Lookout

cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

What comunication driver do I use for an Automationdirect Productivity 3000 PAC?

Hello,

I am revamping controls on a cyclotron.
I am intending to use the new Automationdirect Productivity 3000 PAC hardware.



In previous installations I have used AD DL250/260 PLC's.

The ethernet communication driver would randomly stall for seconds at a time which was unacceptable for hypertrend's.

I used the Lookout Direct Plus serial driver from AD and that performed well.

0 Kudos
Message 1 of 9
(7,089 Views)

You can use the Modbus TCP driver.

 

I'm not sure if the LookoutDirect PLUS has the driver for Productivity3000.

Ryan Shi
National Instruments
0 Kudos
Message 2 of 9
(7,079 Views)

JB_tron,

 

The Modbus (TCP or serial) driver would be the ideal to use.  It is more common and accepted than the DirectLogic protocols. Also, the DL driver uses DirectNet or K-sequence and has more traffic per message than Modbus, making communications faster over all.

 

Good luck with the project,

Mike

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forshock - Consult.Develop.Solve.
0 Kudos
Message 3 of 9
(7,050 Views)

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Are you saying that Modbus is is more common but Direct Logic serial is faster?

I will have to map all my I/O tags to Modicon register numbers if I use Modbus.

 

It was the ECOM DL driver that I had problems with before and I had to use the DL serial for accurate hypertrend traces.

 

Have you worked with OPC drivers?

I am learning to like them after a Controllogix job I just did.

It was nice to just deal with the tagname database and the NIOPC server generates that from the PLC automatically.

I hope I can do the same with the P3-550 so I do not have to keep track of Modbus numbers.

 

 

Thanks,

John B

 

0 Kudos
Message 4 of 9
(7,047 Views)

Hi John,

 

Sorry, that didn't come out quite the way I had intended.  

 

The Modbus driver will be faster in most cases versus the DirectNet/K-Sequence driver.  Modbus does not have ACK/NAK messages for each each request, allowing for a faster poll sequence.

 

I have not played with the NI OPC servers yet, but have used other OPC servers in other projects.

 

Mike

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forshock - Consult.Develop.Solve.
0 Kudos
Message 5 of 9
(7,045 Views)

Hello Ryan,

 

Can I use an OPC server and not have to map all my P3-550 tag names to Modbus register numbers?

 

Thanks,

John B

0 Kudos
Message 6 of 9
(7,043 Views)

I received the following from Kepware support after I asked about the automatic tag named database like I can do with Controllogix;

"We do make a version of the server for NI, you would need to make sure it has the Modbus suite installed. As for tagging, we cannot import like we can for the CLX driver, so yes you would need to configure the tags manually or via a CSV import, or you don't have to set them up in the kepserver at all if you do not want to, from NI you could address them as Channel.Device.Adrress@DataType."

 

I am proceeding with the NI Lookout Modbus driver and not using OPC


In the Pro 3000 softwareI have auto-assigned 300001, 300002 to the first analog input.

I have created a Modbus ehternet object and it is communicating in Lookout.

I then created an expression; Modbus1.300001

It does not work.

Here is the analog channel in the Pro 3000 software;

22198i60FCDC5E2120A1E0


0 Kudos
Message 7 of 9
(7,010 Views)

If the PAC series is like the original DL series, you need to add 1 to the address. 30001 becomes 30002, etc.

 

Mike

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Forshock - Consult.Develop.Solve.
0 Kudos
Message 8 of 9
(7,008 Views)

Thanks Mike -- that did not work.

I realize the 16-bit input maps to two registers so I was hoping what you said would work.

 

22204i3E9ED3ED525A39F3

0 Kudos
Message 9 of 9
(7,005 Views)