This is the third of a series of videos about the PLCnext Starterkit.
You can order a starter kit from the RealPars Marketplace.
The link can be found in the video description.
In this video,
we’re going to accomplish two things.
First, we're going to take you through the steps
to ensure that Ethernet communication can be established
between the PLCnext Starterkit and a computer.
Following that we will show you how to configure the PLCnext Starterkit I/O modules.
In the previous video of this series,
the computer Ethernet port was configured
and set to a fixed IP address of 192.168.1.1.
Now we’re going to find the IP address of the PLCnext Starterkit Ethernet port.
Let’s go back to the PLCnext Engineer program
where you have the New Project open.
If you double click on Project,
this window will open for you.
Make sure that the Settings item is selected.
Change the “Start IP address” to 192.168.1.1
and the “End IP address” to 192.168.1.253.
Change the IP range as follows.
Click on Online Devices.
Choose your Ethernet Controller from the dropdown menu.
Click on the disk symbol and a scan will begin.
After the scan completes, online devices will be displayed.
As a tip here, if no online device is displayed,
you may have some software installation issues.
You can fix the issues by uninstalling PLCnext Engineer
and NPCAP, followed by a reinstall of PLCnext Engineer.
Be sure to reboot after uninstall and reinstall procedures.
What does this mean?
It says that the Project Controller IP address is 192.168.1.1
and the Online Controller IP address is 192.168.1.10.
The obvious questions are
“what is the Project Controller”
and “what is the Online Controller”?
Think of the Project to be the Program Controller
and the Online to be the Actual Controller on the Starterkit.
The IP address for the Project Controller shown should be familiar to you
because it is the Start IP address that was set when you created the IP range.
The Online Controller address
is the actual address given to the Starterkit controller.
The Project address must match the Online address.
Your Online Devices scan results may differ.
In any case,
you must end up with matching names and addresses
for the Project and Online controllers.
If you are having problems and your scan results are not quite the same,
the PLCnext Engineer Help function is an excellent resource.
Ok…let’s go back to our scan results.
We need to apply the Online Device settings to the project device.
Alright…we’ve accomplished our first task…
we have established an Ethernet communication link
between the PLC and the laptop.
Let’s move on to our second task: Configuring the I/O modules.
Phoenix Contact refers to this as “Adding Devices”.
If you recall from the first video,
the PLCnext Starterkit has four I/O modules or Smart Elements.
This would be a good time to dig out that information
as it is important to know what the device part numbers are,
and where they are located in the AXL F BP SE4 Module Carrier.
Double click on Axioline F (0)
and an unpopulated Device list will open.
This is where we’ll add our I/O modules.
The numbers under the pound column
represent the slot numbers on the Module Carrier.
We know that Slot 1 in the Module Carrier
has a digital output module with sixteen outputs.
The Part Number is AXL SE DO16/1.
Let’s see if we can find it.
Drilling down through the folders under the Axioline Control (88)
will take us there.
Drag the module to the Type column of the Device List
and release it in Slot 1.
So, let’s repeat the process for all the remaining I/O modules on the Starterkit.
Slot 2 has a digital input module with sixteen inputs.
The Part Number is AXL SE DI16/1.
Slot 3 has a blank or a Smart Element Cover.
The Part Number is Cover - AXL SE SC-A.
Slot 4 has an analog input module with four voltage channels.
The Part Number is AXL SE AI4 U 0-10.
Here’s the populated Device List.
All the Starterkit modules are configured and assigned.
If you prefer, there is another method to populate the Device List.
If you know the exact part number of the module,
you can double click in the Type box and begin entering the part number.
As you add more detail,
the list will eventually show the I/O module you are after.
Don’t forget to SAVE often!
Better safe than sorry.
That should do it for this video!
So far, you have created a New Project,
established Ethernet communication
between the PLCnext Starterkit and your computer,
and configured the PLCnext Starterkit I/O modules.
In the next video,
we’re going to show you how to write a ladder logic program,
download it to your PLC and test it.
If you haven’t ordered your kit,
make sure to do so from the RealPars Marketplace.
Let us know if you have any questions or if we can be of more service to you.