Omron Hostlink on AB DH/+ network

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Thread Starter

R. Westlake

I am interested if anyone has succesfully connected both AB and Omron PLC's together on the same DH/+ network for SCADA purposes (and possibly programming). The application requires Omron PLC's to be connected to an existing AB RS485 network ie the DH and/or DH+ protocol. I know that Omron and AB support RS485 but donot know if the Omron protocol is supported via the DH/+ protocol. Any suggestions are welcomed.
 
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kalpak dabir

Assuming that you are using RSview in the existing setup it might be lot easier if you use a separate serial port and dde or opc server in between for the omron plcs.
 
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> Assuming that you are using RSview in the existing setup it might be lot easier if you use a separate serial port and dde or opc server in between for the omron plcs. > You're right, that would be very simple. The challenge we have is using an exisiting plant wide network. The solution to this is not easy I'm sure. Omron protocol macros allow some flexibility in serial comms to 3rd party devices but even this may not be the answer with the AB network protocol. R.
 
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Dave Ferguson

RS485 and DH+ are not the same protocols and will not work connected together. Dave Ferguson Blandin Paper Company UPM-Kymmene DAVCO Automation
 
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Jeff LeBlanc

Omron sells a device for just this sort of thing. It is called the open network controller. It will allow you to put in a PCI DH+ board and the controller will act as a bridge between the two networks. The down side is that if they do not have a driver for your protocol you must write one yourself. The controller is Linux based. Jeff
 
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Alex Pavloff

Omrons on DH+? I would doubt this. I know what the Omron Hostlink protocol looks like... its an ASCII based, very simple protocol that bears no relation whatsoever to the Allen Bradley protocols. In addition, addresses are done completely different. (None of this N7:0 stuff...) Unless Omron has some sort of "Allen-Bradley compatibility" module (that isn't listed on their website), your only hope is going to be some sort of custom application running on a PC that can translate between DH+ and Omron Hostlink. And that's going to be quite frankly, irritating as hell. My question is (unless someone can tell me I'm an idiot, and Omron DOES support DH/DH+... who specced the application out without realizing this?
 
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David Wooden

QNX based, actually. And the expansion slot is ISA, not PCI. Correct on all other counts, though . And thanks for mentioning it! David Wooden Automation and Enterprise Solutions Omron Electronics LLC 1300 Basswood Road Suite 200 Schaumburg, IL 60173 (847) 884-7034 [email protected]
 
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David Wooden

<snip> >Unless Omron has some sort of "Allen-Bradley compatibility" module (that >isn't listed on their website), your only hope is going to be some sort of >custom application running on a PC that can translate between DH+ and Omron >Hostlink. There are three possibilities I know of. The first would be to use an Omron PLC and communication card which support Protocol Macro commands. The Protocol Macro resides in the communication card. Its sole purpose is to translate messages created in other protocols. That said, I don't know of a DF1 (DH485) protocol macro that exists, but the tools are there to create it. The other two possibilities are to use AB's serial commands to send Host Link messages, or use Omron's serial commands to send DH485 messages. I think Protocol Macro would be the way to go. Just my opinion, David Wooden Automation and Enterprise Solutions Omron Electronics LLC 1300 Basswood Road Suite 200 Schaumburg, IL 60173 (847) 884-7034 [email protected]
 
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Andrew Piereder

I know that SST has a solution for this, although I do not know if it is cost effective for your application. The X-Link protocol converter has drivers for DHP and hostlink, although I am a little uncertain whether the hostlink implementation is the standard one used for Omron PLCs. Several Omron PLCs can be tied in by RS-485 or multiport point-to-point and alias to blocks of registers in an emulated PLC5 that resides on the DHP bus. The DHP implementation has full peer to peer capabilities which allows the Omron data to be read passively from other PLCs on the DHP bus, or dynamically updated into the memory of one or more PLCs on the network. I doubt the website will do you much good for such a specific application, so send an email to [email protected] Andy Piereder Pinnacle IDC
 
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