adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect) asked a question.
Created Date: August 22,2006
Created By: redialtone
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Hi I am new to the world of plc's and I am in need of some direction with a project. The basics of my project is as follows. We have several machines at work and we are looking for a solution where we can monitor and recieve email messages if a machine stopped while we are away. Also we will be adding light stack towers which will notify us while we are there when the machine has stopped. I was looking at the D0-05DD-D with the H0-ECOM100 module. From some reading I found that it is possible to send email messages with the DIRECTSOFT5 software. Does this sound accurate and is there anything that I might possibly need to get this project going? Thanks in advance for your help..
Created Date: August 22,2006
Created by: clasentech
Looks like you are on the right track. You'll need to know your server IP address and set it in the Module. Read the supplement manual and ask any questions here. That is all I did. I have a few PLC's sending various e-mails each containing about 4 pieces of variable information.
Created Date: August 23,2006
Created by: redialtone
This might be a lame question but I could not find if all the machines be available to send emails and communicate with this type of setup at the same time? Thanks in advance.
Created Date: August 23,2006
Created by: franji1
One ECOM100 can send one EMAIL at a time. If you have multiple PLCs, you should have no problem "sending at the same time ". It should work fine.
If you truly need to send multiple EMAILs from the SAME PLC at the same time (i.e. you really, really, really, really cannot wait for one email to finish before sending the next), then you technically could add a second ECOM100 module to the same PLC.
I don't think this is what you mean, so when you say "at the same time ", what specifically do you mean? Can your email server handle multiple requests???
Created Date: August 23,2006
Created by: marksji
The great thing about Ethernet is that it recovers automatically from network congestion. If data isn't sent the first time it retries.
As for the mail server it should be able to handle multiple connections at the same time; every server config is different, but default for even a basic SMTP server is 25-50 simultaneous connections.
Created Date: August 24,2006
Created by: redialtone
marksji and franji1, What was meaning was can two plc's send messages at the same time. I am not quite sure how the the modules work or even how to program the these plc's to get the results I want. It is deffinatly going to be a big Project for myself. I it can be done but it is just going take some time and effort to figure this all out. We are only talking about six machines at the most so I know that the mail server will be able to support the connections. I have found that the biggest obsticle will be getting the info I need for setting all of this up and you guys have deffinatly started me in the right direction. I am sure that I will have alot more questions when the Parts arive....
Created Date: August 24,2006
Created by: marksji
redialtone, yes two PLCs each with their own ECOM100 can send an email at the same time.
Actually two ECOM100s can send separate emails at the same time regardless of if they are in different PLCs or in the same PLC, doesn't really matter.
What's really cool with Ethernet and the ECOM cards is that all the PLCs can communicate with each other and all the PLCs are masters and all the PLCs are slaves... For example, if PLC A needs data from PLC B it just reads it, nothing special needs to be done to PLC B. By the same token if PLC B needs data from PLC C it can just read it. And while those things are happening PLC C can send data to PLC A and then to PLC B...
Created Date: August 22,2006
Created by: redialtone
Hi I am new to the world of plc's and I am in need of some direction with a project. The basics of my project is as follows. We have several machines at work and we are looking for a solution where we can monitor and recieve email messages if a machine stopped while we are away. Also we will be adding light stack towers which will notify us while we are there when the machine has stopped. I was looking at the D0-05DD-D with the H0-ECOM100 module. From some reading I found that it is possible to send email messages with the DIRECTSOFT5 software. Does this sound accurate and is there anything that I might possibly need to get this project going? Thanks in advance for your help..