Redlion E3 User Manual
ADLD0452
E3 I/O™ Module
User Manual
REVISION 1.0
Copyright © 2003-2016 Red Lion Controls Inc.
All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
The information contained herein is provided in good faith, but is subject to change without
notice. It is supplied with no warranty whatsoever, and does not represent a commitment on
the part of Red Lion Controls. Companies, names and data used as examples herein are
fictitious unless otherwise stated. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the express written
permission of Red Lion Controls Inc.
The Red Lion logo is a registered trademark of Red Lion Controls Inc.
Crimson and the Crimson logo are registered trademarks of Red Lion Controls Inc.
All other trademarks are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.
REVISION 1.0
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GETTING STARTED ..........................................................................................1
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................... 1
INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE ............................................................................... 1
REGISTRATION ............................................................................................... 2
CHECKING FOR UPDATES ................................................................................... 2
INSTALLING THE USB DRIVERS ........................................................................... 2
TROUBLESHOOTING ......................................................................................... 3
GETTING ASSISTANCE ...................................................................................... 4
BALLOON HELP ................................................................................................................................ 4
TECHNICAL SUPPORT......................................................................................................................... 5
ONLINE FORUMS .............................................................................................................................. 5
THE NEXT STEPS ............................................................................................ 5
CRIMSON BASICS ............................................................................................7
WINDOW LAYOUT ........................................................................................... 7
THE NAVIGATION PANE...................................................................................................................... 7
THE RESOURCE PANE ........................................................................................................................ 7
THE EDITING PANE ........................................................................................................................... 8
COLLAPSING PANES........................................................................................................................... 8
THE CATEGORIES ............................................................................................ 8
COMMUNICATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 8
I/O CHANNELS ................................................................................................................................ 8
SECURITY MANAGER ......................................................................................................................... 8
GETTING AROUND ........................................................................................... 9
BACK AND FORWARD ......................................................................................................................... 9
CATEGORY SHORTCUTS ...................................................................................................................... 9
ITEM SHORTCUTS ............................................................................................................................. 9
NAVIGATION LISTS .........................................................................................10
UNDO AND REDO ...........................................................................................10
WORKING WITH DATABASES..............................................................................11
DATABASE PROTECTION ................................................................................................................... 11
DOWNLOADING TO A DEVICE .............................................................................11
CONFIGURING THE LINK ................................................................................................................... 11
SENDING THE DATABASE .................................................................................................................. 12
VERIFYING THE DATABASE ................................................................................................................ 13
EXTRACTING DATABASES .................................................................................................................. 14
E3 I/O MODULE ........................................................................................... 14
COMMUNICATIONS ..........................................................................................14
NETWORK ..................................................................................................................................... 16
RS-485 COMMS PORT ..................................................................................................................... 22
SERVICES .....................................................................................................26
WATCHDOG/HEARTBEAT MONITOR ..................................................................................................... 26
WATCHDOG OUTPUT ACTIONS ........................................................................................................... 26
I/O POLL TIMEOUT ACTIONS ............................................................................................................ 27
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TABLE OF CONTENTS E3 I/O MODULE USER MANUAL
HEARTBEAT TIMEOUT SETTINGS ........................................................................................................ 28
WEB SERVER ............................................................................................... 29
I/O CHANNELS ............................................................................................. 30
DISCRETE INPUT CHANNELS .............................................................................................................. 31
DISCRETE OUTPUT CHANNELS ........................................................................................................... 33
ANALOG INPUT CHANNELS ................................................................................................................ 34
ANALOG OUTPUT CHANNELS ............................................................................................................. 36
SECURITY MANAGER ...................................................................................... 37
OPTIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 37
NO LOGIN REQUIRED ...................................................................................................................... 38
USER1 (DEFAULT USER NAME) .......................................................................................................... 39
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E3 I/O Module
User Manual
REVISION 1.0
GETTING STARTED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
GETTING STARTED
Welcome to Crimson 3—the latest version of Red Lion’s widely-acclaimed operator interface
configuration software. If you have used an earlier version of Crimson, you will soon notice
that Crimson 3 provides a huge number of improvements—while retaining all of the power
that you have grown used to. If you are new to Crimson, be sure to read at least the first few
chapters of this manual to get an introduction to how the software works. Either way, you will
soon find out how Crimson 3 makes it easier and quicker for you to design powerful and
attractive operator interface solutions.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Crimson 3 is designed to run on any version of Microsoft Windows from Windows 7
onwards. Memory requirements are modest, and any system that meets the minimum system
requirements for its operating system will be capable of running Crimson without any
problems. About 150MB of free disk space will be needed for installation, and you should
ideally have a display with sufficient resolution to allow the editing of display pages without
having to scroll too much. For a VGA target device, an XGVA PC is recommended.
INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE
Crimson 3 is supplied as a Microsoft Installer package or an msi file. You will typically have
downloaded this file from Red Lion’s website, but if you have downloaded it from another
source, please check that Windows is satisfied with the package’s digital signature so that you
are assured of receiving genuine Red Lion software…
As shown above, the publisher should show as Red Lion Controls Inc, and you should be able
to click on the publisher’s name to verify the integrity of the digital signature. Once you are
happy with the package, press the Run button to start the installation.
The installation process is fairly standard, and ought to proceed without much interaction
beyond your specifying the target directory. Once the process complete, look at your Start
Menu and find the Red Lion Controls folder. Click the Crimson 3 icon to start the software.
REVISION 1.0 PAGE 1
REGISTRATION E3 I/O MODULE USER MANUAL
REGISTRATION
When you first run Crimson 3, you will be offered a chance to register your software…
While registration is optional, we strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to
provide us with your contact details so that we can inform you of Crimson updates and of
associated products. Since registration requires an Internet connection, you may skip the
process if so do not have such a connection available. Crimson will periodically remind you if
you are running an unregistered copy of the software.
CHECKING FOR UPDATES
If you have an Internet connection, you can use the Check for Update command in the Help
menu to scan Red Lion’s web site for a new version of Crimson 3. If a later version than the
one you are using is found, Crimson will ask if it should download the upgrade and update
your software automatically. You may also manually download the upgrade from Red Lion’s
website by visiting the Downloads page within the Support section.
INSTALLING THE USB DRIVERS
If you’ve followed the instructions that came with your target hardware, you will not yet have
connected the hardware to your PC. Now that you have completed the Crimson 3 installation
(USB driver included), you may safely connect the device using a standard USB cable with
USB-B connector. After some churning, Windows should indicate that it has found the
drivers for the new hardware and that it is ready for operation. No further user intervention
should be required. Go to Link-->Options to access the Link Options window. Select the USB
radio button to communicate to the module via USB, which automatically finds the E3
device. To use this method only one E3 module should be connected to the computer at a
time. The E3 modules communicate with Crimson via a virtual serial com driver.
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GETTING STARTED TROUBLESHOOTING
TROUBLESHOOTING
If there are more than one device connected to the computer it is possible that crimson may
not find the correct device. Go to Windows device manager (type ‘device manager’ in the
search bar on the Start button) to determine the COM port number of the device. Go to Link->Options window to select the COM radio button entering port number assigned by windows.
The E3 intelligent I/O should be listed under Ports (COM&LPT) as a Dual Ethernet I/O
Module.
If you connected the target device to your PC before installing Crimson 3.0, it is possible that
an aborted installation has made it impossible for you to install the drivers correctly. To check
for this, open the Windows Device Manager by finding the My Computer icon, right-clicking
and selecting the Manage command. A window similar to the one below should appear…
REVISION 1.0 PAGE 3
GETTING ASSISTANCE E3 I/O MODULE USER MANUAL
The exact process for getting to this point will vary from one operating system to another, but
the basic idea is the same: Find the My Computer icon—either on the desktop or on your start
menu—right-click it and select Manage. If that doesn’t work, select the System option from
the Control Panel, and activate the Device Manager from the Hardware tab.
If you have a problem with your USB drivers, you will see a yellow icon carrying an
exclamation point under the Other Devices category. The name of the icon may be unknown
device or Loader or something similar.
To fix the problem, right-click on the broken device and select Uninstall from the menu…
After asking for confirmation, Windows will remove the device from your system. You can
now power the Crimson target device off. After a couple of seconds, reapply power and
Windows will start the driver installation process once again.
GETTING ASSISTANCE
If you hit a problem or need assistance, several resources are available.
ALLOON HELP
B
Crimson contains a very useful feature called Balloon Help…
This facility allows you to see help information for each item within Crimson. It is controlled
via the icon at the right-hand edge of the toolbar or via options on the Help menu. The default
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GETTING STARTED THE NEXT STEPS
mode allows the help text to be displayed by pressing the F1 key, providing a quick way of
getting information if you are unsure of the settings for a given field. Keep this in mind, and
your life will be a lot easier!
ECHNICAL SUPPORT
T
Technical assistance is available on the web at…
http://www.redlion.net/support.html
Or, we can be contacted via email at…
support@redlion.net
You may also call +1 (717) 767-6511 and ask for the HMI Support Team.
O
NLINE FORUMS
A number of online forums exist to support users of PLCs, HMIs, RTUs and I/O Modules.
Red Lion recommends the Q&A forum at http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/
. The discussion
board is populated by many experts who are willing to help, and Red Lion’s own technical
support staff also keep an eye out for questions relating to our products.
THE NEXT STEPS
We suggest that existing Crimson users at least give the next chapter a cursory reading. If you
are completely new to Crimson, please try to read at least as far as the start of the chapter on
I/O Channels.
Good luck, and have fun!
REVISION 1.0 PAGE 5
CRIMSON BASICS WINDOW LAYOUT
CRIMSON BASICS
To run Crimson, select the Crimson 3 icon in the Red Lion Controls section of your Start
Menu. After a couple of seconds, Crimson will appear. The first thing you will notice is the
user interface that we have adopted. This new interface allows quicker navigation and faster
database construction. We hope that it will greatly improve your productivity.
WINDOW LAYOUT
The main Crimson window comprises three sections…
Navigation
THE NAVIGATION PANE
The left-hand portion of the window is called the Navigation Pane. It is used to move between
different categories of items within a Crimson configuration file. Each category is represented
by a bar at the base of the pane, and clicking on that bar will navigate to that section. The top
section of the Navigation Pane shows the available items in the current category, and provides
a toolbar to allow those items to be manipulated. If you want to make the top section larger,
you can pick up and drag the dividing line between it and the category bars.
Editing Pane
Resource
Pane
HE RESOURCE PANE
T
The right-hand portion of the window is called the Resource Pane. It is used to access various
items that are of use when editing the current category. Just like the Navigation Pane, it
REVISION 1.0 PAGE 7
contains the device category which can be accessed via the category bar. This displays a list
of devices that are connected to the E3 module via I/O transfers designed data from to and
from the E3 module.
THE CATEGORIES E3 I/O MODULE USER MANUAL
THE EDITING PANE
The central portion of the window is used to edit the currently selected item. Depending on
the selection, it may contain a number of tabs, each showing a given set of the properties for
that item, or it may contain an editor specific to the item that you are working on.
OLLAPSING PANES
C
Either or both of the Navigation Pane and Resource Pane can be collapsed to the edge of the
main window in order to free-up more space for the Editing Pane. To close a pane, click on
the ‘x’ in the top left-hand corner of its title bar. It will then be replaced by a smaller bar
marked with arrows. Clicking this bar will expand the associated pane. Clicking on the
pushpin icon of a temporarily-expanded pane will lock it in place.
THE CATEGORIES
The main categories in a Crimson E3 database are as follows…
OMMUNICATIONS
C
This category specifies which protocols are to be used on the target device’s
serial port and Ethernet ports. Two slave protocols are supported on devices
Ethernet ports by default Modbus TCP/IP and UDP/IP and Sixnet UDR TCP/IP
UDP/IP. Two Master protocols are supported by the E3 module Modbus UDP/IP
and Sixnet UDP/IP (i.e. protocols in which the Red Lion hardware initiates data
transfer to and from a remote device). You can also use this icon to specify one or more
devices to be accessed. Where slave protocols are used (i.e. protocols in which the Red Lion
hardware receives and responds to requests from other systems) all data items are exposed for
read or write access automatically no configuration is required. Essentials services like
watchdog, heartbeat signals and enabling the web server are included here as well.
CHANNELS
I/O
This category shows a definition of all the I/O channels available on the module
whether physical or virtual. It is also used to configure features specific to the
physical I/O channels on the module. Only the configurations specific to the
module you are configuring will be available. Press the I/O Channels category
and sub-categories will appear in the navigation pane. For Example, discrete input channel
configuration screens will appear if you are configuring a E3-32DI24-1 (discrete input
module).
S
ECURITY MANAGER
This category is used to manage permissions on the web server. You may create
and manage the various users of the target device, as well as the access rights
granted to each. Real names may also be given, which grants or restricts system
rights from users. These rights are only useful in the web server.
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