Testing FINS

[Artz 0]

Hi

I have a "NJ101 controller" that needs to "Send" some variable data to a "ibaPDA-PLC-Xplorer" software for a client. The problem here is I have no way to test my function blocks on the ladder since I do not own this software for myself and I have only one controller. Do you know any free software I can use to recieve this data via ethernet cable o any way I can test these functions?

[Crossbow 295]

How does the software send/receive?  What protocol?  I've never heard of that software.

[Artz 0]

The only thing I could know about the software is that it can interpret FINS data via Ethernet. It is a data adquisition software, I just want to test only sending data not recieve for the moment. My controller is compatible with FINS so the protocol aparently is not a problem.

[IO_Rack 181]

Typically a software package like that will be setup to read data from a PLC via EtherNet/IP or FINS or whatever driver is available. You shouldn't need to write ladder to send data. For the NJ you will need to set the variable attribute to Publish Only for the tags you wish to be read.

[photovoltaic 121]

7 hours ago, Artz said:

The only thing I could know about the software is that it can interpret FINS data via Ethernet. It is a data adquisition software, I just want to test only sending data not recieve for the moment. My controller is compatible with FINS so the protocol aparently is not a problem.

I'm going to assume the software is a FINS master. All you need to do is assign addresses in the PLC. You will need Sysmac Studio to do this - you could get away with the 30 day trial. In your global variables under the AT column you simply assign an address to a variable like "%D123" and when your FINS master asks the PLC for address D123 the PLC will reply with that variable's value. A good free testing tool for FINS TCP/UDP is Etherway.

[Artz 0]

On 17/7/2023 at 1:39 PM, IO_Rack said:

Typically a software package like that will be setup to read data from a PLC via EtherNet/IP or FINS or whatever driver is available. You shouldn't need to write ladder to send data. For the NJ you will need to set the variable attribute to Publish Only for the tags you wish to be read.

 

On 17/7/2023 at 5:17 PM, photovoltaic said:

I'm going to assume the software is a FINS master. All you need to do is assign addresses in the PLC. You will need Sysmac Studio to do this - you could get away with the 30 day trial. In your global variables under the AT column you simply assign an address to a variable like "%D123" and when your FINS master asks the PLC for address D123 the PLC will reply with that variable's value. A good free testing tool for FINS TCP/UDP is Etherway.

Sorry I was very busy with other things. Looks like I cannot use FINS with this controller, theres a warning note on the both manuals (from OMRON and from IbaPDA) that FINS can only be used from PORT 2. NJ101-9000 has no ETHERNET/IP PORT 2 (It is assigned to EtherCat). See the images:

https://imgur.com/U3wg4EF

https://imgur.com/TaNphla

Software however detects the controller so there's still hope to use any other protocol:

https://imgur.com/oLu5Jii

So the software contains many brands interfaces. I can only think of two interfaces I could use with the software and controller. See image:

https://imgur.com/DhWR56C

So I tried with Tags with no success. This is what I tried to do:

From the controller:

https://imgur.com/MJJO7KE

https://imgur.com/e70S7nh

From the Software part:

https://imgur.com/UYyFOAF

https://imgur.com/NjycOaf

https://imgur.com/4tkb2NC

So what could I be possibly doing wrong here?

This is the network in my widows:

https://imgur.com/rs8OU1a

https://imgur.com/EIfEMbJ

https://imgur.com/q0eQdib

So as the previous image shown that the software detects the PLC at least ... I feel I'm missing something from both sysmac studio configuration and this data adquirer software configuration.

Do you see something you could point out that is wrong? Any guess? Thank you

Edited 11 Oct 2023 by Artz

[photovoltaic 121]

4 hours ago, Artz said:

 

Sorry I was very busy with other things. Looks like I cannot use FINS with this controller, theres a warning note on the both manuals (from OMRON and from IbaPDA) that FINS can only be used from PORT 2. NJ101-9000 has no ETHERNET/IP PORT 2 (It is assigned to EtherCat). See the images:

 

That warning is not for your PLC, you only have 1 Ethernet port in the NJ101 an it has FINS enabled - you should be fine with FINS.

For your Ethernet/IP settings you list the tag size as 100 in the PC and don't specify a tag name. In your PLC the tag size is 2 - tag name and size must match.

[Artz 0]

Going to try tomorrow with Ethernet/IP as you said... sorry if this looks obvious, I'm just starting with this type of communications. Also I don't know what happens with the data transmission inside a ethernet cable and this might sound stupid but, sending data through FINS on Port 1 won't have issues If I already use this Port 1 to connect to a HMI? (This Port goes to a Ethernet Switch)

[photovoltaic 121]

1 hour ago, Artz said:

Going to try tomorrow with Ethernet/IP as you said... sorry if this looks obvious, I'm just starting with this type of communications. Also I don't know what happens with the data transmission inside a ethernet cable and this might sound stupid but, sending data through FINS on Port 1 won't have issues If I already use this Port 1 to connect to a HMI? (This Port goes to a Ethernet Switch)

There will be no issues using EIP, FINS, and an HMI on the same port. Just make sure your primary task isn't taking up most of the time allotted.

[Webbs 2]

We use GE Historian for data collection and is the Industrial Gateway OPC Server (IGS) for connecting between the PLC's and the Historian.

We use the Omron FINS EtherNet options and set the connection as CJ1 for collecting the data from our NJ/NX PLCs rather than the Omron NJ EtherNet.  Under the AT values for the variables you set the address %100, %W10.00, %D500 etc.  This is also usefed for the NB touch screens as well. Using this option you then don't need to worry about setting the publish field.

[pturmel 160]

1 hour ago, Webbs said:

then don't need to worry about setting the publish field.

But you have to set the AT field instead.  And you are limited to the size of the FINS address spaces.  When using EtherNet/IP, the size of the data can be much, much larger.  There's a reason Omron adopted EtherNet/IP in their modern CPUs.

[Artz 0]

On 11/10/2023 at 10:12 PM, Webbs said:

We use GE Historian for data collection and is the Industrial Gateway OPC Server (IGS) for connecting between the PLC's and the Historian.

We use the Omron FINS EtherNet options and set the connection as CJ1 for collecting the data from our NJ/NX PLCs rather than the Omron NJ EtherNet.  Under the AT values for the variables you set the address %100, %W10.00, %D500 etc.  This is also usefed for the NB touch screens as well. Using this option you then don't need to worry about setting the publish field.

I'm quite lost with the addressing variables with %#####. Would be possible to point out where I can read (any documentation) about what purpose have those numbers, and how to set them in my controller?

[Artz 0]

On 11/10/2023 at 6:06 PM, photovoltaic said:

There will be no issues using EIP, FINS, and an HMI on the same port. Just make sure your primary task isn't taking up most of the time allotted.

Hello, you mean this?:

 

https://imgur.com/jImUJVY

[photovoltaic 121]

2 hours ago, Artz said:

Hello, you mean this?:

 

https://imgur.com/jImUJVY

When you're online you can monitor it:

[Artz 0]

54 minutes ago, photovoltaic said:

When you're online you can monitor it:

Thank you, need to check this tomorrow