Joe E.

Since you're going between processors, try adding a null-modem adapter. Edited to add: a null-modem adapter reverses the Tx/Rx pins (2 and 3 on the "standard" 9-pin d-shell connector). It allows two devices that are both "masters" to talk together.

We have about a half dozen SLC 5/03 and 5/04 PLCs  in service right now. Unfortunately, they're pretty far down our upgrade list, behind the dozen SLC 100/150s, half-dozen PLC-2s, and dozen or so PLC-5s. We also have a handful of the SLC Fixed chassis PLCs (-L40 series). If you're in a similar predicament as we are, consider the Red Lion G3-series of HMIs to replace the PV550s. We've done that with several SLC 5/03s with good success. They can connect via either the RS-232 or the DH485 port. They're also a viable option to add/replace an HMI on a PLC-5 system. Edited to add: The G3 HMIs connect to the PLC-5 via the serial port, not DH+. One possible advantage of using a PV+ of some flavor (if you can overcome the protocol limitations) is the tool that lets you import the old PanelBuilder32 project into View Studio. We've had hit-or-miss results with that, though, and you may be better off starting over from scratch.

You can also consider the Red Lion Data Station Plus and ProducTVity Station, especially if you have multiple platforms and/or protocols.

Yeah, the scaling can be a pain. BTW, it's not always the fault of the conversion tool. We have in service a few 4" PV+7 HMIs that the built-in banner display that shows system faults (like communication failures) is so small it's illegible.

Now that I think about it, I don't remember setting up a PV+ to communicate via RS-232. All I've ever done have been DH+ or Ethernet/IP. I would think that you could set the RS-232 port on the HMI and the 5/03 to the same baud/etc. and it should work. Especially if you haven't done it before, setting up the shortcut in View Studio can be tricky.

You should be able to connect using the RS-232 port. How is that port configured in the 5/03? What's the catalog number of the old PV550?

The user manual says to check: 1) ...the I/O module is in the chassis 2) ...the electronic keying requirements 3) ...the controller properties major faults tab and module properties connection tab Expand the I/O Configuration tree and look for a module with a yellow triangle icon: Open that module's properties dialog and go to the connection tab. There is a check-box there for "Major Fault on Controller If Connection Fails While in Run Mode". Evaluate whether or not that box needs to be checked. On the "General" tab, look at "Electronic Keying". For most applications, you're fine with "Compatible Keying". If it says "Exact Match" and that module has been replaced with one that's a different revision, you may get this fault. Again, evaluate your application to see which kind of keying is necessary. BEFORE changing EITHER of these settings, click the "Help" button to learn exactly what they do and evaluate the system in detail to see how changing that setting could affect your operations.

I would say that using subroutines to subdivide code into easier-to-read pieces is worth any overhead hit it might cause. IMHO, if your processor is so strapped for resources that subroutines push it over the edge, you probably need a bigger processor anyway.

I would think so. Your destination element will likely end up being identical to what's in the existing MSG while the source address would be your new tag name.

Do you know what devices are on the other ends of the MSG instructions?

There's another parameter you have to set, to make sure it uses parameters as its source for IP address, basically disabling DHCP/BOOTP. The BOOTP utility has a button you can push to disable BOOTP, but it doesn't always work.

We've been perfectly clear about our opinions about CCW as well, though perhaps a little less profanely ;) We have v10 installed right now just so we can configure Powerflex 525 drives that aren't part of a Logix 5000 project.

I seem to remember hearing that about every version...

At least you have some time to figure it out. The Logix 5000 platform handles analog signals in a much cleaner way than previous systems. If you're using all 1756-xxxx I/O, you're good. Double-click on the analog module in the I/O tree of the project to open its properties dialog box and go to the "Configuration" tab. There you can set up each channel for whether it's voltage or current and the high/low signal and engineering ranges. As an example, we have a system where +/10V corresponds to +/-0.010". We would set the "signal" fields to 10V and -10V and the engineering units fields to 0.010 and -0.010. Then, in the tag database, find the analog module and look for something like "Local:5:I.Ch2Data" (example from the project I have open that has an analog input module in slot 5 of the local chassis). The value of that tag will be the scaled-to-engineering-units signal from the analog input. No need to use a COP or MOV at all, unless you want to buffer it or use internal tags to make re-wiring I/O easier. Are there any MSG instructions in the original PLC5 project?

The PLC5 uses block transfer instructions to read/write and configure analog modules (among other things). You won't need them or the MSG instructions. The I/O will be read/written directly through the I/O tree via Ethernet. I've never used the migration tool, but I've heard horror stories about it and the code it gives you. I did a migration not too long ago that had a PLC5 in its home chassis along with 6 other racks of I/O modules communicating back over an RIO network, along with 2 HMIs using DH+ to talk to the PLC over its other channel. There was a second PLC (a CompactLogix) with a Flex I/O chassis and HMI that handled an inline gauge. It was an old system with a lot of obsolete code, so I ended up doing the transcription manually, which went pretty smoothly but took a few days. We ended up with a single ControlLogix -L71 in the home chassis with 3 remote ControlLogix racks, 3 Flex I/O racks, 4 drives, and 4 HMIs, all on Ethernet. Transcribing the code ended up being very straightforward and gave me the chance to re-organize it some to make it easier to follow. I would not want this to be one of my first projects, though. The discrete I/O is no big deal, but you have to be able to interpret the block transfers and I/O configuration of the PLC5 to figure out which addresses in the PLC5 program correspond to the analog signals so you can substitute in the right tags in the new system.

Sorry, you just went over my head. I think they advise to physically isolate the controls and IT networks for security reasons (primarily). I know our IT network is divided up into VLANs that are set up so that only certain address ranges are routable. So devices on our "machines" VLAN can reach each other regardless of which switch/port they're plugged into as long as their IP addresses are in the correct range and the port they're plugged into is on the right VLAN. We're only using those connections for remote access for programming PCs and one or two SCADA PCs. Actual machine controls (drives, I/O chassis, etc.) are on physically isolated local networks on non-routable subnets. Our IT system is very centrally managed (from another state) and we're not allowed to have any local control of anything more than an unmanaged switch.

Not a networking guy here... We have an account manager for Rockwell reaching out to us pretty often to consult about connecting control networks to the corporate network. I know that they have done a lot to figure it out and have good knowledge about it. If your equipment is at least mostly Rockwell equipment, I would contact your local distributor to set up a conversation with them and Rockwell about it. There are others on here, though, who have experience with this and can probably give you more information.

In other AB platforms, "EN" means "Enabled". It means the rung conditions in front of the timer instruction are true. It's a bit in the status word of the timer that the timer instruction controls and that can be read by other parts of the code. There's a migration manual for converting the older MicroLogix PLCs to Micro 8xx: https://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/rm/2080-rm002_-en-e.pdf Page 166 talks about the TON instruction and shows a different view that includes the EN bit but says that it's "Not Supported" in the table, even though the screenshot shows it as a separate connection to the timer. Frankly, I'm a little confused...

I haven't worked with the Micro800s, but other AB processors have a sort (SRT) instruction that will sort the array in ascending order so the largest value ends up in the bottom (highest index) register. Does the Micro800 have a sort instruction?

Another piece of advice: max out your PC's RAM as well, especially if you plan to use Virtual Machines. I have mine at 32GB and can run 3 VMs easily.

I concur. I have 8 active virtual machines on my PC right now with backups on an external HDD. The total of all of these VMs is about 390GB. My 4 AB VMs range in size from 25GB to 78GB each. My 4 Siemens VMs vary from 17GB up to 62GB each. On my external drive, I also keep 3 VMs with clean OSs (fully updated, but no software installed) that are 3.4GB (WinXP), 15GB (Win7 32 bit), and 27GB (Win7 64 bit). I hear you about hard drive space. We had to bite the bullet and get good hard drives for our PCs. When my second internal hard drive failed, I replaced my main drive with a 2TB SSD, which cost about $350 a few months ago. It's down to $290 now. It was a big step up in performance and boot time. I still maintain the backups on the external drive. As end users, we use the same VMs repeatedly, so it made sense to not try to run them from external drives. An integrator who works with more platforms would need a more sophisticated system than we're using, or just move them back and forth as needed.

I have the following versions installed: 10.07 11.16 12.06 13.04 15.01 16.04 19.01 20.04 24.00 30.01 And I need all of them to support the machines in our plant. I've rarely had any issues installing additional versions. It's usual to install older versions first, but I've had to install an older version after installing newer ones and it went fine. You don't need to download the PLC firmware, but you do need to get the right version of Studio 5000. Go to the download center: https://compatibility.rockwellautomation.com/Pages/home.aspx Select "Software Downloads by Serial Number" and enter the information for your Logix 5000 license registration. Then choose version 30.xx.xx in the drop-down and download it. The minor revisions don't have to match, just the major revision. Except for v20 and one other version (19, I think) that the minors had to match too. Note: just in case you don't know (or anyone else doesn't know), changing the firmware of a PLC will stop the processor and completely wipe out its memory. Your program will be gone beyond recovery if you don't have an offline backup. In general, I don't make firmware changes to a running machine unless it's necessary.

Awesome, I'm glad you're back up and running! These problems can be very random and frustrating to fix.

...except when the O/L is tripped. Then we have a white wire with line voltage on it. I've always wondered why we put the O/L contact on the neutral side of the coil. Why not put it on the high side of the coil? ETA: I guess to do what I described above, where a lot of contactors are dropped when any one is tripped... I've always seen it in the neutral side of the coil, even when it's a standalone starter, though.

Perhaps we should also consider eliminating the offensive Master/Slave terminology.