Hats way off to Red Lion's crew

I'm building the controls for a wax injection press and using a Red Lion G315, e-netted to the SQL network for automatic parameter loading from a Master Part Database. I was having comms issues, which I'll not go into unless anyone needs me too, so I called Red Lion. I had previously gotten some help from Jeremy Howell and since he was out when I called this time, Dan Yost got busy helping me.

Folks, we spent almost 2 hours working it out between my IT guys, the G315, Dan and I, but we got it worked out.

I want to give credit where deserved and Dan and Jeremy deserve it. I've heard in the past about Red Lion's customer service and now I know first-hand how well they really serve the customer.


I just thought all of you should know as well.

I have only good things to say about RL and all i have dealt with (Dan, Mike and a few others).

There support goes further than any other company i have dealt with, there products are not too bad either (Except for C2 which takes some getting used too!)

What were the comms issues out of interest ?

Remember to pm/email mike to let him know how good his staff are!

I wrote an email to all thre yesterday to let them know I appreciated their help.

My comms issues surrounded reading a barcode off of the product we were going to produce. This data is a work order number and relates to one and only one part and part number. I send that PN to our SQL Part Database and get a return string which I then break up and fill parameter settings on the HMI. The ControlLogix PLC gets this data and controls various machine functions.

The issue was with the sending of the data to the SQL DB. We would send the proper data but we had to knock on the server's door with a "send", and actually give the DB the data with a second "send". I've done no programming in C language and could not have even guessed how to do more than what the RL Crimson manual said to do. That's where Jeremy and Dan were extremely helpful. We're doing what we set out to do thanks to their help.

I know this is considered an old topic, but the contents is something that is very current for something similar.

Currently I have an order for making a batching system voor silicon breast implants (aka the boobies project ;-)). For this I have devised a G3 screen together with some other stuff. However, as with Rube's project, I need to be able to scan a barcode (no problem there) which has to be validated by a SQL database.

So my question is basicly; how did you achieve the SQL connection from the Red Lion G3 device? Did you use some sort of OPC translation?

I have changed jobs since I built that control system J.van but RL has a tech note on their website on hour to set up the BCR. It worked well for me and should for you as well.

As for the SQL comms, we did port read/writes thru the Crimson software. I was unable to take a copy of the HMI program with me, obviously, so I can't offer any real specifics, but the method we used was definitely not OPC.

Good luck!

I was kind of afraid you would mention the port read/write functions. This implies I would have to make some kind of API to be able to access the MSSQL database. That would be a lot of work.

Ah well.. I'll give it a go!

Dan or Jeremy aren't able to provide me with any info regarding this particular case because they can't remember.

Rube.. Did you use some sort of protocol description as how to address the MSSQL TCP Port? I've been googling as a mad man, but am unable to find what I'm looking for. Once I have the protocol description I'm sure I can whip up something useful.

Do you still have it somewhere?

I know that my IT guys were involved in the SQL side of things. I know that we used the port read and writes in C language in the programming section of the RL. I can only assume that the IT guys did more work on their end than I could ever explain.

Are you good on the Bar Code Reader (BCR)?