How to Connect Protos X EtherNet/IP to a Productivity CPU from AutomationDirect

Before we begin, The Protos X EtherNet/IP bus coupler will only work with an implicit Ethernet/IP client. You will need to install the latest version of Protos X Configuration software. Then you will need to connect a powered Protos X system to your PC using this cable. Open up the configuration software Select Tools and then connect Now you should see a full listing of the modules you have connected. To set the IP address of this adapter, select Tools and then coupler configuration. Enter in your IP address and then you will see the resultant Dip switch settings that that you will need to apply to your bus coupler. Make the changes to your dip switches and then select Ok. You will then be asked to reboot the coupler. Select Ok. Here will be the Assembly instance information you will need to setup your client. Notice that the top is listed in Bytes but the Format data is in 16 bit words. By selecting the Plus sign here we can see that input word 1 and input word 2 are mapped to the coupler, same with the first 2 output words. If you continue down the tree of modules, it will show which words are mapped to each module. For the detailed purpose of each word please consult the Protos X manual. Now let’s take this assembly instance data and apply it to a Productivity CPU. Open up your Project. Open up the Hardware Configuration and then select the EtherNet/IP Tab. Drag the Generic Client into the Grey area. Now, you can place an induvial tag for each of these elements or you can check the box Use Structure. This will create a structure of tags that contain all of these elements. I am going to select the Use Structure and give it the following name. Now, I’m going to give the device a name. Type in the IP address that we configured in the Coupler configuration. Now the TCP port number for the Protos X coupler will always be 44818. Click on the Green cross and select add I O messaging. These tags will also be part of the original Structure created above. This tag, in particular, will enable the Reads and write at the RPI that we select for each. Here you see that there are now 3 tabs. Lets’ start with the Input data block From this information we see the assembly instance should be 101. The data array data type must match the data size of the input data block. Now from the information we see here, we see that the data blocks are in 16 bit words and there are 27 words in total. So we need to create a data array of a 16 bit type, and has at least 27 columns. SO type in the name of the Data block you want to create and when you try to select the Number of elements you will then be asked to create this array. Select the Data type as 16 bit unsigned and increase the number columns to 27. Select ok. And then Increase the Number of elements to 27. Now select the output tab. The Assembly instance is 102. I am going to name my output data array as the following and when I select the number of elements I will be asked to create the array. Change the data type, once again, to 16 bit unsigned and the column size, should also be 27. Click ok. Change the number of elements to be 27. Now to setup the Configuration word Enter the Assembly instance of 100. I am going to enter the following data array and when I click on number of elements this dialog will show up. Change the data type to 16 bit unsigned and the Columns can remain as 1. Select ok. And then number of elements can remain as zero. When we select Ok here we will be completing the structure for this device Now that the structure has been Completed, let’s open the client once more and select Monitor. This will create a Dataview tab to control and view all of the tags associated with this setup. Now we just need to transfer this this project to the CPU. With the project transferred and the PLC in Run, let’s open up the Dataview to quickly test this setup. Select to edit the Enable bit and then select to send the edit. Now you should see status indication of the connection. If you have any questions about the Protos X please contact AutomationDirect’s free award winning support team during regular business hours. They will be happy to help. Click on this video to learn more about AutomationDirect’s many support options, click here to learn more or see more videos on our many products, and be sure to click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel.