ZEN and Visual Basic

[jeenwouda 0]

Hello, We're developing a tool for the Omron ZEN in visual basic. We're want to use the the program to diagnose the communication protocol and learn working with PLC's and programmable relais in combination with visual basic. Our question is if anyone has experience with the ZEN in visual basic and maybe someone has an program example. ( We prevere a program in a project file so we can use it for evaluation) thanks, Jeen

[jeenwouda 0]

On the moment we're trying to get communication between the ZEN and PC. This doen't work. In a early topic, we found a demo programm for the ZEN. This file is a exe so we can't see how it works. We're used a monitor program to check the data we're sending with the data wich the demo program sends. The data is the same! When we measure the communications cable from the ZEN to the PC we found that the DTR( Data Terminal Ready) and the RTS (Request To Send) are connected to eachother. We dont know why these two are connected and how and what to do with it in Visual basic. Is there anybody who has the same experience and maybe a example or solution ? thanks Jeen

[moosty 0]

If data is same, lack of an hardware handshake may be the reason. Or, may be a timing problem, perhaps some handshake do not achieved on time. And the final point, check baud rate and parity settings. Best Regards

[guys1808 0]

Hi, Search omron's document " zen communication protocol " . you don't need to diagnose yourself.

[jeenwouda 0]

Thanx, I know it's strange, we use the standard ZEN communication cable of Omron. Finaly we've got connection with the ZEN, we found it's neccecery to make the RTS signal constantly high. Now the communication is okay we can use the commands of the "zen communication protocol" and slowly its gonna work. Best regards

[moosty 0]

OK, I am glad that it works. Thanks for your share. Best regards,

[jeenwouda 0]

We think we've got the answer on the on the problem with the DTR and RTS. The OMRON ZEN-CIF01 has a litlle piece of hardware in the connector on the ZEN side. This part gets his power suply from the PC side. This power suply is comming from the DTR and RTS lines. greatings