SLC-5/05 to ControlLogix messaging

[Ken Roach]

A new Forum member resurrected an old post with a variation that I think should be done in a new thread to get the best attention and advice:

>I am doing something similar to this except I am trying to message from a SLC 505 to a control logix but I can't seem to get the two talking. I have them conneted via ethernet using a stratix 5700. Will this change my "MultiHop" path when configuring the MSG in SLC505?

Having a Stratix switch, or any other Ethernet switch, won't affect the "multi-hop" path.

What model of ControlLogix is the destination ? You need the "1,x" hop at the end of the CIP Path for most controllers, but not for the "5380" or "5580" series that have Ethernet built in.

If your SLC-5/05 has configuration fields for multi-hop messaging, then it's new enough to support CIP protocol, rather than the old SLC/PLC Ethernet protocol (CSPv4), so it can talk with ControlLogix.

The SLC doesn't know anything about ControlLogix tags, so you do have to create a "PLC/SLC Mapping" entry in Studio 5000 to make the ControlLogix emulate SLC-500 Data Table File numbers.

 

[hpsustar]

The CLX model is the 1756-L61. I found an article online that walked me through how I can setup a MSG WRITE command in RSLogix500 for my SLC 505 and then "multihop" to the controller of the CLX. All I did in the CLX controller using RSLogix5000 is setup a "PLC/SLC Mapping" 5 word integer for the SLC to write to. I did not set up any other formal messaging in the CLX. Since it is not working I just assumed it was because my multihop path was incomplete due to the Stratix 5700 that wasn't included in his article.

Here is the article I was following:
https://bryceautomation.com/index.php/2019/04/15/slc-to-controllogix-messaging/#tc-comment-title

 

[Operaghost]

Can you show use a screenshot of your MSG instruction? Both the General and MultHop tabs. And to reiterate what Ken said, the Stratix (or any ethernet switch) would not be considered in the multi-hop configuration.

OG

 

[hpsustar]

Here you go.

 

[Operaghost]

Ok so that all looks good to me. Nothing jumps out to me in those graphics as a problem. So let's ask a few questions just to clarify.

1. In the SLC, the MSG instruction is using N9:0 through N9:50 to store the configuration settings for the MSG. Are we sure no other logic is using those addresses? If those addresses are being used for something else, that would overwrite your configuration settings.
2. The ControlLogix controller appears to be in slot #0 in it's chassis. Is that correct?
3. The L61 ControlLogix controller does not have Ethernet built-in. So in that chassis there is probably a 1756-ENBT (or similar) Ethernet module. Is that module configured to use 192.168.1.217? Most of these Ethernet modules have an LED display that will scroll the IP address. While it's slot # is not important, the configuration you have indicates the controller is in slot #0, so the Ethernet module must be in some other slot # besides 0.
4. In the ControlLogix, have you created an array of INT that is at least five elements? It can be more, but it cannot be less. And in the PLC/SLC mapping you have connected N70 (file 70) to that array. Can you verify this? It is a common mistake to create an array of DINT tags instead of INT. See image below. It should look something like that, just with a different name for the array.

The images below are an example of the array tag and the mapping in the RSLogix 5000 software for the ControlLogix.

OG

 

[hpsustar]

I have reviewed and double-checked all of these things and the answer to all questions is affirmative.

Whenever I go online with my SLC and go in to look at the MSG setup I get some weird values that have changed from what I set them to...this looks very weird and I don't know why it is doing this. I have attached a pic of what it is doing below.

 

[TheWaterboy]

Issues I have run into on the older PLC's

PLC-5 MSG instructions with multi hop require 2 registers . i.e. MG15:0 actually uses MG15:0 and MG15:1. If you have another MSG in MG15:1 this kind of thing will happen. I'm not sure if the SLC suffers from the same thing.

Putting the destination address in quotes can eliminate the need for data mapping on the CLX side. I can't recall the particulars at the moment but it does work under the right conditions

Is the SLC CIP compatible?

Not sure it will help but there you go.

 

[Mispeld]

Ok so that all looks good to me. Nothing jumps out to me in those graphics as a problem. So let's ask a few questions just to clarify.

1. In the SLC, the MSG instruction is using N9:0 through N9:50 to store the configuration settings for the MSG. Are we sure no other logic is using those addresses? If those addresses are being used for something else, that would overwrite your configuration settings.

OG

Based on that view of the MSG dialog, I would echo the above item.

 

[Operaghost]

Agree. The N9 data file is being used elsewhere in the logic and it is overwriting your message configuration. You'll need to use a different integer file.

Look in the Project tree on the left and look for a number that hasn't been used already. Example, if you see N9, then N10, then N15 that tells you 11-14 haven't been used/created yet. If I saw that, I would enter N11:0 for the control block on my message. When you verify the logic, it will create that new data file and you will see it in the Project Tree. Oh and ideally go back and give that data file a name like MSGCNTRL or something like that so you know it is being used for your MSG instruction.

OG

 

[hpsustar]

You gentlemen are correct. I was overwriting my N9 control block data array because I forgot that I also had N9 set as my channel 1 (ethernet) diagnostic file. This was causing the issue.

I got on the horn with Rockwell as well and they had me flash my firmware to series C FRN 13 but I am unsure if this was needed. My SLC505 CPU was already series C FRN 4. All firmware revs released at or after Series A FRN 5 should support the multihop feature to CLX modules from what I was reading online. See the attached technote for documentation on this.

 

[nehpets]

I was under the impression that as the SLC's were about before the control/compactlogix tag based processors, it was not possible to write (MSG) to the the control/compactlogix PLC from the SLC as it's not tag based. It was required to read (MSG)from the SLC into a tag array in the control/compactlogix.

 

[plvlce]

I was under the impression that as the SLC's were about before the control/compactlogix tag based processors, it was not possible to write (MSG) to the the control/compactlogix PLC from the SLC as it's not tag based. It was required to read (MSG)from the SLC into a tag array in the control/compactlogix.

Ken Roach addressed this in his opening post:

The SLC doesn't know anything about ControlLogix tags, so you do have to create a "PLC/SLC Mapping" entry in Studio 5000 to make the ControlLogix emulate SLC-500 Data Table File numbers.

The SLC does not know it is talking to a control/compactlogix. The control/compactlogix emulates a SLC data table for the SLC to interact with.