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CR_81513651-Visitor
1-Visitor
June 23, 2017
Question

Impact of Kepware on existing communication traffic with PLC

  • June 23, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 4366 views

I am planning to use AB suite for the old AB PLC (PLC 5/40) which is using DF1 protocol. I would like to know whether PLC software and Kepware software can co-exist in PC as both of them will be getting data from PLC. I hope existing station or any other software will have no impact by Installing kepware on same PC and getting data from same PLC. Please clarify.

1 reply

S
stmarchessault5-Regular Member
5-Regular Member
June 23, 2017

Hello Channabasavaraj,

 

The quick answer is no, there will likely be no conflict. For me to better verify and explain this, please describe:

 

1. How will you physically connect the KEPServerEX PC with the PLC 5/40? For example, a direct serial RS232 cable; or are you connecting over Ethernet to a gateway or converter? If so, what will this converter be?

 

2. What is the PLC software you are using? How is this connected with the device?

 

 

Best regards,

 

Steven Marchessault

Technical Support Engineer | Kepware Technologies

C
CR_81513651-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
June 27, 2017

Hi Steve, Thanks for reply.

The connection between PC and PLC (PLC-5/40) is through RS232.  It is using DF1 protocol. The RSView32 is used for monitoring the PLC. This RSview32 software is installed in Windows XP system. This PLC system is 15years old. So, now I have two questions: (1) Can we install Kepware in Windows Xp machine? (2) Whether Kepware configured to fetch value from same serial port (which is being used by RSView32) has any impact. It might not work as same serial port can not be used by two softwares??.

The next question is where to Install Kepware system and how to get data from PLC without impacting RSView32 monitoring software.

Thanks,

CB

S
stmarchessault5-Regular Member
5-Regular Member
June 27, 2017

Hello Channabasavaraj,

 

Okay, thank you for clarifying. Answering your questions in reverse order: yes, you are correct, it will not be possible for the two locally-installed applications to connect simultaneously through the same COM port. There is no specification of a Source or Destination identity in the Serial connection layer, and the communication streams would become confused if the OS were to allow this. Because of this, your first option will be to connect an additional RS232 cable (if the PC and PLC 5/40 can both accommodate this).

 

If the additional cable is not possible, what is the information being monitored by RSView32? Can you either, a) alternate between the use of RSView32 and KEPServerEX, if the data is needed at different times for different reasons?

 

Or, can you b) read the values you need to monitor in RSView32 through tags in KEPServerEX? If so, you can connect RSView32 as an OPC Client to KEPServerEX, and allow KEPServerEX to be the single point of communication with the device.

 

It will not be possible to install KEPServerEX V6 on Windows XP, but you can install KEPServerEX V5-- including the final release v5.21-- on Windows XP. You can download KEPServerEX V5 or V6 from the My Kepware Home page here:

 

https://my.kepware.com/mykepware/Landing.aspx

 

You will need to take a quick moment to sign up for the My Kepware web portal before you will be able to log in to that page.

 

Here are links to the System Requirements for V5 and V6:

 

https://www.kepware.com/en-us/products/kepserverex/documents/kepserverex-manual/#page=16

https://www.kepware.com/en-us/products/kepserverex/documents/kepserverex-v5-manual.pdf#page=10

 

This is the section of the Allen-Bradley DF1 Driver that discusses Cable Connections:

https://www.kepware.com/en-us/products/kepserverex/drivers/allen-bradley-df1/documents/allen-bradley-df1-manual.pdf#page…

 

Please let us know how it goes, or if you have additional questions about any of this

 

 

Best regards,

 

Steven Marchessault

Technical Support Engineer | Kepware Technologies

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