Hi all -

I'm supporting another plant that is an hour away from my current office. They have no electrician or PLC person, so they'd like me to be able to remotely access their 3 SLC 5/03's as needed for troubleshooting.

I've set them up with a PC that has Windows XP Pro, RSLogix 500 Standard, a DH-485 adapter & wireless ethernet (802.11g). We're getting an MPLS VPN running at 768K between the 2 plants shortly. These machines are moved around a lot, so the on-site mechanic will hook up the PC directly to the SLC 5/03 before calling me to debug.

My questions are...
1. What's the best software to use to remote access a PC through a VPN?
2. Is there a way to add wireless ethernet to a SLC 5/03 for less than $1000 each? (I know I could go to a 5/05 and add an access point antenna on top of the machine, but money's tight at the moment.)

TIA,
Susan

If they connect the SLC to their network you can just VPN and then use your remote RSLinx to go online with the Processor... no need for all the PC and software at the remote location. I would recommend a 5/05 to make connecting to their network easier. Once you have VPNed in, you just use the RSLinx Ethernet driver and go right to the SLC. You could use a net-eni to connect a 5/03 to their ethernet network... Might even be cheaper than a 5/05 SLC.

I use remote desktop over the internet to a server in the plant that is connect to our PLCs with Net -Eni and vision systems.
So far so good.

Hope this helps

For the equipment you have in place, you can use a variety of different remote access applications to get to the desktop of the mobile PC you will have hooked up to the controller.

Windows XP has a built in "Remote Desktop" feature that will allow you to take over the remote PC.

Other popular options include GoToMyPC, PCAnywhere (the leader and originator of this software category) and the freeware VNC Server or TightVNC.

If you didn't want the remote PC involved (thus tying up a PC and an RSLogix 500 license) you can pursue another connection to the controller.

Adding a 1761-NET-ENI to each controller's RS232 port is one mechanism to get them connected to an Ethernet network. You'll then need a WiFi client to Ethernet adapter for each unit. I've used commercial devices like game adapters and a DLink miniature "travel router" with some success.

Another option is a WiFi/RS232 gateway. The Moxa NPort W2150 WiFi to RS232 bridge might be a good choice for bridging your WiFi network directly to the SLC-5/03 Channel 0 serial port. You should then be able to access the NPort device with a "COM Port Redirector" and get to the SLC-5/03 by running an RSLinx DF1 driver on your remote computer.

The connection would then be RSLinx -> virtual COM port redirector software -> TCP/IP Ethernet -> VPN tunnel -> TCP/IP Ethernet -> WiFi Access Point -> NPort -> SLC-5/03 Channel 0.

It's a lot of steps, but the intermediate links (Internet, WiFi, Ethernet) are so fast that it might be enough to get decent performance when troubleshooting these systems.

Cool!!!

I'm going to try Remote Desktop when the VPN goes live next month.

There's no problem with tying up the PC & attendant RSLogix license at the other plant since there's no electrician. I have a mechanic who wants to learn PLCs, but doesn't want to screw things up, so I can have him at the machine with a cell phone. This way I can show him what I'm looking at & doing without actually being there.

There's always that slight fear in me that someone will get hurt if I can't see the machine and having him there will take care of that.

Thanks a bunch!

With the VPN connections we have used in the past (connecting directly to the SLC) we have had wonderful solid fast connections... as long as they were not dialup connections to the VPN. We have never used another PC on the SLC end of the communication... and the non-ethernet connection will slow things down. We have huge program sizes and the biggest problem we have is with dail-up connections is RSLogix 500 locking up for a troubling amount of time( 3-5min sometimes).

I'd never go with a dial-up connection for comm to a PLC! This is strictly an MPLS VPN from plant to plant at 768Kbps. Not the fastest thing, but better than driving for an hour each way for a 15 minute visit.

I'm really starting to like the idea of having the PC in the middle too. I'm not going to do a lot of remote programming, just troubleshooting. I can talk the mechanic through what I'm looking at and why. He'll be able to see exactly what I'm seeing. Then at some later point, we can get him some real training... maybe send him to Ron's PLC boot camp.

Remote Desktop is WAY COOL!!!

I went to the other plant & setup the PC yesterday. Then I used Remote Desktop from my PC to the other while still in the plant just to make sure it works. Yes, it's a bit slow, but this is going to make my life soooo much nicer!

The only thing I was a bit disappointed in was that it locks out the other screen so the technician by the machine can't see what I'm doing. I can live with that for now...

Thanks a bunch!

That's true; Remote Desktop does lock out the other user. You can see how this would be useful in true "remote user" applications where I want to use my office PC without somebody else being able to sit down at my desk and take it over.

There is an open-source remote-control application called VNC (the speediest version is called TightVNC) that allows both the local user and the remote user to provide keyboard and mouse inputs. It is sometimes faster than the native Microsoft Remote Desktop.

Late on Friday afternoon, I finally got the RSLogix 500 Standard (7.10) for that plant and installed it on their PC. Then I tried opening Logix via Remote Desktop and got a message about the license couldn't be acquired. Finally went to the KnowledgeBase & saw that you can't open Logix over Remote Desktop with a node-locked license. (KB 33700) I wish I'd known that earlier!

I tried TightVNC and that worked. It even gives me the viewport I wanted for the technician to see what I'm seeing.

I'd never suggest editing over the slow connection I have now, but it will keep me from making a 2 hr car ride for a 5 minute fix.

Thanks!

Susan - you've obviously never had to fix a system in Seattle from the East Coast at 3 am East coast time. Editing over a slow dialup is better than flying coast to coast, believe me. I used to make the commute and 5 hours in a plane reeks when the fix takes 15 mintues.

I'm thinking that it depends on the host system. It seems like I've connected several to a server 2003 machine. This article claims a hack to allow multiple concurrent Remote Desktop connections in XP.

I think Windows supports multiple users well enough that it's just another case of M$ being a pain - an EULA issue according to that link. Oh well, VNC and Dameware have always had my support. The newer versions of Remote Desktop work sooo nicely, though..

Yeah... I've gotten those 3am calls for a 5 minute fix, but at least I was/am in the same time zone and the VPN connection (768K) will be faster than dialup.

TightVNC rocks! I just gotta get used to it...

We have over 500 systems in the field and commonly get calls for us to help troubleshoot the machine we are controlling. We use dialup connection on about 98% of our service calls and charge $125 per hour for the calls. Our controls also are setup to call us when they trip a machine. I get a e-mail on my desktop and on my cellphone when a machine trips. The VPN connections can't call us on a trip... so in that respect the dialup is better. Actually our VPN connections are supplemented with a modem just for that type of connection... That is if the customer wants that service.

We also have several remote sites that we provide support for. Most use a dialup connection, but they can be very aggravating for large programs. Most of our customers don't want to spring for the money for a VPN connection.

We just use RSLinx for the most part to access contollers by dialup.