Modicon 512 612 MicroPLC

[m_markowski]

Dear Community,

first of all let me greet you as i'm fairly new to this board and to a modicon family of controllers.

A customer asked if we could help him with some rather old controller operating on his site.

From info provided we could assume it's 512 612 modicon series controller.

Customer wants to download and 'read' a program controlling the unit (poor paper documentation or no at all).

From what i've heard there's this obsolete software called modsoft and or proworx  as well (running only on 32bit machines) we could use.

Any help, advice would be much appreciated regarding connecting, downloading and reading a program residing in an operating - 'live' controller. We don't want to make any changes - only take a peek at what's going on and how things run over there.

Thank you all in advance.

Cheers!

[AlastairF]

Here's a link to the hardware manual.

https://www.se.com/ww/en/download/document/A91M12704581/

For programming, use ProWORX 32. The difficulty there will be to find the software and you will need to run it in a VM (Win XP).
You can install it and run unlicensed but are limited to the first 25 networks.

[GeoffChisholm]

Another issue I have faced is if you run the programming software (proworx) in a VM is getting the serial connection to work. The default connection mode on the PLC ports is Modbus RTU. But Modbus RTU requires strict timing within the message which most VMs or serial interface devices do not handle.

I still have a few of these plcs I look after, I used an old PC (with serial port) and installed proworx to set one of the plc ports to modbus ASCII mode and now I can access the plc using a VM and USB serial interface.

If the program is longer than 25 networks you should probably use Modsoft to read the program, as I think it was not a licensed product so will not be restricted to the first 25 networks. Note that you will still have the comms problem if the plc ports are set to RTU mode

[AlastairF]

I have had success with serial comms from VM's using the TSXCUSB232 interface. The driver is in the VM.
The TSXCUSB485 also works with PL7/ Unitelway comms in a VM. Note, mileage may vary.
With Modsoft, you have to ensure that the allocated serial port is between Com1 and Com4 (I use Com3 or Com4). With ProWORX32 it will work with most ports.

[m_markowski]

Dear @AlastairF @GeoffChisholm ,

thank you so much for your replies.

Have you got any experience with Fasttrak's PLC Workshop for Modicon? I was able to run it on more modern laptop, also it seems more nowadays and easy-going...

Anyway, I'll be able to put my hands on an older pc (32bit, native rs232) and save Modsoft and/or Proworx as a measure of last resort. They seem so oldschool I'm wondering just not to break anything...

Speaking of which - I had my chance on taking a slight glance at Modsoft Software User Guide. Is 'Transfer PLC to file' the right choice if I only want to take a peek at a currently running program? Will I be able to open it later being disconnected from the controller? Unfortunately I won't have a chance to test my chances until we get to Customer's live equipment...

One last thought, might be silly, but still - after connecting my laptop to controller's RJ45 port (1 or 2) with a 110XCA20300 cable and starting a session through rs232, the controller itself will be still running i.e. operational mode? If so, after transferring the ladder program to my pc and disconnecting, should I invoke some commands to start (restart?) the controller? Or will it just run as it was?

Cheers!

[GeoffChisholm · Accepted solution]

I have had no experience with Fasttrak - For the 612s I have just used ProworxPlus.and its been a long time since I have had to use Modsoft (which is very old school)

Transfer PLC to file is the correct option, and then you should then be able to open the program offline.

Connecting and transferring program to file will not affect the running program

Hope this helps