5069-serial AND SLC-05 serial radio issues

Hello friends.
Old PLC: SLC 5/05 1747-L552 connected to a Dataradio T96SR radio.

New migrated PLC: 5069-L330ER with a 5069-SERIAL module. FW: 32.011 SERIAL module FW: 2.012

This PLC is a Master PLC, driving 20+ slaves (mostly MicroLogix controllers, and a few compact logix processors with the 5069-SERIAL)

SLC program is converted to the compact logix. The compact logix works well, BUT a few of the stations do not message 100% of the time, and sometimes fail completely. When plugging the radio back into the original SLC processor, the messages pick up, and continue on pretty much flawlessly.

The error code on the message is: connection failure, 16#0001, extended code: 16#0000_0204

Customer wants to use the new processor that they paid dearly for.

Any ideas? AB tech support couldn't really steer me in any direction.

Can you post screenshots of the serial port config for the SLC, and same for the 5069-Serial expansion module? I'm not familiar with the latter but lets see if anything stands out.

Serial over radio can be a finnicky beast. If the serial stream gets any delays or interruptions, the radio will send partial packets of data and the slave will not interpret them properly.

Was the original PLC using "DF1 over Radio"? This differs slightly from standard serial DF1, in that NAKs and ACKs are not sent (i.e. only Request and response messages)

check this post: http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?p=843059
the 5069-serial has an AOP v2.01.21, did you program using this AOP?

compact logix settings:
RPI: 80 ms
station address: 99
transmit retries: 3
ack timeout: 40 (800ms)
reply message wait 15 (300ms)
CRC error detiction

tarik1978 said:

check this post: http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?p=843059
the 5069-serial has an AOP v2.01.21, did you program using this AOP?

Click to expand...

So in the polling routine with my messages, drop in an AOP of the 5069 - serial module, and populate it?

snakes79 said:

So in the polling routine with my messages, drop in an AOP of the 5069 - serial module, and populate it?

Click to expand...

What I got out of that post, is that you cannot set the channel #1 as a DF1 master until it has the correct firmware/AOP?
It is setup, Linx sees it as the correct firmware. It even talks for the most part, with exception to a few nodes, the messages error out.

The T96SR uses a carrier control process where the RTS line turns the radios transmitter on. There are a few settings that need to match between the radio and the PLC so you have some homework to do. Get a copy of the radios manual. What you need to pay attention to things that are related to the RTS and CTS lines on both ends.

Firejo said:

The T96SR uses a carrier control process where the RTS line turns the radios transmitter on. There are a few settings that need to match between the radio and the PLC so you have some homework to do. Get a copy of the radios manual. What you need to pay attention to things that are related to the RTS and CTS lines on both ends.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your help. So possibly a radio setting change might help with this issue?

snakes79 said:

Thank you for your help. So possibly a radio setting change might help with this issue?

Click to expand...

I'd take a step back and look at some of the basics.
Are the cables correct?
Is the pinout correct and are all of the needed lines going through (remember, you need Transmit, Receive, RTC, CTS and ground)?
Do the serial port setting on the radio match the port settings on the PLC?
Are there any diagnostic LEDs on the radio modem I.E. TX, RX, etc... and if so are they responding accordingly?
In my view, the best way to diagnosis an problem is to first understand how everything is suppose to work. Sometimes the problem is a very simply one but if don't know how it works you could be looking right over the top of it (been there done that many, many times).