NANO-10 and Weintek MT8050iE 4.3" Touch panel

[nealbert]

I'm having difficulty getting a NANO-10 and Weintek MT8050iE 4.3" HMIl to work together. According to the TRI PLC web site, these devices are supposed to be compatible.   I've used the 4.3" HMI on a project with an FMD88-10 PLC and that was a breeze to get working.  I've tried the default com settings of 38400, n, 8, 1.  on COMM1 (SETBAUD 11, &H06) and COMM3 (SETBAUD 13, &H06).  Changed my cable to match COMM 1 or COMM3.  Every time I boot up these devices I get a "PLC not responding" message on the HMI.

I've gone back to using Weintek's Easy Builder Pro version 5.X (the one with the TRI-PLC drivers written specifically for it.  I've copied/pasted the drivers to new versions of EB Pro, but thought I may have missed something)  I've tried the TRI_PLC driver and the TRI_FX driver.  Neither work for me.

In addition to the touch panel, I also have an Autonics TX4S temperature controller connected to the RS-485 line (MODBUS-RTU).  This device talks to the NANO-10 just fine.  However, I've noticed that when I connect the wires from the HMIl, the NANO-10 and TX4S stop talking.

Please, tell me what I'm overlooking.

Thanks in advance.
Neal Cooper

[garysdickinson]

Neal,

You have 3 devices connected to RS485.  Not a problem.

38400 BAUD is not a problem. I use this rate between the HMI and the PLC for all my projects. 

The HMI will act as a master device to talk to the PLC and the TX4S.  The PLC cannot talk directly to the TX4S. If the PLC attempts to talk to the TX4S then you have two master devices on the RS485 cabling and this will result in garbled communication.

Disconnect the TX4S and kill off any code in the PLC that talks with the  TX4S .  Now get the HMI/PLC working.  I worry about the HMI serial interface may be galvanically isolated.  If it is you will need to run a wire between the PLC 0V power input to the HMI'S signal ground pin for the RS232 port to them on a common ground reference.

Make certain that the PLC and TX4S are configured to respond to different Modbus IDs.

If your only choice is to connect all 3 devices on a single RS485 bus, then you can have the HMI query the TX4S, periodically and them update variables in the PLC.  This can be done with the use of a macro in the HMI.

I do not use the HMI drivers that are available for the TRI PLCs.  These drivers are NOT supported by Weintek and they don’t consistently support to all of the PLC's 32 bit variables. The Weintek Modbus drivers work fine and can be configured to get the word order correct for all of the 32 bit variables for all of the TRI PLCs.

Gary d
.

[support]

Neal,

The simplest way to have all three devices connected simultaneously is to use Modbus RTU over the RS485 port for your TX4S as you had been doing, and then connect the HMI to the PLC via Ethernet.

The Nano-10 and MT8050iE can be connected directly via Ethernet or through a switch. I assume you are programming the Nano over Ethernet, so you would need a switch in order to have both the PC and HMI communicating with the Nano.

Using the TRi_Fx driver, you should be able to communicate via Ethernet. Alternatively, you can use the Modbus TCP driver provided by Weintek.