We are using this TL503KQ light tower (https://www.bannerengineering.com/us/en/products/part.804908.html) on the floor and currently control it using the PLC ladders however it gets very messy and complicated quickly. We are thinking it might be easier to build something modular or configurable from Ignition and use ValueChanged triggers from the PLC to make the light tower do what we want. The tower connects over IOLink. Has anyone else done something like this that would have any input on if this is a reasonable approach?
I’ve had a couple customers use my Ethernet/IP module to drive IOLink devices. One used the Balluff BNI004A (four IOLink ports), the other used an IFM Effector AL1322 (eight IOLink ports). You do need the premium version of my module, but you could run numerous stack lights with it.
It’s a module that’s actually loaded into Ignition? Do you have any information on how a tower is setup using that module I’m curious what the actually implementation of it would look like.
Scratch that I see it in the link oy. Didn’t recognize that was a link to the module page at first.
@pturmel’s module is great, but if you or any reader need an OPC UA solution, you can have a look at Comtrol (now Pepperl Fuchs) IO-Link Master Gateway OPC UA (8 IO-Link ports). And as far as I know, there is a coming firmware with MQTT (but not spB as far as I know).
The module uses XML to declare structured datatypes and define communication parameters. I usually help customers do this for specific I/O modules, as it can be somewhat complicated. Like this one:
<Controller>
<DataTypes>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg1_t" Handle="1364">
<Member Name="AccessRights" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="ProcDataLen" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
</DataType>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg2_t" Handle="40ae">
<Member Name="PortMode" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="CycleTime" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="ByteSwap" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Validation" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="VendorA" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="VendorB" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="DeviceA" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="DeviceB" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="DeviceC" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Reserved" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="FailSafeMode" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="FailSafeValue" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
</DataType>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In1_t" Handle="178b">
<Member Name="DigitalIn" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="X1pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="0" />
<Member Name="X2pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="1" />
<Member Name="X3pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="2" />
<Member Name="X4pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="3" />
<Member Name="X5pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="4" />
<Member Name="X6pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="5" />
<Member Name="X7pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="6" />
<Member Name="X8pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="7" />
<Member Name="X1pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="8" />
<Member Name="X2pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="9" />
<Member Name="X3pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="10" />
<Member Name="X4pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="11" />
<Member Name="X5pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="12" />
<Member Name="X6pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="13" />
<Member Name="X7pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="14" />
<Member Name="X8pin2" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalIn" BitNumber="15" />
<Member Name="Status" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="X1short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="0" />
<Member Name="X2short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="1" />
<Member Name="X3short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="2" />
<Member Name="X4short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="3" />
<Member Name="X5short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="4" />
<Member Name="X6short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="5" />
<Member Name="X7short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="6" />
<Member Name="X8short" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="7" />
<Member Name="AuxPwr" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="8" />
<Member Name="SensorPwr" DataType="BIT" Target="Status" BitNumber="9" />
</DataType>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In_Acyclic_t" Handle="b241">
<Member Name="Port" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Index" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="SubIndex" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Command" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Handshake" DataType="BIT" Target="Command" BitNumber="7" />
<Member Name="Result" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="LenAndData" DataType="SINT" Dimension="33" />
</DataType>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In_PQI_Diag_t" Handle="a9f9">
<Member Name="PQI" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="IOLMode" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="0" />
<Member Name="NotCnx" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="1" />
<Member Name="Invalid" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="2" />
<Member Name="WrongID" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="3" />
<Member Name="WrongTime" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="4" />
<Member Name="WrongInLen" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="5" />
<Member Name="WrongOutLen" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="6" />
<Member Name="DiagPresent" DataType="BIT" Target="PQI" BitNumber="7" />
<Member Name="VendorA" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="VendorB" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="DeviceA" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="DeviceB" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="DeviceC" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Reserved1" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event1Bits" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event1A" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event1B" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event2Bits" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event2A" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event2B" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event3Bits" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event3A" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Event3B" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Reserved2" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
</DataType>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Out1_t" Handle="955d">
<Member Name="DigitalOut" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="X1pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="0" />
<Member Name="X2pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="1" />
<Member Name="X3pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="2" />
<Member Name="X4pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="3" />
<Member Name="X5pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="4" />
<Member Name="X6pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="5" />
<Member Name="X7pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="6" />
<Member Name="X8pin4" DataType="BIT" Target="DigitalOut" BitNumber="7" />
</DataType>
<DataType Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Out_Acyclic_t" Handle="de47">
<Member Name="Port" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Index" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="SubIndex" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Command" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Trigger" DataType="BIT" Target="Command" BitNumber="7" />
<Member Name="DataLen" DataType="SINT" Dimension="0" />
<Member Name="Data" DataType="SINT" Dimension="32" />
<Member Name="Reserved" DataType="INT" Dimension="0" />
</DataType>
</DataTypes>
<Tags>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg1" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg1_t" Dimensions="0">
<Data>
00 04 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg2" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg2_t" Dimensions="8">
<Data>
03 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00
01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 00 01 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In1" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_In1_t" Dimensions="0">
<Data>
00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In2" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_In_Acyclic_t" Dimensions="0">
<Data>
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In3" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_In_PQI_Diag_t" Dimensions="8">
<Data>
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In4" DataType="SINT" Dimensions="8 32">
<Data>
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Out1" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_Out1_t" Dimensions="0">
<Data>
00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Out2" DataType="IFM_AL1x2x_Out_Acyclic_t" Dimensions="0">
<Data>
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
<Tag Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Out3" DataType="SINT" Dimensions="8 32">
<Data>
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
</Data>
</Tag>
</Tags>
<Assemblies>
<Assembly Name="IFM_AL1x2x_In" CxPt="100100">
<Member Bits="32" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In1" />
<Member Bits="336" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In2" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[0]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[1]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[2]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[3]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[4]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[5]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[6]" />
<Member Bits="144" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In3[7]" />
<Member Bits="2048" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_In4" />
</Assembly>
<Assembly Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Out" CxPt="100150">
<Member Bits="32" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_Out1" />
<Member Bits="336" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_Out2" />
<Member Bits="2048" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_Out3" />
</Assembly>
<Assembly Name="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg" CxPt="100199">
<Member Bits="16" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg1" />
<Member Bits="768" Target="IFM_AL1x2x_Cfg2" />
</Assembly>
</Assemblies>
<Modules>
<Module Name="G3_IO_Link_1" CatalogNumber="ETHERNET-MODULE" Inhibited="false" Direction="Client"
Vendor="322" ProductType="12" ProductCode="1322" Major="1" Minor="1"
InRPI="200000" UnicastIn="true" InRTMF="1" OutRPI="200000" UnicastOut="true" OutRTMF="4">
<Route>port 2 162.117.93.132</Route>
<Application>2004 24c7 2c96 2c64</Application>
<InputTag>(assembly 100100)</InputTag>
<OutputTag>(assembly 100150)</OutputTag>
<ConfigTag>(assembly 100199)</ConfigTag>
</Module>
</Modules>
<Code># Default Event Handler Code Placeholder
from system.cip import *
logger = system.util.getLogger("dummyCipHandler")
def dummyHandler(event):
logger.debug(str(event))</Code>
</Controller>
4 Likes
I use Pepperl&Fuchs ICE3. It has opc server and supports mqtt. Very simple integration to Ignition.
2 Likes
Sweet! They even have a cut sheet showing how to connect Ignition to their OPC server.
1 Like
Yes like so many constructor like Wago, Weintek… because it’s easy and available 
Link seems broken now. I was curious and thought I might try it out.
Found it here: https://www.automation-pros.com/modulesales.html