NETRX AND ECRX

[PLCGuy]

I was trying to communicate to a Denso Robot with modbus and found out Denso does not support modbus. I came across NETRX & ECRX. What is the difference of the two? I was hoping AD could talk to the Denso, but no success. Since I am here, has anyone been able to do an ethernet connection with a Denso Robot. They seem to support Allen Bradley but no one else. They came out with a new ethernet board, but it still does not support modbus. The main office is thinking about it, since others are inquiring about modbus.

[b_carlton]

It looks like the Ethernet port speaks Ethernet/IP which is not available in the AD line. If they can get to Modbus on their serial port or Modbus TCP for the Ethernet you would be better off.

[Controls Guy]

I was trying to communicate to a Denso Robot with modbus and found out Denso does not support modbus. I came across NETRX & ECRX. What is the difference of the two? I was hoping AD could talk to the Denso, but no success. Since I am here, has anyone been able to do an ethernet connection with a Denso Robot. They seem to support Allen Bradley but no one else. They came out with a new ethernet board, but it still does not support modbus. The main office is thinking about it, since others are inquiring about modbus.

Seems like both AB and Denso need a good slap upside the head.  AB for not supporting the vast number of Modbus TCP slave devices with their otherwise excellent processors, and Denso for picking the protocol that lets them talk to one brand of PLC (using an inferior Ethernet implementation) and locks them out of many others, rather than choosing to talk to the many and lock out the one (till they start supporting Modbus).  I've built numerous projects that AB could have had but didn't for this exact reason.

[PLCGuy]

Thanks for the comments guys, but what about the first part of my question. I knew that would get you going about AB and modbus. What is the difference between the NETRX and ECRX i-boxes?

[franji1]

ECRX/ECWX work with ECOM100 modules and plays well with other EC* IBoxes (like ECEMAIL).  NETRX/NETWX work with ECOM modules (non-100-based), DCM serial modules, and the local "Port 2" serial ports on most CPUs.

[mhw]

ECRX/ECWX work with ECOM100 modules and plays well with other EC* IBoxes (like ECEMAIL).  NETRX/NETWX work with ECOM modules (non-100-based), DCM serial modules, and the local "Port 2" serial ports on most CPUs.

The implication is that NETRX/NETWX will not work with the ECOM100. Is this true?

[franji1]

They CAN work, as long as you have no other EC* IBoxes.  ECRX/ECWX are equivalent to the NETRX/NETWX except they work with the interlocking mechanism of the other EC* IBoxes (like ECEMAIL) via the ECOM100 IBox vs. the NETCFG IBox (used by the NETRX/NETWX IBoxes).  I recommend that you use the ECOM100 IBox along with the ECRX/ECWX versions, that way if you EVER need to do ANY of the other EC* IBoxes, you'll be ready.

[mhw]

Page 4-17 of the ECOM manual says:

Multiple Read and Write instructions require interlocks for sequencing because only
one RX/WX instruction can be processed per CPU scan.

Does this include the RX/WX and MRX/MWX that will be sent out the serial port?

If yes, and I want to use the IBox solution. Do I use a ECOM100(IB-710) and a NETCFG(IB-700) and ECRX/ECWX for Ecom and NETWX/NETRX for serial? Or...

I don't want to quess any more, please help.

[franji1]

Each IBox "port" has its own set of interlock logic and state.  So the ECOM100 instruction is for the ethernet port on the ECOM100 module in (say) slot 2.  The NETCFG instruction is (say) for the local serial port (KF2?), but you could add a DCM module and have ANOTHER NETCFG instruction for the serial port in the DCM module in (say) slot 3.

You can't mix RX/WX/NETRX/NETWX and MRX/MWX on the same serial PORT.  As a Master, your slaves must ALL be Modbus or ALL be DirectNet on THAT port's network.  However, the local serial port could be Modbus and you would not use NETCFG/NETRX/NETWX/RX/WX, but just use MRX/MWX with your own interlocking.  However, the DCM in slot 3 WOULD use NETCFG/NETRX/NETWX if it was a DirectNet network.

You technically CAN mix/match RX/WX with NETRX/NETWX and ECRX/ECWX on the same port, but I recommend that (if possible), you stick with ALL IBoxes on that network.  If you DO need to mix them, make sure your RX/WX rungs are BELOW ALL NETRX/NETWX ECRX/ECWX IBoxes.  NETRX/NETWX/ECRX/ECWX IBoxes know how to play fair with RX/WX, but RX/WX do not know how to play fair with those IBoxes, so IBoxes must appear BEFORE the native RX/WX instructions.