We’re starting a job to replace a Lookout Direct system with Ignition. The old system has a driver in KEPDirect that reads HART data from a transmitter right into the Lookout tag objects. The new server will have a serial port I can connect that device to, so the hardware isn’t an issue, but how can I poll a HART device with Ignition?
So is KEPDirect a separate server/software or is it integrated with Lookout Direct?
Not sure if it’s possible, but it seems the easiest thing to do would be to install KEPDirect on the new Ignition server and make an OPC connection to it.
Normally, I would recommend something like Kepware driver suites, but I didn’t see one on their website for HART. Matrikon shows they have a HART to MODBUS converter.
Maybe a HART multiplexor?
KEPDirect was licensed by A/D for Lookout Direct which was licensed from National Instruments if I recall correctly. I think some of the drivers in KEPDirect were made exclusive for A/D or NI products, but HART should be ubiquitous enough I’d think there’s a module for Ignition I could pick up.
KEPDirect and Lookout Direct have been obsolete for several years. I will see if I can find out the exact version of KEPDirect in use and more details about the driver they’re using. A quick search for HART on Kepware website gave me nothing.
Shirley someone has pulled HART data directly into Ignition by now?
I might be mistaken about KEPDirect being involved. It might be a direct driver in Lookout Direct. Still digging.
never heard of a OPC server that has a hart driver. I have always used these and converted the variables to modbus. Additionally, some PLC’s like the controllogix have a option for Hart enabled cards that will allow you to view the variables in the controller tags
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It looks like the matrikon driver is made to work with the moore hart to modbus converter that I linked in the other post.
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Well if there is not a simple software solution to bring the existing HART to RS232 device into Ignition and we have to buy a module, I may as well do something like HART to Modbus TCP and eliminate the serial device and the need for extra software and just poll it with the Ignition Modbus driver along with the other Modbus TCP devices we’ll have on their new system. I appreciate the input so far.
Thanks,
Paul
Just to close this out. The old HMI software is Lookout 6.7.1 (not the Lookout Direct variant) and the Hart device is accessed with a 3rd party software by FieldComm group called HartServer. I talked to them about migrating the product and found out that their latest version doesn’t appear to play well with Windows 64 bit operating systems, so even if I upgraded, it might not be reliable.
So, wired the analog sensor to a 16 bit analog input on their DL06 PLC and got it scaled to match what is being read from the Hart interface. I did add some first order filtering logic in the PLC to take the jitter out and the end result side-by side comparing Ignition to Lookout are a match. This means I don’t have to come up with a software solution but a solution that relies just on PLC hardware and code is much more comforting to me anyway.
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