Serial to Ethernet Converter - Can it work on a Allen Bradley?

Howdy Folks

Just wondering if there's away to get a serial to Ethernet converter to talk to a Allen Bradley 5/03 via its serial connection?

Basically I've had a customer contact me and wants me to connect up 3 off is PLC's to a network and incorporate a HMI (was thinking of using Advance HMI by Archie), unfortunately i didnt do a site visit and customer told me they were AB 5/05, so i purchase a computer + screen and router turned up on site and opps customer told pokies, he had AB 5/03.

I have a spare 5/03 setup at home so i purchased a serial to Ethernet converter, i've setup the system and did a loop test back to the PC using Hyper Terminal and works like a charm but RS link can see the IP address of the converter on the driver AB_ETH but can't see past it to see the 5/03.

If anyone has any idea's how to get this to work your help would be appreciated.

If you need more info just ask.

Cheers

What model of serial-to-Ethernet converter do you have ?

The Allen-Bradley 1761-NET-ENI is probably the simplest for this sort of application: you use the "Ethernet Devices" or "EtherNet/IP" driver in RSLinx Classic and it converts the protcol from EtherNet/IP to DF1 on the serial side.

Most general-purpose Ethernet to serial converters are not aware of the A-B protocols, so they just tunnel a virtual serial port (a COM port, in other terms) from the computer, across the IP network, to the serial port on the device. In the software driver, you would use the virtual serial port (in RSLinx Classic, the DF1 RS-232 Devices driver).

There are a handful of devices that are in-between: the Lantronix ComBox-DR1 with the A-B protocol option, or the Digi One IAP. I don't have a lot of information on how to configure those.

Ken Roach said:

What model of serial-to-Ethernet converter do you have ?

The Allen-Bradley 1761-NET-ENI is probably the simplest for this sort of application: you use the "Ethernet Devices" or "EtherNet/IP" driver in RSLinx Classic and it converts the protcol from EtherNet/IP to DF1 on the serial side.

Most general-purpose Ethernet to serial converters are not aware of the A-B protocols, so they just tunnel a virtual serial port (a COM port, in other terms) from the computer, across the IP network, to the serial port on the device. In the software driver, you would use the virtual serial port (in RSLinx Classic, the DF1 RS-232 Devices driver).

There are a handful of devices that are in-between: the Lantronix ComBox-DR1 with the A-B protocol option, or the Digi One IAP. I don't have a lot of information on how to configure those.

Click to expand...

Thanx for the reply.

Its just a standard Serial to Ethernet, think the issue is the AB protocols, the unit does work since i did a loop test which was fine.

The converter can convert to RS422 and RS485, so think i'll try the DH485 approach,but i have never dealt with this before. The SCL5/03 can use DH485 on the RS232 Channel 0 and the RJ45.

The question is does anyone know the pinout connection for either connection?

If I can't get this to work i guess i have install 3 serial ports to the PC and make some rs232 cables but would be a good learning curve for me with the right assistance.

Well after some testing it appears you can't use a serial to Ethernet module to communicate to a Allen Bradley via RS Linx, BUT you can get AdvanceHMI to communicate via the module.

I wrote a test program and created a test HMI screen, i couldn't get it to work via EthernetIPforPLCSLC like i can on SLC5/05 so i tried using a virtual coms on the PC directed to the IP address of the serial to Ethernet module using the DF1Comm on AdvanceHMI and BANG works like a charm.

Well i'm a happy chappy, just thought i'd share my findings.

Enjoy

HHG

The converter must be "a/b protocol aware" to put it most simply.

I have used both the Net-Eni and the Digi One IAP extensively, the Digi is far and away the better unit. It comes with a tiny app called Digi Discovery that uses MAC ID filtering to find all Digi brand devices, then you double click them to open a browse window, and set up the ports in a very straightforward manner via web pages. the Digi doesn't have the bottleneck of Ethernet Connections which can be the limiting factor in the Net-Eni. It is also smaller, gives you two serial ports with pass-through, costs slightly less, can be used with non-ab protocols, and is more durable. We run them in some hot small panels until the plastic case melts off.

http://www.concables.cl/catalogos_pdf/productos/bb/conversores_protocolo/70001777.pdf

Once configured for use with Allen Bradley Df1, they "know what RSLinx Expects" so they can appear as the device on the serial port when everything is working in the Ethernet Devices driver, transparent to the RSWho viewer.

EDIT: Lol, note the "Modbus Sleeve" in that ancient pdf google dredged up.

A general-purpose Ethernet to RS-232 converter will work with RSLinx Classic, but as you discovered with AdvancedHMI it won't use the Ethernet driver.

I have used several Ethernet to RS-232 converters with the DF1 Full Duplex driver connected to the virtual serial port created by the device's COM Port Redirection software.

The "autoconfigure" feature is unlikely to work with a virtual serial port, but if you set the speed and framing correctly, the DF1 driver will work.