Can I remotely program an AB Micro850 through an Flexy205?

I have been trying to connect to a Micro850 with Connected Components Workbench (AB programming software) through a Flexy205 without success. Can someone suggest what I might be doing wrong?

Through eCatcher I enabled PLC discovery in the Configure LAN Devices menu, and in CCW changed the driver of the AB-ETHIP-1 to TAP-Windows adapter V9 as per the Ewon Application Note AUG-0035-00. When I open the discovery window in CCW, it cannot find the PLC at 192.168.154.100, eventhough it does show up as a LAN device in eCatcher.
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Any suggestions are appreciated!
Thanks

Hi There,
I see your PLC at the LAN devices list, but can you successfully ping it?
Also, what type of communication are you using to connect to your PLC? Serial, Ethernet?
Have you tried rebooting your PLC?

Thanks,
Juliana

Sorry, I should have included that detail - no I cannot ping it from my computer remotely. However, I can ping it from the computer connected locally to the system. The system consists of a Rockwell Stratix switch with four ethernet connections to other devices: the Micro850, a local Industrial PC, an instrumentation transmitter, and the Ewon Flexy 205.

No, I have not tried rebooting the PLC since it is at a remote location and I’m unable to have someone do so locally.

As a side note, I attempted to log a tag in the Ewon from the PLC via the ABLOGIX server and was also unsuccessful.

Thanks

If the 850 is in the same family as the 820 you can not use the ABLOGIX IO server you need to use modbus.

https://techforum.ewon.biz/thread-1586.html

Hi @bdabkows,

@tedsch is correct. For Micro850 PLC you would need to use the modbus IO server on your flexy.

Let me know if it works fine.

Thanks,
Juliana

Thanks for the tip on Modbus IO server, I will try that. However, I’m still struggling with the original problem of not being able to access the Micro850 remotely through the eWON.

I can’t ping the Micro850 from my remote computer, but can ping it from a computer local to the Micro850 and eWON Flexy 205. It seems that there may be a setting in the eWON that is blocking the external communication, what could that be and how can I change it?

Thanks again for your help.

Hi @bdabkows,

You can try the following: go to the flexy’s configuration page β†’ system β†’ communication β†’ routing and then select the enable box next to NAT 1:1. Next, click on the mapping dropdown menu and select NAT 1:1 on WAN β†’ click update and the reboot the flexy.
This setting should allow you to reach your device behind your flexy.
Also, you can look at this post here as a reference as it has a more detailed explanation.
https://forum.hms-networks.com/t/nat-1-1-on-the-flexy/303/2?u=juliana_hms

Hi @bdabkows,

Were you able to reach to your PLC? If not, there is something else you can try, and it is to change the value of your NATitf setting to 3. Go to Setup β†’ Storage β†’ Edit COM cfg β†’ search for NATITF β†’ change your NATITF value to 3 β†’ save β†’ reboot.

Try running the wizards again after that. Let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
Juliana

Thanks Juliana, we have been working on other priorities and have not yet had the chance to try the suggestions. Hopefully this week we will do so.

Hello there,
No worries. Thanks for letting us know.

Thanks,
Juliana

Update - we were able to access the Micro850 remotely and perform programming by changing the NAT and TF on LAN from NAT and TF on WAN. For whatever reason, the PLC needs to be on the LAN which is probably something internal to the Micro850 – the unfortunate consequence of that change is that while we can access the PLC we cannot access anything else connected to the eWON such as the IPC or transmitters.

Thanks for your help, and if we figure out the root cause of the Micro850 on WAN issue, I’ll update the post.

Hi @bdabkows,

Thanks for the update!

Juliana

Final update, hopefully!

In order for the Micro850 to access the WAN, the gateway must be set to the IP address of the eWON. In the Ethernet settings of the Micro850, set the gateway IP address to match the eWON. Now the NAT and TF on WAN can be set in the eWON and remote access to the PLC is possible through Connected Components Workbench along with any other devices such as IPC and transmitters.

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