Using Other Master Controllers with the RMC

The RMC motion controllers are compatible with a large number of devices, and therefore it is not possible to include specific instructions for all compatible master controllers. This topic provides general information on how to use other master controllers with the RMC. The RMC is always a slave.

If your PLC, HMI or other device does not support any of the methods listed here, please contact a Delta Computer Systems sales engineer to discuss your device. Delta strives to support all major devices, and is interested in knowing about devices that the RMC does not support.

Ethernet

Communicating with the RMC via Ethernet from other devices will use one of the following four methods. Review each to determine which is appropriate for your device:

PLC Ethernet Emulation
The RMC responds to several common industrial Ethernet protocols and can emulate, or act like, several common PLCs. If your device supports reading and writing to registers in any of these PLCs, then your device should be able to communicate with the RMC. See Using the RMC’s PLC Ethernet Emulation for details.
Standard Industrial Ethernet Protocols
The RMC75E, RMC150E, and RMC200 controllers support several common industrial Ethernet protocols, including Modbus/TCP, PROFINET and EtherNet/IP. If your device can make requests in any of the RMC’s supported industrial Ethernet protocols, then it can likely communicate with the RMC. See the Supported Ethernet Protocols section in the Ethernet Overview topic for details.
.NET Assembly and ActiveX Control
Applications that are running on a Windows PC and that support ActiveX Controls, .NET Assemblies, or Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) can use Delta’s RMCLink .NET Assembly and ActiveX Control. See the RMCLink topic for details.
Direct over TCP or UDP
Third-party or custom controllers that do not support any of the above three methods but can send and receive either TCP or UDP packets directly can communicate with the RMC by manually building and parsing packets over TCP or UDP. See the Communicating Directly over TCP and Communicating Directly over UDP topics for details. Delta has examples for certain programming languages, such as C.

Serial RS-232 and RS-485

The RMC75S supports serial RS-232 and RS-485. The RMC150 does not support serial communication, but can communicate with serial devices via serial-to Ethernet converters sold by other manufacturers. Contact Delta for more information.

Communicating with the RMC from serial devices will use one of the following methods. Review each to determine which is appropriate for your device:

Standard Industrial Ethernet Protocols
The RMC75S supports the several industrial serial protocols, including Modbus RTU, DF1, and the Mitsubishi Bidirectional Protocol. For details, see each respective topic.
.NET Assembly or ActiveX Control
Applications that are running on a Windows PC and that support ActiveX Controls, .NET Assemblies, or Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) can use Delta’s RMCLink .NET Assembly and ActiveX Control. See the RMCLink topic for details.

PROFIBUS-DP

The RMC75P and RMC150 can communicate via PROFIBUS-DP. For details, see the PROFIBUS topic.