Rs232 To Slc/03 And 04

[Guest Michael Thomas Wolf]

I am interested to know if I can hook up a laptop to a SLC/ 03 or 04 using the RS232 port and get access to the PLC. Specifically running RSLogix500 ver5.0 view, change and download the ladder logic from the plc, instead of using the dh485 to rs232 converter box. Regards Michael Thomas Wolf

[Gerry 13]

Yes, you most certainly can. Expect lots of "fun" if your laptop has to have one of those USB com port adapters.

[monkey 0]

Hey Gerry, what sort of "fun" are we talking about. I just got a new laptop with no serial port but I got the above mentioned USB adapter. I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet with Allen Bradley software. Can you give me a heads up as to what type of problems I might encounter. thanks, monkey

[Gerry 13]

sorry, Monk - I don't have any first-hand experience. My HP Omnibook has the real McCoy. I've only read about the travails of others. Some seem to have little or no trouble, others no end of grief. There appears to be some definite brand preferences (for the USB adapter) and the latest version of RSLinx is a big help. Have a look around the PLCS.net site where the topic has come up a few times. Failing that - speak nicely to that fine fellow from AB Seattle, Ken Roach - he's well acquainted with the finer details.

[Chris Elston 78]

I've used a Belkin one with no problems. I had a mini computer with only USB ports that we wanted to do some logging with DDE and Excel. So I purchased this Belkin model USB to RS-232. So far I haven't had any problems. I was using RS Linx single node, Windows 2000 Pro, the Belkin USB to RS-232, and DF1 comms. Excel 2000 was running some DDE connections, and as far as I can tell it hasn't missed a beat yet which entailed about 7 words of data to read into the spread sheet every 4 seconds. But do check out some of the posting at plcs.net on the topic. Others haven't had that much luck with some different products.

[Guest Michael Thomas Wolf]

Thanks for all the info. guys just one more detail. I was looking at the channel configuration. I have channel 1 system DH485,(system) channel 0, system DF1 half duplex for radio communication. Channel 0 (User)-Driver ascii. The real question is can I use this channel 0 (User) for the communication between my laptop running RSLogix and the SLC05/03? Do I use a cross over cable or straight through cable? Michael Thomas Wolf

[Guest ATC]

You can configure an RS232/DF1 driver in RSLinx (comm driver for RSLogix500) to communicate to the SLC serial port (Channel 0). RSLinx has an "Auto Configure" feature that will help determine the baud rate, parity, etc. The SLC CPU Channel 0 should be set to System, DF1 Full Duplex. If you want to reset the port to the default, pull out the battery and wait a few minutes. You will lose the program too so be sure this is what you want to do. You can buy the AB 1747-CP3 cable for $100+ but can build or buy one at RadioShack for way less. Cable pinout: 3-2 2-3 5-5 You can lookup the CP3 cable pinout and there's alot more wires but they're are on the most part for hardware handshaking and I been successful using the 3 wires above. Good luck.

[Ken Roach 194]

If your Channel 0 port is set up for DF1 Half Duplex Slave, your RSLinx driver has to be a DF1 Half-Duplex Master. This is a *different* driver than the usual DF1 Full Duplex driver. You'll have to set up your DF1 Master driver in RSLinx to match the baud rate / parity / handshaking of your SLC-500 serial port. The DF1 Half Duplex Master driver lacks the Autoconfigure feature of the Full Duplex driver. You need to put the DF1 Slave Node Address of the SLC into the polling list of the DF1 Master driver as well. You can use the same null-modem serial cable to connect to Channel 0 as you would use for DF1 Full Duplex. The 1747-CP3 is my usual cable. This is not my favorite way to connect to an SLC; you can't Autoconfigure, and if your modem was set to a low baud rate you're stuck at that low baud rate. Unusual handshaking settings for specific modems can also make this a difficult setup to configure. But, if you don't have your 1747-PIC box handy, or your computer lacks a serial port capable of driving it, you don't have another choice for getting online with this processor.

[Firetubes 1]

If all you want to do is get online and program and you don't want do anything else with the serial port, stick with DF1 full duplex. It's the default configuration on a new processor or when you erase your cpu memory. $150 for a serial cable is rediculous. Goto radio shack and buy one for $20 or build one as ATC stated. If you autoconfig and it gives you 2400 or something lower, just change it to 19200 or whatever. You will lose communication because the cpu now operates at a different baud rate but all you have to do is autoconfigure again. I hate them hunky PIC as well. I don't know why it has to be so big. RSLink didn't have a PIC driver for Win2K/XP until version 2.3 a few months ago so I was forced to use Win98 for a long time. I now own a PCMK /b and a PKTX card which work with DH+ and DH485 as well and so it's a better investment for me. I saw an advertisement for a PIC equivament. It's about half the size for the same price. Has anyone tried it? http://www.bb-elec.com/product.asp?sku=232ABRJ45

[Guest Guest_Ken Roach]

I once had a customer whose favorite topic was the usurious price of the serial cables A-B sells. Awful, he said. Luidcrous, he said. I can make my own, he said. He once spent two extra weeks in the Arizona desert because of a home-made serial cable. He Fed-Exed his computer home to be fixed, and had us FedEx him a new PLC-5/20 because his just had to be defective. Nope. A wire had pulled out of his DB25 connector because the shell didn't seat well around the Cat5 cable he'd used. The 1747-CP3 list price is $70, with a standard 15% discount for quantity 1, so it's just $60. Still more expensive than Radio Shack, but it does have that low-profile right-angle head and built-in null-modem and handshaking jumpers.

[Firetubes 1]

HAHAHAHAHA! I hope I never find this guy in my plant. 2 weeks to troubleshoot a cable? What's his name? Oh God I hope he doesn't work for me...or maybe he does? Jack, is this you? LOL In all seriousness, you can build a reliable cable that will last. We build our own serial cables for interfacing to our PLC, barcode scanners, and check weighers and they've last for more than 15 years with no problem. These are used regularly by our maintenance personnel for troubleshooting, calibrating, etc. But if you need to feel warm and fuzzy, buy the CP3 cable by all means so you don't waste 2 weeks troubleshooting it. LOL

[Guest Adisharr]

2 weeks? Hmm.. I think I sell to this guy :)

[Guest Salsa_Shark]

I am using a Dell Inspiron 2650 notebook that, unfortunately has no serial port. I purchased a USB to RS-232 adapter that works ok. I just have to uninstall it and reinstall it each time i connect it to the USB port.

[Guest panic mode]

I am using USB to RS232 converters all the time. No problem with going online with any PLC. However, I did experience some trouble when installing more than one StarCom device ("prolific" driver) with devices like scanners and Atlas Copco tensors. For example on powerup one character (very first one) would be missing. Usually this is not too much of a problem but there are situations when you really don't want hickups. Never had any problem with RocketPort part (USB to 4xRS232). panic mode