Hello all,

I am starting to upgrade some of my PLC5's to CompactLogix, I have not set anything up yet because I am new to 5000 but I have the RStrainers from fundamentals up to Motion. My question is that I have a L32E and want to use the RS232 to communicate from my laptop so I can setup the program and mess around with it as well as learn a little. I do not have a serial port and can not use a PCMK? card. I have a 1747-UIC but I cant seem to get it to auto configure. I think my problem is my cable. I am using a Female to Female 2706 cable that I had from an Inview. I believe I need to order the right cable. I just want to be sure the USB adapter (1747-UIC) is right. I have not tried to communicate with a 5/500 with the 1747-UIC. I have
driver UIC-DH485, but I am not sure if I am using the right driver for RS232 or the right USB adapter. Any help is appreciated. If I am not giving enough info or too much let me know.

Thanks
CJM

If you have an L32E, use ethernet connection from your lap top. If it is a direct conection use a cross over cable, otherwise patch the PLC and your laptop to an ethernet switch. Set the IP adress in the PLC using BootP, set your laptop IP to something in the same IP range, then use the ethernet IP driver in RsLinx.

Thanks, I have never done it that way I am not an IT guy but I will try it until I get it. If I do the Direct Connect do I use Ethernet Devices Driver and go from there? I oversee the maintenance on my plants packaging equipment and have been trying the learn on the run. I am not doing the upgrade until Feb but my objective is to be as competant with 5000 as I can be with the training software and trial and error process.

Yeah, choose the Ethernet Driver in RSLinx. You can use a command prompt (Start, Run, cmd, <enter>) and ping the IP address of your PLC and verify connectivity.

Plus, on a side note, the Allen-Bradley literature for the 1747-UIC tells you to not try to auto-configure. The brochure with the UIC, on page 11, guides you through the settings for the driver setup in RSLinx. You can get both running. I like to write Work Instructions for our people to at least give them multiple options for connecting up to a PLC.

I think after you have tried it, that you will seldom want to mess with the UIC after you can just Ethernet into a CompactLogix. I am thinking I usually just have to use the UIC to get a new PLC firmware upgraded out of the box and to set its IP address, after that it does not get used much. I will have to refer to my Work Instructions to verify.

Thank You, I didnt have the manual but I found it at Rockwell, It looks easier than I thought and now I know why it didnt work. This L32E is not on a network now and hasnt been so I am probably going to have to update. UIC is probably the best bet right now. Thanks again

The 1747-UIC is a USB to DH485 converter.
The default setting for your compactLogix's serial port is set to DF1. So the UIC will not work until the compacts serial port is changed to DH485 protocol.

You need a USB to serial adapter.( For DF1 protocol) The brand "Keyspan" is probably the best choice. You can get one at site below

http://www.plctrainer.net/

Use Rockwell's "BOOTP-DHCP SERVER" to give it and address so you can go online with it via Ethernet it will give it an address that you determine associated with its MAC address.

I have one and tried it first, but I dont think I had the COM port setup right, so I will definatley try it tomorrow, I thought I had the UIC but it will not see the L32E and now I know why. Thanks for the keyspan tip. Do I setup a certain driver in RSLinx, I have used the keyspan before for other things and I kept getting this error about shutting RSLinx off??? I dont remember been sometime ago, I think it was for an Inview???

Use RSLinx's RS232 DF1 devices driver. Add it then click on autoconfigure. Take note of the comm port it takes.

Thanks, I dont know what I was thinking, How could I see it if I didnt use a driver

So by that, I take it you got it working? If so your welcome.

Yes, I got it to work rather easily actually, but I screwed myself when I updated the firmware. I didnt have rslogix5000 yet so I did the update from our Electrical/Instrument Tech laptop wich had Version 15. So I got 5000 put on my laptop and started to go online and it told me that the firmware didnt match and I needed to update. So I did it from my computer and it does the first part fine and then it does the power reset and tries to update some more and it gives me an error saying that update failed because controller is not in the right Mode. I tried it in REM and in PROG mode, so I am at a loss for why I am not in the right Mode. I am about ready to buy another one and start over... But thanks to all for the help, I appreciate it.
Yeah the 5000 I put in my laptop is version 17.

I just went through Knowledgebase and found the error message and am trying again, it told me to go to task manager and disable 1 of the cpu if 2 were running and 2 were. So I am in the process of trying again, it also said something about not using RSLinx and use COntrol Flash Program and not to update from Backplane?????Hope it works

Nope didnt work - here is the log
11/22/08 20:07:40 [SUCCESS] Validate:
VID=0x0001, PT=0x000E, PC=0x004D
Maj Rev=01, Min Rev=15

11/22/08 20:07:40 [SUCCESS] Authorization: Bypass cookie used.
Key: PN-28742

11/22/08 20:07:48 [SUCCESS] Load Script: C:\Program Files\ControlFLASH\0001\000E\004D\PN-28742.nvs

11/22/08 20:07:48 [SUCCESS] Program: Product Name = 1769-L32E/A LOGIX5332E, Serial Number = 1A261D6C, Num Updates = 3, Size = 5453136 byte(s).

11/22/08 20:07:58 [SUCCESS] Update: Instance = 3, Size = 2045464 byte(s), Chunk Size = 128 byte(s), Major Rev = 255, Minor Rev = 255

11/22/08 20:43:18 [SUCCESS] Reset:

11/22/08 20:43:18 [SUCCESS] Update: Instance = 11, Size = 1834808 byte(s), Chunk Size = 256 byte(s), Major Rev = 0, Minor Rev = 0

11/22/08 20:43:24 [FAILURE] Transfer: Error #11006: Service cannot be performed while object is in current state.
GS=0x0C, ES=0x3002

11/22/08 20:43:26 [FAILURE] Transfer: File = C:\Program Files\ControlFLASH\0001\000E\004D\PN-28744.bin, Chunk = 8.

This tells me nothing but I know it didnt work again...

I was wandering if it is possible to upgrade the firmware through ethernet for the initial update? I got the IP address put in through the serial connecton I believe. I am alittle foggy on what I need to do to get hooked up through ethernet.