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It would be nice if I can import data structures and symbols directly from CX-Programmer. I already have a lot of common stuff defined in CX from previous projects. It really annoys me to have to type all these again.

Thanks for sharing this. I have been looking for some external EIP modules.

I tried to use CX-Drive to look at the drive today. It's not showing me any warnings. I attached a screen shot. At least it's not showing any warning as being 'ON'. 02-02-2015 1-49-20 PM.bmp 02-02-2015 3-06-58 PM.bmp

Our machine has been periodically getting error 'D00F' from the NCF81 motion card. The code is D00F which according to the manual is 'servo drive warning'. The explanation in the manual doesn't provide much information. It just says to remove the cause of the warning without explaining what the possible causes may be. I am wondering if anyone here knows what may be causing this. Our machine has 10 axes. This error appears on axes 6 - 10. If I reset the error on axis 6 then the errors for axes 7-10 disappear. Also is there a way to reset this remotely without going into the 'monitor' screen for the NCF81 card? I attached a picture showing the error information. Thanks. Omron Axes.bmp Error Code List.bmp

Thanks Michael. I will try your suggestions the next time I see the warning. So far it has been two days without it. I am sure it will show up again on midnight shift sometime soon. It's always seems to be midnight shift for some reason.

I am using a CJ2H-CPU66-EIP controller. This device has an IP address 192.168.1.1 with a subnet mask 255.255.0.0 There is an error 'F3' on the front 7 segment display. The user's manual tells me this means there is a address mismatch. I have checked the front node address setting switch and it's set correctly (0 and 1). The PLC is operating normally otherwise to the other EIP nodes. I can ping all the other nodes without issues. I just don't know how to get rid of this error and what's causing it.

Thanks for your responses. I changed the subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 and the 'F3' error went away.

I am waiting for this too. Our local distributor won't tell us anything.

I wonder if you can install the ethernet IP optional adatper on your CP1 PLC's (part number CP1W-EIP61). Then you can probably add a CJ1W-EIP21 card on your CJ1 PLC's. With these hopefully you can create a data link between all of them using Ethernet IP. This way you should be able to share data between them without doing too much work.

Does Omron have any plans to update the NSH5 to something other than serial? The safety circuits can stay hard wired but it would be nice if the communication portion can be updated to use Ethernet IP.

I agree with BobB and Jay. No point saving a little on hardware cost and then spending days making things work. In the past someone decided to use the ZEN programmable relay to save some money. When there was a problem with the machine, nobody had the software or the knowledge for troubleshooting it. So the machine was down for 1.5 days because someone decided to save ~$200(?). Anyway, there is a EtherNET IP wizard in the network configurator that allows you to automatically exchange data between PLC's that are on the EtherNET IP network. It's really easy and I have used it without issues. I think this is what BobB was referring to?.

What's happening with Omron tech suppport in Canada? A long time ago when I started working with Omron, the tech. support was fantastic. It helps to have their office locally (about 30 minutes) away. Whenever I (or anyone else) in the plant had problems, they would either come over to the plant in a short time or walk us through the problems over the phone. From about 3-5 years ago when Omron Canada re-organized, the support has been really bad. Now we have to go through our local distributor first. The guys over there seems to be just as knowledgeable as us (which means we are usually stuck on the same problems). For example we recently had some problems with a servo drive, instead of coming over like they used to do, we had to contact our local distributor. Then the guy there had to try to understand it, duplicate it, and then tell us we have a problem. Every problem now takes weeks to resolve (if they get resolved at all). We have expressed these concerns to our distributor and to our account manager. Unfortunately not much has been done about it. Maybe we are too small for them to care? Are people out there experiencing the same issues? We have only recently started to use the Omron servo drives and this experience so far doesn't give me much confidence to use more. Our recent experiences have also made me hesitant to use their new NJ controller. How is support down in the US?

I think you need to these parts to communicate with it: XW2Z-S002-NL + CPM1-CIF01 or CQM1-CIF02 http://www.newark.com/omron-industrial-automation/cqm1-cif02/communication-cable/dp/10R5204 You should connect this to the large peripheral port at the PLC.

Our machine builder is assembling our machine using Omron Smart Slice I/O. Apparently there is an instruction sheet which specifies wiring to the slices without using ferrules. Only stranded or solid wire is allowed in the U.S. (and I guess Canada as well). Why would Omron say this? This note is not in any of the regular manuals from what I can see.

How do you like working with the NJ controllers?

The MX2-V1 frequency inverter’s manual states the safety function is under review (as per attached screen capture). Are these units now certified? If not then what does this mean to the end user? Does it mean I will fail my safety inspection (and will have to install motor contactors to interrupt power to the AC motor)? I have been asking Omron (and my distributor) about this and they haven't been able to give me an answer. We have been using the previous MX2 units but now these are being discontinued and are being replaced with the -V1 versions.

Does anyone have experience using these position control units for G5 servos? I have an upcoming machine that has ten G5 controlled servo axes. Omron has a few different position control units that can control from 2, 4, 8, or 16 axes. Is it OK to use the 16 axes card? or is it better to use two 4 axes cards plus one 2 axes card? The station will be using a CJ2H-CPU65 (or CPU66) PLC. This application is probably better for the NJ controller but we aren't quite ready to make the switch.

We are planning on using G5-ECT servo drives. We are also restricted to using the CJ2H PLC because that's our company standard. This is the first time we have integrated this many G5 axes so I just wanted to get an opinion from the users out there. Previous experiences have been limited to stations with one G5 axes which drives a rotary dial table. We had some hiccups initially with the setup but it's been running well for the past year. It looks like we will be using the 16 axis module. We will be using these on three sub-stations with 3 axes motion. These will be used to carry screw drivers which will install screws onto a module. We need three duplicate stations for cycle time. These will work in parallel. The additional axis will be used to transport modules from the previous station to this station. We need this to be a servo because of the length of the axis and for the cycle time that we need. Thanks for your repsonses.

It's actually under the Insight Explorer help section. I had a hard time finding it too.

From my experience I have not had good luck using the job change function. I always find the camera slow when changing jobs. On one particular camera I had 5 jobs and it became a nightmare trying to maintain them. One small change (in lighting, tooling, etc.) and I had to apply the change to multiple jobs. Sometimes I would forget to update one or more jobs and then the camera wouldn't work anymore. If you are going to have hundreds of jobs and you are in the same situation then you might have a tough time maintaining all of the jobs. Since then I have decided to use one generic job and enable or disable inspection tools based on a product code from the PLC. You can send this over the 'user data' portion of the output assembly. This way the generic vision tools are always used. Only the product specific features (barcode reading) changes based on the product code. I haven't had to use explicit messaging from the CJ2 PLC to the Cognex camera. I have only used the implicit (I/O) communication and this was enough for what I had to do. You can setup the implicit communication using the Omron network configurator. If you need more help, you can try the Cognex Smart List: Cognex Smart List

Maybe I am not totally understanding your application. You have a CJ2M PLC. Isn't it enough to associate product 1 to camera job 1, product 2 to job camera 2, etc. Then the PLC can change the camera job file using ethernet IP? I don't understand why you have to use explicit messages. The I/O assembly object already has provision for a job change.

Are you trying to change a camera job based on a product type?

I have used the PLC clock data for the reset date/time. The PLC clock information is stored in the auxiliary memory area. I would just copy the clock information into the corresponding label on the HMI whenever the counter was reset.

Just curious if anyone is using or have used the NE1A safety PLC from Omron / STI. If so what are your comments?

I am not really clear how the braking works for a G5 series motor. It looks to me there is dynamic braking. Does this mean actively using the motor to slow down and stop the motor? Then there is a holding brake which is supposed to hold the axis (to prevent it from falling) but not for e-stop braking. Is this correct? So there must be an independent external brake to hold the axis to prevent it from falling (after the motor is turned off). Is this correct? If there is an external brake holding the axis then what is normally done when someone needs to manually raise / or lower the Z-axis? Is there normally an over-ride switch to release the brake to move the axis with the servo motor power off?