Serial to Ethernet

[Tim C]

 Hello Support,
  I heard, or i think i heard, that you were developing a serial to ethernet adapter for the tri-plc's if this is true could you tell me a little about it. Every converter I've looked at is over a $150 dollors, so before i buy one i would like to know a little about your's, if you are developing one.  Thanks

[support]

We will be introducing an Ethernet server that is much more than just  an Ethernet-to- serial converter. It is developed to replace the TLServer and the PC so that users can have a reliable server platform for continuous 24/7 operation  It will perform most of the TLServer function (except saving of disk files) such as allowing multiple slave PLCs to be connected to a single Ethernet server for remote access by TRILOGI or ExcelLink.

When connected to a single PLC, it will provide the Network Services such as allowing the PLC to send email, using NETCMD$ command to communicate with  another M-series PLC via the Internet and create files or append data to a remote TLServer.

The product will most likely be released in Q2 this year.  The price has not yet been fixed but it will likely be a bit more than the cheapest Ethernet-to-serial converter on the market since it is much more than a plain converter.

[Joel Moore]

Rats.  I got the impression you were developing a PLC with onboard ethernet.  Or is that something else that's in the works?

[support]

PLC with onboard Ethernet will be developed in future but will not be ready any time soon. We are adding an Ethernet adapter to the current M-series to facilitate them to be connected to the TCP/IP network without the need to depend on the PC.  The experience and user feedback gained from the Ethernet server will be useful for designing the next generation of PLCs with built-in Ethernet.

[corley]

Thats great news. I also would love to see an ethernet port built in with it's own tcp-ip stack.. maybe even a built in ftp server, mail server and webserver. Would require slightly more memory but 8 megs should be pretty sufficient to do all this and sitll have plenty of user room available.

PLC with onboard Ethernet will be developed in future but will not be ready any time soon. We are adding an Ethernet adapter to the current M-series to facilitate them to be connected to the TCP/IP network without the need to depend on the PC.  The experience and user feedback gained from the Ethernet server will be useful for designing the next generation of PLCs with built-in Ethernet.

[tipster]

Tim,
If you are looking for an Ethernet to serial converter look into:

http://www.lantronix.com/index.html

Their UDS-10 device server is around $75 and I have used it very successfully with TL server and the T100MD series PLC's

[Joel Moore]

Thats great news. I also would love to see an ethernet port built in with it's own tcp-ip stack.. maybe even a built in ftp server, mail server and webserver. Would require slightly more memory but 8 megs should be pretty sufficient to do all this and sitll have plenty of user room available.

Hopefully if they add ethernet capabilities they'll decide to up the memory limit, too.  May as well if they're going to be redesigning stuff.  Onward and upward!

[PLCstar]

Speaking of Lantronix checkout their X-PORT product.

If you you do not want to do the minimal glue electronics, order 2 development boards (The boards are well done, compact, and very friendly). You can have point to point serial over ethernet using two boards with them simply setup in serial modem mode. One on the PLC taking serial and passing directly to ethernet (IP based), the other board converting the ethernet back to serial at the other end either on your PC or another PLC.

Or use one board on the PLC and use an utility they give for free that converts your ethernet traffic from the xport to serial type traffic on the PC end to look like it is actually coming in on a com port (virtual port). Great for com port based software like tlserver.

I have not tried it, but I believe it should work!

The X-PORT also has three discrete IO lines, which you could tie to the PLC IO. Since the X-PORT can send email, imagine just flipping an output on the PLC to send an alarm via email.

The X-PORT also has many other features, which might enable you to built a mini web based scada front end for your PLC.

Tim,
If you are looking for an Ethernet to serial converter look into:

http://www.lantronix.com/index.html

Their UDS-10 device server is around $75 and I have used it very successfully with TL server and the T100MD series PLC's

[support]

Preliminary information about the Ethernet XServer can be found at the following webpage:

http://www.tri-plc.com/xserver.htm

The product should be ready for order around end April/early May.  Interested users can reserve their unit by emailing to sales@tri-plc.com or fax to 775-254-1816.