Re: [foxboro] FBM 233 to Controllogix question

A question to the three members of this list who are having FBM233 problems:

How are you reading data from the PLC?

1. In the PLC, do you map the Input and Output data to a PLC table, then use 
the FBM233 to read the PLC table?  A read such as this is the recommended way 
to read data in a PLC. You want to maximize the number of bytes retrieved with 
each read from the PLC via an ECB.

2. In the FBM233 do you have multiple ECB's for each Input or Output card of 
your PLC?  This is not recommended (even for ethernet) since the overhead of 
your communication (addresses, CRC, etc.) is now a much greater percentage of 
your communication between the PLC and the FBM233.  One might consider that you 
are "lightly loaded" if you are only reading 10 to 15 input modules in the PLC, 
but I have seen overloaded communication and Out of Service conditions on the 
IA side with just this "lightly loaded" condition. In fact, we were not lightly 
loaded, we were overloaded.

Terry Doucet, Eng.



-----Message d'origine-----
De : foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] De la 
part de Jack.Easley@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Envoyé : January 26, 2009 12:32 PM
À : foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Objet : Re: [foxboro] FBM 233 to Controllogix question

FYI,

We have a similar, if not the same, issue here with our one installation
of Redundant FBM233s to Controllogix PLCs. It happens several times a
week and is temporarily fixed by taking the FBM233(s) offline, then
online. We do get System Monitor indication of failure in all cases.

Sounds like this is a real Foxboro bug, not an installation problem.
Anybody contacted Foxboro to resolve this as yet?

Jack Easley
Sr. I&C Technician
Luminant Power, Martin Lake Plant
Phone 903.836.6241
jack.easley@xxxxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:foxboro-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of mike kessler
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 11:16 AM
To: foxboro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [foxboro] FBM 233 to Controllogix question

David,

Did you manage to resolve this issue? I am having similar issues with an

installation which has hung 3 times since implemented in September. The 
system is lightly loaded <30 tags. I'm talking to two controllogix
PLC's.

Here's the rub. The points don't go cyan, but they stop updating so 
everything looks OK from an operator's and  System Monitor's point of
view.

I will implement a watchdog alarm to let the operator know it's time 
reset the FBM233 from system management to re-start communications.

mk

David Johnson wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am working with a customer running a fault tolerant connection 
> (FBM233) to fault tolerant controllogix processors using Foxboro's 
> ethernet IP driver.  We started with an older version of the driver, 
> but quickly had field service upgrade everything to the latest back 
> in March.  Everything will work for several (many) weeks and then all 
> of the blocks being passed to and from the gateway will smurf at the 
> same time.  We are having to re-boot the CP to clear this condition 
> (it might be enough to re-download the fbms and go off line and back 
> on-line, but they haven't tried that when the crisis occurs).  We are 
> not adding or deleting any blocks in the configuration, and to the 
> best of my knowledge the primary and secondary controllogix modules 
> are not swapping, neither are the primary and tracker FBMs swapping 
> (again, as far as I can tell.)  In other words it appears to work 
> until it quits.  When it is working none of the points appear to be 
> smurfed and everything going to/from the PLC looks like a valid 
> controller tag.  The time interval between failures is not constant, 
> but they have seen this occur 3 times in the last 5 months.
>
> The data load is reasonably light, only 262 controller tags.  The ecb 
> 201 has the timeout set at 5 seconds, which should be plenty of time 
> if there is a network problem that corrects itself.
>
> So I was wondering if anyone else has seen this or knows of issues 
> that might cause this performance issue on the FBM233 with EthernetIP.
>
> Thanks,
> David
>
>
>  
>  
>
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