In Today’s article I walk you through how to Message data from a SLC-5/05 to a MicroLogix 1400 over Ethernet using the MSG instruction.

Note: In this example I have a SLC-5/05 at IP Address 192.168.1.47, and a MicroLogix 1400 at IP Address 192.168.1.66. Both have the same subnet address, and are attached to the same network via an Ethernet switch. Each program also had the N7 file expanded to 10 words, and the SLC-500 program has a free running Timer in Rung 0 of Program File 2 as shown below:

Step 1) To start, I add a new rung to Program File 2 of my SLC-5/05 program, and then I add a MSG instruction to that rung:

Step 2) Since I’m writing data from a SLC-5/05 to a MicroLogix 1400, I next change the Read/Write type to Write:

Step 3) Next I leave Target Device and Local/Remote at their default states:

Step 4) And then I assign a Control Block starting address for a block of 51 unused integers. In this example I chose a starting point of N10:0, and the MSG instruction will use N10:0 through N10:50 for it’s control words:

Step 5) Now in the Setup Screen I set the “This Controller” Data Table Address that I’ll be messaging from our SLC-5/05 to our target MicroLogix controller. In this example I chose N7:0:

Step 6) Then I set how many “Elements” I’d want to send, starting from the previously chosen Data Table Address. In this example I chose a size of just 1 word.

Step 7) The next selection is the setting for the SLC Communication Channel the MSG instruction will use. In this example Channel 1 is chosen as that is the Ethernet channel on the SLC-5/05:

Step 8) Moving on to the “Target Device” settings, I set the Data Table Address I want to write the data to, which in this example is also N7:0:

Note: The Target Device’s Data Table Address does not have to be the same address as the Source Address.

Step 9) Here, because I’m messaging a MicroLogix over Ethernet, I also need to change the MultiHop setting to Yes. Note: If this setting is not changed, the message will fail.

Step 10) With MultiHop now enabled, I move to the new MultiHop tab:

Step 11) Where I fill in the IP address of the target MicroLogix 1400 in the To Address field. Then I close the Setup Screen:

Step 12) Back in Ladder File 2, I place an XIC in front of the MSG instruction. For the XIC instruction’s address, I use the Done Bit of my existing two second free running Timer. This will trigger the message every two seconds, a slow enough period that I’d be able to see the resulting status of each message attempt before the next message attempt is made:

Note: Since A-B Programmable Controllers have limited buffer space for MSG instructions, it’s typically not recommended to have multiple unconditional MSG instructions in your program. Instead, consider interlocking messages, or triggering them based on timers, to insure you never overfill your controller’s message buffer. Doing so can also eliminate unwanted network traffic that unconditional / continuous Messages can generate.

Step 13) With my program complete, I now enter a value into N7:0 which will be written to the MicroLogix controller when the MSG instruction executes. Then I download and run the program:

Step 14) Now any value I enter into N7:0 in the SLC-5/05 is messaged and, and shows up in, N7:0 in the MicroLogix 1400 after a short delay:

To watch a video demonstration of the above, check out Episode 42 of The Automation Minute Season 4 below:


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Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

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Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

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