CP1H - Memory Card

[Nibroc 4]

Hello all, I have a customer who wishes to save DM values (only) to a Mem card on the CP1H, and use the memory card to backup and transfer settings to other CP1H CPU's. I have read the relevant sections in the operation manual, and it is not clear if it possible to use the memory card for DM saving and restoring, or if the UM area, etc must also be saved on the card. There are some AR area flags which allow saving of DM and DM initial values to the mem card from the ladder program. Is it possible to use the Mem card for DM area backup and transfer only, whilst the user program on the recipient PLC remains untouched ? What is the diffence between DM initial values and DM ? Comments will be appreciated. Nibroc

[MPM 1]

Hi As far as I have communicated it you can not save the DM values only to memcard. Initial DM values are the values which you start with on the Memory card. Regards, MPM

[Guest anonymous]

Hello nibroc, Each of the individual memory areas can be saved to the memory card. In the Memory Card component, expand the 'Omron PLC' and there is 'IO Memory'. Click that, and in the right hand window, each memory area is displayed. Right click 'D Area', Transfer to Memory card. Hope this helps Regards anonymous

[Nibroc 4]

Hi anonymous, Thanks for you reply - however your comments relate to the CS/CJ series. The CP1H does not use compact flash, it uses an 'OEM' memory cassette which is less functional. It appears 'CX-Programmer can transfer to and from the memory card, however the PLC cannot initiate this from within a ladder program. (you can transfer DM values to internal flash (DM initial values) from within the ladder program). There must be underlying 'FINS' commands to perform these operations, should we 'sniff' them out from CX-Programmer or is someone able to provide some documentation for these commands? Could we then execute them from within the ladder program using CMND ? Our customer wants the ability to transfer DM values only to enable 'recipe' data transfer between plc's. We do not wish to copy the ladder program onto the cassette. Nibroc

[Guest anonymous]

Hello nibroc, Sorry, I didn't notice that you were talking about CP1H (I thought it kind of strange that you wouldn't have already known!!!). I'll try to investigate a bit later. Will post again. Regards anonymous

[Nibroc 4]

Thanks anonymous, Nibroc

[Guest anonymous]

After a bit of reading through the manual (W450-E1-01 Section 6-5-1) I came across this... Specifications Use the following Memory Cassette. Model Specifications CP1W-ME05M • Memory size 512 Kwords • Storage capacity The following CPU Unit data (for each Unit) • User programs • Parameters • Comment memory • Function Block (FB) sources • DM initial values in the built-in flash memory • DM in RAM •Write method Operations from the CX-Programmer • Read method Powering up with DIP switch pin SW2 set to ON, or operations from the CX-Programmer 353 Memory Cassette Functions Section 6-5 Data that Can be Stored on a Memory Cassette The following data can be stored on a Memory Cassette. The areas for storing various types of data have fixed allocations in the Memory Cassette, and a single Memory Cassette corresponds to a single CPU Unit. Therefore it is not possible to simultaneously store multiple items of the same type of data (e.g., two user programs). Also, the data can only be read to a CPU Unit. It cannot be directly managed from a personal computer like files. The only data that can be stored on a Memory Cassette is the data from a CPU Unit. Even when a CJ-series Special I/O Unit or CPU Bus Unit is connected using a CJ Unit Adapter, any data that is stored on those Units themselves cannot be stored on a Memory Cassette. Note The CX-Programmer's function for saving DM initial values is used for saving the values in the DM Area (D0 to D32767) to the built-in flash memory as initial values. By means of a setting in the PLC Setup, these initial values can then be automatically written to the DM Area (D0 to D32767) when the power is turned ON. ...so it would appear that you can save D Memory Area (alone) to the cassette. I haven't been able to try any other methods, as we don't have a Memory Cassette for our CP1H at the moment. If I can get any further info, I'll of course post again. Hope this helps for the moment, Regards anonymous

[Nibroc 4]

Thanks anonymous ... Problem encountered with Memory Cassette: 1 Used CX-Programmer to copy DM values to Memory Cassette. 2 Turned Off PLC 3 Turned ON DIP Switch 2 4 Restarted PLC 5 PLC faulted with Fatal Error - program checksum fault It appears the user program must be on the memory cassette for startup operation? The next time I have a CP1 in the office I will do some more trials, including sniffing the FINS commands CX-Programmer uses for Memory Cassette transfers - as these do not appear to be documented? Hopefully then we can execute the commands from within the PLC Ladder by issuing CMND to the CPU. I have written a VB program to read/store/write the DM to/from the PLC. This will suffice in the meantime. Nibroc