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Allen Bradley 0 Channel serial — Parallax Forums

Allen Bradley 0 Channel serial

PyrotexPyrotex Posts: 5
edited 2013-10-09 05:52 in General Discussion
Looking for some help in interfacing a Propeller to a Allen Bradley PLC 5 zero channel. I would like to read and write to the integer tables.

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2013-10-05 21:56
    Can you provide documentatin for the protocol?
  • PyrotexPyrotex Posts: 5
    edited 2013-10-06 19:18
    This all I have on the DF1 protocol.
    pdf
    pdf
    1770-rm516_-en-p.pdf
    2M
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2013-10-06 19:29
    'Looks like evrything you need to know is in that document. It's not a simple protocol, though, so I doubt that you're going to find anyone to write your software for you. What have you tried so far? Do you have the correct hardware to interface to the PLC's RS485 network?

    -Phil
  • PyrotexPyrotex Posts: 5
    edited 2013-10-06 19:49
    I think that I have all the hardware I need. I am not sure where to start with the software.
  • stamptrolstamptrol Posts: 1,731
    edited 2013-10-07 05:39
    So, do you have the PLC5 and the KT card (or box)?

    From experience, this is not a project that will just fall into place. The protocol is not meant to be easily understood. Unless this is a very valuable project (either in terms of keeping a plant running, or in possible future sales) , it may not be worth the investment in time and programming effort.

    To move forward, start by trying to read a plc register by sending the appropriate command via the KT's serial port.

    In some projects I did years ago, it was actually easier to put a BASIC module in the rack and get an ASCII string out of its serial port. A second method is to get a headless PC, load the Allan-Bradley drivers on it to communicate with the KT and process the data with a Visual Basic program.

    Don't envy you the challenge!

    Cheers,
  • JordanCClarkJordanCClark Posts: 198
    edited 2013-10-09 03:12
    Found this thread on the PLCs.net forum.
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2013-10-09 05:09
    I have never done work on a PLC5 itself, but with newer models. Is it possible to use the port as a standard serial port? Then you can write the ladder logic to send or receive data. Still not pretty, and this assumes you have access to the PLC5 ladder logic. I'll be curious what you cook up.
  • JordanCClarkJordanCClark Posts: 198
    edited 2013-10-09 05:52
    IIRC, there is a 'User Mode' for Ch. 0. But then there's a lot of work on the PLC end to translate to/from ASCII. Not so bad if it's just a few data points. But if there's a large number of them, then DF1 would be a logical choice.

    Sourceforge also has some freebie DF1 Projects (Advanced HMI comes to mind) that could be reverse-engineered to get some ideas.
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