Adding an analog output card

[Noo-be]

I have been asked to add an analog card to a remote I/O station. I'm not sure where to start. Its a Contollogics PLC. Can anyone help?

[alan_505]

Is the remote rack a ControlLogix rack or Flex or Point IO, is the remote rack on ControlNet or Ethernet.

All these things will need to found out to be able to add a new module.

 

Alan 

[PLCMentor.com]

If you are not sure, you can post a pic of the remote rack and we can move on from there.

[Noo-be]

It's a Flex I/O on ethernet.

[Joe E.]

How many modules are there already?

To add a module, right-click on the FlexBus and select "New Module". Find the module in the "Select Module Type" dialog box. Give it a name consistent with the rest of the modules in your system and click "OK".

I just tested it on one of our projects (a 1756-L71 at v24) and I had to do it offline and then download it to the PLC. I would connect to the PLC and "save" online, uploading all tag values before going back offline to add the module. That way you don't lose any tag data.

[Noo-be]

Do I right click the FlexBus in who active?

[alan_505]

No you must right click in the tree in RSLogix 5000 and select add module then add the correct module, NOTE you are limited to 8 modules in 1794 Flex IO, if you need more you will need to add another 1794-AENT(R) and then add you extra modules into that "rack".

 

Alan

[Noo-be]

Ok thanks. One more thing, once I add the module, how do address inputs and outputs? 

[Joe E.]

Once the module is in the I/O tree, the corresponding controller tags will appear in the controller tags database. You're looking for "Ch*Data" for each channel of the module, where "*" is the channel number. The base tag name will be the name you gave the module when you added it to the FlexBus. In one of our systems, our Flex chassis is called "Laser_System", so channel 0 of the analog input module in slot 0 is Laser_System:0:I.Ch0Data. Yours will look a little different, but it will be in the controller tag for the module.

Before wiring it, you will need to configure it. When you add it to the I/O tree, or later on by double-clicking or right-clicking and selecting "Properties", you can access the module configuration dialog. On one of the tabs (it looks a little different depending on which version of Studio 5000 you're using), you can set the channels to be +/-10V, 0-20mA, 4-20mA, or whatever format your particular module supports. On the -IE12 module that we use, the channels are configured in pairs, so channels 0-1 are set the same, channels 2-3, etc.

Note also that Flex I/O does not support scaling inside the module configuration in Logix 5000 like other Analog I/O platforms. The channel data is in raw counts. Consult the user manual to figure out the scaling. You have to do the scaling to/from engineering units manually.

[Noo-be]

Thanks everybody. I hope to get started on this Monday. I'll keep you posted on how its going.