Shiner

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Posts posted by Shiner

  1. Posted

    To expand on Joe E's comment, during power up, any values that were written to the AO previously will be written over by the values held in the 4 registers referenced by the copy instruction.  If those are still at default 0, then your output will start at 0, as that is the assumed safe state.  If an alternate safe state is required at startup, those values should be manipulated appropriately.  If those values are being used by something already in the program somewhere, you may be writing in undesired values at power up.

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  2. Posted

    Hello all, we have tried unsuccessfully to emulate a CLX (version 24.02)program using RS emulate, and have an InTouch application properly read the tags from it.  Any help would be appreciated.  We thought we had a good path using a DDE connection, but we are just missing something because no matter how we set it up, we are still not connecting.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  3. Posted

    Now I have another UDT setup to control lighting...

    Door

      Door.Out.OPEN

      Door.Out.CLOSE

    I want to control bits 2 and 3

    I make another copy instruction in a line before the original copy instruction that states Copy Door to Local:1:O.Data[0] Length 4

    but i'm really just fighting for the same 2 bits that the valve controls.... how can I control bits 2 and 3 for the door/lighting logic using these UDT's?

    ********************************************************************************************************

    Change "Copy Door to Local:1:O.Data[0] Length 4" to " Copy Door to Local:1:O.Data[2] Length 2

     

    The [2] is your starting bit point, and since you only need bits 2 and 3, your length is 2 bits.  I do agree with Gerry, where mapping can be done using rungs with xic-ote instructions, however, I have worked some very large IO projects, and this can become quite cumbersome as well as difficult to troubleshoot.  I built a couple of AOIs that map directly to the discrete input and output type cards, and all you have to do then is drag in your tag to the appropriate channel and you are good to go.  If anyone is interested I can share, just send me a msg.

  5. Posted

    You can narrow down how much digging you have to do on the HMI screens by pressing CTRL-A, which selects all items on the screen, then CTRL-R for replace.  You do NOT want to use the replace function, but you can scroll through EVERY tag that is used on that screen at this point, with two caveats:

    This will not show you what tags are being read by Parameter Files

    Realize that the Alarm Table in the .mer will poll tags separately.

     

     

  6. Posted · Edited by Shiner

    On the MNETC's: Because those modules are manufactured by Pro-Soft, I do not believe AB's redundancy will support them.  They would need to be in a remote rack.  If you put any unsupported module in the redundant racks, they will not synchronize.

     

    Adding remote racks:  In your redundant rack in the project tree, on the Ethernet card you are communicating to the remote IO with right click and add modules.  You must first add the EN2T for the remote chassis and specify the chassis size, then you can add the other cards.  Depending on your revision, if you are online, you can select scan for modules to have the software auto-detect them.  This will help make sure you match your major and minor revision of the added equipment.

  8. Posted

    Hello all, I am trying to get around a lot of manual inputting by exporting a routine and opening it using excel, but looking at the file that excel shows I have a couple fundamental questions 1. when excel opens it and "creates a schema', can I save this in a format that will allow me to import it back into the program? 2. Since I am mapping data using add on instructions, the table excel has created becomes quote complex, with no clear point of reference to where my Input tags are going to go. We are doing this because someone thought it would be a good idea to put a SCADA based control platform over the top of an AB control system, so we have to exchange thousands of points of data back and forth with their system. I created the mapping AOI blocks to be able to manage the file structure a little better in the routines, but that still leaves me with copy and paste thousands of tags into the AOIs. Has anyone developed a good way to create logic, or modify logic using excel? While I can hold my own with utilizing the RS5000 platform, my excel experience is limited. The processor is a 1756-L75 Thanks

  9. Posted

    Thank you all for the responses. I will play around with the excel tools and see what we can get going with that. We do have AOIs with the associated UDTs and AOIDTs being polled as our parameters. I do not use parameters for anything but large tag arrays to populate popups. It is just that the project we have include a lot of larger facilities with up to 3000 IO. With about 25% of that being AI, and an AOI and therefor a Popup for each, the number of parameters grows pretty quickly. If I come up with anything useful I will post it here

  11. Posted

    We use the same method that MrAutomation uses and it is pretty smooth and flawless. Just remember to contain all that logic in a single rung so that it will go through every bit in the first out function before jumping out to other scheduled processes. This can affect the reliability of this function.

  12. Posted

    Hello all, we have many large projects with multiple screens and are using popups quite frequently. As a result, our parameter file list becomes quite long. I have excel sheets to import my alarm table, and my local HMI tags, but have found no simple way to create/import multiple parameter files. Has anyone found a way? AB tells me that I can use Notepad to create 1 file at a time and import it that way....where is the time savings in that? As an example, I will probably end up with well over 450 parameter files by the end of this project.....hand entering each one....carpal tunnel syndrome here I come Thank you PS..if anyone wants the alarm table import tool msg me.

  14. Posted

    I had similar issues in the past and it was because the DC was grounded on the + side. Since the PLC is floating, it was not affected but the HMI is referenced on the _ side and when they were plugged in together it would take out the PLC and any of the analog cards as well.

  15. Posted

    I am running an app on a PC that has 2 monitors. I am having difficulty pushing the runtime over to the secondary screen and am looking for help on it. Is there something in the registry file that will allow this to run on the second screen? The AB tech support group said that they "do not have any approved recommendations in that regard" which sounded a lot like it is possible to do, just not something they have endorsed. Details: 2 monitors at 1600x1200 resolution I have already tried setting the window location X and Y points with no success, whatever gets 'pushed' off screen simply disappears. I am certain I was moving in the correct direction because I opened another window and had it split on the 2 monitors. Thanks for any advice.

  16. Posted

    Has anyone developed a tool that will allow editing the exported alarm file in an Excel spreadsheet (CSV). I have exported as a HTML and am trying to deal with it in wordpad, but I have literally hundreds of alarms, and the fact that the alarm messaging is broken out into a separate run of text later in the file makes it quite cumbersome and ripe for mismatch errors. Thanks Aaron

  17. Posted

    So I got a lot of Ford is better than Chevy is better than Dodge is better than Ford. What I was looking for was....how does the Dodge Charger compare to the Avenger and Challenger?......I understand you don't like them in general and that is fine. I have no control over what my customers specify however so your opinions will not change the fact that I have a project coming up utilizing that platform. Thanks to all for the answers.

  18. Posted

    I have worked with the S7-200 series for a while, and have gotten deep into the TIA platform for the new 1200s. I am curious how hard a transition it is to the s7-300s, what the differences are. Is it similar to crossing from the micro family in AB to Control/Compactlogix? Thanks

  19. Posted

    We have an inquiry in about a project that requires connecting to a PLC system via a wireless device (maybe Bluetooth....smart phone/tablet). The product is going to be home based, so industrial network security is not a major issue, but the bottom line is they want to be able to turn this on and off via the wireless device, but also have manual operator controls. Any recommendations on a product line? Interface style? Thank you.

  21. Posted

    I had the same thought about magnets. We are looking into the spanner method, just have to figure out how to make it up for all the different sizes for the sub plates. Seems like there is an open market for a tool to do this.........

  23. Posted

    We have a majority of enclosures that are relatively small, and the sub plates can be worked into place with not much effort. On some larger projects (3-800HP VFDs or Soft Starts) the plate can become quite heavy and physically large. We have hoist capabilities, but have no standard method of lowering a sub plate onto the mounting studs in an enclosure. Does anyone know of any special tooling that would help get this done? I have done searches on line, but I get the feeling that if there is something, it has a trade name and I probably will not stumble upon it randomly. Thanks in advance..

  24. Posted

    Thanks, that would work fine but the customer insists on laser measurement. Kind of worked me into a corner on this one. Basically what they are asking is to convert an old hoist system into a large scale pick and place machine. I have to work in the sway of the hoist, although we would convert it to a telescoping rigid assembly to minimize that, and a lot of other factors. Cant Encoder the bridge and trolley wheels due to wheel slip, can't encoder the hoist because it is a chain style and the clutch slip would screw us up.......... With that said, I did find a Banner L-GGAGE LT& series laser sensor that has a 250m range +/- 2mm resolution using a retroreflector with SSI compatibility. I think this is my winner, now to hook it up with a MicroLogix............

  25. Posted

    Does anyone have any experience working with linear measurement systems that would measure distances of up to 30ft with a relatively high resolution. I need to interface with a micrologix PLC to measure the X and Y axis travel of a loading system so I am hoping for something that will communicate direct instead of an analog signal. I need good repeatablility. Thanks