I am adding two nodes to the Mark V Arcnet network, so that the balance of plant server can access Mark V data for monitoring/control/historian. I plan to remove the terminating resistors from each of the existing GE HMI nodes, and add a length of coax and place the terminating resistor at the tee on the new Arcnet card.

What do I use for the Arcnet card (PCI20U-CXB) driver? Balance of Plant is running Windows 2008 R2, and the Arcnet card will communicate with an OPC server.

 

If I understand the proposition correctly, these are not "GE" nodes which would be running TCI and CIMBRIDGE. Therefore, you will need to work with the OPC supplier to determine how to make the ARCnet card communicate with the Mark V and the OPC software. (This presumes the OPC software is capable of talking directly to the Mark V via the ARCnet card.)

 

Trying to be nice.

Mark V Stagelink is NOT a ethernet protocol. Stagelink is a token passing protocol.

If you enable collision detect ethernet on a token passing network, it will not be a good thing.

The PCI20U drivers are available from the manufacture. The 10 base T coaxial network is capable of ethernet communication.

If you pull this off, I really need to know how you did it.

 

Trying harder to be nicer, who said anything about Ethernet over StageLink? The original poster asked about the drivers for an ARCnet card to be used on the StageLink.

There are at least two OPC vendors who have developed software to communicate over the ARCnet-based StageLink directly to Mark V control panels.

While this seems great at first, this software cannot be used to make sequencing modifications, view rungs dynamically, download EEPROM partition information, perform AutoCalibrations, etc. It's just a means of getting operating data and passing it to a different system (data historian; HMI; DCS; etc.). It's not a replacement for the GE Mark V HMI or <I>.

 

>While this seems great at first, this software cannot be used to make
> sequencing modifications, view rungs dynamically, download EEPROM partition
> information, perform AutoCalibrations, etc. It's just a means of getting
> operating data and passing it to a different system (data historian; HMI;
> DCS; etc.). It's not a replacement for the GE Mark V HMI or <I>.

Just for the readers: while an OPC solution may not allow the above functions, there are some vendors out there that offer an independent HMI replacement for MkV (which performs all the functions mentioned above). I have no experience with any of them though as I just researched them.

 

CSA, as usual you are correct.

I should of done the following:

A link to http://www.ccontrols.com/arccontrol/driverinfo.htm :the manufacture of the PCI card in question. And a explanation of why the manufacture of the card does not support anything over Win 2000.

A complete explanation of the OSI model and the relationships to physical topology and network protocols to include token passing and ethernet.

A link to Microsoft knowledge base to explain the hardware requirements of Windows Server 2008 R2.

An explanation of why the hardware that supports MS Server 2008 R2 does not have a slot for a old PCI card.

A explanation of why the latest version of TCI purchased directly from GE will probably "lock up" a Win XP machine..

And A Complete Detailed Explanation of the how to use the BOI.

I will leave the rest to your capable hands.

 

Jeff,
sorry for not being more helpful.

I do not recommend vendors that believe that they can connect directly to the Mark V.

However, many vendors have be able to utilize messaging from the HMI. Basically Cimplicity HMI server can be configured to transfer data to a OPC server.

I have been troubleshooting the MKV for several years, and the first thing I would eliminate during troubleshooting would be a foreign device interface with the Mark V.

Using GE documentation as a support base of what can and cannot be done is a capstone to ensuring that your turbine controller performs as expected.

 

The vendor (Matrikon OPC) claims they have several successful installations of their OPC Mark V Direct server. I am thinking that I need a separate driver for the new Arcnet cards that will interface between the OPC and Mark V stagelink.

The current Arcnet driver is 'ns 20020' the ns I believe stands for "null stack" but I don't know what that really means.

 

You need to be working with OPC software vendor, in this case, Matrikon.

One of their employees, Wassim Daoud, posts regularly here on control.com. I believe he has posted his contact information on at least one reply. So, if he doesn't respond to this thread you may try contacting him directly for assistance.