The Problems of Allen-Bradley Serial Communication Software

The known problems with the Allen-Bradley serial communications software are listed below:
1.Reboot
If the software has successfully linked with the 1785-KE module and is then rebooted, it crashes after iocInit with an assertion failure. A second reboot will succeed. Then problem seems to be linked to reception of a DF1 message before the software is ready to handle it.

2.PLC-2 type unprotected writes
The original source code has been modified by the Gemini project to use unprotected write rather than protected writes. The original source code communicated with 1771-KG and PLC-2 modules, rather than with the 1785-KE and PLC-5/20 modules of the Gemini project.

3.PLC-2 type Addresses
The PLC-5 module accepts PLC-2 type addresses, as long as the processor has a compatibility file with the same node number as the 1785-KE. Only memory inside this data is accessible using the PLC-2 type addresses.

4.Error Messages
Error messages from the drivers have not been installed into the VxWorks error message symbol table. The serial driver drvSerial uses error code 1000 and the drvAbDf1 uses error code 1001, although either of these can be changed in the include file if a conflict occurs.
• DrvSerial error messages are:

• drvAbDf1 error messages are:

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Allen Bradley PLC