ArcLink over Ethernet

aka
ArcLink XT©

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ArcLink XT©

• Introduction
• Configurations
• Ethernet concepts
• How To
– Single Equipment
– Multi-Equipment
• Other combinations

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 ArcLink over Ethernet

• ArcLink XT© allows the robot to communicate to

the weld power supply using the Ethernet
connection.
• This eliminates the CAN bus adapter and related
support hardware and uses a standard Ethernet
port of the R-30iA controller
• Ethernet provides a higher bandwidth interface
than CAN bus.

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Network Configurations

Simple System: Single robot, single controller, single Power Wave

The Power Wave connection always uses Ethernet Port 2
Building Network
(not required and may not be present)

EN1

EN2

ArcLink Access for Lincoln PC Applications:

Ethernet cable •Power Wave Manager
(partial internal •Production Monitoring
routing)
•Weld View

ArcLink requests from PCs on the building

network connected to EN1 are proxied to EN2

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 Network Configurations

Multi-Equipment configuration: A single robot controller supports 1 to 4

Power Waves. If more than 1 Power Wave is used, you must use an
Ethernet switch

Building Network
(not required and may not be present)

EN1

EN2 switch

Note: EN port 2 ONLY

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 Network Configurations

What about configurations that need to use more than one Ethernet port?

E I/P, EGD I/O, etc.

The first choice is to use

EN1
Ethernet port 1 for other
EN2
ArcLink XT connections

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 Network Configurations

What if you can’t give up EN port 1 for the other connections because
the building network needs to be connected?
Building Network

E I/P

EN1

EN2
You can share EN Port 2 with
Another device that requires
Ethernet, although the network
switch Setup requires special attention.
(More about this later)

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Network Configurations

Forbidden Configuration
To Building Network

EN1

EN2

EN1

EN2

This configuration is not supported. There are addressing conflicts and arc welding
performance can be compromised by the site network configuration.

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 Basic Ethernet Information

Initial Configuration of Ethernet for the Power Wave

• The Ethernet setup for the i400 is accomplished from the ArcTool Setup Menu at
Controlled Start as with any welding equipment. In the case of ArcLink XT, you
choose the equipment manufacturer as Lincoln Electric and the equipment model
as “Power Wave + ENET”.
• Upon power up the i400 Power Wave sends a DHCP request (Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol) that includes the MAC ID (Media Access Control) of the
specific Ethernet transceiver on the weld controller. The MAC is unique for every
Ethernet device in the world.
• The first time the i400 Power Wave is installed, the robot controller responds to the
Power Wave DHCP request and assigns the unit an IP address. By default, the
robot Ethernet Port 2 is assigned to 192.168.2.151 and the i400 is given the next
address in sequence, 192.168.2.152.
• The robot controller retains a table that matches the IP address with the specific
MAC ID of the Power Wave. This means that a special procedure must be
followed if you need to exchange the i400 Power Wave for a different unit.
• On subsequent power cycles, the robot serves up the same IP address to the i400
Power Wave that matches the MAC ID

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 Basic Ethernet Information

Ethernet Configuration Rules

•The R-30iA robot controller provides two Ethernet ports. A basic rule for use of these
two ports is that they must be assigned to IP addresses on separate subnets.
•Example:
EN Port 1 IP address: 172.22.65.164
EN Port 2 IP address: 192.168.2.151

•The i400 Power Wave must be connected to Ethernet Port 2 on the robot controller
and the ArcTool setup menu automatically configures this port for you at installation.
•When Ethernet Port 1 is not used for plant network connections, it can be used for
Ethernet I/P or EGD connections, to a PLC for example. This is the preferred
configuration.
•If port 1 is needed for plant network connections, Ethernet port 2 can be shared with
the Ethernet I/P or EGD connection (with a switch) although you must configure the
other devices correctly.

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 Basic Ethernet Information

Ethernet Configuration Example

Shown below are the HOST COMM TCP/IP setup menus for Ethernet
Port 1 and Port 2.
In this example, port 1 is connected to the plant network with IP address
172.22.65.162 and port 2 is assigned with IP address 192.168.2.151.
The i400 Power Wave is communicating with port 2 using IP address
192.168.2.152.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a single i400 power Wave

Set up at Controlled Start as with any weld equipment, although the Power Wave
must be connected and turned ON to make the connection.

Model Name:
Power Wave + ENet selects the
ArcLink XT connection.

(Power Wave + ArcLnk selects

the CAN Bus connection)

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a single i400 power Wave

Select model name as “Power

Wave + Enet” and a prompt box is
posted reminding you that the unit
must be connected and turned
ON. Press Enter to continue.

When you make this selection

with the Power Wave ON, ArcTool
assigns an IP address to the
power supply.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a single i400 power Wave

If there is some problem with the

IP assignment, the connection will
fail and post a new pop-up menu
asking if you wish to retry.

A successful setup will result in the

message “Power Wave detected”.

When the connection is successful,

Cold Start the controller and proceed
to setup the Weld Process Mode as is
normal for any Power Wave model.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a multi-equipment system with the i400 power Wave

The following procedure is similar to setting up multi-equipment for any weld

power supply with one important exception:

You must only turn on ONE i400 Power Supply at a time during the
initial IP assignment.

If you do not follow this rule, you can create a mismatch between Equipment 1 and
Equipment 2. (Eq1 assigned to Power Wave #2, Eq2 assigned to Power Wave
#1)

The following pages provide the step-by-step instructions for a Dual equipment
configuration.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a multi-equipment system with the i400 power Wave

Conditions:
1. The robot controller includes the Multi-
Equipment option.
2. You have installed the first i400 according the
the single equipment installation instructions
and selected a process mode at Cold Start.
3. You have verified the operation of equipment
1.

Procedure:
1. Put the robot controller in Controlled Start
state.
2. On the ArcTool Setup menu, move the cursor
to the lower section of the menu and set the
Number of Equipment to 2.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a multi-equipment system with the i400 power Wave

Procedure:

3. IMMEDIATELY cycle power on the robot controller.

4. When the controller returns to the Controlled Start Menu, the designation
E1 will appear in the upper right corner of the menu.
5. Press SHIFT + DISPLAY and select item 6, Display Equip.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a multi-equipment system with the i400 power Wave

Procedure:

6. The menu will change to the E2

display and the yellow pop-up
menu will prompt you to turn ON
the second equipment.
7. Turn on the second i400 Power
Wave and press Enter. The robot
controller will attempt to assign an
IP address to Equipment 2.
8. If there is a failure, the message
“Power Wave not detected” will be
posted, along with “Setup
incomplete, use CHECK”. This
refers to the F3 (CHECK) function
key.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

How To Setup a multi-equipment system with the i400 power Wave

Procedure:

9. Running CHECK will print some

status information to the pendant.
10. Pressing ENTER will cause the IP
assignment process to proceed
resulting in a message indicating
that the Power Wave is detected.
11. When complete, Cold Start the
controller and proceed to select a
process mode for equipment 2.

NOTE:
The CHECK function can be used
to swap equipment or verify the
equipment assignment.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

SWAPPING Equipment

If you need to exchange an i400 Power Wave or move it to a different

equipment assignment, you must return to Controlled Start and use the
CHECK function to release and renew the IP address for that equipment.
You also need to cycle power on the i400 Power Wave so that it will
release it’s former IP address and request a new one. As mentioned
earlier, the robot controller maintains a table that matches the IP address
and MAC ID. This can only be released by re-assigning the equipment at
Controlled Start with the CHECK utility.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

Static IP Assignment for the i400 Power Wave

By default, ArcTool assigns the IP address of Ethernet port 2 and each i400 from
the following list:
Robot port 2: 192.168.2.151
First i400: 192.168.2.152
Second i400: 192.168.2.153
Third i400: 192.168.2.154
Fourth i400: 192.168.2.155

If you need to choose a different IP address range, you can setup the IP
addresses by manually configuring the port 2 IP address BEFORE setting up the
i400 unit(s) and ArcTool will use this number as the base address, adding 1 to the
last octet for each unit.
For example:
Manually configure EN 2 port address to: 10.10.10.1
ArcTool will assign the 1st i400 to: 10.10.10.2
The 2nd i400 to: 10.10.10.3
etc.

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 Setting Up ArcLink XT

Sharing Ethernet Port 2 with other devices

If you must attach other devices to Ethernet Port 2 along with the i400 Power Wave,
You can do so with an Ethernet Switch.
In this case, there are two options:
1) Allow ArcTool to assign the default IP address to port 2 and configure
the other devices to addresses in the same range.
2) Configure the IP address for port 2 manually, and then follow the setup
procedure for connecting an i400 Power Wave from the ArcTool Setup menu.

ArcTool checks the state of the IP address assignment on port 2 during initial
equipment setup. If the IP address is assigned already, ArcTool will provide an
IP address in the same range but add 1 to the final octet of the IP address for the
i400 Power Wave. See previous slide entitled “Static IP Assignment”.

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Power Wave Manager Backup/Restore Menus

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Power Wave Manager Backup/Restore Menus

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