Communication between Micrologix 1100 and Ethercat master via AB7699 gateway

I am attempting to setup communication between an EtherCat system I have been working with using a Speedgoat hardware as the EtherCAT master.
I am trying to configure a PLC system that can exchange data with it bidirectionally. For this I have a Anybus Gateway-X Ethernet/IP <-> EtherCAT p/n AB7966, as well as a MicroLogix1100 as an EtherNet/IP compatible PLC.

In addition to the manuals on the AB7966 product page, I have been referencing the following application notes as potentially relevant as well:

Application note using a Gateway-X and a different PLC and software (ControlLogix5000 is used in this note while I am using RSLogix Micro )

Application note using a Anybus COMMUNICATOR (vs gateway) to the same PLC and software I have

**Here is what I have done so far

On the PLC:
Connected to Micrologix, configured its IP address as 10.0.0.1, downloaded a few basic programs to it to confirm connectivity and I/O were functional.

On the ANYBUS:
First I ran ‘HMS IPConfig’ which detected the Anybus Gateway X, and I set the IP address to 10.0.0.2
Then I ran Anybus Configuration Manager, and for my testing purpose I changed the default of 512 bytes input and output to 1 byte of output and 2 bytes of input on the Ethernet/IP network (and the inverse on the EtherCAT network)

On the ETHERCAT Network:
I added the AnyBus ESI files to TwinCat scanned the network, detected the AnyBus with 1 rxpdo and 2 txpdo, generated the ENI file, loaded it into EtherCAT master and everything looks good there.

** Now, here is where the problems begin. According to my understanding of the docs, there is a next step I need to do with the Ethernet/IP side of the Gateway-X.
It seems there are multiple methods to perform this configuration, none of them are accessible to me.

Web browser option:
TCP Port scan reveals Anybus has port 21 and port 80 open. FTP access on :21 is successful and I can access the filesystem w/ ftp client.
Accessing the web interface does not work with any browser I tried. The result is “connection reset”. Wireshark shows laptop sends HTTP request, anybus IP responding with TCP reset packet.
Anybus

Serial Interface:
Using hyperterminal or putty, connecting to the COM port with 57600/8/n/1 settings open a connection but nothing is transmitted.

Anybus Software:
Anybus Configuration Manager that I downloaded seems to be different than older software used in the documentation. It does not have “Sub-Network Monitor”. It does have an option under “Tools” menu called “Set Operation Mode” which I hoped might be an alternative configuration interface for EtherNet/IP configuration, but that just brings up a window with a label “Operation Mode” and a disabled/greyed out dropdown that reads “Not Available”.

Also, I hoped that maybe this final configuration step was unnecessary, so I tried to send MSG instructions from the MicroLogix 1100 to the Gateway-X but they would always error with code d6 “Connection timed out by network”. However, RSWho shows the MicroLogix and Gateway-X on the same network, they both respond to pings from my laptop on the same network, and I see no reason why they couldn’t communicate to each other unless there is a config option to set the AnyBus into operational mode I can’t access.

I am happy to provide any additional details, screenshots, or packet captures as it would assist troubleshooting.
Thank you,Max

Hello Max,

I think you have the wrong device for your application, the AB7699 is a Ethernet IP scanner. You would use this the connect to Ethernet/IP adapters, such as a VFD or IO device. You would need the plc to act as a adapter, which i am not sure is possible. To have a micrologix PLC make a connection as the scanner you would want a AB7682 an ethercat slave to ethernet/IP adapter.

Once you have the ethernet IP adapter version you should be able to use the docs you have but I recommend taking a look at the application notes in the previous link. There is one for adding it with an EDS file and another for adding it as a generic module in studio 5000.

Hello, thank you for the response. I had previously thought I made a mistake getting an Ethernet/IP Scanner rather than Adapter, and I was about to order it (in fact, I did just order it anyways based on your response). I am new to EtherNet/IP and haven’t worked with any PLC in years, so I was doing a bit of research and I saw application notes for PLC to PLC communication using MSG instructions, and presumably every PLC is a Ethernet/IP Scanner?
Additionally I found this article which claims inherently every EtherNet/IP Scanner will also implement the functionality of an adapter.


So this lead to me believe that the AB7699 could work as well for this application, even though maybe its extra functionality I’m not using (I notice the AB7699 is more expensive than AB7682 from the distributor I’m looking at).

Anyways, my goals here are to arrive at a functioning solution, so in the likely case I am mistaken regarding EtherNet/IP I will wait for the AB7682 to arrive and attempt again with that. However, if I am just missing a step that would be necessary to configure either device, ie the reason I’m unable to access the web UI or hyperterminal interface of the ab7699, then I can perform that troubleshooting with the equipment that I have now.

Also, an additional follow up question, is the MicroLogix1100 and programming environment of RSLogix software generally compatible with documentation written for studio 5000?

You are correct the scanner can be an adapter too but its not intended to be and might overcomplicate your setup. We also don’t have any instructions for how to use it as an adapter. The AB7682 is going to be an easier solution.

I believe the MicroLogix1100 uses either studio 5000 or possibly logix 5000. Both should be vary similar. If it uses logix 500 you will need to used explicit messages. We don’t have any documentation for logix 500 but it should be similar to this: https://cdn.hms-networks.com/docs/librariesprovider7/default-document-library/application-notes/hms-sci-1204-095.pdf?sfvrsn=a3f6aad6_15

Deryck