I just got an H2-EBC, with two 16 input modules, a 24V DC power supply, with a 4 slot DL 205 base.
I managed to get it all set up with power, hooked up from the power supply to a switch, then to the input modules, and I can flip the switch and watch the lights on the input modules turn on and off - a milestone!
I even managed to assign the thing an ethernet address and I plugged it in to my computer with a serial cable and the DirectSoft program recognizes it for what it is - an EBC.
Now - what I need to accomplish is reading the status of the 32 input "switches" - I need to know if each of them are ON or OFF - open or closed.
How do I go about this the smartest? Keep in mind that there is no CPU here as I don't need any processing. I just need the statuses of each of these switches fed into my computer. And I don't want to depend on a propritary Win32 program if I can help it as I need these PLCs to be able to be set up on many different computer systems and I don't want to have to go around setting up this program on each of those PCs.
Any help will be much appreciated.
- Bret B