SK_tech (Customer) asked a question.

January 18, 2025 at 12:30 AM
ECOM100 PLC to PLC communication with WX and RX.

I have a customer with multiple Direct Logic PLCs with ECOM100's that are sharing data over an ethernet network. There is 1 master PLC that takes care of all the WX and RX. I am trying to add another PLC to the network but I am not having success. Tech support says I need to set up Peer to Peer for communication over an ethernet network when using WX and RX. But... there are currently no Peer to Peer connections set up in NetEdit3 and the existing PLC's are talking fine. Has anyone else set up a network this way? If so do you have some tips?

  • 8 answers
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  • HOST_franji1 (HOST Engineering)

    Good. So the 405 is your Master with an ECOM100 in Slot 1

    I see this because your existing 205 slave rung has SP122 (Busy Bit for Slot 1 in a 405 PLC) and the 2nd LD specifies the Slot of the Master's ECOM100 and the specific Slave number (i.e. LD K135, High Byte is 1 (slot #), lo byte is Slave number (35).

     

    Hence, your NEW PLC 06 slave with Module ID 21 should look SIMILAR to this 205 slave rung. The second LD should be

    LD K121

    For some reason, you did K421. The 405 Master's ECOM100 has not moved - it's still in slot 1 (it's not the slot of the SLAVE ECOM - its the slot of the MASTER ECOM module - that's what is doing the Mastering, the ECOM100 in slot 1 to slave with module ID 21).

     

    That should get you closer.

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  • bcarlton (Customer)

    Peerlink is different than WX RX. You must examine the Master program and expand the usage of the WX RX commands to include the added CPU. Remember that the ECOM100 has settings which must be setup to use the Modbus commands. You must set them up in your new slave system. Review the ECON100 setups in one of the current slave systems. It's been a while since I've done this and don't have access to the equipment.

  • bcarlton (Customer)

    Please detail exactly what problems you are experiencing.

  • HOST_franji1 (HOST Engineering)

    The Mastering DirectLOGIC PLC ECOM100 (that does the RX/WX) can address other ECOM100s using two different mechanisms for RX/WX (not sure why they are not ECRX/ECWX IBoxes?)

     

    The "old" way is to directly use the Module ID (uses "broadcasts" of a proprietary protocol packets). This is what the RX/WX instructions designate (aka Slave ID, Unit ID). This is a value between 1-31 (could be higher, but I am assuming you don' thave more than 31 slaves). These can be set in the slave ECOM100 via NetEdit or the dipswitches on the slave ECOM100s. NetEdit reports/sets those Module ID values.

     

    The other way is it uses the RX/WX Module ID as a "lookup" in the Mastering ECOM100 as an index to a table to actual IP Addresses. This is the table that you set up in NetEdit (but only in the Mastering PLC). Your ECOM100 slaves would need IP Addresses assigned via NetEdit on the same subnet as the Master (e.g. 192.168.x.x w/subnet mask 255.255.0.0).

     

    So you are saying that the Mastering ECOM100 has no Peer table with IP Addresses in NetEdit (should contain list of slave ECOM100 IP Addresses)? If that's true, it's using the old "Directed Broadcast" mechanism. Please let us know what your Master ECOM100 is configured for.

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    • SK_tech (Customer)

      As I suspected, it sounds like we are using the old "Directed Broadcast" mechanism as the master PLC ECOM100 does not have anything set in the Peer table. I will return to site today to see if I can find any issues with my settings.

       

      This shows that the remote slave PLC has an ID of 19DL06 Ecom setup 

      The last slot (4) of the DL06 has the ecom module. Here is a picture of the Master PLC program...ladder 

      *Note- this Master PLC is currently talking to about 20 other Direct Logic PLCs at this time with this same method.

       

      Does this look correct so far?

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      • HOST_franji1 (HOST Engineering)

        No. Show a "working" RX rung that is talking to an existing slave in your working DL06 Master. This may help us figure out if your interlocking logic driving the rung is OK.

         

        SP122 is not correct. This seems like it's from a different PLC? In the DL06 manual appendix D shows that slot 4 SP bits are SP126(busy) and SP127(error), not SP122. This seems like you got this logic from somewhere else. Please show a screen shot of an existing slave's RX rung. (The Nickname is wrong also - SP122 is the Slot 2 Busy Bit, not Slot 1 Busy Bit - another sign that this seems like this rung came from a completely different project and platform PLC, e.g. 205 or 405???).

         

        Please show an EXISTING, WORKING, slave's RX rung from your current DL06 Master.

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      • SK_tech (Customer)

        Here is a little more information...

        My Master PLC is 405. The new PLC I am trying to get communicating is a DL06. All of the other 20 or so PLC's on the network that are currently communicating to the master are DL205 PLC's.

         

        -I verified that I can ping the remote DL06 PLC from the Master PLC panel.

         

        Here are a couple pictures of the ladder in my DL405 Master...

         

        This first picture shows a working example of a DL205 PLC...(ECOM in first slot)

        working rungthis second picture shows the new connection that I am trying to establish with the DL06 PLC (ECOM in last slot)image.pngI am very appreciative of your assistance 😊

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      • HOST_franji1 (HOST Engineering)

        Good. So the 405 is your Master with an ECOM100 in Slot 1

        I see this because your existing 205 slave rung has SP122 (Busy Bit for Slot 1 in a 405 PLC) and the 2nd LD specifies the Slot of the Master's ECOM100 and the specific Slave number (i.e. LD K135, High Byte is 1 (slot #), lo byte is Slave number (35).

         

        Hence, your NEW PLC 06 slave with Module ID 21 should look SIMILAR to this 205 slave rung. The second LD should be

        LD K121

        For some reason, you did K421. The 405 Master's ECOM100 has not moved - it's still in slot 1 (it's not the slot of the SLAVE ECOM - its the slot of the MASTER ECOM module - that's what is doing the Mastering, the ECOM100 in slot 1 to slave with module ID 21).

         

        That should get you closer.

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        Selected as Best

      • SK_tech (Customer)

        You got it!!!

         

        All I needed to do was set the Slot to 1 instead of 4. I thought the Slot was the ECOM Slot on the remote PLC and not the Master. But this makes sense now.

         

        Thank you HOST_franji1 !!!!!!!!!

 

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