Connecting to PLC and other Industrial Equipment via USB

Some customers where having difficulty figuring out how to connect to our Micrologix PLC Trainer using the supplied USB to RS232 converter cable. It can be difficult if it is the 1st time using a USB converter, and the procedures hang some up. So I hope this pictorial with step by step instructions help.

RS232 DF1 driver setup procedure overview:
The USB converter picks a com port number randomly, you have to set DF1 com port to the same number as the USB.

Step by Step (Stage 1 - Device Manager):

• Click PC "Start" button at bottom left of your computer screen.
• Click 'Control Panel", then click "System" icon
• Select "Hardware" tab and click on "Device Manager" button
• In Device manager, scroll down tree until you see "Ports (Comm and LPT)"
• Click the "+" (plus sign) to expand the tree and reveal the com number of the USB converter.
• Write down the comm number shown. (In our pictorial example, it is "COM6")

Step by Step (Stage 2 - RSLinx):

• Open RSLinx (May find under "Rockwell Software" folder in Program files)
• Click on "Communications" from RSLinx pull-down menu and select "configure drivers"
• Select RS232/DF1 driver from list and click "Configure" button on the right. (If DF1 driver not available, add new by using "Available Driver Types" pull down list.)
• In DF1 driver, change com port number from 1 to what ever the com number was on your USB port. (In our pictured example, we would be changing to "Com 6".)
• Then click auto config. (If you are plugged into Micrologix PLC and the PLC is powered on, you will see "Configuration successful" in auto-config window.)
• Then click "OK" button, minimize RSLinks and you are ready to open RSLogix software to go online.

Hope this helps, please share with others in case they need help too. Thanks
Don (Follow me on Industrial Skills Training Blog and on Twitter @IndTraining .) Be sure to add me to your Google+ circles to stay on top!