Steve Bailey

MrPLC Moderator
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Everything posted by Steve Bailey

  1. Emerson (Prophecy) vs. Rockwell (A-B) Lets be real...

    It's not a zero-sum game. Learning the Emerson software doesn't mean you unlearn Rockwell. In my opinion, a resume showing experience with multiple brands is better than one with only a single brand. Every brand has strengths and weaknesses. Knowing how to get the job done by taking advantage of the strengths great. Getting the job done despite the weaknesses is even more important. You don't win points with the boss by saying, "If you had chosen my preferred brand, I would have been finished by now". GE's PLC market share was, in large part, based on the fact that all GE divisions specified that GE products be used in any equipment purchased for their plants. Given their large footprint, that's a pretty good base to start from. Now that Emerson owns the PLC product, I don't know whether the corporate mandate is still in force. 
  2. help with first time program

    First, identify what items you have available that you can control. Presumably you can't let the fire go out, so one of the thermostats you mentioned may be the combustion chamber temperature. Is this a wood pellet furnace where you have control of the feed auger? Is there a fan for combustion air? You mentioned a boiler, so is another thermostat for water temperature? Is one of the thermostats for room temperature? Do you have control over a circulation pump to move the hot water through the heated area? Write down a list of the things you can control. These are the PLC outputs. Write down another list of the things available to help you control them. These are the PLC inputs. Then write a description of when each of the items under control by the PLC need to turn on and off. When have accounted for all the conditions necessary to turn on and off each of the controlled items, you're ready to start converting the textual description to ladder logic. If you find in your textual description that instead of turning an output on and off you want to change its speed, then you are looking at analog control. For many systems a poor man's analog control can  be realized by turning on an output for some number of seconds out of every minute (or some percentage of a more convenient time period). So there's a start. Post your list of inputs and outputs and your control description and people here will help you translate it into a PLC-based control.
  3. Logicmaster 6 Keyboard Translator Chart

    Glad I could help. But that factory is living on borrowed time. Series Six stuff is so old that you worry if a module fresh out of the box will work. And finding a computer that will still run Logicmaster will always be a concern. Not to mention a having a working computer that will host the parallel WSI card. One of my tasks at the plant I mentioned was to put together a backup Workmaster II computer with WSI card from stuff available on ebay.
  4. Logicmaster 6 Keyboard Translator Chart

    Here is a scan of the page. In addition, the file, README.LM6 in you Logicmaster directory contains a list of the hot key combinations. Where are you still using a Series Six? A couple of years ago I had the occasion to do some work on what I believe to be the last two functioning Series Six installations in the state of New Hampshire.They are in a pair of wood chip fired generating stations that are near the bottom of the grid manager's priority list.
  5. HUSKY HMI Disaster Recovery

    I'm a bit confused by your comments about needing three diskettes for backups. First, Logicmaster used a utility called PKZIP to create backup files and PKUNZIP to restore from the backup. PKZIP created a number of files with extensions like .PKA, .PKB, etc. That sounds like what you're describing when you talk about .PK* files. The .PK* files should be in a subdirectory of the Logicmaster project folder for each machine. The subdirectory will be named "BACKUP". Logicmaster was originally distributed on 3.5" floppies and at some revision levels it probably required three floppies to hold all the files. Is that what you mean when you talk about three floppies? There was a product called Cimplicity 90 ADS for creating HMI screens. The HMI application runs on a coprocessor module in the PLC. For a 90-30 PLC the part number for the coprocessor module is IC693ADS301. You create and edit the HMI screens using software calle "ADS Builder", which is an add-on module to Logicmaster. If you can post your all of your .PK* files for one machine I can try to restore from them and perhaps offer a bit more help. I have the manuals for Cimplicity 90 ADS, but I'm not sure if they were ever issued in .pdf format.    
  6. HUSKY HMI Disaster Recovery

    First question is what version of Logicmaster are you using? Second question is are you willing to upgrade to the final version of Logicmaster? I can provide you with a .zip file of version 9.05 of Logicmaster which will run in DOSBox under a 32-bit operating system and youwdon't need three 3.5" floppies.  I don't recognize the control panel/HMI as anything GE Fanuc ever offered, which could mean it is a Husky custom industrial PC. You may need to consult Husky for details on it.
  7. HUSKY HMI Disaster Recovery

    I worked for a distributor of GE Fanuc PLCs and I remember that Husky used a lot of GE Fanuc PLCs. I don't have any direct experience with Husky, but I am familiar with GE Fanuc, including Logicmaster software. Can you post a picture of the HMI? That might help me identify exactly what you are dealing with. GE Fanuc used to brand label Nematron hardware for their HMI offering, and they had a software product called Cimplicity ADS Alphanumeric Display System that was an add-on module to Logicmaster.
  8. Controls Designing

    Don't you just love spell check? What does one practice to get into carnage hall? 
  9. Emerson (GE) memory map data types

    Discrete data types: %I - Real world inputs %Q - Real world outputs %M - Discrete internals. You can use %M memory for numeric data as long as the starting address of the variable is on a byte boundary.  %S, %SA, %SB, %SC - Status bits %G - Somewhat of a throwback to the old days of Logicmaster (DOS) software. Discrete internals. I tended to use %G memory for HMI bits. %T - Another throwback, but still discrete internals. You can assign the same %T address to as many coil -( )- instructions as you want. Numeric data types: %AI - Real world analog inputs %AQ - Real world analog outputs %R - 16-bit internals. You can use tag names instead of addresses in the Rx3i. In the 90-30 all variables will have an address, but you can assign a tag name to a variable and use it instead of the address.  The problems most people have when migrating from one brand to another arise from trying to make the new brand behave like the brand you're accustomed to. Of course it doesn't help when the new brand doesn't use the same terminology as the old. It's hard to find what you're looking for in the help files when you don't know the right keywords.
  10. Difficulty using the SEARCH function PAC software PLC application

    I have always found the "Find in Target" (CTRL+SHIFT+F) option more reliable than the "Find" (CTRL+F) choice.
  11. AutoCAD 2008

    It may be a function of the installation CD. In my AutoCAD 2000 all I can find under the Main Dictionary setting is American or British English. In AutoCAD2000 I found it under, Tools/Options,Files tab, then expand "Text Editor, Dictionary and Font File Names".
  12. GE90-70 LM90 application help

    Once a program has been modified using PME, it can no longer be opened with LM90. But the PLC itself doesn't care what program you employed to create the program you want to download to it.In answer to question 1, PME can recognize and upload a LM90 program. LM90, being older software can't recognize a PME program.In answer to question 1a, you will find that after uploading a LM90 program using PME, you will be in a "Logic not Equal" state. Thus, you won't be able to make online changes without first downloading what you just uploaded.In answer to question 3, LM90 permits online changes.In answer to LM90 question 1, yes to both downloading a LM90 program to a PLC previously programmed using PME and to later downloading the PME program to the same PLC. I doubt if the firmware will be an issue, but I can't give you any guarantee.In answer to LM90 question 2, you can generally download program changes to a 90-70 without stopping it. The way LM90 does online changes, it will download the only the modified program blocks to available free memory and then change the starting address of the subroutines. Doing this enough times eventually creates fragmented memory. If there is not a large enough block of free memory to accommodate the modified program blocks, the online change won't be possible. In that case you would have to stop the program before downloading.Having said all that, the fact that you have a redundant system complicates things. GE offered multiple redundancy strategies over the years.. Some of them included proprietary program blocks along with the ladder logic specific to the application. Your best bet is to get the manuals for your particular redundancy strategy and familiarize yourself with the procedures for making modifications and for downloading those modifications to both CPUs.
  13. PLC Basics

    That's PLC Law #18 and #18.1! https://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?/topic/9522-plc-law/
  14. Fanuc AIF01A PLC Software

    To me, that item looks like a remote I/O interface module that connects back to a CNC controller. I believe the ladder editor for the CNC is called Fanuc ladder. https://www.fanucamerica.com/products/cnc/cnc-software/programming-simulation-software/ladder-iii
  15. GE fanuc

    I don't know what application is generating the message. What happens when you click either "Hide"  or "Cancel"? The start button could be a group of objects and one of the items in the group could be generating the question mark. But the button might still do what you need it to do even if one of its objects isn't properly linked to a PLC variable.
  16. GE fanuc

    I'm not aware of any GE Quick Panels with Windows 2000 as the operating system. They used Windows CE. It sounds like the old unit isn't launching the View runtime application at bootup. If there is an icon on the desktop labeled "View Runtime", double click on it. Can't say anything about why just a single object on the replacement unit doesn't work while other objects work fine. Is Emerson still offering the same models that GE did before selling the product line to them?  
  17. GE Fanuc HMI

    I think recreating it on something current would be your best bet. The design of your current HMI is opposite to the state of the art. In your system, the PLC, through the ADC311 coprocessor, is the engine that that drives the display. Current best practice is for the HMI to be a self-contained entity that requests whatever data it needs from the PLC. The software to create the HMI application in the ADC311 module was an add-on to Logicmaster (DOS) software. I don't believe it was ever ported to Logicmaster's successors.
  18. GE Fanuc HMI PC

    Sorry, but I don't recognize that one. Can you tell me anything about the program it launches when you boot it up? Also, what module in the PLC does it connect to?
  19. GE Fanuc HMI

    That looks like a GE-branded Nematron unit. It should have the screen editor built-in. You need to connect an old IBM XT-style keyboard to it. The publication number for the manual is GFK-0505. What type of PLC is it connected to?
  20. Datapanel 150 part number

    The characters after the dash generally represent firmware versions. That assumes the part number is similar to IC752DFT000-GF. For best results the firmware version of the replacement should be newer than the original. Firmware -GF will be compatible with applications created for older versions, but not guaranteed compatible if features were added in later versions.
  21. Windows 10 Proficy Serial Comms

    My experience with serial communications from virtual machines (although not a Windows 10 VM) is that you have to pay close attention to the COM port number. Your USB/serial converter on the host machine might be assigned to COM3, but it might be COM1 on the VM.
  22. PME RX3I Ladder MIN Select

    Use the SORT instruction.
  23. PLC/ HMI serial port interface

    If your HMI has two serial ports and its scripting language has decent string handling capabilities, that's the easiest way to get it done. Read the characters from the serial port as a string, extract the number from the string and write it to a PLC variable.
  24. PLC/ HMI serial port interface

    I think you're going to have to change to a CPU model with serial ports. You have a second serial port on the CMM311 module, but it is limited to SNP, CCM , and RTU protocols, none of which appear to be available on the scale. If you can get your hands on a CPU with a serial port (CPU351, CPU352, CPU363), there is sample ladder logic in the manual GFK-0582D for setting up the port to receive serial data. Another possibility could be if there is a second serial port on the HMI and if you can write a script in the HMI to handle serial port communications.    
  25. PLC/ HMI serial port interface

    It is possible, but the devil is in the details. You will need to know the details of how the weigh scale interfaces to the world through it's serial port. Some can be set up to transmit the current weight periodically. Some will  only respond to requests from an external device like a PLC. On the 90-30 side, a lot depends on which hardware you're using. Some 90-30 CPU models have built-in serial ports that can be controlled from the ladder logic. In the absence of a CPU like that, there is the possibility to add a serial communications module or a Basic language programmable module with serial ports.  So for starters, what is the brand and model number of the weigh scale? How is the Proface HMI connected to the PLC? What PLC CPU model are you using? Are there spare I/O slots available in case you need to add a module?