Powerflex 7000 and 20-comm-er config

[GlennM]

I have 3 new PowerFlex 7000 VFD's. Rockwell was out to do some checking before startup. These are part of a larger electrical project. I gave the tech the ip addresses, and he changed them at the VFD and the Panel View. I can ping the VFD and it answers but I cannot connect to them through CCW or Studio5000. I can connect directly with CCW and pulled the parameters out.
The 20-comm-er BOOTP is enabled, but also the IP address shows up in the parameters. When I use the interface to disable BOOTP and put in the address manually, it tells me that it is a duplicate address. I have been scouring the inet for too many hours to solve this and establish communications. Any help would be appreciated. I need to get connect to these before startup.

 

[alan_505]

I think that there is another control board that has an IP address that the Panel View talks to, so they have probably set that to the IP address that you are trying to set the 20-COMM-ER to.

Note; is a few years since I had anything to do with PF7000's so my memory could be wrong.

The 20-COMM ER will keep its IP address in its memory even if BOOTP is enabled.

 

[Ken Roach]

The most commonly used Class C private subnet is 192.168.1.0/24.

That's what A-B devices with a thumbwheel for the final octet use. The /24 means that the first 24 bits are the same. /24 is also expressed as a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

That network includes hosts numbered 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254.

You have set the drive up as 192.1.1.0, subnet mask 255.255.255.0.

That is still a valid address; any first-octet between 192 and 223 is, for a Class C subnet.

But unless you've got a good reason, I would stick with the most common Class C subnet, and give future users something they expect.

Doublecheck and triple check that your tech didn't use that address elsewhere, and that no computer (including your own) is using that address.

Getting a duplicate IP address error message from RSLinx or the BOOTP/DHCP tool suggests that maybe your own computer is the duplicate. If you're seeing it in Studio 5000, then that probably indicates that Studio 5000 has a device already in the I/O tree with that address.

 

[GlennM]

The ip address is not a duplicate. Perhaps the issue is with RSLinx. Here is what I see there. I have auto download EDS file enabled, it knows it is a powerflex but still doesnt know that it really is. I have been working with Rockwell plc's and software for 20 years and this has me stumped. I havent worked with VFD's on this level tho.

 

[jstolaruk]

Curious why the 3 devices show (as configured) in ETH-1 but not in ETHIP-1 (shows all), they should show in both (unless they are configured for different ethernet adapters).

 

[GlennM]

I know. With ETH-1 you configure the driver by adding the IP of the device. With ETH!P-1 it auto discovers which cannot find the VFDs but can find all my other control sys devices. I would expect it to find it, but it doesn't. I can ping it with CMD and it responds.

 

[jstolaruk]

Me, I would disconnect the VFDs and run the "Angry IP Scanner" To list everything on the network. I got bit on this two weeks ago when a tech placed a CTS leak tester's IP address (that doesn't support the Ethernet/IP protocol so it wouldn't show up in RSlinx) as the same IP address as an IFM I/O block; this was in a already working system.

 

[Rounder]

I haven't worked with medium voltage drives for 5 years but at that time Rockwell provided free (no contract needed) technical support from an Ontario office (519-740-4790) that was excellent. All you needed was patience to get thru the phone menu and the complete serial number of your drive. They maintained "as built" drawings and set-up data that we managed to lose at our site and were very helpful with troubleshooting.