S7 - ProTool and Laptops

[RMA]

Thanks Ron, I hadn't thought of highlighting the TCP/IP entry, which is why I hadn't found it before.

Unfortunately, it hasn't solved my basic problem - I can access the CP but not through it, the CPU. I guess I'll have to go read the manuals until S7Guy gets back from where ever he's been hiding the last couple of days!

 

[RMA]

It's working!

I finally decided that since there is a customer requirement for Operator access to the system using a (this) laptop via Ethernet, I might as well just create a permanent connection using NetPro.

After backing up the project and saving it under a new name (I've been bitten often enough to believe in playing things safe nowadays!)I created a new PG/PC station in NetPro and gave it the address which I'd set the laptop to. I then went into ProTool and set the communication up to be via Ethernet instead of Profibus, which went smoothly until I tried to set the Ethernet address to the address I'd defined for the laptop and ProTool complained that the address was not unique. Not having any choice, I changed the address to the next higher address and saved the project. I then used the File -> Test Menu to go online and hey presto - everything now works!

I then went back into Simatic Manager and in the PLC Menu looked for other participants and sure enough, it found it's way to the CPU and let me connect online. I assume that being able to access the CPU was probably a result of the NetPro PG/PC Station being configured, but I have a sneaky feeling that ProTool might still have worked without that. I think I might just go back down and play around to try and find out what's what.

Oh, by the way, somewhere along the line, I discovered that the correct setting for the PG/PC Interface was TCP/IP not ISO. Can't remember when or how I spotted that, but it still wasn't the whole story.

I'd still quite like to know how S7Guy manages to go online without doing anything other than adapting his IP address. It may not be relavent for this project, but I'm sure it could come in handy in future. So if you happen to fall over this post sometime, S7Guy, let's in on the secret please!

 

[RMA]

Just been and tried it out.

I loaded the old archive of the program back down to the PLC from the HMI PC via Profibus - including the system data - so that all the changes in NetPro were deleted. I then hung the Laptop back onto the Ethernet connection fired up ProTool and as expected made contact with the CPU OK.

So then I decided to try going online from Simatic Manager and that worked as well! So in fact I'd got exactly the configuration S7Guy was talking about and it was working fine - I just didn't realise it. Actually, I should have spotted it earlier. After I changed the protocol from ISO to TCP/IP instead of getting the MAC address back when I looked for active participants from the PLC Menu, I got the station name back. But when I couldn't open it up with a double click, I assumed (that word again!) that the info was being picked up from the offline database. In fact thinking about it, I'm not sure if you can actually access anything that way, I suspect it may only be a display. What I didn't try at that stage was to switch to "Online" in the View Menu - pity, it would have saved me a lot of time.

Ah well, you live and learn!

 

[Unregistered]

Hello Roy,

I see you got it working. As long as the IP subnet of your PC is the same as your PLC, you can go online immediately without any configuration in NetPro. I find it particularly useful because I have several laptops and multiple PLCs, and there is no way I could keep everything configured correctly in Netpro.

By the way, I'll be working in Germany for a while, in the Stuttgart region. If you're in the area, we'll have to get together.

 

[S7Guy]

Hey, the previous message was from me. I don't know why I wasn't logged in.

 

[RMA]

Let me know when you're going to be here and I'll make a point of getting there, whatever it takes!

 

[Unregistered]

Would be interested to know if you had to create the connection for Protool using native driver or Simatic Net (meaning siemens support were not correct) ,I have no doubt that for S7 access , that you don't have to create a connection in netpro , but how about for MultiPanel to S7 PLC over TCP/IP - did you find that you could do it without Simatic Net ?
Thanks,

 

[RMA]

Sorry, as far as Multipanel is concerned, can't help there, because I've never worked with them.

As far as ProTool is concerned, all I did was to change the communications in the PLC Menu entry (I assume it's called that, I'm working with the German version and don't know the English Menu entries) from Profibus to Ethernet. As I said above, the only peculiarity was that I had to give ProTool a different IP address to the one I had selected for the Laptop and entered in NetPro. Whether this would have been necessary had I not made the NetPro entry, I'm not sure. I would guess (please note - guess!) that as of S7 V5.2 or V5.3 you probably don't need Simatic Net as such. I suspect that the built-in drivers probably suffice for basic communication, such as ProTool or Online access require.

BTW, since you're obviously following the goings-on here, why don't you register? It doesn't cost anything, and we don't bite (well, most of us anyway!) and it's nice to know where people come from etc.

 

[Unregistered]

I had come to the same conclusion - that if your write a PC based application in protool , then the drivers ( and I doubt drivers come into it) are included , and you get the option in protool to select ehernet as the required coms . I can't for the life of me see why you need simatic net for the MP370 . If I was to zip the project up and send it to someone with simatic net , they could then presumably set the interface and send the project back - once the attributes are set then no further action is necessary . The pain in the bum is that I have simatic net but the old versions - one of which if you tried to setup on a win98 machine would reduce it to a crumbling wreck ( the siemens guy said that it was withdrawn -no one told me) and 5.2 , which I have running on a 2K machine , but I am worried about installing under XP , even with compatibility wizard , I have visions of blue screens and failed boots - I suppose I will just have to bite the bullet and buy the new version of Simatic net (even though there is an even newer version coming out in a couple of months )

 

[RMA]

I'm running V5.3 on XP + SP1, but up until a few months ago I was also on V5.2 and the only troubles I had turned out to be due to a flaky Pentium IV chip which bombed out when it got too hot. It used to get too hot after about two or three minutes of observing the running of a large S7GRAPH program online. Only then was I able to duplicate the problem reliably enough to persuade Fujitsu-Siemens to do something about it. Up till that point Siemens (Simatic) and Fujitsu-Siemens (PC) had mutually blamed each other. I had to live with the problem for over a year before we got that far into the project that I started observing the S7GRAPH program online!

The only problem is that if your PC is more than a couple of years old, XP swallows a lot more resources than 2K - especially when you go to SP2!

 

[Unregistered]

Thanks- did you install using compatability mode ? I started to do it but bottled out . I am running XPPro SP1 , and have simatic net 5.2 ( and some older stuff) - do you think that I dare install it ?

 

[RMA]

No, I didn't need to use compatibility mode, but all my stuff is pretty much current. The oldest is Simatic Net V 6.0/6.1 (two CD pack) and the V6.0 is dated 07/2001. This implies that V5.2 must probably be late '90s and I don't think it's likely to be happy under XP. Even if you get it running under compatibility mode, I don't think I would want to take the chance of using it on a genuine project.

If you don't want to upgrade, I would just stay with Windows 2K. Alternatively upgrade to Step7 V5.3 and if I've understood things correctly, (which I can't guarantee!), you don't need Simatic Net anymore because it's all apparently integrated in Step7. (Actually, if I'm not mistaken, it might already be in S7 V5.2.)

 

[Unregistered]

No , only some of the Simatic Net functions are integrated (siemens aren't that silly) . I have S7 5.3 with all the bells and whistles , and I can use the integrated functions if I choose to build a protool system for PC - but not for MP370 . Sorry , I thought you refering to Simatic Net V5.2 rather than S7 5.2.
I actually found that S7 V5.2 was crumbly , and much prefer (after huge investment) V5.3 .
My Simatic Net is V5.2 , from 2001/2 - I didn't think that I would need it again as I haven't had a plant wide ethernet/profibus job for a while , and none of the standalone stuff generally needs it - till now when the customer wants to connect the 370 over ethernet .

Suppose it is time to shell out more dosh again......