ControlLogix, CompactLogix, FlexLogix Connection Guide
A complete guide to connecting your Maple Systems HMI to an Allen-Bradley ControlLogix, CompactLogix, or FlexLogix PLC from Rockwell Automation. Every resource you need to get communications up and running, including:
- Quick Start Guides
- Controller Information Sheets
- Communication Cable Configurator
Communicating with an Allen-Bradley Compact/Control/FlexLogix PLC is simple when using a Maple Systems HMI or cMT Series device. With easy to use features like automatic tag imports and intuitive browsing for User Defined Type (UDT) tags, your system can be up and running in no time.
Browse our ControlLogix/CompactLogix/FlexLogix PLC Connection Guide below for more information on how to connect to your Maple Systems HMI, including step-by-step guides, controller info sheets, FAQs, and more.
Quick Start Guides
Our Quick Start guides are here to help you get your HMI and PLC talking to each other as quickly and painlessly as possible. Click on the button below to show more details for the protocol you are using, and learn how to connect your devices in 5 easy steps.
EtherNet/IP-CIP
Setting up a connection through EtherNet/IP-CIP is easy using these 5 steps:
Using a standard Ethernet cable, connect the Allen-Bradley PLC and a PC that is running EBPro. Make sure the PC and PLC’s IP addresses are on the same subnet, otherwise they will not be able to communicate directly.
Add a new Device/Server in the EBPro project for this HMI and select: Allen-Bradley Compact/ControlLogix Free Tags (EtherNetIP-CIP Preferred) as the driver to use.
Open the settings menu for the Modbus device, and enter the IP address for your Allen-Bradley PLC.
Save the settings in the Device Properties window and click Get Tag Info… in the System Parameter Settings window. You will see a prompt to select the IEC-61131 STRING type. Select either one CHAR per WORD, or two CHARs per word. Note that this must match the settings on the PLC, or string values may display incorrectly.
The HMI will now automatically contact the controller and download any loaded tags for use immediately in the HMI project.
You can now configure any of the objects available in EBPro by simply placing the object, selecting your Allen-Bradley Controller as the device and browsing to the tag you want to use.
Once you are ready, you can run the project in one of EBPro’s simulation modes or download to an HMI for testing. To learn more about HMI project simulation, check out our Try Before You Buy page.
For more details on how to establish communication over EtherNet/IP-CIP, please refer to our Controller Info Sheet.
Serial
Setting up a serial connection is easy using these 5 steps:
Using the appropriate serial cable, connect the Allen-Bradley PLC to a PC that is running EBPro. If the PC does not have a serial port, you may connect to your Maple Systems HMI instead.
Start a new project in EBPro, or open an existing one. Add a new Device/Server in the System Parameters window and select one of the following drivers depending on the device:
- Allen-Bradley Compact/Control FlexLogix (Serial)
- Allen-Bradley CompactLogix Free Tags (Serial)
In the Device Settings menu, set the communication interface to match the PLC and wiring configuration:
Click the Settings button and confirm that the protocol settings match the settings for your Allen-Bradley PLC. By default these settings will match the most common settings for that device and protocol, but you may adjust them for specific use cases if necessary. Be aware that changing these settings may result in a loss of communication in some cases.
You can now configure any of the objects available in EBPro by simply placing the object, selecting your Allen-Bradley Controller as the device and assigning one of its memory addresses to the object.
Once you are ready, you can run the project in one of EBPro’s simulation modes or download to an HMI for testing. To learn more about HMI project simulation, check out our Try Before You Buy page for more information.
For more details on how to establish communication over EtherNet/IP-CIP, please refer to our Controller Info Sheet.
Demo Project
To see a prebuilt project for a ControlLogix PLC, check out our ControlLogix Demo Project for EBPro. This demo has been preconfigured to communicate with a ControlLogix PLC using the EtherNet/IP – CIP protocol, and demonstrates the usage of multiple EBPro features. Play the video below to see a preview of this demo project in action, then follow the instructions to install and run the project on your development PC.
Follow the steps below to open this demo project in EBPro:
- Download the compressed ControlLogix Demo Project folder.
- Extract the files from the zipped folder and save them to a local drive on your PC.
- Open the EBPro configuration software.
- Open the FILE menu and select COMPRESS/UNCOMPRESS.
- In the Uncompress section of the window, click “Browse”, then select the “AB_Pump_On_Off_Demo.ccmp” file that was just extracted from the zipped folder in step 2. Click “Uncompress”.
- The uncompressed project file will now be saved in the same location as the .ccmp file with a *.cmtp file extension.
- Use FILE >> OPEN in EBPro to open the uncompressed project file.
Controller Information Sheets
Our Controller Information Sheets provide assistance with connecting to your ControlLogix/CompactLogix/FlexLogix PLC, including connection tips, tag imports, and more. If experiencing connection issues, download and review the sheet for your device using the buttons below.
Compact/Control/DriveLogix
(EtherNet/IP Free Tags)
Controller information and connection guide for Compact/Control/FlexLogix PLCs using the EtherNet/IP-CIP protocol.
Control/Compact/FlexLogix
(DF1 Serial)
Controller information and connection guide for CompactLogix PLCs using DF1 serial communication.
CompactLogix
(Serial & Serial Free Tags)
Controller information and connection guide for CompactLogix PLCs using serial communication.
Legacy Controller Info Sheets
Control/Compact/FlexLogix
(EtherNet/IP)
Controller information and connection guide for legacy Control/Compact/FlexLogix PLCs.
Control/Compact/FlexLogix
(EtherNet/IP Free Tag Names)
Controller information and connection guide for older legacy Control/Compact/FlexLogix PLCs.
Communication Cables
The communication cable needs to align with the protocol and port pinouts for the device models that you are using. To find the right cable for your CompactLogix/ControlLogix/FlexLogix plc, check out our easy to use HMI/cMT Cable Configurator utility.
HMI/cMT Cable Configurator
Our cable configurator utility can help you find a compatible communication cable for your HMI and PLC devices.
FAQs
Want to know more? Browse these select Help Topics related to the Compact/Control/FlexLogix family of controllers:
How do I sample multiple channels with an Allen-Bradley CompactLogix PLC?
For PLCs with fixed addressing like the Allen-Bradley MicroLogix Series, data must be stored in consecutive registers in order to sample multiple data points and store the data in a single datalog file so that multiple channels can be displayed in a Trend Display or History Data Display.
Solution
For tag-based PLCs like the CompactLogix, create an array and store the data in consecutive elements in the array (INT, DINT, or REAL array). Assign the Read address of the Data Sampling object to the first element in the array that contains the data to be sampled.
If this isn’t possible, or if the data being sampled has mixed data types, you can use the Global Data Transfer (Time-based) in EBPro to move the data from the PLC to consecutive LW (Local Word) addresses in the HMI, then assign the Read address of the Data Sampling object to the first LW register that contains the data to be sampled.
How to display Allen-Bradley CompactLogix Strings in EZware Plus / EBPro?
EBPro can read/write to tags that use the STRING Data Type. The default STRING Data Type in RSLogix5000 has two elements: A DINT that is used to record the length of the character string, and a SINT data array that stores the characters (maximum length is 82 bytes).
Solution
Although you can configure your HMI to write to a STRING tag, EBPro does not automatically update the length of the characters. When configuring an ASCII object in EBPro to read/write to a STRING tag, you must:
- Check the box to enable Use Unicode
- From the Read Address section of the General tab, click the Settings button to explicitly configure the character length of the string. (A maximum of 32 characters is allowed.)
Refer to Section 9B in the CompactLogix, ControlLogix, DriveLogix (EtherNet/IP) – Free Tags Controller Info Sheet for more information on how to display a string with variable length.
HMI importing Allen-Bradley CompactLogix / ControlLogix tags using “Get Tag Info” and just gets a spinning cursor forever and no tags?
The issue could be related to the firmware version on the PLC. Currently, Get Tag Info seems to work with firmware v20 and v24 but not anything higher.
Solution
If this is the case we recommend importing the tags using the *.L5K. Instructions to do this can be found in this Help Topic.
For more answers to common questions about Maple Systems products, please visit our FAQ page.
Additional Resources
For a full list of ControlLogix and CompactLogix controllers, check out Rockwell Automation’s ControlLogix and CompactLogix product pages.
Contact Us
Would you like to know more? Our friendly and knowledgeable sales team can connect you to the resources you need. For information on pricing, availability, and more, send an email message to sales@maplesystems.com, or contact our team by phone at (425) 745-3229.