KenE

Hi guys, Just got a QJ71E71-100 ethernet card recently for a Q02H system, plugged it in and went through the quick start guide I have. So far I can't even ping. All I'm trying to do is set up the card as a TCP/IP server to send and receive ascii data to a PC... nothing extraordinary. Here is what I have set up currently: I cant seem to ping the thing nor can I connect to it with GXworks2 or Putty (at port 4000). The LED status is as such: RUN:ON INIT:ON OPEN:OFF SD:OFF ERR:OFF COMERR:OFF 100M:ON RD:FLASHING (activity) I'm not even sure what to try next, any ideas? Thanks, Ken

I've got it. I talked with someone at my distributor and after confirming the settings (as you all did) he mentioned to just try a crossover cable to the module. This worked. To make a long story short, the problem seems to be related to something on our corporate LAN that was not liking the IP address I was using. I had temporarily used an IP address that was reserved on our DHCP server (ie. static) that was currently assigned to the MAC address for a spare piece of equipment (it wasn't plugged in at the time). I have done this in the past with other things and had no issues. Some piece of equipment somewhere must have been not liking the MAC address of hte mitsubishi device or something like that because it would all work when I put everything on a local switch in my office but unplugged everything from our LAN. Thank you all for your help. Ken Note: I now have a new static IP reserved for this device and it works flawlessly plugged into the LAN.

I don't have access to GX IEC Dev at the moment with this laptop (64 bit win7 machine). I've been in touch with my distributor but they haven't been able to help me out yet. Am I right in thinking that once you set the basic settings like IP address that these cards should respond to a basic ping request?I would think you don't even need to set up a "connection" setting just to get the thing to respond. In the last go around I had just a melsec connection set up but to no success. I've done quite a bit of TCP/IP programming with Windows and Linux and I just can't figure out why this is so difficult. I am definitely leaning toward something being just plain wrong. Maybe I'll see if I can get IEC developer installed in a virtual XP machine just to make sure its not the software.... Thanks, Ken

Found it, but it didn't make a difference after I formatted, re-downloaded, and then reset the processor. I started a new project with the bare minimum requirements to send to the card and no luck.

They are on the same subnet which for me is 192.168.169.xx and they are plugged into the same unmanaged switch in my office. Ughhh.... I'm starting to wonder if I have the very rare malfunctioned Mitsubishi PLC card. I only have one here for development at the moment so I can't easily swap out the hardware. I may have to get the distributor in here to verify I'm not doing anything wrong and try another piece of hardware that they bring. BTW, I couldn't find format PLC, but I did do the delete from the download screen and then re-upload. One fishy thing is that the dates on my download are for last friday morning even though I've been editing, saving, and compiling since then (and changing parameters to try different things). I'm not sure why this is that way. Maybe I'll start a new project to see if the project is somehow corrupt. thanks, Ken

I have screen shots of open setting and operation setting in the first post. They are the first two images. I have done both reset and full power up several times but that didn't work. I will now try to format the memory, it can't hurt. Thanks, Ken

As to Crossbows reply, I am using an empty spare rack on my desk, so that is why it is in the first slot. There is nothing else installed except the PLC. In reply to kaare"t, the setup of the card is as follows: slot: 0(0-0) type: Intelligent points: 32 startxy: 0000 errorresponse: clear plc operation at error: stop switch settings: all blank The quick start I had didn't say anything about switch settings so I didn't even think to go in there. I'll double check with the big manual just to make sure. I know that for modbus card you have to enter the IP address, but the setup for this card seems to be much better detailed (assuming I get it to work, at least). Thanks for the help. If you guys have any other ideas I'd appreciate it. Ken

I agree with kaare_t, this setting is just for keeping the connection open. I've seen this on TCP programming in windows and Linux. Thank you though, Ken

Hello, I've been evaluating some simple and small HMIs for communicating to the FX3G PLC. It looks like the GOT1030 is a good fit for the applications of our small/simple machines. I've been digging in the manuals and talking to our distributor about our best options but it has been confusing. I'd like to go all USB programming but the 1030 doesn't have a USB port, so the only option would be if the FX3G had some kind pass through operation to program the HMI through the USB to the RS422 port on the CPU. Alternatively could we plug into the RS232 mini DIN on the GOT and pass through the RS422 port to program the FX3G using serial (At least this way we only need one cable to the machine)? Anyone know if either option is possible, or is there a better way? I'm sort of baffled because all of their newer equipment has had USB ports. We are thinking of upgrading to the 1040GOT, but it is much more screen than we need for our applications and the form factor is tougher to package into the enclosures of our tiny machines. Thanks, KenE

Thanks WKla, I'll have to carry around the USB-serial cable but this sounds like a good solution. For some reason I like the small rectangular displays for these small machines. Doing the pass through seems easier than routing out two USB cables or something like that. I'll touch base with our Mitsubishi distributor to double check before we buy, but this makes sense. Thanks again, KenE

You can use the rising edge: I've been using this for a little while. It used to not be in IEC developer. It is more handy than using PLS_M in some cases. I'm using GXWorks2 1.64S ... not sure if this feature just came out or not. KenE

I'm not interested in being IEC compliant, I want the higher level of programming provided by the function blocks. Mitsubishi offers the 10ms and 100ms timer function blocks, all I want is the equivalent 1ms timer function block. If for some reason the IEC TON and TOFF worked properly I would use them, but they truncate to 100ms... kind of makes it tough to do a 20ms delay doesn't it? Ken

I think we already hashed this out except for the IEC TON, TOFF, etc. I just looked at the TON and they compiled a 1ms time value but it didn't realy work. I got a warning that it truncated it to 0ms. For 123ms input it truncated it to 100ms. So they are using 100ms timers somewhere internally. I think kaare_t's suggestion for generating a 16 bit timer clock with rollover is the closest solution. Why mitsubishi can't do this on their own software is beyond me. thanks, Ken

Hello, Yes, I have very similar code as you posted in that picture and for what I need for the 1ms timers it was fine. It doesn't help with auto assigned timer coils though. Do you know off hand if they have that 1ms free running auto rollover timer that you mentioned? I suppose I could implement that with one of the 1ms timers and some logic to reset it at the rollover if you can tolerate a 1 scan blip at rollover (I probably can). It would be nicer if this was in the system already though. I'll take a look next time I get a chance. Thanks, Ken

The only thing I know for sure is that the FX device manual states that timers TC256 and up on the FX3g and FX3U are 1ms. FX3G has 64 and FX3U has 256 I believe. I've used them on the FX3G with the out_t instruction and tested with an O-scope, so I know the hardware is there. The problem is that I can't readily use the out_t instruction *inside* a function block and have "n" instances of the function block running because I would have to hard code the timer coil number inside the FB. The problem in the USA is that most folks here are used to hard declaration of the timer numbers because they aren't used to dealing with auto-assigned device numbers like "structured ladder" (i.e. from IEC developer). I know that you, kaare_t, know what I'm talking about from your prior posts. If there is a 1ms free running timer that rolls over automatically I could accomplish the same thing in a different way as you suggest. Since FBs can easily have 16 or 32 bit local storage to save the "start time" I could do some subtraction and be done. I will look into this as it is very clean and would be universally applicable if I can pull it off. Why Mitsubishi can't use the same software core on all their processors will never stop aggravating the heck out of me. Oh well, it is what it is as they say. Thanks, Ken

I recently started working with the FX3G series of PLC with GXWorks2 with structured ladder and I've noticed that they don't have a function block for the FX3G 1ms timers (TC256-TC319 I believe). On the Q series stuff we have simply forced the 10ms timers to be 1ms in the PLC settings to get by, but the FX doesn't have this option. I have used the out_t instruction to manually assign and use the timers but I want to be able to craft some library function blocks with timers in them and they need to auto assign timer numbers like they do for the 100ms and 10ms function blocks. Any tricks here that anyone knows of? Thanks, Ken

With respect to the sorting and renaming, I'm glad that we can sort (I used to use this alot in IEC) but am disapointed by the auto rename feature being dropped. Its strange because I would either praise or curse the rename feature depending on what I wanted to do. In my opinion they should handle it like they do in Microsoft Visual Studio and when you rename certain things the editor prompts you if you want to go through the project and rename all references to the item in question. I have to say that as much as I don't like some of the changes from IEC->GXWorks2 I like being in mainstream support, having config software inside the program, and the single project file option. Now if they could only install the USB driver automatically and get rid of the annoying 7-8 button clicks to download a program to the PLC..... :) Ken

Good thing we don't have fork trucks, although the large powered floor washer has been known to hit a machine or two .... :o) Thanks for your help guys, Ken

Hello, I have several systems with the a Q02H CPU connected to a GOT1000 (GT1150-QLBD) through CPUs builtin serial port (The little DIN plug). We use the CPUs USB port for programming download. We would like to be able to send and receive (with some basic parsing) of ASCII strings either through serial or Ethernet. Is there a way we can use the builtin ports we have to communicate serially? Otherwise what is our most economical option that will offer good capability to send and receive (and parse) ASCII messages? I've looked at the CPU with builtin Ethernet and it has the problem of not having the little DIN connector for the serial port to communicate to the GOT. The Backplane Ethernet board is really expensive. I know they have serial cards, but haven't priced them yet, are these any good, or should I just pay the money for the Ethernet module? We have several machines we would like to add this to, so the extortion they charge for the Ethernet module would hurt! If thats what we need then, well, thats what we need. Another option that would work for us is to upgrade our HMIs to a more intelligent module with Ethernet. Something like a Red Lion G3 with builting serial and Ethernet. Then we can use that to do the serial messaging and use the Q driver to write our PLC parameters. I have to research this more to see if they do support the builtin serial port. I know some companies only support the plug in serial cards or Ethernet. The down side, of course is that we would need to reconfigure our HMI screens (Not trivial on at least one machine we have). I think in the end the answer will be that we just have to pay more money to the Melsec gods, just wanted to hear from others if there are any tricks. Thank you, Ken

We will essentially be doing Data logging without SCADA. I wrote a windows service that records event driven ASCII string output from all of our disparate machines over Ethernet (most of which have serial ports and can use serial-ethernet converters, AKA Serial Servers.) and records the information to a SQL database. I know alot of folks do Modbus<->OPC-> Database but I'd prefer to log my data as event driven so as to not consume a ton of network traffic and the added overhead of polling the machines as OPC does. I agree though that Ethernet is more flexible and will probably go that route. It sounds like the Mitsubishi Ethernet is fairly reliable if you guys use it and give it praise. Thanks, Ken

Thanks Crossbow and kaare_t I thought this was the case but I wanted a reality check. The reason I don't want to upgrade to and ethernet CPU is because we would have to upgrade the HMI to either a higher level GT1000 *AND* upgrade the CPU or buy a module. If this is the case I'll just buy the add on Ethernet module and keep our GOTs and Q02H CPUs.the idea to use something like the red lion is that it has powerful programming language internally and both ethernet and RS232 ports and could maybe plug into our existing Q02H CPUs. It seems that they only support the plug in serial and the ethernet communication to the Q series, however (i.e. not the "programming port" DIN connector on the Q). Thanks, Ken

We have a couple machines with the Modbus module for the Q series rack. We would like to send strings to a remote computer listening to a TCP port. I don't want to do it with OPC or the mitsu DLL because the nature of the data wants to be sent from the Q, not polled by the remote PC. Is this possible or are we stuck looking at either the built-in ethernet CPU or an add-in CPU card for the rack? I think the answer is *NO*, but I wanted to ask if anyone else here has had experience with this. Why they don't have a single ethernet module that can have modbus and TCP/HTTP/FTP/email is beyond me (Especially for the cost of the darn things!) Thanks, Ken Edit: We are using the modbus capability to poll some device data on a motion controller, so thats why it is already on the system.

Anyone here Experience problems saving projects in MT Developer2 or GX Works2 when using networked drives? I have a computer trying to save data over the network with a wireless link to a network fileserver with drive letter mapped drives. I've always opened fine but on random occassions I get a message that it can't save. I can try save multiple times after that and it bombs. I can even go into "Save As" and pick the same project and it refuses to overwrite it (At least in MT Developer, can't say I've tried this in GXWorks2). I'm using the single file project in GX Works2 (very nice feature btw) so it isn't as hard to "save as" and then rename the single file. MT Developer requires the Workspace/project format which is more difficult to manipulate if you do a "save as". I ended up saving a backup project, deleting the original project, and then doing Save-As in the original project directory. This is just bizarre in this day and age of computers! Hopefully the next version of MT Developer will support single file saves and this file save bug is fixed, but you never know. At least the program hasn't crashed and corrupted my project yet (GX IEC Developer would do this randomly with network drives). Thanks, Ken

I'm converting one of my projects to GXWorks2 and it doesn't have the Z.MBRW instruction in structured ladder. the old IEC Developer was the same way and I wrote a two line melsec IL program to do it. The melsec instruction list isn't available in this new software so I'm starting to do a "GX developer style" (i.e. non structured) ladder program which includes the Z.MBRW instruction. Isn't there a way to call this instruction from structured ladder? I had hoped that they would support structured ladder better now that it is in the mainstream release, but it looks like they haven't. Any ideas? I know I can use the config software to set up auto modbus update but I'd rather not rewrite my code and deal with the polling delays. Thanks, Ken

I did write a 4 line program in the GX Developer style ladder but it requires a whole new program group for these 4 instructions. It should get the job done but it is a hack. As a personal aside I don't like the GX Developer style ladder (many here will disagree with that statement) and I chose to use IEC Developer in the USA even though we had to give up any rights to support. At least those days are over. You guys make it sound like "standard ladder" and "structured ladder" are mutually exclusive environments but they are both software abstractions (often a thin veneer) of the actual instruction list that the PLC runs on, so there is no reason why they can't do it other than they don't want to. I was hoping that now that they offer both "ladders" in one software package that they would bring these two capabilities together where they can. Anyhow, thanks for your help. Hopefully all new developments will be supported in all environments. If I were to do this project over from scratch I'd use the intelligent function software built into GXWorks which is a definite step in the right direction. Kudos to them for that. Ken