Allen Bradley driver

[teslac]

    I have not until now had the chance to create a driver for a PLC.  I know little about the PLC architecture but what I have read on the web.  I would first like to know is the driver interface similar to 488 protocol.  Do I simply write "string tags" to an IP address over the Ethernet.  Or do I need another tool to add to my labview to provide me with short cuts to be able to write a driver for the Allen Barley 5370 PLC in LV2011.

    I have written many drivers before through serial and 488 but, this is my first PLC.  I am sure that once I get a chance to start on the interface it will make sense but now I am uncertain how to start.  If the instrument I/O are string commands then it would seem straight forward.  However I would need your experience and input for the best way to proceed to write the driver and what to look out for and to plan for. 

Regards Dwight Duncan

[[dk] · Accepted solution]

I have not personally developed a driver for a PLC in LabVIEW from scratch, but I am familiar with interfacing with PLC's via LabVIEW. If you looking to develop code in LabVIEW that communicates with the AB 5370 PLC then I would highly recommend exploring the EtherNet/IP toolkit for LabVIEW. It provides both implicit and explicit messaging to send and receive data from a PLC. It also comes with several starter examples to illustrate how to implement the functions properly. I hope that this is somewhat helpful!

[teslac]

RE:  Thanks for you input.

[wd8ivl]

I wrote one a while back in a different language (Testpoint) and used the AB DF1 protocol manual to figure out how.

Here's a link to the manual for the DF1 protocol...

http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/rm/1770-rm516_-en-p.pdf

Here's a link to one on the NI community.  I looked at it a while ago and it will probably take some tweeking...

https://forums.ni.com/t5/Example-Code/DF1-driver/ta-p/3513101

Good luck,

Mike