Transfer parameters powerflex 525

[RobinEriksen 1]

Hi,

How can I transfer parameters from one powerflex 525 to another? They are not connected to a plc via ethernet. 

[ElectronGuru 81]

With the power off, remove the control module from the front of the drive and look in upper left-hand corner to find a USB port. Plug that into a laptop and a new device icon should pop up on the laptop. Click on it and follow the prompts to upload the parameters to the laptop, then reverse the process to download to the other drive. 

One thing to be aware of is this procedure doesn't work well with Windows 10 unless both drives have firmware revision 7. If they have a lower version, just use a Windows 7 laptop or VM. No other software will be needed.

You can also download Connected Components Workbench (CCW) free from the Rockwell website, here:

 https://compatibility.rockwellautomation.com/Pages/MultiProductSelector.aspx?crumb=111

[RobinEriksen 1]

Thank you. I just followed the steps and it worked well. I had to use a VM with windows 7 like you said.

Does this procedure transfer all of the parameters or do I need to manually put in some of them?

[VFD Guy 13]

Using the USB transfer can work with win 10. You just need to run it from your computer rather than the control pod. Rockwell has a technote on this. You can also use a dsi him if you have one. I think the easiest thing to do is just upload from one with CCW and then download to the other. They both have enet ports. It will transfer all parameters 

[ElectronGuru 81]

@RobinEriksen it should transfer the values for all the changed parameters for the drive. In your OP you said the drives aren't networked, so you shouldn't have to worry about duplicating node addresses on multiple drives. Once the transfer is complete, aside from auto-tuning (if needed) you should be able to "plug-and-play".

 

@VFD Guy From the release notes for PF525 latest firmware revision, V7, released Dec 2020:

"USB connection is unresponsive on Windows 8 and 10 (PCBANOM-1471)

Corrected Anomaly with Firmware Revision 7.001

Known Anomaly first identified as of Firmware Revision 4.001

Catalog Number: 25B

PowerFlex® 525 with firmware revision 7.001 and later supports the USB application with Windows® 8 and 10."

 

Full release notes here:

https://compatibility.rockwellautomation.com/GeneratedReleaseNote.aspx?v1=59671&v2=59671&o=&pdf=0

[VFD Guy 13]

I wonder if they made the usb application work while running it on the Pod. I’ve definitely had to use the workaround pre v7

[ElectronGuru 81]

Not sure. Even though the release note says it was first noticed in V4.x, I know for a fact I had six PF525 drives with V3.x that the USB ("MainsFree Programming") feature wouldn't work on. That's the first time I complained about it, around three-ish years ago. This last January I had another batch of 525s come through and thought I'd re-check since the customer wanted to use that feature and sure enough, they'd finally fixed it.

BTW, flashing the firmware is as easy as it can be. Getting it downloaded and installed on your laptop, not so much.

[VFD Guy 13]

Curious what the problem was getting the fw to your computer was. Just the new site or is there some other issue I should look out for?

[ElectronGuru 81]

Sorry, @VFD Guy, I miss-spoke (-typed) myself. The firmware is fine; it's the EDS that's a pain.

As most of us know, the EDS is just a text file that shows information about the device, does a couple of minor background things, and mostly just shows a pretty pic of the device in RSLinx. Typically, when you have a new profile your laptop hasn't seen before and you get that yellow question mark in RSLinx, you can just upload the EDS for that new profile from that device via RSLinx and be done with it. You can still right-click and upload the PowerFlex 520-series drives' EDS from RSLinx, but it's a few hundred files across several folders, and you have to use the EDS Hardware Installation Tool to install and get the EDS running.

For anyone who's not used to the EDS installation tool, I've attached a short doc specific to the PF525 EDS download and installation. If anyone has a better, quicker way, please share!

EDS.pdf

[VFD Guy 13]

This is the easiest way with older devices or ones not on embedded enet. For ones that are on embedded enet, I use RSLinx’s automatic eds uploader