I recently acquired 3 brand new PowerFlex 7000 VFD's for a large electrical project. A technician from Rockwell came by to inspect them before startup. After providing the technician with the IP addresses, he made adjustments at both the VFD and the Panel View. While I am able to ping the VFD and receive a response, I am encountering difficulties connecting to them through CCW or Studio5000. Interestingly, I can establish a direct connection with CCW and retrieve the parameters. I have noticed that the 20-comm-er BOOTP is enabled, however, the IP address is still present in the parameters. Upon attempting to disable BOOTP via the interface and manually input the IP address, I am informed that it is a duplicate address. Despite spending numerous hours searching online for a solution, I have been unable to resolve this issue and establish proper communications. Any assistance in resolving this matter would be greatly appreciated as it is crucial to establish connectivity before startup.
There is a separate control board with its own IP address that the Panel View communicates with. It's possible that this IP address has been set to match the one you are trying to assign to the 20-COMM-ER module. Please note that it has been a while since I last worked with PF7000's, so my memory may not be completely accurate. The 20-COMM-ER module will retain its IP address even when BOOTP is enabled.
The 192.168.1.0/24 Class C private subnet is widely used for A-B devices, typically with a thumbwheel for the final octet. This subnet is indicated by a /24, which means the first 24 bits are consistent. The subnet mask for /24 is 255.255.255.0, accommodating hosts from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.254. It is recommended to stick with this common Class C subnet to align with user expectations. Ensure no other devices are using the same address to prevent duplicate IP errors in RSLinx or BOOTP/DHCP. If encountering issues in Studio 5000, it may signal a device already utilizing that address in the I/O tree.
The IP address is unique, ruling out any duplication issues. The problem may lie within RSLinx, as it is not recognizing the PowerFlex device despite having the EDS file auto download enabled. Despite my 20 years of experience with Rockwell PLCs and software, this particular issue has me perplexed. While I have extensive experience with Rockwell PLCs, this level of troubleshooting with VFDs is new to me.
Do you wonder why the three devices appear in the ETH-1 configuration but not in ETHIP-1, which displays all devices? They should be visible in both configurations unless they are set up for different Ethernet adapters.
I am aware that with ETH-1, configuration involves adding the IP address of the device, whereas with ETH!P-1, it automatically discovers devices but seems to struggle with locating VFDs specifically. Despite being able to detect all other control system devices, it fails to find the VFDs. I have tried pinging the VFDs using CMD, and they do respond, so I am puzzled by this discrepancy.
It sounds like you're dealing with a challenging situation there. One thing that comes to mind, assuming you've correctly configured your IP parameters, is that you might be dealing with a case of IP address conflict. It's possible that some other device in your network is using the same IP leading to the 'duplicate address' message. I would suggest scanning your network to ensure no other device is using the intended IP addresses for your VFDs. Also, are you using static or dynamic IP addressing? If you're using dynamic and BOOTP is enabled, your VFD might be getting its IP assigned by a DHCP server, causing a mismatch in your network's IP schema. If none of this works, consider resetting your VFD to its factory settings and configuring it anew.
It sounds like you've definitely put in the effort to troubleshoot this. It's possible that the issue may lie in the subnet mask settings or there could be another device on your network with the same IP address, hence the duplicate error message. Have you checked for any IP conflicts within your network? Or consider setting a static IP outside of your primary IP range. If the problem persists, I would suggest reaching out to Rockwell's technical support team, they should be able to give you more insight into this specific issue. Don't forget to check your firewalls as well, those can cause connection issues sometimes.
Sounds like quite a tricky situation you've got there. Based on your description, it's obvious you've done a handy bit of troubleshooting; however, it sounds like there may be an IP conflict occurring somewhere in your network. Have you tried running a network scan to ensure no other device is using the IPs assigned to your VFDs? It’s unusual because, typically, when BOOTP is enabled, the device should pull IP settings dynamically. One workaround could be to reserve the IP addresses in your router to ensure they're assigned to your VFDs and aren't taken by other devices. Alternatively, you could try fully resetting the VFDs to factory defaults and then attempt to reconfigure the settings. Hopefully, one of these suggestions does the trick for you.
It sounds like a frustrating situation, but don't worry, you're not the first to encounter this. Considering your explanation, it seems likely that an IP conflict is causing your difficulties. An important step to consider is verifying that there is no device on your network with statically assigned IP that could conflict with the dynamically assigned IP of your VFD. Additionally, your network equipment (like switches, routers, etc.) might have security features enabled which might prevent communication with devices that frequently change IP or have duplicate IP. You might want to check into that as well. Keyword here is to isolate, then identify the problem. Also, to aid in faster troubleshooting, try working with one VFD at a time - get it perfectly running before moving to the next one. It's really effective to keep things simple when diagnosing these sorts of issues.
It sounds like you’re dealing with a frustrating connectivity issue! Since you're able to ping the VFD and access parameters via CCW, it suggests that the VFD is functioning on the network, but there might be a conflict with how BOOTP is set up. One thing to try is to ensure that no other device on the network is using the same IP address you're trying to assign manually. Additionally, you might want to check if the IPs assigned for the VFDs are in the same subnet as your network. If the issue persists, consider temporarily disabling the BOOTP setting altogether and then rebooting the VFD before reassigning the static IP. Hopefully, this helps pave the way to a smoother startup!
✅ Work Order Management
✅ Asset Tracking
✅ Preventive Maintenance
✅ Inspection Report
We have received your information. We will share Schedule Demo details on your Mail Id.
Answer: If you are able to ping the VFD but cannot establish a connection through CCW or Studio5000, you may need to check the network settings, ensure proper configuration in the software, and verify that the IP addresses match between the devices.
Answer: If you are receiving a duplicate address error when trying to input the IP address manually, it indicates that the IP address is already in use on the network. You may need to check for conflicting IP addresses and ensure that each device has a unique IP address assigned.
Answer: To disable BOOTP and manually set the IP address on the 20-comm-er configuration, you may need to access the interface settings for the VFD and follow the appropriate steps outlined in the user manual or technical documentation provided by Rockwell Automation.
Join hundreds of satisfied customers who have transformed their maintenance processes.
Sign up today and start optimizing your workflow.