Update an Automation Direct PLC Program without DirectSoft?

[CameronBanga]

Hey everyone,

First post, sorry if this is a common topic/question, but didn't have any luck searching. I'm fairly new to PLC programming/development (Android/iOS guy, been doing PLC work for the past ~year off and on).

I have some PLCs that we use on a machine we ship to customers. The biggest problem is, we can't update them once they're on site with customers. Coming from the mobile app world, this is a tough pill to swallow. So I went searching on ways we could update remotely, and haven't found any good options.

As a note, we're using AutomationDirect DL-05 and DL-06 PLCs.

I did find this one resource. A company named Samuel Jackson uses the DL-06 in their product, and they have a Windows/Macintosh updater, that they offer to customers to download and update their PLC.

https://support.samjackson.com/plc-updates/

Am I missing an SDK/information on how they do this and make it work? I've seen the DNLoader utility, but ultimately, it'd be fantastic if we could perform the same function of the loader without the loader (we'd like to give a tech an Android app that they could use to do this while traveling. We already do some diagnostic work reading from the PLC on Android using ModBus. We can also write without issue to addresses, just not rewrite the entire PLC program).

Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated. Sorry in advance for any ignorance on this issue.

[BobO]

Look at DNLoader.

[CameronBanga]

@BobO,

I have, and it does exactly what I want, but it's PC only.

My biggest issue/need here is that, I need to update the PLC program using an Android device. We have no issue communicating, reading, and writing to the PLC from an Android tablet currently, and are writing a bunch of V/C addresses. But just want to ideally update the program using the same method on Android.

[franji1]

Are you using DirectNET or Modbus?  You need DirectNET to be able to upload/download code.

[CameronBanga]

Right now, we're using ModBus.

Is there any DirectNET documentation?

[CameronBanga]

I've found this:

https://cdn.automationdirect.com/static/manuals/dadnet/dadnet.pdf

Will keep researching. Any common libraries that are known to exist for interfacing?

[franji1]

That's it.  There is no "library" or java code available (that I know of) for Android.

It's a fairly simple protocol, similar to Modbus.  If you have done that, you have enough expertise to do DirectNet (with the spec you found).