Allen Bradley Logix EtherNet/IP (Ethernet)

Communication Setup: Allen Bradley Logix PLC

Before setting up the EtherNet/IP device in the XpanelDesigner, open the project with the desired tags in the Allen Bradley Studio 5000 software. A file with ‘.L5X’ file extension must be created in order to import the tags into XpanelDesigner. To create the L5X file, follow the steps below:

Disclaimer: If you are using firmware version 19 or below, please use the legacy Allen Bradley Logix PLC protocol.

1. Click [File] → [Save As]. This will open a file browser to save the L5X file.

2. Go to the desired file directory.

3. Enter the file name for the L5X file.

4. Choose ‘Save as type’ as ‘Logix Designer XML File (*.L5X)’.

5. Click ‘Save’.

Open

Communication Setup: Xpanel

Create a New Device

In order to create a new device, click [Tools] → [I/O Devices] or click the icon in the toolbar. Once the ‘I/O Device Configuration’ window appears, follow the steps below:

1. Click ‘New Device’.

2. Name the ‘I/O Device’ with your desired name.

3. Choose ‘Ethernet Device’.

4. Click ‘Ok’.

Open

Note: Only a maximum of one ‘Allen Bradley Logix EtherNet/IP’ device is allowed; however, one ‘Allen Bradley Logix EtherNet/IP’ device can have multiple stations.

Select Device Type

When the ‘Ethernet Communication Configuration’ window appears, follow the steps below:

1. Choose ‘Allen Bradley Logix EtherNet/IP’ as the ‘Device Type’.

Select a Station

Move to the [Station] tab at the ‘Ethernet Communication Configuration’ dialog box and click [Add Station]. When the station configuration dialog box appears, follow the steps below:

1. Enter the desired station name.

2. Enter the IP address of the Logix controller.

Select an L5X File

To import tags, a file with the ‘.L5X’ extension must be chosen. To select an L5X file created from Allen Bradley Logix software, click the button. Once the button is clicked, the file browser will appear and choose the desired L5X file.

Import Tags

Once the L5X file is selected, the ‘Add Tags’ dialog box will appear. To create a set of tags to the tag database, follow the steps below:

1. Select the desired tags on the list on the left side.

2. To select multiple tags: press ‘ctrl’ and click on the desired tags.

3. To select all tags: click on the first tag on the list on the left, scroll down until the last tag is displayed on the same list, and press ‘shift’, and click on the last tag name on the list.

4. Click the ‘>>’ button to import the selected tags to the list on the right side.

5. If a tag needs to be removed from the imported list on the right side, click on the tag to be removed and click the ‘<<’ button.

6. Select all the tags listed on the imported tag list on the right.

7. Right-click on the selected tags and click ‘Create Tag’. This will create the tags in the tag database with corresponding tag types.

8. Once finished with importing tags, click ‘Ok’ to save the imported tags.

Note: As shown in the figures below, the imported tags on the right side have indices assigned to them. These indices will be used as the I/O Address of the tag in the tag database.

Create Tags

Save

After clicking [Ok] in the station configuration dialog box, a station will be created under the EIP device as shown in the figure below. Click [Save] to save the steps performed above.

Data Type Support

Xpanel supports the following tag data types:

• BOOL

• SINT

• INT

• DINT

• REAL

• STRING*

It also supports the above data types that are 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional. However, it does not support the Logix data structure, which includes Module-Defined data types, Predefined data types (with the exception of STRING), Add-On-Defined data types, and User-Defined data types.

* User-defined STRING type is not supported. Only the default Logix STRING data type (allowing a maximum of 82 characters) is supported.

Note About Alias Tags

When using alias tags, the tag that is being pointed to should be a port on the I/O modules. Also, an alias tag cannot point to another tag that is an alias.