ARCNET Driver “ABB ARCNET AC”

As of PLC runtime system version V1.2.0 and Control Builder version V1.2, the driver “ABB ARCNET AC” is available. This driver provides the following functions:

  • Online operation of the PLC with the Control Builder
  • OPC connection with OPC server, as of version V1.3
  • Parallel operation of Control Builder and OPC server
  • Parallel operation of Control Builder instances with several PLCs

To define a new gateway channel for the ARCNET routing driver, select “Online/Communication Parameters” and press the button “New” in the “Communication Parameters” window. In the appearing window, enter a name for the channel (for example ARC AC 254 -> 2) and select the driver “ABB ARCNET AC” from the device list.

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The following communication parameters can be set for the ARCNET routing driver “ABB ARCNET AC”:

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Parameter Possible values Meaning
Driver instance FARC DriverAccessName set in Arcnet_xx.ini
Target node 1…255 ARCNET subscriber address of the PLC
Receive Timeout >= 2000 Timeout [ms] for response
Routing levels 0…2 Routing levels (0 = none)
Communication Module (Level 1) 0, line 0…line 4 Communication Module for level 1
Channel (Level 1) 0…19 Channel on Communication Module level 1
Address (Level 1) 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 (max. 5 bytes) Address in target Communication Module level 1
Communication Module (Level 2) 0, line 0…line 4 Communication Module for level 2
Channel (Level 2) 0…19 Channel on Communication Module level 2
Address (Level 2) 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 (max. 5 bytes) Address in target Communication Module level 2
Block size 128…226 / 246…480 User data size
Motorola byteorder yes/no Motorola or Intel byteorder

If you want to use the ARCNET routing driver to directly access the connected CPU, set all routing parameters (parameter Routing levels and following parameters listed in the table above) to 0.

The parameter “Block size” (128…480) sets the number of user data within one block. The default value is 480 (this is the maximum allowed block size). Values in the range of 227 .. 245 are not allowed.

The parameter “Motorola byteorder” must be set to “Yes” for AC500 controllers.

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