National Instruments FP-3000 - Manual (Page 119)

© National Instruments Corporation F-1 FieldPoint FP-3000 User Manual
F
Troubleshooting
The FP-3000 is a powerful and highly flexible tool you can use to solve
distributed I/O and control problems. Because of this flexibility, you might
encounter problems getting the FP-3000 to perform the functions you want.
This chapter helps you diagnose and solve common problems that you
might encounter using the FP-3000. Problems you might encounter with
the FP-3000 include Fieldbus communication problems, I/O module
problems, and software configuration problems.
Setting Device Tag and Fieldbus Network Address
All Fieldbus devices need a unique Fieldbus network address and a unique
device tag before they can be fully operational. The FP-3000 ships without
a device tag and only a default network address. A default network address
is a network address used temporarily to allow a device tag to be written by
host configuration software. Before a permanent network address can be
assigned, the device must be assigned a device tag. If you are using the
NI-FBUS Configurator, these steps happen automatically when the
NI-FBUS Configurator first “sees” the FP-3000 on the bus.
When the NI-FBUS Configurator finds an FP-3000 at a default Fieldbus
network address, it creates and assigns it a unique device tag based on
FP-3000 and the device’s serial number. When the tag has been assigned,
it then assigns the FP-3000 a permanent network address. (The address is
permanent only in the sense that it is the address where the device is
expected to stay. You can change the address.)
Fieldbus Communication Problems
The interface between the host computer and the FP-3000 is a F O U N D A TIO N
Fieldbus network. The network allows you to connect multiple devices
(such as FP-3000 network modules or other Fieldbus transmitters) and
hosts together, with each device or host having a unique Fieldbus network
address and a unique device tag. A link master device on the Fieldbus
constantly polls (probes) empty network addresses to check for new
devices. A number of problems can arise related to this networking scheme.