Using PC Anywhere with RSView Works and Logix 500

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Thread Starter

Gareth

Has anyone had any actual experiences troubleshooting/modifying RSLogix 500 (1500s)and RSview32 installations via dialup and PC-Anywhere or similar. I know it doesn't sound that exciting over a dial-up, but it's 6 hours drive and over a third of that on dirt.

In case your curious the installation is a winery in the South West of Western Australia, and there is no-one much closer - the population is pretty sparse - more cows and sheep than people.

Thanks
 
I have used PCanywhere with RSlogix and RSview using 56k modems. It works very well although a little slow. The main thing is to be slow and deliberate with your actions, I found the easiest way to navigate RSlogix was to enter the bit or word in the 'find box' to get to the rung I wanted to edit (using scrolling is useless!). I found what would take two minutes on site would take 45 minutes over modem. It is also a good idea to have someone trustworthy on site, who can use a computer just in case you need to talk someone through rebooting PC or reloading a PLC backup file if things go really bad.
 
Yes, I do it almost everyday, should work fine for you as long as you can get a good connection.
Good Luck to ya!
 
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Gareth,

I've done this with Logix for both the SLC and the ControlLogix with mixed results. Some days it works reliably but slowly. Still much more efficient than climbing on a plane for a cross country trip to do an hour's worth of
troubleshooting. Other days, transmission is even slower, and I get disconnected every 3-5 minutes, I can't even get five minutes work done in two hours of effort. I had trouble especially when dialing out through the company's electronic phone system, although it was supposed to be able to emulate a dedicated line. With a true dedicated outside line, and the planets aligned correctly, it can be a real time saver. I would recommend installing it, as the cost is pretty minimal, and when it doesn't work well, you're no worse off than you are now.

Hope this helps.

Steve Myres, PE
Automation Solutions
(480) 813-1145
 
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Have you considered a broadband connection, or is this for very infrequent use? I'm regularly doing similar remote control over DSL to
Internet to T1 from USA to Israel, and it's only just bear-able, and that trip is just a tad longer!
 
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Bob Peterson

>Has anyone had any actual experiences troubleshooting/modifying RSLogix 500 (1500's)and RSview32 installations via dialup and PC-Anywhere or similar.<

It seems to work OK, BUT, get the settings on your modem correct and save them before you leave the site. do a fair amount of testing calling the modem from onsight before you leave. we found that some default modem settings do not work well with slcs.

also, probably you should set the comm port to dh485 protocol as DF1 timing is a problem over modems.

I think AB has a knowledge base article on this somewhere on their website.
 
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Daniel Scott

I have used pcAnywhere for RSLogix500 all over the world. It works great as long as the phone lines work ok. I have also used it with TCP/IP (just by coincidence to Austrailia); this works best with a fixed IP address; the latest version will attempt to find one in a common block; worst case is you need an operator on the other end to tell you.

pcAnywhere has become a much more reliable program over the years but it still sometimes requires a reboot. If you can configure the computer at the remote end to not require a Windows log on; or get it to automatically log
on you can do the reboot from your end; or if the computer is a NT you can run the software as a service so you can log on after a reboot.

You may have to change your work habits a bit when programming remotely, always keeping in mind that you could lose your connection at any time and be unable to undo something. The other thing is there is no audible feedback (ie. you can't here the total silence you may create when you shut the plant down).
 
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