Do you have the plc project? Without that, there is no way to enable access to that plc.
The recommended way to connect to S7-1500 plcs is the embedded OPC-UA server. It depends on the firmware version if this feature is available in your processor. In addition, the server has to be licensed.
There are also 3rd party opc-ua servers with support for S7-1500.
Ignition’s S7 driver can also be used if you disable the processors security mechanisms. Instructions are here.
Note that the this is a failsafe controller, so access is most probably password protected, at least for the failsafe program parts,
We normally don’t do Siemens (our project there is using Beckhoff, but there are some stand-alone machines in the line with Siemens PLCs). The client does have access to the PLC project, so it should be possible to do some modifications.
I didn’t notice it was a S7-1500 series PLC. So I’ll first try using the Siemens driver, but the other two can be a backup.
Guess it will have to wait until I can actually go there, and investigate it myself. At the moment, I’m relying on the information coming from their own technical manager. I can’t meet in person due to quarantine…
They sent me a screenshot of the PLC config, but now, I realised it’s not from their PLC, but it’s a screenshot from the Ignition webpage …
There are OPC UA Servers for Siemens PLCs that connect directly to the programming interface of the PLC and allow online browsing of the PLC structure. No additional setting required. No PLC program required.
Maybe you try the OPC Server from https://tanindustrie.de
If you can’t use the onboard OPC UA server and you’re open to using a 3rd party server I happily endorse Tani. They are experts in the S7 protocol (and Siemens in general) despite it being undocumented and closed to the public.
I tried all this as well, in the end the OPC-UA enabled on the PLC (required firmware > 1.8 from memory) worked damn near perfect.
Remember if you use the native S7 stuff, you won’t have the tag browser etc and you have to address bits and words and things manually. IF you can use OPC-UA do it!