Allen-Bradley MicroLogix 1000 & Other Legacy Controllers

Industrial
1

We have Node-RED talking to a MicroLogix 1400. While a lot of our equipment has Ethernet, a large portion of it uses older controllers. Is there a module that will allow Node-RED to talk to a MicroLogix 1000 using a USB-to-RS232 converter?

I'm also having trouble talking to RSLinx, but that's a separate battle. :slight_smile:

Thank you,
Chris

2

Lantronix has always been my go to for Ethernet to Serial. I have not used it in this scenario (I used it with Kepware's OPC server) but I would start there. Their hardware has a built in webserver that allows you to configure it and you can use Ethernet encapsulation to get data in/out the serial port or you can use their software to create a virtual COM port so you can use a standard serial setup at the application level.
Hope that helps.

3

Thank you for the response! Unfortunately, I think I would still need to use DF1 commands to communicate with the controller unless I'm missing something. :slight_smile:

Thank you,
Chris

4

Yes, you will still need to talk in AB's native language, the Lantronix is merely a media converter. It sounds like you might want to look into an actual protocol/media converter I dabbled in one many years ago as a 'Plan B' for a design challenge I had but never had to implement.
AnyBus has a native AB one Connect devices with a serial DF1 protocol to Fieldbus and Ethernet
And Spectrum has a Modbus TCP <-> DF1 unit Modbus TCP to DF1 | Gateway | Protocol | Ethernet | Serial | Rockwell | Spectrum Controls
There are others around if need be, a Google search should get ya going.

5

Hello Chris,

Nice topic, I am very interested in how you setup the commnunication with AB.
To have an anser for you, you can use a 1762-Net-Eni module from AB.
They getting obsolete, I used a Logix 1400 as interface to Microlgix 1200 with DF1.
It was the cheapest solution, all other solutions where much more expensive.

Best regards,
Martien

1 Like
6

Hello,
I work for ST-One, the company that developed the Ethernet/IP, PCCC and the S7 nodes that you are probably using to communicate with the MicroLogix 1400

This library is under development, (it is actually in the test phase) and will be released in the next 3 weeks.
This node will be hardware dependant and should run on ST-One only, but the nice thing is that it will be possible to communicate directly to the DF1 port of the PLC :hugs:
The other nodes (s7, ether/ip and pccc) will be, from time to time, more hardware dependant too, specially for new functionalities like downloading backups, set time and so on.

1 Like
7

Stephane Leicht wrote the df1 program.
A Raspberry Pi with this program connects to the Micrologix 1200 via a USB to RS232 adapter using tcp request in Node-RED.
Greetings
Frank

1 Like
8

Thank you all for your answers. I want to look into the DF1 program Frank mentioned. We do have it working with the 1762-NET-ENI now, but are hoping to find a more economical solution. :slight_smile:

Thank you,
Chris

9

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.