.

 

[JesperMP]

CP343-1 LEAN It is 'good enough' for HMI duty.
MPI at 187.5 kbps is alright.

/nostalgia on
You guys are spoiled. When I started, the operator panels had 9600 bps, 19200 bps was 'fast'. You could see the values update on the screen, line by line.
nostalgia off/

 

[JesperMP]

One interesting alternative is one of these:
https://www.deltalogic.de/products/s7-adapters/accon-netlink-pro-compact


I have just recently done a retrofit project with an S7-400 thst only had Profibus and I wanted ethernet for HMI and remote support.

This thing is nice.

Price is approximately the same as the CP343-1 LEAN.
THe upshot is, you can install this on the fast DP port on the 317 CPU and achieve a net speed of 1.5Mbps.
The 317 is pretty potent too, so all in all a not half-bad system to tinker with.

 

[AutomationTechBrian]

Paul didn't have anything "cheap" right now because of the current state of our industry and the 'shipping vortex'. But he did find a 6ES7317-2EK13-0AB0 on ebay for $535. That is within a reasonable price, so I just bought it.

 

[JesperMP]

I realise that Peter Nachtwey's comment was if a CP343-1 with Profinet would be fast enough.
It will be reasonably fast.

In the S7-300, the backplane actually has 2 buses, K-bus ('kommunikations-bus', same as MPI) and P-bus (periphery bus). MPI is well known, but not much is openly known how the P-bus works or about its performance. Someone put an oscilloscope on the P-bus and found that it operated at 4kHz. A bit faster than the 187 kbps of the K-bus.
edit: if you ever wondered why CPs also have IO addresses assigned to them, then this is why.

 

[AutomationTechBrian]

I have my guys mixed up... I thought it was Paul at PLC Cables. It was Mark. Geeze... who is Paul? That's going to bug me.

 

[JesperMP]

But he did find a 6ES7317-2EK13-0AB0 on ebay for $535.

That is a low price for a potent CPU with an integrated PN port. It also has an MPI/DP port, so you can do anything with it.
And it is actually less than both the CP343-1 LEAN and the Deltalogic Netlink adapter.

 

[AutomationTechBrian]

That is a low price for a potent CPU with an integrated PN port. It also has an MPI/DP port, so you can do anything with it.
And it is actually less than both the CP343-1 LEAN and the Deltalogic Netlink adapter.

Right?! That's what I thought. Now I can try some PLC to PLC communication as well.

 

[Lare]

Right?! That's what I thought. Now I can try some PLC to PLC communication as well.

You maybe should think also 1200CPU.

TIA portal basic for programming and you learn much from TIA also.

 

[Ken Moore]

I have my guys mixed up... I thought it was Paul at PLC Cables. It was Mark. Geeze... who is Paul? That's going to bug me.

Maybe OKiePC?