S7-TIA Portal: How can I make a project if I've only got the code loaded on the PLC?

[Mas01]

Hi All,

Someone at work has put a PLC system on my desk, that's just been taken off an idle production line.

He said "It's an S7 PLC. We don't have the code backed up anywhere...Can you make a backup in case the PLC gets damaged or whatever?"

I told him "Err, I've not done that before, but I'm guessing it's possible."

I opened the lid and it's the same as what I've worked on before - an S7-1200 series PLC.

If I connect it to my laptop that's got TIA PORTAL (mine is v18) on it, is it possible to read the program on the PLC and create a project from it?

Thanks

 

[mk42]

2 options:

1) you can make a binary backup. It doesn't let you make changes, but it lets you save a snapshot of how the PLC is right now, to download again later.
1.5) if it has a memory card, you can copy all that into a directory, and copy it back into different card later.
2) you can upload and get an editable version.

Option 2 definitely requires that the TIA version you upload with is the same as what was downloaded.

SIOS

support.industry.siemens.com

I think Option 1 requires not only having the same Portal, but also a project with the same CPU part number and FW rev to store the backup in.
The Simatic Automation Tool lets you do that function without needing to match everything.

SIOS

support.industry.siemens.com

 

[Mas01]

2 options:

1) you can make a binary backup. It doesn't let you make changes, but it lets you save a snapshot of how the PLC is right now, to download again later.
1.5) if it has a memory card, you can copy all that into a directory, and copy it back into different card later.
2) you can upload and get an editable version.

Option 2 definitely requires that the TIA version you upload with is the same as what was downloaded.

SIOS

support.industry.siemens.com

I think Option 1 requires not only having the same Portal, but also a project with the same CPU part number and FW rev to store the backup in.
The Simatic Automation Tool lets you do that function without needing to match everything.

SIOS

support.industry.siemens.com

Cheers for the reply.
I've not yet checked the links you've posted (I will definitely do that).
But just to let you know, the PLC has got a card SLOT and I do have a spare Siemens SD card. Could that be put into the slot and written to in order to make a backup?

 

[mk42]

If it has a valid program for the PLC on the card, the card will definitely overwrite the PLC, even if the program is blank.

I actually don't know what happens if you put a blank one in. OFF TO THE MANUALS!

Edit: manual says that an empty S7 SD card in the slot will absorb the project in the internal load memory. the setting "disable copy from internal load memory to external load memory" is disabled, which is the default. See 5.5.1 of the 1200 system manual.

 

[Puddle]

Fire it up, connect a network cable to it and see what it says under online and diagnostics.

Online access > select your network adapter > find the PLC > online and diagnostics > General

This should bring up some information about the PLC and the 5th line is TIA portal version.

From there you should just be able to upload a backup into a clean project using the correct version of TIA. I'm not sure how many labels it will retain though, so it may take some work and possibly some electrical drawings to figure out what it's actually doing!

 

[RVaughan]

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From there you should just be able to upload a backup into a clean project using the correct version of TIA. I'm not sure how many labels it will retain though, so it may take some work and possibly some electrical drawings to figure out what it's actually doing!

1200s keep their tag names and comments, no worries there. (Perhaps some issues with the earliest firmware versions?)

Create new project, then go to the text menu Online > Upload device as new station. This is Mk42's Option 2. It requires the same Portal version in which the project was written, as Puddle mentioned.

 

[Mas01]

Fire it up, connect a network cable to it and see what it says under online and diagnostics.

Online access > select your network adapter > find the PLC > online and diagnostics > General

This should bring up some information about the PLC and the 5th line is TIA portal version.

From there you should just be able to upload a backup into a clean project using the correct version of TIA. I'm not sure how many labels it will retain though, so it may take some work and possibly some electrical drawings to figure out what it's actually doing!

Cheers for this.

I thought I'd try out your suggestion first (bold), because it does not involve the SD-Card (inserting the SD card gives me the heebie-jeebies at the moment, in case I royally screws thing up and accidentally overwrite the PLC's load memory - not yet read the manual per @mk42's post).

I did your bit in bold and got this - connected the network cable & the PLC was detected - see screenshot.
Unfortunately, the code's not accessible ("no entry" signs), because it was written with v15 and I've got v18.

Not sure where to go from here - but still need to act on the suggestions from @mk42 and @RVaughan .
Cheers

 

[Puddle]

Wow, somebody actually bought the 1200 form power supply!

You should now be able to install TIA v15 and simply upload the program into a fresh project.
If needed, if you then open that in v18 it should* convert the file for you.

*saying should because I'm still on v16, which I know works but I'm not sure if there's a limit to the compatibility.

 

[Mas01]

Wow, somebody actually bought the 1200 form power supply!

You should now be able to install TIA v15 and simply upload the program into a fresh project.
If needed, if you then open that in v18 it should* convert the file for you.

*saying should because I'm still on v16, which I know works but I'm not sure if there's a limit to the compatibility.

Yes mate. I was surprised, too...On the project I just worked on, we bought a bog-standard off-the-shelf 24VDC power supply - TDK Lambda - for less than half the price of the PM-1207.

Thanks for the help again.

 

[mk42]

You should now be able to install TIA v15 and simply upload the program into a fresh project.
If needed, if you then open that in v18 it should* convert the file for you.

*saying should because I'm still on v16, which I know works but I'm not sure if there's a limit to the compatibility.

If you have a V18/19 license, then you should be able to install V15 and it'll license, tho you might need to ask tech support for the installer. I think they only have 15.1 on the support site still.

The current Portal versions can import projects from v13 SP2 forward (or maybe SP1?). Older versions need to be migrated to V13 SP2 before they can be imported into anything more recent. Not 100% sure why the 2 step process for really old stuff, but it is what it is.

 

[bkottaras]

The current Portal versions can import projects from v13 SP2 forward (or maybe SP1?). Older versions need to be migrated to V13 SP2 before they can be imported into anything more recent. Not 100% sure why the 2 step process for really old stuff, but it is what it is.

It is V13 SP1. I've done quite a few.
I have TIAv13 SP1 Upd9, Step7, Pro Tool, Scout, WinCC on a VM.
I can tell you that the thing feels like a breeze compared to a VM running TIA v17,v18 and v19, what a hog!!!