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i added a comment to your law of averaging, but didn't see it added to the thread

Isn't it amazing what they've done with MAME? I would think that emulating one microprocessor with another would be challenging enough, but when you consider that some of these games run as many as 4-5 microprocessors simultaneously (not always off-the-shelf parts either) and most have undocumented custom ASICs as well, it makes MAME's success all the more incredible. And to top it off, it's FREE! BTW, as far as piracy.. it's my understanding that the only part of the game that is copyrighted is the code in the ROMs. In theory, MAME is only for people that already own licensed set(s) of game ROMs, why is why the MAME program itself is never distributed together with ROM images (other than the few that have been released into the public domain).

I wondered what industries preferred modicon. They're popular in the brewing business?

On a somewhat related note, a couple years ago I was out shopping for land-line cordless phones. They had 900 MHz models, 2.4 GHz models, and even 5.8 GHz ones. The salesman asserted that the higher the frequency the longer the range, and since we have a big backyard we had better choose from the (most expensive) 5.8 GHz models. So did he have it dead wrong? I would expect voice transmission to be pretty low-bandwidth.

The only way we learn anything in life is to get in over our heads. Good luck, and enjoy the challenge!

From what little I undertand of it, the SCCR (withstand) rating of the panel is an important concept in UL508A so make sure you have them properly calculated. The wiring color code changed, too.

Ok, so you don't need signal amplification. Take a look at this: http://www.blackbox.com/Catalog/Detail.asp...60&mid=1904 Actually, if the PC and PLC are in the cabinet, connected to the same ground, I would be tempted first to try physically connecting the TX line from the scanner to the RX lines on the PC and PLC, and just tie the signal grounds of all three devices together. You might want to hold off a day or two to see if anyone tells us that is a crazy idea, though :)

How far apart are the scanner, PLC, and PC?

Well if my toughbook proves to be able to talk to a messageview, you can have it next :)

This is what I get on mine:

I used to be pretty good at setting up interchange.. I'm not so sure it would behave in an XP environment though. What specifically is your problem?

Up until a couple days ago, the forum threads would appear as a long linear list of replies in chronological order. I liked that. But now, I get this two-dimensional "tree" that does not list replies according to when they were added (see attachment). This is displeasing to my little brain. Can I return it to the way it was? I wasn't aware that I had changed anything, but anything's possible!

thank you!

now mind you I have very little knowledge of temperature control, but it seems to me that if you could take accurate temperature measurements (preferably at several different temperatures), You could empirically determine which TC best fits the curve. If you had a little panelmount temperature controller, you could flip thru the various TC types and see which one is closest to the correct temperature. Of course if the system is not operational, you're sorta out of luck :(

So what he's looking for is "hot backup" (like the PLC-3 could do)? Wasn't there an option for the PLC-5 to do that also? I guess if he needs it to be "cheap" he could see if this backup communication system is on ebay. I know you can get some good deals on PLC 5 processors there..

What about the red safety PLCs? (Can't remember the name, I think it is Guard Logix?) Don't those have built-in redundancy? I'm sure they don't fit the "cheap-n-dirty" category though :) I would suspect that any reliable level of redundancy would tend not to be cheap..

In the cheap-n-dirty category, I recall several of the stamping presses at a shop I once worked for were wired with a pair of redundant fixed SLCs. I can't recall the exact configuration but I believe the inputs were wired in parallel, except for a pair of inputs that were wired to a pair of outputs on the other SLC (and vice-versa) for a "heartbeat". Can't remember exactly what they were doing with the outputs.. I think they were wired in series so both had to close before you'd get an energized circuit

the last job I went out on, i stayed at a day's inn. Like so many hotels these days, they have eschewed normal wired ethernet connectios for WiFi. So I popped in my trusty WiFi card and started it up. Nice strong signal.. Got an IP address.. things are looking good. BUT.. When I type in a web address into the browser, I can't connect. It just says "Looking for ......." in the progress bar. So now it's time to use what little knowledge I've got about networking. Looked up my IP address, pinged it, worked. Pinged the gateway.. worked. Pinged the DNS server.. nothing. I'm thinking now that I've been assigned an invalid DNS server address. Is there anything I can do about that? Could anything else be the cause of this?

I can't recall completely but it sounds like the error I got one time when the socket in one of the slots of the chassis wasn't making a good connection with the pins of the card. Is it possible to move the card to a spare slot (if there are any)? If not, you may have to replace the card or the chassis. First thing to try is just powering down, remove/replace the card, and power back up. See if that clears the error.

Not to argue any further, but I was in those shoes for many years. I had to answer to customers much less tactful than the negative comment I added to this thread :) And, yeah, if I were still in that position, I would pay attention to threads like this one, negativity notwithstanding. As long as there's concrete examples of opportunity for improvement, like the several that were mentioned. So I guess this is an open opportunity for any and all RA employees that may be reading this forum. Please let us know if our suggestions have been given serious consideration, and if there are any future plans to incorporate them. I'm encouraged to hear that Omron has discovered what a valuable resource MrPLC.com can be to them. If RA "throws us a bone" so to speak, you're sure to see all traces of negativity disappear and find nothing but solid enthusiasm take its place.

What I want is for RSLogix 500 to remember whether the PLC has an EEPROM in it or not, that was after I've made a bunch of online edits it will REMIND me to save them to the chip before I go offline. Seems simple enough, right? I mentioned this on the A-B forums (while they were still open) and got ZERO feedback. Mentioned it here a couple years ago too. As much as I like A-B products, I have to come to grips with the fact that is is for the most part, a faceless bureaucracy :(

Good suggestions, but my money is on your request falling upon deaf ears :)

Sounds like a plan! Are you planning on updating the controls or just leaving it as-is?

Hey here's a thought.. go to this website and post what you are trying to do in the RFQ forum: http://www.cnczone.com/forums/index.php I don't know if management is dead-set on doing this in-house, but you may find that it can be done much cheaper outside

Got it! that is a very effective animation of the concept