Hi everyone, it’s been years since I’ve posted, but now find myself on a new project that is already proving to be difficult… This post is a hail mary pass for sure…
There is an older pipe extrusion line that we want to connect to, for the sole purpose of data acquisition. However, no one can tell me where the controllers are located, and I’m not an electrical engineer. The equipment is built by iNOEX (http://www.inoex.de/products-new/gravimetry/saveomat-10/?L=3) and it looks all custom built (and proprietary). Not as simple as looking in the cabinets for parts with “Siemens” or “Allen Bradley” labels…
My question is: Where can I find the PLC that controls this beast, and how can I connect to it?
So I am looking for guidance from anyone who has experience in connecting Ignition to:
an iNOEX system (ideally), or
some other old or proprietary system that no one will openly discuss
Any suggestions or guidance out there? I apologize - I know it’s very vague at this point…
Big assumption there. There are crazy machine builders out there that run their gear with all kinds of propriety realtime engines and/or softPLCs. Historically often out of a need for speed that PLCs couldn't achieve.
I have come across these kind of systems. One such system was running on a “top secret” soft PLC written in c language. My guess is mostly it will be a Modbus PLC. Find the communication cable, connect it to your laptop, and use some data capturing tools or protocol sniffer which is freely available on internet. Copy paste the data packets and do some google research. You will get some clue. I did this technique to develop a communication driver for a top secret control panel and found it was Modbus. You need to do some reverse engineering…
If it’s Modbus, you can use some Modbus PLC programming software like Twidosoft from Schneider to go online. Mostly it will work. You can also contact softplc manufacturers like codesys. They can supply you the programming software. Good luck
Thanks for your input, guys. Just a follow-up to update how this turned out…
The iNOEX system utilizes all proprietary equipment, controllers, and software (they even have their own Data Acquisition software that they wanted me to buy from them… yeah RIGHT!).
It ends up that they are going to install a communication port and a software patch to talk Modbus so I can connect Ignition to their HMI, which acts as their I/O hub. So after this upgrade, we should be in business.
sorry for dragging this oldish thread up from the dead but i’ve been scouring the internet trying to find a solution to a problem and you may have already solved it.
I have been tasked with trying to acquire data from a bunch of iNOEX devices and i know pretty much nothing about them, PLCs, MODBUS, OPC UA etc.
I’ve been learning quite a bit and have attempted to get some kind of connection going with the machines, they have installed SAVEOMAT 5 boxes with an Ethernet port on each machine. I’ve also been running every test and software i can get my hands on to get some sort of response from the machines but so far nothing.
Can you please tell me if what they installed for you was the SAVEOMAT box?
From what i can tell they are also not using the standard 502 port but it seems like they are using 139.
Can you tell me if they are using a set slave ID or have left it as the default (1)?
Basically anything you can tell me would be a massive help, i’ve been in contact with them, their partners, company connections, the internet and no-one has been very helpful thus far. Also it’s extremely slow going waiting for feedback that comes in drips and drabs from them, even when we are okay to purchase from them.
I have a feeling that everything i need is already there, but i’m lacking some bit of vital information that will get me started. Inoex have told us that all they need to do is install the OPC UA server connected to the ethernet port and they can do the rest remotely. This tells me that hardware wise it’s all ready to go and with a bit of help i could probably figure it out if i try hard enough.
Hi Mario,
Sorry for the delayed response…
I actually broke down and got an iNOEX service tech to come to our plant. He installed a Modbus TCP interface upgrade to my SAVEOMAT boxes and then changed the IP address.
We have pretty old equipment so I was happy to pay the few thousand to get him out here for the day (he did some other troubleshooting while he was here too).
RJ45 cable was plugged into the port behind the SAVEOMAT panel. Using the new IP address and Port 1503, I set up a new MODBUS TCP Device in my Ignition Gateway and it connected immediately and the data started flowing.
It was seamless and he was very impressed with how easy it was with Ignition. He gave me a list of the memory registers they use and how to interpret the data, so it was cake.
I hope it helps. If you need, I can help you get to the right people there. Take care!
Cas
Thanks for getting back to me. I have also decided to just go with their solution on one of our machines as a tester. No hardware required according to them, just a software deployment for accessing the ip and port.
After that i’ll go about testing software options but i’ll take your Ignition recommendation into account! Glad to hear that you got it all working nicely.