1769-L32E Need t2 ethernet ports

[RobertEH 0]

I have a CompactLogix 1769-L32E that is talking to a pc that is collecting downtime. Now, of course they want me to receive travel speeds for my equipment real time from another pc. This supplier assures me that running both pc's through one ethernet switch will overload the processor and suggest separate ports.

I'm told the L32E can only handle the one port and there are no options to add a card. My employer will only spring for used equipment, therefore I'm finding the devil of a time finding any info that properly guides me. My supplier will only talk about new processors.

I've found the 1768-L45 that can use a separate ethernet adapter. Any thoughts? 

 

Thanks, new guy Robert

[pcmccartney1 141]

How is the first PC talking or exchanging data to/from the L32E?  Is it through explicit messaging?  Or is it through RSLinx acting as an OPC server?

How do you want the 2nd PC to exchange data with the L35E?

If RSLinx, it's as simple as adding a RSLinx to the 2nd PC and configuring it's topic.

In your project, what and how many devices are configured to talk E/IP to the L35E?  There is a limitation on the maximum number of connections.

Edited 21 May 2019 by pcmccartney1

[RobertEH 0]

Wow! Excellent response time. Thank you.

The first PC pulls downtime data and sticks it on a screen. I dont know what the 3rd party does to get the data.

I work in a saw mill. The saw I'm talking about is controlled by the plc but receives its commands through bit to bit using opto22's. No data transfer. But now they want me to take the log mass from the PC and use it to control how fast the log hits the saw blades. USNR (the company that owns the pc) has a way to connect to the plc processor through ethernet without rslinx. I dont know the protocol. 

USNR demands a separate ip port. My company unfortunately is cheap and insists on used equipment. Lol 

[Joe E. 259]

Based on what you've described, I would think they would be able to do both through one network connection. How often would the log's mass be updated from the PC to the PLC? And how much downtime data is being collected (and how often)?

I'm not familiar with the L32E, but we have a machine using an L33ERM to do CIP motion over Ethernet/IP of a servo (old Anorad linear motor on a Kinetix 6500 drive) while also communicating with a ControlLogix L71 over the same Ethernet port. The L33ERM and L71 are exchanging 50 integers in each direction every 100ms with no issues whatsoever.

Over that same network port, the L33ERM is also talking to 2 PowerFlex 525 drives, an SMC on-machine I/O system (valves and discrete I/O) and an HMI.

I set up a quick project with an L32E. It's from the older series with a built-in serial port and a built-in Ethernet port. It doesn't support adding a second Ethernet port. This is the biggest limitation we found when using even the newer family of CompactLogix: you can't have a second network port for remote access to monitor/gather data independent of the local machine I/O network. For now, when we want to do that, we have another machine on the line that has a ControlLogix PLC that has 2 -ENBT modules: one on the machine network and the other on the office network. The ControlLogix polls the other machines and gets the data together in one place to be accessed (some time in the future...) via the office network.

[RobertEH 0]

Interesting.  The downtime PC can't be polling that much. There would be no need for massive transfer for downtime. 

The USNR pc and the plc will transfer app. 50 integers each way with seconds apart between transfers. 

It certainly is not the data transfer you're talking about in your scenario. 

I'll have to talk with my rep again. At least give the data transfer a try. 

They do have separate ip addresses so I'll have to handle that. I suppose some type of stratix should work. 

Thank you sir. 
 

[Joe E. 259]

All that I described above is done with an unmanaged switch. Each device will need its own IP address.

[pcmccartney1 141]

From the manual, the 1769-L32E can support 32 CIP connections and/or (not sure) 32 TCP/IP connections.  There is a spreadsheet for calculating the total number of connections being used.  I think you can also go to the internal webpage and it will tell you how many of each type are "open" and actively being used.

I'm sure there are third party devices that can be used.  The most common method for passing data between the PLC and PC is RSLinx and it's OPC server with configured topics.  Since it is there is one one ethernet port, you will have to be in the same subnet to communicate.  The alternate is to have a router while port forwarding capability to allow for communications between disparate subnets.  In otherwords, a managed switch.

[jncontrols 2]

One thing your gonna do with default setting is cause the ethernet switch to lock up with to much traffic 

if you go under processor advanced tab and change setting concerning system overhead time slice by default will be 20%

and when we have overhead time what do you want to do once again default is perform more ladder change that to perform communications and you might want to increase the 20% to more if you can give up scan times for your process

 

[RobertEH 0]

Thanks Gentlemen. 

I appreciate all the answers. My supplier decided to try the job with the existing equipment.  

But if it doesn't doesnt work I'll be digging into your suggestions.

Again, thanks a lot!