Remote Access using DoMore Designer

[srjeffers00]

One of the features I like for DoMore PLC is the ability to access the PLC remotely. Unfortunately, I'm not an IT wizard and I'm having trouble getting connected. 2 questions:
1) Is it possible to setup a demo like the Dl series to allow people to "practice".
2) Anyone using the connect remote feature with success?
Thanks for any help.

[Rastus81]

One of the features I like for DoMore PLC is the ability to access the PLC remotely. Unfortunately, I'm not an IT wizard and I'm having trouble getting connected. 2 questions:
1) Is it possible to setup a demo like the Dl series to allow people to "practice".
2) Anyone using the connect remote feature with success?
Thanks for any help.

I have just recently established a remote connection to my c-more hmi, (which is connected to a do-more), I can use the hmi via the internet. Is this what you are trying to do? I couldn't get mine working until i used DHCP addressing on the hmi.

[srjeffers00]

My goal is to be able to monitor the PLC program logic (and state).  I have done some C-more stuff in the past by intranet and would like to get the e-mail function working, but I'm sure that's on my end.

[Greg]

srjeffers00, we will probably put an H2-DM1E on the Internet like the DL-PLC we have out there. We just haven't done it yet. But it's on the list to do. 

[mhw]

I am trying to connect H2-DM1E using port forwarding. When I click "atuo" on the configure link dialog the application locks. I have force an end to DMD. I am tring to get this going today because I will be out of town this weekend and need to be able to have access. Any ideas?
FYI I am able to reach the C-more on this job via port forwarding.

[Controls Guy]

Another Do-More remote access question (though not internet).  I have an application (with a competitive PLC) where the PLC is at a remote location being accessed as a Modbus slave by a PC-based HMI at an office location, via radio modem.  Naturally we wanted to be able to troubleshoot and make program changes from the office as well, but the PLC port could only be configured as a programming port OR a Modbus port, and we certainly didn't want to have to add a second radio.  Turned out in that case, the answer was simple -- since we were on RS485 anyway, all we needed to do was add a second com port to the PLC, and with this PLC, you could add additional ports for like $35 a pop.

Now, naturally, I'd like to do future copies of that project on Do-More, but the program-and-Modbus-on-a-single-wire may be the sticking point.  Adding additional ports to a 205 is not as clean, especially if you want 485 ports.  The lowest-cost and cleanest way I'm aware of would be to buy a SERIO card, plus convert either one of the 232 ports on the SERIO card or the onboard port to 485, then daisy chain the two to the radio, but that still feels pretty kludgey and unnecessarily expensive.  Is there a cleaner way to do this?  Can a serial port in Do-More simultaneously be ready to work as a programming port and a Modbus slave?  I know that's easy with the Ethernet port, do that all the time, but that would require changing the radio, which means I have to change the mated radio, etc., which I really don't want to do.

[franji1]

Now, naturally, I'd like to do future copies of that project on Do-More, but the program-and-Modbus-on-a-single-wire may be the sticking point.  Adding additional ports to a 205 is not as clean, especially if you want 485 ports.  The lowest-cost and cleanest way I'm aware of would be to buy a SERIO card, plus convert either one of the 232 ports on the SERIO card or the onboard port to 485, then daisy chain the two to the radio, but that still feels pretty kludgey and unnecessarily expensive.  Is there a cleaner way to do this?

Absolutely - Ethernet.  Serial Ports are highly limiting - they do 1 thing great.  Why not use Ethernet for this purpose?  The bandwidth is excellent (compared to serial) and you can do multiple tasks remotely.  I know there are radio Ethernet modems available - ADC sells one.  You can use the built-in Ethernet port on a DM1E, or an ECOM100 if that Ethernet port is not available for being on The Internet.

[Controls Guy]

The whole changing the radios thing.  The radios we're using I don't think are available in an Ethernet version, and I haven't seen any Ethernet ones that are as clean.   I haven't checked out the ADC offering, but will do so.

[Controls Guy]

So I haven't looked yet, but assuming I don't like the ADC Ethernet radios, as a plan B, is there any easier way than I outlined to either get two 485 ports on a Do-More or to somehow automatically or remotely get a single port to change back and forth between programming and Modbus mode?  (Doesn't have to do both simultaneously, just be able to accommodate both without physical intervention).  Maybe be able to set a bit via Modbus that puts it in program mode, then time-out or set some data point via DMD to revert it to Modbus mode?

UPDATE:  After checking, it looks like ADC no longer sells radio modems in general, plus the Ethernet one they did have costs about four times as much as the serial ones we're using, plus they all, Ethernet and serial, seem to have been 2.4GHz, and in most of these apps I'm going to want 900MHz for more range.

[Controls Guy]

So assuming ethernet isn't feasible, is there a way to control port configuration remotely or an easier path than the one outlined to get two 485 ports?

[franji1]

The protocol must be fixed/bound on a specific serial port.

[Controls Guy]

Right, but is there a way to flip the configuration remotely (possibly as detailed before, or via some other method), and if not, is there a simpler way than the one I outlined to get two 485 ports on one Do-More???

For example, in DL Classic, all the port config is stored in special V-Memory.  Thus if it were configured for Modbus, I could either write directly to that register USING Modbus, or to another register to give that transaction time to complete, then change the controlling register via ladder.

How to switch back from ladder mode to Modbus?  Easy, either change the port config using Directsoft or more ladder that monitors the port for activity and reverts to Modbus after some defined period of silence.

Can something like that be done in Do-More?

OR.....just getting two 485 ports which I can daisy-chain to the radio, and have two different port addresses and two different configurations (one Modbus, one DMD).  This should work, but the only way I've thought of to do it is expensive and IMO kludgey, so I was asking for alternate ways of getting two 485 ports in a Do-More.

Any ideas?

[franji1]

No.  Multi-drop 485 needs 1 Master talking 1 protocol with a byte in the Master request packet designating the Slave ID.  Do-more protocol does not look like Modbus, so the various slaves would have a hard time differentiating packets.

Also, there is no System V memory that can be manipulated to dynamically change the protocol on the fly.

You are going to need 2 separately wired networks that talk 2 different protocols.  That's the limitation of serial, and why Ethernet and IP is so powerful for networking (one wire can support hundreds of "ports").

[CReese]

Ethernet FTW.