panic mode

chap and dirty DIY solutions will not produce good results because diodes used for rectifying will distort signal and input signal lower than some +/- 0.7V will be ignored. besides 1000uF filter capacitor with 500R resistors(s) would be way to slow for changing signals. if one still wants to do it himself, than rectifying should be done with better circuit. here is one using OpAmp. after rectification, one still has to filter and scale signal but this is very simple.

gravitar made interesting comment. if the boss is someone difficult it is very hard to compromise. i guess even if that is the case, a bit of diplomacy wouldn't hurt. i would ask him for all such rules and if they are not listed, i would make list with pro and contra and ask to sit down and discuss it. i'm sure all of us have preference that can be seen as set of rules because we stick to certain way of programming for one reason or another. if you find out what is he worried about, it will be easier to work around it. i don't like to use certain instructions, not because i don't know how they work but because somebody else will not know or because this instruction is not standard on all plcs etc. one simple instruction that i tend to avoid is TOF in AB for example, simply because I had to get out of my bed in the middle of night and drive to a remote location because someone trying to make change in the program didn't understand it. you know scenario when phone rings, baby wakes and wife gets mad (and stays mad for a week...). i explained situation to our guys and asked them to avoid certain things (didn't tell them they MUST follow "my" rules, just told them if this happens again, they are called too). we had a brief meeting and together came up with some guidelines so we can aviod or minimize scenarios like that...

can you post it? i'm just curious...

I had customer who wanted me to do the same on a not too big but rather complicated project. Program was about 30k steps and they wanted it all in one ladder file so they wouldn't have to wait for HMI to load logic when using ladder monitor. I refused and said I will finish the project, we will get paid and then they can play with it all they want, but if they call me because of any problem and I see changes, they will loose waranty. Works mirracles every time but I'm not sure it would help in your case... It might be time to gently suggest some training for the head guy... After all good troubleshooting skill is always wellcome.

www.Mouser.com seam to have 43 in stock, single piece is $4.54 http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?handler=di...e_pcodeid=57228

to drive high speed inputs of the FX2N you need to make sure you get proper signal level and since inputs are tipicaly using optocouplers, there is minimum current you need to have to successfuly turn it on. we might be able to help more if you post your circuit

well i would be more than interested to hear from Hector how this go. as for resistance values, i've seen plenty incorrectly terminated ("overterminated") systems that still worked ok.in one place i've seen small 6-7 node network where someone put terminator on every single node. it's not that 10-20% change like in example you posted would make much difference but since this was CC-Link, Japanese just had to do something different. maybe this is why their cables are red too

termination resistors in circuit are required for normal operation. in my experience they can be omited in some cases like very short cable, low baud rates, low noise level etc.. but for 100m cable length i would be surprised to see properly working connection. as said it might happen if the noise in place is very low (never been case in my projects) or com speed is low (i prefer to use highest reasonable speed when possible). resistor value is different for different networks. generally values will be lower for higher speed network. lowering impedance helps improve noise imunity at the cost of more power disipated at the transmitting node. profibus terminator is a bit different. it is the only fieldbus terminator i can think of right now that uses three resistors instead of one. additional resistors are used to balance line by pulling the ends to +5 and 0V. Tristate is nice concept it is not a problem when you have control of the circuit at the low level but how can you tristate TxD on say A1SJ71 or 485PC-IF in case like this? You would have to write own software to do this and even so I doubt it would help. When you tristate output, line is floating (high impedance). This doesn't help reduce noise, it's quite the oposite.

screenshots of cable diagrams in the excell file are correct but i think your pins assignment for RS232 is wrong. according to my little reference it should be: TXD-3 RXD-2 RTS-7 CTS-8 DSR-6 SG-5 DTR-4 so if i'm not missing anything cable from DB25 (485PC-IF) to a DB9 female (goes to PC) should be: 2-2 3-3 4-8 5-7 6-4 7-5 20-6 Next thing is to check the wiring from PLC to 485PC-IF. Make sure to use proper cable type (I would look for two twisted pairs with overal shield) with four 330 Ohm terminating resistors as shown in manual (see pic).

i'm not sure about cost but i've seen infrared thermocouples like from Exergen (JR-...)

So far I've seen good and bad things with both windows and linux. Linux (just like any unix) is way to complicated. There is no standard other than that every little thing is done diferently (total chaos and anarchy...). I remember my early attempts back in 1992/93. I was frustrated to death with stupid help system, man pages etc. Got some books all of them ware horrible but I wasn't about to give up. Help was something one should easily get online but it was never there, gurus ware rude, hardware support was bad, seting up X was real pain etc. Once you got it working, you had to deal with other nightmare(s), like dialup setup just to name one (after being forcefed with vi editor). Best applications ware crude, games ware type of old arcade games. Most impressive thing that one could run on Linux was screensaver. Nothing interesting. A while later, number of distributions took linux forward with simpler installation process, more applications more old style games and more screen savers. Hardware support somewhat improved and one could choose different window manager. There was few emulators. Linux comunity and fanatism continued while my enthusiasm was getting thinner. Linux had some advantages like better multitasking, stability etc. Windows was so bad at the time that even clumsy linux was possible threat. As a result windows versions improoved. The yucky Win3.xx was finaly history, Win9x came out. as the catching up game continued, both systems continued to improve. Linux got office, windows got option of changing display resolution without rebooting etc. Today Linux is stronger than ever and Windows is better than ever. One has variety of essential productivity tools (text and graphic editors) programming tools (beside C, one can also enjoy Borland products), support of removable media is better and pain of manual mounting is as good as gone. The other can finaly change IP address without need to reboot and more importantly one doesn't have to reboot or reinstall OS on regular basis. Although improvemnts are big, both sides still have long way to go. I guess we can call it evolution. In the age of communication Linux is playing big role with it's servers and many services that simply didn't exist before became available (affordable). I am (personal) computer user and I although I like to fiddle with things I simply don't have time anymore to entertain myself with linux. It might be better desktop solution than it ever was, and open source is wonderful concept (or any open architecture), but Linux still has long way to go to get user friendliness. For example application installation has to be simpler so everyone can do it (like my grandma or babysitter). After all they have no problem double clicking on any Setup.exe or just inserting CD into computer. Windows lack this open concept. Most interesting files such those created by users are often stored in propriatery formats which is not good if you plan to use those files in few years (how about 20 or even 2000?) unless you do continuous maintenance and file conversion. Books, scrolls and cave paintings have been known to survive for long periods, why can't my digital addressbook? Another thing which is probably true idea behind this topic is user applications. After all we don't buy computers just to throw money out of window. We wont to be able to do something with it (and make more money). So far products I am using on regular basis in my line of work are made by AB, Autodesk, Atlas Copco, Fanuc, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Pilz, Sick, Omron, etc. Others are in same position. So far I'm not aware of posibility to run those programs on Linux so any preference is limited to what is useful for me. For years this was Windows. Linux does have increased presence (networking products etc.) but it's not close and personal like Windows. I guess this clearly shows what a bit of healthy competition can do so I'm thankful for both.

hehehe, i'll have to remember that

how about embeded?

- you reduce window size if possible, - create screenshot by pressing PrtScreen or Alt+PrtScreen (first one takes whole screen, later one only does window in focus) - paste it into some software that can save it as picture (I use Irfanview) - create post and attach the image as for PDF, get virtual printer drivers ( free one is colled PDF995 or something like that...). once you install it, it shows up like another printer. when you print to this 'printer', there is no paper involved, result is PDF file. it works with every application.

see if this helps: http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopi...&hl=qc24+serial

you can use shift registers (see help for BSL instruction) and any number of other ways but what exactly you want to achive? just to find ratio run time vs. down time or time or to see graphically how often machine was stopped or...? Maybe this would help. I used all 0-255 registers of N100 for tracking. Bit B3:0/0 was used as input (on when machine is running). You can change timer preset to make it go faster or slower...

i'm not sure what exactly you want to do but did you see this tread: http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=6737

before we elaborate on software settings, why don't you tell us how these devices are phisically connected? straight cable from pc to plc will not work unless pc has network card supporting MDI/MDX (only found on newer computers). in this case you might want to try crossover cable or combination of straight cables with switch or hub. if switch supports MDI/MDX then it wouldn't matter if cables are straight or crossover.

oh well...

www.meau.com will have it and it will work for 15 days without licence. also note that since you are not from north america you might have problem navigating download section of www.meau.com, they like to forward you to closer server... if so, maybe you can find it on german server: http://www.mitsubishi-automation.de/

this information is easy to find but since there are so many requests for SC09 schematics, here it is again:

this software and 800 series GOT are all obsoleted. i'm not sure if they still sell it but if you buy GT works2, you will find this software as a bonus on CD.

did you say .... racing.... mess...? rally_crash_water.wmv

i'm not sure what is string pot but if i was doing it, i would first connect 24V to power terminals of the card, get small regulated 10V power supply, connect ends of pot to it (10V), and the wiper from pot to plc analog input (V+), and of course connect commons. all of this can be seen on "page 2 of 12, Terminals layout" in manual http://www.meau.com/Files/JY992D52601-E.PDF, if the link above doesn't work, try this: http://www.meau.com/functions/dms/getfile....000000205601000 you may also want to read this: http://www.meau.com/functions/dms/getfile....000000206602000

maybe i'm missing something but better let me ask: how can i fix the icons on the main page without re-reading every single tread in every forum? is there a quick way to do "mark all as read"? every time i connect my browser shows me that there are new messages in every forum - even if i return after 2 seconds... never mind... i was trying so hard to do it from the main page. all i had to do is enter any of the forums and notice tiny button in upper right corner then do the same for other forums...