GE Fanuc Serial Autodetect Wizard

Introduction

Serial communications can be difficult to set up because of the large number of setup parameters. For example:

Communications Port
Physical Wiring
Baud Rate
Framing
Handshake
and so on

The GE Fanuc Serial Autodetect Wizard can simplify the setup of serial communications. The wizard tries different combinations of communication parameters until a GE Fanuc PLC is found. The wizard can automatically:

Scan a set of serial ports.
Try different baud rates, for example: 19200, 9600.
Try different framing, for example: 8 bits, odd parity, 1 stop bit.

Note: The Wizard will only work if the physical connection to the device is wired correctly. If you run the Wizard with an incorrectly wired connection, the Wizard will not detect anything. It is worth spending time checking the physical connection is correct before running the Wizard.

Using the GE Fanuc Serial Autodetect Wizard

To use the GE Fanuc Serial Autodetect Wizard:

Start Configuration Tool. Use one of the connection options on the Start Page to connect to Fernhill SCADA.
Select the Tag Window in the Configuration Tool.
Right-click the folder where you want to import the detected configuration. The Tag Window Menu opens:
Click Autodetect.... The Autodetect... Wizard opens:
Click Next.... The Choose Device Type or Protocol page opens:
Note: You can only detect one device type or protocol at a time.
Select GE Fanuc Serial then click Next>. The Choose communication ports page opens:
Note: The list of ports available on your computer may be different to the list shown above.

To select a port do one of the following:
- Double-click the port name.
- Select the port name, the click >.
The Autodetect Wizard will try the port(s) in the order shown in the Selected Items: list. You can reorder the list using the up and down arrows.
Choose the port(s) you want the Autodetect Wizard to try, then click Next>. The Choose Baud Rates page opens:
Choose the baud rate(s) you want the Autodetect Wizard to try, then click Next>. The Choose Framing page opens:
Choose the serial framing you want the Autodetect Wizard to try, then click Next>. The Ready to Start page opens:
Review the autodetect parameters and, if you are satisfied with your selection, click Next. The Autodetect Wizard will start:

Note: If you selected many options in the previous pages, the wizard will take a long time to run.

When the Autodetect Wizard has finished searching the progress bar shows Complete:
If the Autodetect Wizard has found devices, you can click Next to review the results:
Click Finish to create suitable configuration to communicate with the device. Click Cancel to cancel the operation. If you clicked Yes, expand the NewConfiguration folder to see the automatically generated tags: