Nova5

MrPLC Member
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About Nova5

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  1. AB PCCC is the name AB uses for their Ethernet driver. Maybe of use. http://www.control.com/thread/1289369656
  2. HMI Comms

    Custom made cables can be a pain. Crimp connections not fully compressed. a wire slips out of order and is crossed with another, wires not deep enough into the crimp connector to mate up..
  3. The negative to the RDP is that it locks the operator terminal when the remote user logs in. VNC would be the better option for that function, but that is interactive.
  4. PLC and HMI access remotely

    Look into VPN. If this system is connected to a larger network under IT depts control, they should be able to provide a VPN connection to you if you're a regular employee for them which will bring you into the network as if you were on site. Mid last year I helped install a skid which separated drudge materials from water, and sends the water down a industrial drain. The system is connected but isolated from a larger IT network. They created a V-Lan for me with a fixed real world IP address, I installed a VPN router into the system along with the PLC and HMI pc. I can log in via VPN and interact with the PLC live and reprogram it as needed (AB/Rockwell Micrologix 1400) and a windows pc who's shell is the HMI program which I can also update any time I need, log in to the admin account to get a real windows interface, kill the HMI, install the new version and reboot it. It will fire up into the HMI with no way to access the windows shell (it never starts the windows GUI, no keyboard or mouse either. Touchscreen). While they didn't provide me a VPN connection because it was against policy for their network (outside contractor here, so I do not blame them at all on that) they gave me what I needed to make it work to the satisfaction of the company that contracted me. The router I specced and was used is a NetGear FVS318G. VPN = almost as good as being there. Just can't see the equipment physically.
  5. Does Siemens have a free version of their programming software that works on anything above WinXP? What I can find refuses to work on anything more capable than WinXP 32bit. Can't use compatibility modes to make it work. Would rather not waste the harddrive space a virtual machine will absorb if I can avoid it. AB/Rockwell has RSLogix MicroLite.
  6. That is the simplest way and I had thought of that, I was attempting to avoid any program edits. It would require two switches (I can use the same Binary bit) to lock out the Auto and Manual modes. I have the current version of the program stored locally and remotely. I think the best will be to load a blank program into the PLC.
  7. I am not on-site. the 1400 has a built-in diagnostic LCD display and a few controls to switch its modes and check actual hard input/output states. So any mode I put it in (Program/Remote Program/etc) can be changed from the PLCs face itself. If Major Fault can't be cleared from the PLCs own buttons then it may work. VIA VPN I can hook into the network the PLC is on and reprogram/alter it as necessary from my development laptop. I can't do physical things to it, but I can do software.
  8. I have been asked to disable/lockout the PLC from operating on a deployed system. Doing so will cause no operator safety problems as this is simply a materials reclamation/filtering system that sits in a corner on its own. Is there a way to remotely lock it from operation without editing / removing the program? Remote Program and other such modes won't work as the operator could open the wall box and simply set it back to Run.
  9. I suspect to many of us understand this.. I'm new to PLCs/HMIs/etc. But I have done Systems support/Network Management. same misery applies.
  10. Custom HMI App on an iPad or Tablet PC

    Windows Tablets would be your best bet due to them running actual Windows OS which has HMI packages readily available. Supposing you avoid the RT (Ready to Trash) line of tablets.
  11. PLC Advice needed!

    AdvancedHMI is a free one programmed and designed within Visual Basic. They have some drivers and similar for talking to PLCs. Not all PLCs are supported.
  12. Look at EasTech Flow Controls. A company I helped put a independent Skid into is using a pair of them for industrial waste tracking/reporting. The most I have to do with the flow meters (they've been installed for years) is extract the totalized flow and display it on the HMI and send it out in an email.
  13. ModbusRTU fun...

    Looking at it and working the numbers.. the 2 16bit binary numbers can be used in the way EasTech showed..or just use the full 32bit number. Since a single 16bit binary number has a total value of 65535 the number stored in the lead 16bits of a 32bit number CAN be used as a multiplier of 65536(Maximum value of a 16 bit binary number +1 ). Although that is a bit silly once I looked at it.. thats the normal action of a 32bit binary number isn't it? every time the lead 16 increases by 1 65536 counts have gone through the tail 16bits, "resetting" all bits to 0's and incrementing the lead 16 by 1. reading it as a 32bit unsigned integer will always result in the same number as doing the math they showed.. Since I got proper data I don't need to pull any trickery, simpler is better.
  14. ModbusRTU fun...

    Set it to BE3412 and reads the Unsigned Int correctly. so either that data field is stored as BE3412(wouldn't be sensible to mix Endian types) or the HMI has a problem reading the incoming data from that device properly.
  15. ModbusRTU fun...

    I have found that the data I need is in Totalizer 1(T2 is unused at this location), which claims to be a HEX data format. It looks like its just a decimal number stored in 32bits, so Unsigned Integer SHOULD be what I use, however that doesn't come through right. Floating point is going to eventually fail as a flow totalizer.. larger the number, lower the resolution. Try to add 100 Gallons to a value that will only notice 1000, it won't change. I have attached the Modbus info I got from them. none of the Modbus data that has come through to PeakHMI has made much sense, I could never make anything match up. PeakHMI has these options for the data type.. Float Integer Unsigned Integer Small BCD Default Small = Signed Short Integer Default = Unsigned Short Integer Under its port settings I can set BE 4321 BE 3412 LE 1234 LE 2143 I have it set as BE 4321 according the settings in peakhmi. I'm going to experiment with setting it to other byte orders to see what results I get. 2200 series modbus.pdf 2200modbus.pdf