Connecting to multiple Foundation Fieldbus devices in sequence using FF Open VFD

[LewisL]

Default for the property of my USB-8486 looks like the attached pic. Please try to use them.

The latest version of NI-FBUS sw is 14.0. You can upgrade to it for free if you have a valid SN. Make sure you write it down before you install 14.0.

[Darren_Odom]

Hi Lewis,

I have already tried the (actually two different) default settings to no avail.

So NI FBUS went from version 5.0 to 14?  Oh, I see Configurator is in version 14.  We did not pay for a configurator license given its extraordinary cost.  This system is replicated in many installations, so a configurator license is not an option.

There is little information on FBUS on the web, and the only information on this "Error:System Management entity is not operational" message is an NI forum post that ends without resolution.  Is there anyone there that has seen this message before or perhaps someone that might know its root cause?

[LewisL]

Hi Darren,

The last time you sent me the VI in question, it was a broken VI lacking dependency. 

I know it's large, so would you please peel off the unrelated, and make a VI that's purely FBUS related with which you can still replicate this error and send it to me? I'm sure if I have such a snippet of VI, I can find out why. 

Similar VI works fine on my side. 

Anyway, please provide me such error reproducible VI.

[LewisL]

And you could draw the topology of your connection of the segment.

If you have NI-FBUS Monitor, you could also attach a capture of the packets in the network.

[Darren_Odom]

Hi Lewis,

This is beyond the scope of the VI I sent, because the same error is happening in the NI FBUS "Dialog" utility, completely independent of my code.  

The error is below: "Error: System Management entity is not operational".  There is very little documentation on the Dialog utility and absolutely no description of this error. I do not have a license for NI FBUS, so the monitor utility isn't going to work for us.  

I appreciate your help on this.

 

[LewisL]

Hi Darren,

Please verify the node addresses and tags are all set to unique values!

[Darren_Odom]

Confirmed, the node addresses and tags are all unique.

Thanks,

Darren

[LewisL]

What kind of power hub do you use and how you connect everything. Please take a picture or draw a diagram so that I can rule out this possibility.

[Darren_Odom]

Relcom FieldBus Power Conditioner FCS-BPCT-ST (below labeled Junction box)

wiring is chickenfoot style:

[LewisL]

Seems to me the master has trouble bringing the devices into operational state.

What are the addresses of the devices? Are they at Assigned Adresses? Except for temporary devices, each device on a network must have an assigned node address before its communication stack can become operational. They can not be at Default Addresses, or Visitor Addresses.

Also can you try to reset the devices to their factory defaults? (That would need you to set the addresses, tags after the reset. Configurator can do this automatically, though.)