Red Lion HMI: Using the emulator to test AB Micro 820.

AutomationTechBrian

Lifetime Supporting Member
Join Date
Jul 2013
Location
St. Cloud, MN
Posts
669
I just got done with a project integrating a Micro 820 into an older re-branded Red Lion HMI. The HMI was installed before the Micro 800s were out, so I ended up using Modbus TCP/IP. All is fine with that. But I decided to buy another Micro 820 to get more familiar with. I used an 830 a couple years ago on a machine renovation, but nothing since. I used a little AB HMI for that project.

But now, I'm trying to do some tests with the Red Lion software using the emulator. First, I tried a test connection with my PC and the re-branded Red Lion software, called "GUIcon" (It looks exactly like Crimson 3.0). I used Modbus again, but couldn't get the emulator to communicate the PLC the way the real HMI did. ...yes, everything is on the same subnet. I thought maybe it was a thing with Modbus, so I tried on Crimson 3.0 and the Micro 800 Master driver. Still no luck.

I have Crimson 3.1 downloaded on another VM, so I looked at that version. I don't see an emulator at all on 3.1. I searched "emulate" in the manual, but found nothing about having an emulator in that version.

I liked working with Red Lion and would like to do it again. But not being able to use an emulator makes it difficult to pre-package some likely needs. Anybody have input on all of this?
 
Are you trying to connect over a wireless connection to the PLC from Crimson? I've had the Emulator not work over a wireless connection but work fine over a wired connection.
 
3.1 hasn't ever had the emulator, to the upset of many people. Traces of it briefly appeared in one update but were gone by the next.
 
Not wireless. In fact, I disable the wireless adapter when I'm checking communication. The laptop is wired to my plc network, nothing else. Before I spent a lot of time working it out I wanted to make sure this wasn't a known issue.
 
I have had good luck using the Crimson 3.0 emulator to communicate with Ethernet devices and mixed results with serial devices. I do recall having to completely shut down RSLinx at times to allow certain drivers to work in the emulator. Even though I wasn't using the serial driver in RSLinx, just having it running and associated with the same COM number will collide with a Crimson driver attempting to use the same COM port.

I also recall not being able to get the "Native Tags via L5K" drivers to work with a Compactlogix at all.

And in case you missed this detail, you must choose the mapping of the emulated Crimson hardware ports to your PC hardware in the emulator config settings up front. By default, the emulator config will have all of the 6 possible comm options disabled. Go to the Link Menu, Options, then on the dialog box hit the Configure button next to the Send to Emulator tickbox to assign the emulated ports to the PC hardware ports.

By the way, Crimson 3.2 has an emulator and a control mode for the new Flex Edge gear. I am still waiting for someone to get me a price list or just ship me a box of Flex Edge controllers to play with. I diddled with the Crimson 3.2 software and emulator for about 15 minutes and I am not sure they have the kinks worked out...
 
Last edited:
I was hoping you would add to this post, Paul. I was using 192.168.1.xx, 255.255.255.0 for communicating with the Micro820. I had CCW running to watch the ladder, but I shut it down to see if it made a difference. I'm getting ready to try it again, this time leaving the AB software alone. In addition, I just got a "Solo" loop controller today from Automation Direct and I want to see if I can get it to work with the Micro820 over RS485.

I was wondering about the Flex Edge and Crimson 3.2. I didn't see anything about it, so I decided to stay on task and wait until later to find out more.

The screen print shows my settings for this test file. Did I miss anything?

Crimson.png
 

Similar Topics

I am having issues getting a Red Lion HMI and Micro830 controller to communicate. I am using the cable here to connect the controller to the RS232...
Replies
0
Views
99
Hi I need to send a null command down a comms port. But in the crimson software when i used /x00 it coming back "Cannot use null character is...
Replies
2
Views
398
Hi Everyone, I am hoping a Red Lion Expert can point me in the right direction. I am experimenting with data logging on a CR3000 10" screen...
Replies
4
Views
576
I have a Red Lion G09 scanning 8 Invertek P2 VFDs via modbus RTU - I've setup necessary comms and tags and all works well. I have a 'Settings'...
Replies
3
Views
1,838
Has anyone ever replaced a touch screen on a legacy Red Lion G3 series HMI?
Replies
12
Views
1,414
Back
Top Bottom