pelly09

Where we have a station connector is where a machine used to live, I was unsure whether the dropline had been removed when the machine was taken out or whether the station connector had been put in to replace the missing PLC. As it turns out we have a trunk/dropline system. I checked everything that has been mentioned, node numbers, baud rate, drop lengths etc. and everything was alright. This is an old network that has been added to and modified many times over the years and we do not have any drawings/documentation for it. So, I decided that I would walk the network and identify all the nodes/cables and PLC comms channels that the cables were connected to that I could. While doing this I noticed that on a number of the PLC's the DH cable was connected opposite to the others with the blue and clear/white wires connected to pins 1 and 3 on the 3 pin connector reversed (some connectors had blue to pin 1 and some had clear/white to pin 1 and vice versa). After seeing this I thought that I would try reversing the wiring to my additional PLC and to my surprise it worked!! PV is working correctly and both PLC and PV are visible in RSLinx. I think further investigation into the network is required to understand how it is put together. Thanks to those who offered help and advice, it is much appreciated. Steve

Thanks for the replies guys!! I'm pretty sure, but not certain, that I haven't duplicated a node address (I will be checking this today). I am pretty certain, as I have checked other devices, that the baud rate is 57.6k. And I am pretty certain that the wiring is connected correctly (that was checked last week). I have disconnected the PV and just hung the PLC on the network but it doesn't show up in RSLinx. I will also be trying to find an original drawing of the network to confirm that it is of the trunk/dropline variety and not just daisy-chained to each device. Just as a side note, if I discover that I have a daisy-chained system, I assume that connecting a PV into the same port as the network will cause me grief? The station connector that I have connected my dropline into is where a machine used to live, this was removed before I joined the company (station connector may have replaced the PLC in the daisy-chain) so until I find a network drawing I cannot be 100% certain that it was connected via dropline or daisy-chained. Steve

We have an SLC5/04 which is connected to a PV1000 via DH+ and all is working well. My boss wants me to add the PLC to our existing DH+ network which I believe is trunk and dropline. I have a station connector in place on the network (trunk) and have run in a new "blue hose" to the PLC (less than 100ft). However, when I connect the new cable to the PLC the PV shows the message "error 688, no network nodes can be found". I have removed the terminating resistor from the SLC and left the resistor connected to the PV1000, I believe that the baud rate for all devices are set to 57.6K. Is it OK to "daisy chain" devices on a dropline as I have never seen this before? Any guidance would be most appreciated. Steve

Hello guys, I'm pretty sure I need some help and direction here. In a nutshell I am currently attempting to swap an old RAC6182 for a PV+1250 as we are having issues with the 6182. I have taken the original 6182 project file and converted it to a PV+1250 file using the "import" function in FactoryTalk View Studio ME. I have made a few small modifications to a couple of displays, removing redundant push buttons, adding a log-in and shutdown feature, nothing too drastic. One thing that i noticed was that the shortcut for the comms to the PLC was missing, so I created a new shortcut of the same name, according to the tag database. This shortcut was copied to runtime tab after testing. Whilst testing on my laptop everything seemed to work ok with value displays and indicators showing what i would have expected and this was confirmed when going online to the PLC. My problem comes when i create a runtime file and download it to the terminal and run it. I don't appear to have any communications with the PLC at all. Value displays show ??????? and no indicators change state at all, they all show off. Can anyone enlighten me as to what may be my problem. The fact that the application appears to work when testing but not on the terminal would suggest to me that i have an issue with the setup of the panelview. For information the original terminal was an RAC6182 (6182-CIBZZC), The PV+1250 (2711P-B12C4D8). The PanelView+1250 is not brand new, it has been taken from a redundant piece of equipment where it was working perfectly. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated, if any more information is required please don't hesitate to ask. Steve

Someone please correct me if i am wrong, but the way i look at that code ,the 4 outputs will always be on regardless of what's happening with the SQO as they are on unconditional rungs. My belief was that you don't have to code in the outputs as the SQO will write to them...or have i got it totally wrong? Steve

Is the code written in function block or ladder? I had a similar situation recently with a routine showing UNK. Solution was to delete the UNK routine as it was doing nothing. Is this issue evident when online or just in the offline project? When you go online does the project upload from the controller? Incidentally, i worked at a midlands based motor manufacturer near Derby for 13 years!! Steve

Is it possible to find out who has made the modification and what they were trying to do, then revert back to a previous version of the code? Just out of curiosity, which car manufacturer do you work for? Steve

I think he was joking, my belief is that it was some good old fashioned British humour/humor!! Steve

Ken First of all, thanks for the initial reply. I managed to find time to put the message into my program earlier in the week and bar a couple of minor hiccups I got it working just as it should have. I put the path in as you had stated but had to add a couple of details on the communication tab, hopefully as shown in the images below. These are shots from the actual message working. The first part of the path....1,5 has been replaced with the name of the ENBT/A card....MSI. Thanks for the help that you have provided for me with this Steve

Hi Guys I need a little help with a message that i am trying to set up in a controllogix PLC to read data from a PLC-5 via ethernet and DH+ We have our PLC's on an ethernet network for remote comms (laptop+wifi). From one of the PLC chassis' on the network we have a DH/RIO card that has a number of PLC-5's connected on DH+. I've read that it is possible to read/write data to/from one of the PLC 5's to one of the Logix PLC's through the ethernet and DH+ networks. I've had a stab at setting up a MSG in one of the Logix to read from a PLC-5. However, i cant seem to get the comms path right to access my PLC-5. If anyone can help i will be most grateful. The detail that i have is as follows: ENBT/A -slot 5 of PLC with MSG (10.60.28.97) ENBT/A - slot 1 of "bridge" PLC (10.60.28.60) DH/RIO - slot 2 of "bridge" PLC Node 67 - target PLC-5 Channel A If any more information is required, just ask Thanks Steve

Hello I may be wrong in saying this, and I'm sure i will be corrected if I am, but I seem to recall that to MSG between a ControLogix and a PLC-5 the MSG instruction needs to be in the CLGX controller and set to either PLC-5 read or write (whichever operation you wish to perform) and the destination device set to your PLC-5. Hope this helps Steve

i may be wrong and i'm sure i will be corrected if i am but i don't believe you can initiate messages between SLC and Controllogix from the SLC, only from the Logix. The messages will have to be set up in your new PLC. I had the same problem a couple of years ago when we replaced a PLC-5 with a Controllogix, i removed the MSG Read from the SLC and put in a MSG Write in the Logix, this was connected by DH+ and all is well. Hope this helps Steve

Thanks for your input guys, we got the PLC's transferring data yesterday through the serial ports after a bit of experimenting with message settings, but everything now seems to be working fine. Thanks for the tip on the message writes Bob, i'll be looking at that very soon. We'd considered the use of an ethernet adapter card, but i believe rthat they have to be positioned in the slot next to the processor in the chassis (PLC-5) and we don't have any spare slots at all, let alone one next to the processor, but thanks anyway. i'm not convinced about the 122 word maximum payload as we seem to have all 350 words transferred in one message instruction, i'll have to check more thoroughly but the .ER bit does not come on and the .DN bit does come on for the message instruction which indicates that the message has completed. i'll post any further information as and when i get it. many thanks steve

Hi guys i'm working on a project at the moment in which i have to transfer 350 integers of data from a contrologix L61 to a PLC-5/80. Can anyone tell me if this is possible through channel 0 of both PLC's. I know i can do it on the DH+ network that we already have, but there is already an excessive amount of traffic and i don't want to slow it any further, and we have no spare comms ports on the PLC-5 so we can't set up a unique path from the clgx. any input would be appreciated steve

thanks for the replies guys, but i found an instruction in the internal logic editor of the HMI that does the job for me. it's just a case of taking the INT value from my plc, running it through my logic in the HMI and using the result which is stored in an internal address to drive my messages BTW you are right finfin, you do have to add 1 !!