bwhinch

Auto Download Configuration - compatible with vlans?

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I'm trying to understand if I can use the ADC feature in my powerflex 525 drives. We have a large plant with vlans setup for different areas.

If we have a drive fail and ADC is enabled, my understanding is we can take a brand new drive and it's plug and play. The part I don't quite understand is, we must first set the ip address in order for the PLC to push out the parameters using ADC? I was reading that some switches can automatically assign an IP to a new drive, because it's plugged into a specific port on the switch it knows what the IP address should be. Does that feature only work with certain switches, I know we use n-tron switches, but I don't know if those can auto assign IP addresses..

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You will need a managed switch to automatically assign the IP address to the drive. You will also need strong controls in place to make sure that the right device is plugged into the right port of the managed switch. If someone gets the patch cables swapped, you will have bad things happen.

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The switch feature is called DHCP persistence. Most managed switches have it. ADC only triggers after a successful PLC connection. The IP and device type must match what is in the PLC. ADC will work across a VLAN (assuming the plc is on a different network than the drive) if the NAT settings are set up in the PLC

Edited by VFD Guy

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If you do not have a managed switch with DHCP persistence, you will have to manually set the IP address of the new drive. Also, the drive's profile must be installed as part of the controller's I/O configuration.

There is an often overlooked gotcha you should be aware of. When in the controller project and looking at the drive's properties dialog box, under the General tab, pay attention to the "Electronic Keying" setting. There are three keying modes:

  • Exact Match - Vendor (manufacturer), product type, product code, major and minor firmware revisions must all match exactly
  • Compatible Match - Allows for some firmware variation. The firmware revision in the field device must be the same or higher than what's stored in the controller.
  • Disabled - Don't ever do this.

 When replacing a drive or other device that's owned by a controller, make sure the new one matches the old one or your ADC won't work.

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To add to what ElectronGuru said, If you have an existing setup and want to turn on ADC and "backup" your drives, beware that ADC consumes PLC Memory Space.  You can run out of memory pretty quickly on a large number of drives system.

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