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VIM2 with Redundant SX?

I want to design a panel for a single VIM2 and simplex SX, with a blank 2-wide in between to put another SX in for redundancy in the future. Through conversations with some colleagues and research into the documentation, I've heard the following constraints:

  1. VIM2 must be directly to the left of the SX controller
  2. Redundant SX controllers must be next to each other

I don't think these can both be true. If you put a VIM2 next to two SX which are redundant, and the active SX fails, the standby SX will not be directly next to the VIM2, so according to point 1 the VIM2 will not communicate with the redundant SX. So then if you put a VIM2 directly to the left of each SX, now the SX can no longer be redundant according to point 2. So one of these must be wrong.

Question 1: How do you configure a VIM2 with redundant SX in a panel?

Question 2: If the redundant SX from question 1 is switched to a simplex, and the controller which is removed is replaced with an empty 2-wide, can the controller still communicate both with the VIM2 and with an 8-wide with other I/O cards?

I appreciate any insight, thanks!

Chelsea Sanborn
  • Andre Dicaire
    You're right, they can't both be true. There is an accepted convention that the VIM 2 wide carrier should be placed to the left of the controller carrier. The real criteria is that the cannot be an IO carrier between the VIM carrier and the controller carrier. The IO carriers manipulate the IO card and IO carrier selection lines such that as you add carriers, the card slot number changes. The VIM emulates cards on the last carrier, slots 57 through 64 ( if you have two VIM's). They monitor the IO selection lines to determine when carrier 8 is selected and which of the cards on that carrier are selected. It's a physical order of connection thing.

    So, as long as the VIM 2 wide carrier sits to the left or right of the controller, with no IO carriers between them, it will work.

    For the controllers, they must be installed adjacent to each other as there is a redundancy link that must connect the two carriers in order for them to act as a redundant pair. In S Series, this connection is part of the main carrier connector. In M-series the redundancy connector is at the upper corner of the carrier. The VIM does not use this link.

    You will have three 2-wide carriers connected to each other. You can place the VIM on the far left or far right carrier, and use the two remaining adjacent carriers for controllers. I would place the VIM on the right, place the controller in the middle, and leave the empty carrier as the outside far left. If you needed this carrier elsewhere for some reason in the future, you would be able to remove it.

    Note that the PK controller can be connected to a VIM installed on the right of the controller. There is no connector to the left on the PK carrier.

    Andre Dicaire

  • Chelsea Sanborn

    In reply to Andre Dicaire:

    Andre, thank you, this is a lot of great information. I especially appreciate that you've clarified that the "VIM must be to the left of the controller" is an accepted convention, but not a constraint. I understand a lot better now, thank you!

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