>USB 2 COM adapter<working with Step7

[RMA]

Hallo Jesper,

I was hoping you'ld show up again. The idea with loading a new program via the prommer sounds like it ought to provide the solution to the problem. We'll find out tomorrow morning! thank goodness I got the prommer working again in the end!

I really ought to go over in detail what I really need to have in NetPro. Since this my first meeting with networked stuff, I'm sure I've got a load of (unecessary) rubbish in there. I suspect the only thing I need is the Ethernet link to the customer PC for the FTP data transfer.

@Fred: Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm caught in a situation with current project equipment - no way I'll get authorisation to buy anything new! It is a CP5611 I've got because I'm using the future HMI desktop also as the development PC. Hopefully Jesper's come up with the solution with the Prommer. If not, I'll be back in panic mode tomorrow morning!

Edit: Nearly forgot, on the top-end 300's which have a dual MPI/DP port, you can indeed drive the MPI at 12 Mb - electrically MPI and DP are the same.

 

[JesperMP]

One more thing:

Is the CP5611 running in "Configured mode" or "PG operation" ?
You select this in the Configuration Console.
Try to select "PG operation" to get out of the various settings you have made in the Step7 project.
That will release the settings in Set PG/PC Interface.

And one thing more (again):
When setting up a PC station (with the virtual rack), then S7ONLINE must be set to "Internal".
You must remember to set it to "CP5611 (MPI)" after changing to "PG operation".

Sidenote: I think that it is possible to program the CPU via Configured mode, but then there must be a PC station in the project to make the connection. I have never tried it. As it is complicated and priority 1 is to get back online, I suggest the simpler option of PG operation.

 

[RMA]

I'm not sure that I fully understand everything you've mentioned there - I'll have to look into it a bit closer tomorrow.

I suspect I am running in "Configured mode" (unnecessarily?) in the main program, because I have got a PC-Station configured there. I have also had messages to the effect that I can't change the PG/PC Interface from the menu because it is configured in the program, which I would think implies that I'm in "Configured mode".

As you say, first priority is to get back up and running, then we can worry about tidying things up.

The problem withe FM352-5 is beginning to look worryingly like it's a problem because of having more than one. With my simple test program which I copied to all three only the first came up and ran. Because of the problem of the exact sequence of doing things, it looks as though when you have more than one FM, you get inevitable timestamp problems with the others. Still, because of the comms problem I haven't yet tested that fully out. Looks like life is going to remain interesting for a while!

 

[JesperMP]

I'm not sure that I fully understand everything you've mentioned there

Dont worry, I dont understand my own writings either.

I am writing this from a hotel room in Osake - japan, at 6 in the morning and not having slept the whole night. I apologise if it reads like if someone havent slept in 48 hours.

 

[RMA]

I'd wondered why you were missing for a while at the beginning of the week!

It's not your English that's the problem, as I mentioned earlier, this is my first serious (i.e. personal responsibility) encounter with networking in S7 and never having had any courses it's a pretty steep learning curve. Somehow I haven't been able to find anything very useful in the Help files or manuals. It's mostly too specialised, or concentrated on some specific item and inevitably there is some basic knowledge assumed or specialist terminology used which I don't have.

Never mind, we'll get there in the end - try and catch up on your sleep somewhere along the line!

 

[Fred Floggle]

It wasn't the electrical properties of MPI that I doubted , as MPI and Profi share the same port - I always believed that the protocol max for mpi was 187.5 -
I take it all back - I have just opened the MPI config stuff , yep 12M , was it always this way .
don't worry if you have 5511 , or 5611 , I have a box with a built in card , it configures up just the same - there is only a couple of "old" jobs I have kicking about where the processor wasn't configured up for 2xDP . If I have remote i/o on the net , i tend to leave the HMI on one and the I/O on the second net , probably doesn't make much difference , just seems like the right thing to do

 

[RMA]

I hope you've disappeared off for a good night's sleep Jesper!

When you wake up, the good news is that the clean project loaded to MMC via the Prommer did indeed solve the problem, as expected. Seemed fairly logical really, however it does seem to raise the point that with the new MMC-based 300 series CPUs it is essential to have a Prommer available for situations like this where the CPU really gets its knickers in a twist! (Sorry about that, couldn't resist trying to help expand your already good command of colloquial English!)

The bad news is that when I got my copy of the new Simatic Net CD a couple of months back, while playing around with it I'm fairly sure I configured the PC as an ES - seemed fairly logical at the time - these things always seem like a good idea at the time, it's only later that you discover you've shot yourself in the foot - or would "nailed one foot to the ground" be a better comparison. The problem is that it's the PC itself that now knows that it's been configured in a project, so loading another project where it's not integrated doesn't help. I suspect that this is actually the root of the problem, after all in normal circumstances an ES would not be getting other, completely different projects loaded at regular intervals, so it's maybe not too surprising that under these circumstances something gets confused somewhere (apart from me, that is!).

I tried changing from MPI to CP5611 in NCM S7 and although it apparently worked and the change also showed up under Extras -> PG/PC interface config, when I tried to access the CPU up came the message that no active partners could be found. I'm pretty sure that what I need to do is to get the PC back to the PG/PC configuration, but so far I've not found out where to do this.

The whole business isn't helped by the fact that once again, all my stuff is in German, so I'm not always sure if I'm looking at the right tool. I've got a "Komponenten Konfigurator" which I suspect might be your "configuration console", but the few times that I've looked at it I haven't been able to fathom out what it's all about. I don't understand about 50% of what the Help Files are talking about either, most of the time, which doesn't help. I guess I've got a lot of reading ahead of me!

Cheers
Roy

 

[jvdcande]

Did Jean-Pierre ever get round to posting his info on OPC and USB adapter with S7 300 CPUs?

Roy,

I didn't find any OPC that worked with the USB/MPI converter so far. Although some claimed their OPC server does work with that converter, no one offered a demo to test it out. So, in the end I couldn't post any results at all.

Maybe if Jesper could lay his hands on the USB converter he could test it with SimaticNET software, which I don't have. To be continued...

Kind regards,

 

[JesperMP]

Hi Roy,

it is sooo difficult to troubleshoot Simatic Net when you are not siting in front of the machine. You may be ONE small setting away from success, but how to know that ?

I am afraid of messing up your PC more than it allready is.

I would suggest that you opened the Komponenten Konfigurator (engl. Station Configurator - the one that sits in the taskbar and looks like a small PC) and delete the components in each of the configured index'es. That should get you back to an empty system.

Alternatively, get a fresh new PC or reinstall the existing PC (that means: Format the HD, reinstall Windows etc.).

Then simply using the Set PG/PC interface utility in Windows Control Panel should make it possible to get connected to the PLC.

Can you tell a little about what the task of the PC is, apart from programming the PLC ? Then maybe I can advice you a little bit before you venture on a new journey into the dark forest.

Sidenote to all that: I know the feeling you have with the Simatic Net right now. Once, after I loaded an existing project from a customer, my PC insisted on trying to access an S7 PLC in order to syncronize the clock system. As I not allways have an S7 connected it would result in an error message - every 10 minutes. Infuriating. I could not find out where to disable this clever feature, and belive me I looked everywhere. The behaviour disappeared after a while, and I dont know why.

Dont loose faith.

 

[JesperMP]

Maybe if Jesper could lay his hands on the USB converter he could test it with SimaticNET software, which I don't have.

I would be interested myself, just to know, but right now we are more looking into using the new low cost ethernet CPs and CPUs. So I dont think we will purchase a USB adapter anytime soon.

Warning: Shameless thread hijack alert !
[Hijack ON]
Does anyone know if STEP7 lite will work via Ethernet and one of the new CPUs with onboard Ethernet port ?
[Hijack OFF]

 

[RMA]

Well I'm glad to say I've just succeeded in getting all three FM352-5s running together on a clean system with three copies of the Siemens Demo program - so at least I know it can be done! Since the FM doesn't seem to be particularly well known, I was starting to get worried that we might have a fundamental problem using more than one in a system, so it's nice to know that it's only my own problems! I think I'll take the same approach and start with a clean system and gradually copy in the relavent bits of the main project and try to get them running one after the other.

That does mean I'm back with the original problem, because downloading to the FMs is taking about 7-8 minutes a go at present via MPI, so I do need to get stable communication set up via the CP5611.

Actually your idea of wiping the system and reloading everything might be the best idea. It's the project PC which is being used for development at the moment, but ultimately it will be used as the HMI system, so there's nothing important on it apart from Siemens. Given that I've been playing around with WinCC flexible and Simatic Net, Station Configurator and all sorts of other things where I had no idea what I was doing, there may be all sorts of garbage lying around ready to fuel these weird once a month crashes that you never get to the bottom of. Before I start on that I'll have one last attempt via the Station Configurator so that I can get the trigger S/W sorted out. I've only got a couple of weeks for that, but then I have another month or two of relative calm, when I can rebuild everything from scratch.

Warning: Shameless thread hijack alert !

Actually, I think I already beat you to that - in fact I was thinking of starting a new thread just to point back to this one, because even if somebody goes searching for PG - CPU communication problems, if they get a lot of hits, they might not bother to look any further when they see the title, if they're not using USB.

 

[RMA]

The download time of the FM programme via MPI is even worse than I thought - a full 15 minutes, ouch!

I found my way into station configurator and set the Station back to PG operation and after that I can change everything out of the Extras Menu, but although everything seems OK I can't get any communication via the CP5611. Depending exactly what I try, I either get a "No active partners" message or "No response" - probably depending on whether the PC was set up as Master or not, unfortunately I didn't make a note.

Since tomorrow's Friday when I disappear of early for the weekend, I might as well persevere a bit longer, because going back to square one an reloading everything will be a full day's work and I'rather start that fresh on Monday and do everything in one run through.

So once again, all suggestions will be most welcome!

 

[JesperMP]

I dont quite understand what you are doing. Its mystifies me that you dont know what the 317s port is set to (in one of the earlier posts). As you are downloading the program, you can just check it in the projects hw config.

If you have set the CP5611 to MPI at 187.5k, then you can connect to on the 317's X1 port or not ?
Or are you using something else than a CP5611 - a PC adapter maybe (that could explain the extreme download times) ?

Between the CP5611 and the 317 X1 port, do you have a grey cable, or a purple cable with something more attached ?
Raising the baudrate makes the communication more sensitive to cabling errors, including to forgetting to terminate. Using the grey cable ONLY does not reqire you to use terminators (I believe).

If it is CP5611 --> Grey cable --> 317 X1 port, and it works OK at 187.5k, then try to go to 1.5M like this:
1. In the STEP7 hardware configuration, change the mode of the 317 X1 port to MPI at 1.5M - compile and download from the hw config.
(you will be thrown offline).
2. In Set PG/PC interface, set the mode of the CP5611 to MPI at 1.5M - use diagnostics "Test" and if OK then check "busnodes". You should be able to see both MPI nodes - CP5611 and the 317.
Also check that the access point S7ONLINE is CP5611(MPI).
3. If OK, you should be able to go online with no further ado.

If your setup differs, or if something goes wrong during these 3 steps, then please elaborate.

It should also be possible to connect with CP5611 set to DP via CPU ports X1 or X2 set to DP. But it shouldnt be necessary.

NB: I just tried to create a project with a 317-2DP. Both ports X1 and X2 are set to "Not networked by" default (!?). Its the same with the other S7 CPU's. Does that really mean that the port is shut down ? Or does it mean something less dramatic ?
NB NB. After a little investigation I found out the following:
If X1 is "-- not networked --" then it defaults to MPI at 187.5.
If X2 is "-- not networked --" then it is really shutdown !

 

[RMA]

Perseverance paid off! We're back in business!

In fact I was very nearly there after the last post only I didn't know it. After doing everything I mentioned above what I DIDN'T do was to go back into the Station Configurator and run the Network diagnostic test. After coming back over to the office it occurred to me that I'd forgotten that the CP5611 was connected to the MPI/DP port, not to the DP port. So I went back over to the hall and this time decided to run the diagnostic test and this time up came the PC as active on DP address 0. After that it didn't take long to discover that the other thing I'd been forgetting was when changing from MPI adapter to CP5611 in the Extras menu that I also needed to change the speed from 187,5 kb to 1.5 Mb - after that we were in business.

As you say, trying to spot things like that when you're not sitting in front of the screen is pretty well impossible!

It looks as though it's pretty stable now that I've thrown out the PC-Station, so I'll be concentrating on getting my Trigger S/W working in the FM352-5s for the next week or so, but I think when I get a bit of time after that I'll still get back to doing a complete rebuild of all the PC S/W so as to have a clean system.

Thanks very much for the help again.

:site: saves the day again!

Cheers

Roy

 

[JesperMP]

So your setup was really a PC/MPI adapter connected to the 317 X1 port, AND a CP5611 connected to the 317 X2 port.

Congratulations