# PLC- little yellow spots in tree



## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

Peoples,

I am still figuring out RSlogix. I am trying to communicate between two controllers.

I set up and download my projects, but when I go online I get little yellow spots in the tree. I cant really see them well, and believe this is some type of problem because the entire mess doesn't work. These seam to start at the local controller or local com slot and go on down the line.

What are these yellow spots, and what are they doing to me?:blink:

BTW, is there anywhere I can go to look at communications set-up for these controllers? I am using Ethernet, and would just like to be able to confirm I am on the right track here. I tried the AB site, but that mostly sucks. It almost seams they made it hard to understand deliberately.


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## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

OK,

I have found out these are not spots, they are tiny yellow triangles- and they indicate a fault. AB simply says "clear the fault" and move on.

Easier said then done in my case. I thought I might have the communications path wrong, now I am sure.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

What type of PLC's are they and do you have RS linx running while you're trying to communicate?


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## industrialus (Feb 28, 2011)

*Your dilema*

Did you solve it yet?


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## lefleuron (May 22, 2010)

Guys,

These are A.B. contrologix 5000 controllers. I am using ethernet for the comms. Yes, linx is running. I believe I have a set a good driver and path in linx.

No, I have not figured this out yet! Weird thing, I have started over four or five times and the yellow triangles have not shown up every time...just sometimes.

I am completely open to hints here:thumbsup:


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

lefleuron said:


> Guys,
> 
> These are A.B. contrologix 5000 controllers. I am using ethernet for the comms. Yes, linx is running. I believe I have a set a good driver and path in linx.
> 
> ...


 
What driver are you using?


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## industrialus (Feb 28, 2011)

*in the tree*

Where in the tree do these fault warnings show up, what is faulted? And specifically, what is your physical network topology, are you on a network through a router etc., or peer to peer? :001_huh:


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## RSmike (Jul 31, 2008)

If you are able to download the project then this isn't an RSLinx problem. The yellow triangles can indicate any number of issues with the module's configuration and/or it's current status. There are properties for each module and under one of the tabs there is a reset module button. This can clear things up depending upon the issue.

When you indicate you are sharing tags between processors how are you doing this? I'm assuming you have two processors in separate chassis and they are connected via ethernet. In this case you can do two things to communciate. You can message over Ethernet or you can used produced and consumed tags. If you take this route make sure your tagnames are spelled correctly in both the produced and consumed sides. Producing and consuming is really nice because the data just appears. 

To set this up you have to add the remote processor under each of the ethernet modules. In short they have to point at each other. Then when you create produced and consumed tags you point the tag at the other processor and select how fast you want the data.

You have to have valid IP data in the Ethernet module. Also be careful about what network you plug these modules into....they communciate using multicast/broadcast traffic and can crash some less well managed networks. If you are plugging the two ethernet cards into each other you should have a cross over cable.

If you haven't worked with the Controllogix platform produced and consumed tags I suggest you search Rockwell/AB web site for these topics. There are some starter documents out there that are pretty good.

http://samplecode.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/pm/1756-pm011_-en-p.pdf
RSLater,
RSmike


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