Good day

I am learning SIMATIC PSC7 with the help of the study guide and other online material.

I understand most of the hardware and network configuration steps but I always struggle when I have to download. I do not know what I am doing wrong therefore I am will give as much detail as I can. Here follows a list of the steps that I follow:

1. I am using a Virtual PC via VMware Workstation Player 16
   1. The IP address of the virtual PC is 192.168.79.128
   2. I am able to Ping the virtual PC IP without any loss
   3. The Virtual PC is also linked to the Internet via the Host PC
   4. The Virtual PC name is “PCS7V8ENG”
2. SIMATIC Shell shows that Local Area Connection with the correct IP address
3. I start SIMATIC manager (PCS7 Version 8.0) and use the “New Project Wizard” to setup a Vanilla project based on the SIMATIC S7-400 station that I have. However, I want to use PLCSIM to simulate the existing (not physically connected AS)
   1. I use the AS416-2
   2. The plant hierarchy level is 3, with CFC and SFC chart. I create the PCS7 OS Object and choose a Single station system
   3. I save the project to a local folder
   4. Once the wizard has finished I rename a few components in the component view.
      1. I change the PC station name to the virtual PC name
      2. I rename the AS and its program.
4. I Setup the PC station hardware in HW Config to the configuration that matches the station configuration editor
   1. I use the CP-Industrial Ethernet-IE General-SWV8.1
      1. I change the IE General IP to that of the Virtual PC
      2. I add a Subnet which I will use later and call it SystemBus
   2. I ensure that the HW Config component indices match that of the station configurator (The station configuration editor status shows a problem, but I also do not know how to fix it)
   3. I save and compile, then a close HW Config
5. I set the PG/PC interface to PLCSIM.TCPIP.1
6. I run PLCSIM and change the CPU mode to RUN-P
   1. I also check that PLCSIM is set to TCP/IP, since I am using IP addresses for the networking.
   2. I minimize PLCSIM
7. I again open the Virtual PC configuration in HW Config.
   1. I click on download to Module
   2. I view and update the Accessible Nodes (This only shows 192.168.0.1)
   3. I stop the target Modules
   4. The Select node window appears again but this time the there is no accessible node to choose.

What did I do wrong? Why can’t I download to the PC station? How do I fix the station configuration editor?

Sorry for the long text I wanted to be as clear as possible. I took screen grabs as I went along.

I would truly appreciate any help.

Hi Ludwick,

Whatever you are doing till point 6 is perfect!

There is slight change from point 7.

• PLCSIM is a simulator which works as PLC (Automation Station) not as Operator Station(OS)
• We can only download the Hardware Configuration and program (Charts/Blocks) of the project to PLCSIM

(Which are related to PLC section).

OS Hardware configuration can be downloaded by following below steps,

• Right Click on yourVirtual PCin your project ->PLC -> Download

All OS related configuration files will be downloaded to PC (In your case its Virtual PC)

Hope it helps you!

Thank you for the answer.

How does downloading by clicking VirtualPC>PLC>Download differ from downloading the configuration via the HW Config Window?

Hi,  

• Virtual PC ->PLC ->Download and Download from Hardware configuration window of Virtual PC both are same.

But, 

These downloads will only download the configured devices/modules under the PC Station

• To download the connections, use Netpro (Configure network)
• To download the project to target machine, Simatic Manager ->Component View ->PC ->OS->Download

Note: Target path has to be defined before download