Can I control I/O over DeviceNet on my HI 3000 series unit?

Can I control I/O over DeviceNet on my HI 3000 series controller (HI 3010, HI 3030, HI 3300 or HI 3600)?

For example: I have a master controller which would be the weight controller, but I need to add I/O and a drive. Can I do that? What programming language do you use to control the logic of the operation? How are your parameters sent over Ethernet and can I capture net and tare weight via Ethernet or DeviceNet?

Yes, you can control I/O through the DeviceNet from any HI 3000 series controllers (which includes the HI 3010, HI 3030, HI 3300 or HI 3600). The polled input and output for the Device Net in the HI 3000 series is configurable to the size you need for your application. This is then mapped into the scan list of the "Master" scanner during the configuration of the Device Net network using your Device Net Manager configuration software. The data you want the HI 3000 series to transfer to the "Master" would be mapped through the HI 3000 series browser. Any data from the "Master" to the HI 3000 series would also be mapped through the HI 3000 series browser to the location/parameters you need it to go to.

NOTE: Your HI 3000 series unit can act as the "Master" to other devices on the DeviceNet network, as well as a "Slave" to another "Master". The terms Master and Slave are correct terms for DeviceNet protocol. We mean no offense to our customers by using these terms.

For example, if you want to send Net Weight to a remote display and start a feeder over DeviceNet for a fast feed and slow feed. You can make the HI 3000 series the "Master" for both these devices and size the polled table for 6 bytes output. With the DeviceNet Manager configuration software you would set up the network so 4 bytes of the output table in the HI 3000 series are sent to the remote display and 2 bytes were going to the feeder. In the HI 3000 series browser, you would map the Net Weight to the 4 bytes of the polled output that would be sent to the remote display. In the remaining 2 bytes of data in the output table you would map the fast feed bit and the slow feed bit. This would then be sent to the feeder to turn on the feed.

This could also be set up in the PLC as the "Master" and the data would be sent from the HI 3000 series to the PLC and it would distribute the data or bits as necessary for the operation.

The data transfers between the HI 3000 series and the PLC are using 16 bit integer words. The different data types to and from the HI 3000 series may use two words, a single word, or maybe just a single bit within a word. The control logic of an operation may be Boolean, but values can also be transferred for use in the control.

The parameters in the unit can be set over the Ethernet connection or over the DeviceNet connection. The Ethernet would be used to go online with the built in browser of the unit. The browser has a page for configuration of the unit and will allow you to enter the parameter values from your computer. Using DeviceNet to set parameters would need to be done through the Command Interface. This would be done in the Mapping of the unit through the browser. Once set up, this Command Interface will allow you to select a parameter by it ID number and send a value to write to the selected parameter. This would require four words of data space in the communications to the unit. So in the example above where the unit is set up for 6 bytes of data transfer, in order to add the Command Interface to this, you would need to add 8 more bytes of data to the transfer length.

The data being transferred from the unit over Device Net would depend on the mapping in the unit. The unit allows the user to determine what data will be transferred and where within the table being transferred, each piece of data will show up. This would be done through mapping in the browser of the unit. This would apply to which ever type of communications you were using on your HI 3000 series unit.