Addressing PLC Connection Points

PLC connection points can be manually, subsequently, or automatically addressed.

With manual addressing you assign the PLC address to each individual connection point. To do so enter the address in the Address field of the PLC connection point tab of the property dialog.
With subsequent addressing, you assign new addresses to multiple already addressed PLC connection points in a single step. Select the menu items Project data > PLC > Address to this purpose.
With automatic addressing, PLC connection points are automatically assigned a new address when they are inserted into a schematic or overview page.

If you are using different PLC controllers in a project, each CPU should be assigned a scheme for the PLC-specific settings. In such a scheme the formats for the PLC addresses are defined in relation to the PLC type. In the case of subsequent or automatic addressing, the settings from the respective scheme as assigned to the CPU are taken into account.

If no scheme for the PLC-specific settings has been assigned to a CPU, the scheme from the project settings is used. When automatically addressing different CPUs without assigned scheme, incorrectly formatted addresses may be suggested.

If you insert PLC connection points by means of symbol or macro selection or copy PLC connection points, the scheme from the project settings is also used for automatic addressing.

If you work in multi-user operation, we recommend disabling automatic addressing of PLC addresses.

Note:

If the entered start address and the address format do not agree during subsequent addressing, a message is displayed. In this case, you must adjust the start address and / or the address format.

PLC Connection Points with Fixed Addresses

If you use PLC connection points with fixed addresses in your project, these should normally not be modified during subsequent addressing or during the insertion of macros. With the property Do not include in addressing you can specify at a PLC connection point that it is to be excluded from addressing and thus always retain its original address.
During addressing such PLC connection points are also not displayed in the result preview.

Ensure that the property is set at every used representation type of the PLC connection point so that the representation types behave the same during addressing.

PLC cards with different address ranges

You can specify two separate start addresses for the inputs and outputs for PLC cards that have both inputs and outputs. To this purpose the properties Start address of PLC card and Start address 2 of PLC card are available in the PLC box tab of the property dialog.

Tip:

The check runs 004106 and 004107 are available to check whether addresses are located outside the address range of the PLC card or whether address ranges of multiple PLC cards overlap. If you want to use these check runs, the properties PLC device: Data length (inputs) and / or PLC device: Data length (outputs) must also be filled in addition to the start addresses. The address range is determined from the start address and the data length (this means the number of occupied bits).

In addition you have the possibility to manage PLC devices that consist of several integrated modules, i.e. subdevices, and have several different address ranges with different start addresses. Such a device can consist, for example, of an internal CPU module, an internal input / output module as well as internal counter module - however with only one part number. In order to map such logical function units within a PLC device, up to twelve PLC subdevices are available to you. The PLC subdevices are considered in the new AutomationML format during a PLC data exchange.

Each address range is managed as a PLC subdevice and defined by the respective properties:

PLC subdevice x: Name: Device name of the logical function unit.
PLC subdevice x: Position (slot / module): Specifies in which slot / at which position on the PLC card this PLC subdevice is located.
PLC subdevice x: Start address (inputs): Start address for the inputs of the PLC subdevice x.
PLC subdevice x: Start address (outputs): Start address for the outputs of the PLC subdevice x.
PLC subdevice x: Data length (inputs): Number of occupied bits for the inputs of the PLC subdevice x.
PLC subdevice x: Data length (outputs): Number of occupied bits for the outputs of the PLC subdevice x.

Notes:

For the first PLC subdevice the start addresses are specified via the properties Start address of PLC card (for the inputs) and Start address 2 of PLC card (for the outputs).
The properties for the data length are only used for check runs. This information is not used when exchanging data in the AutomationML format.

The properties PLC subdevice x: Name and PLC subdevice x: Position (slot / module) are filled with the values from the parts database at a part selection. When these properties at the PLC box are filled in the project, you use the properties PLC subdevice x: Start address (inputs) and PLC subdevice x: Start address (outputs) to specify the associated start addresses for the PLC subdevices. A PLC subdevice is only generated during exporting if at least one start address is filled. The export of the PLC sub-devices is terminated as soon as both start addresses are empty.

At a PLC connection point specify in the PLC subdevice: Index property to which PLC subdevice the connection point belongs. For example, the index value "3" means that the PLC connection point belongs to the subdevice 3. This information is required for automatic addressing. The property can also be stored in the function templates of the parts and is then transferred to the PLC connection points during a part selection.