Connecting to SLC

Connect to a Device

  1. Go to the Configure section of the Gateway webpage.

  2. Scroll down and select OPC-UA > Devices.

  3. On the Devices page, find the orange arrow and click on Create new Device.

  4. On the Add Device Step 1: Choose Type page, select Allen-Bradley SLC, and click Next.
    Note that these PLCs do not have a native Ethernet connection, therefore another device like a Net ENI or an ENBT must be used for the connection.

  5. On the New Device page, leave all the default values and type in the following fields:
    Name: SLC
    Hostname: type the IP address for the PLC, for example 10.20.4.56

  6. Click Create New Device.
    The Devices page is displayed showing the SLC device is added to Ignition. The Status will show as Disconnected and then Connected.

  7. To see all the tags, go to OPC Connections > Quick Client in the Configure section, on the OPC Quick Client page expand the SLCfolder which contains all the folders with the individual tags.

Device Connection Settings

The General settings are common to all Allen Bradley devices, and the Connectivity settings are device dependent.

General

Name

The user-defined name for this Device. The name chosen will show up in OPC Item Paths and under OPC-UA Server > Devices of the Status page of the Gateway. The Device Name must be alphanumeric.

Description

The user-defined description for the device. This is only used as a note to differentiate between devices.

Enable Device

Only devices that are enabled appear in OPC-UA Server > Devices of the Status page of the Gateway and thus have their tags available for use.

Connectivity

Hostname

The Hostname value is the IP Address of the SLC processor. The protocol that the SLC processor supports is automatically detected. It will use either CSP protocol on port 2222 (0x8AE) or EthernetIP protocol on port 44818 (0xAF12).

Communication Timeout

After sending a request to the SLC processor, the Communication Timeout setting is the amount of time in milliseconds to wait for a response before treating it as a failure.

Browse Cache Timeout

When the data table layout is read from the SLC processor, the Browse Cache Timeout value is the amount of time in milliseconds to cache the results.

Connection Path

The Connection Path value is used to define the route of the SLC processor to connect to. Currently routing through the ControlLogix Ethernet Communication Interface Module (1756-ENET) to the ControlLogix Data Highway Plus-Remote I/O Communication Interface Module (1756-DHRIO) and on to a SLC processor of the DH+ network is supported.

More Information On Connection Path

The Connection Path format contains 4 numbers separated by commas. The first number is always 1 and tells the 1756-ENET module to route through the backplane. The second number is the slot number of the 1756-DHRIO module of the DH+ network the SLC processor is connected to. The third number is the channel of the 1756-DHRIO module that the SLC processor is connected to. Use 2 for channel A and 3 for channel B. The final and fourth number is the DH+ node number. This number is in octal and is the same as configured in the SLC processor. See the ControlLogix Ethernet Communication interface Module User Manual for more information.

Connection Path Format: 1,<1756-DHRIO slot number>,<1756-DHRIO channel>,<DH+ node number>

The valid range for the 1756-DHRIO slot number is between 0 and 16 but depends on the chassis size. The 1756-DHRIO channel is either 2 for channel A or 3 for channel B. The DH+ node number range is from 00 to 77 octal.

Supported SLC Connection Methods

SLC505 direct
SLC505, SLC504, SLC503 connected through 1761-NET-ENI
SLC504 connected through 1756-DHRIO
SLC505, SLC504, SLC503 connected through Spectrum Controls WebPort 500