gruntstripe

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Posts posted by gruntstripe

  1. Posted

    Hi, I work for Knauf Insulation. http://www.knauf.com/ At our plant in Queensferry, North Wales (UK) we manufacture mineral wool insulating materials for domestic use (loft insulation etc) and industrial (building trade) use (cavity wall slabs, roof board etc). The plant runs on Siemens plcs (S7 300 / 400 & WinCC) and mainly ABB drives. Everything is linked by Profi'/MPI The maintenance team consists of Eng. Manager, Electrical Supervisor, Mechanical Supervisor, five Control Technicians, four Fitters and a day Electrician. And loads of contractors. We have just started two apprentices.

  2. Posted

    Hi, Talking about plc batteries.... On our site we have a blast furnace that melts rocks, the resultant molten flow from the furnace is at about 1300 deg C. The melt is turned into the product we make (insulating materials). The finished product ends up at the packaging end where we have a 'hooder' machine that puts a flexible plastic hood over the palletised products (think of a condom being stretched over a pallet of products). We hood pallets that are to be kept outside exposed to rain. Three weeks ago the control techs' were called to the hooder because of a fault. The machines S7 400 had two red fault lights lit BATF (psu) and EXTF (cpu). The machine was powered up so it was assumed a power dip had caused the plc to lose its prog because the backup battery was low. So the techs' reloaded the program. Unfortunately the latest backup version they had was not quite up to date - since then some of the mpi network addresses had been changed. So they thought they were downloading to the hooder, which used to be, say address 4, but in fact the prog was pumped to a panel, actually now address 4, that controls the water cooloing pumps for the blast furnace and its componenets. They couldn't figure out why the hooder plc was still in fault mode even though the prog appeared to be downloaded. Then an operator called urgently to say that there was a problem with the furnace cooling system (yes, its plc now had the hooder program in it and it didn't like it). A control tech opened the cooling control panel and noticed all the pump contactors were 'out'. This is serious! So he frigged one of the contactors quickly to restart one of the pumps. Water was pumped into the furnace through a hole made by the melt (this hole took just a couple of minutes to appear with no cooling water) and the water was vapourised causing hydrogen to be produced (I think this is the theory). The hydrogen was sucked out of the furnace flue into the flue gas cleaning plant. BANG! All eighteen explosion panels blown out on the cleaning plant. Our whole site was down for three days at very considerable cost (£nnnK?). All because a plc battery was low.

  3. Posted

    Hi, Hope you are all well. I have a S7 300 cpu, psu and two i/o modules aswell as a mounting rail. All obtained via Ebay. However I require the part to connect the modules together. Can anyone confirm that the correct part number for this is 6ES7 195-7HB00-0XA0? I've no previous experience with S7 300 controllers. Thanks in advance, GS

  4. Posted

    Hi Ricicle, If your now using just a regular laptop ie. not a PG then a standard RS232 cable won't allow comms. The S7 200 (226) communicates via RS485 so you require the RS232/RS485 converter: 6ES7 901 3CB30 0XA0

  6. Posted · Edited by gruntstripe

    Hello, I recently bought a brand new RS232/PPI Multi-Master cable (6ES7 901-3CB30-0XA0) so that I can play with an S7 200 CPU 226 that I have. Everything was going ok for the first few hours of 'playing' but now I lose comms frequently and recieve various error messages: "THE PPI MULTI-MASTER CABLE WAS DISCONNECTED FROM THE PROFIBUS NETWORK. ANY PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED CONNECTION HAS BEEN LOST." I'm not even on a profibus network. "YOU MUST USE THE (RS232/USB) PPI MULTIMASTER CABLE TO COMMUNICATE ON A MULTIMASTER OR ADVANCED PPI NETWORK". This appears sometime when I first try to go online - seems to suggest to me that Step7 Microwin V4 cant actually see the PPI lead. "A CHARACTER-BUFFER OVERRUN HAS OCCURED. THE NEXT CHARACTER IS LOST." "NO CONNECTION TO THE SPECIFIED ADDRESS COULD BE ESTABLISHED. POSSIBLY AN INVALID OR NON EXISTENT ADDRESS." Usually the PPI led on the lead stays on but the Tx and Rx leds extinguish when I get these errors. I've checked my comms settings and they are as per the manual. Unfortunately I have only one PLC and one lead so I cant try other hardware. Any suggestions? PLC or Lead fault? UPDATE\EDIT: I've resolved this.

  7. Posted

    Hello Pawel, MAC HMIs were programmed with software called MAC Programmer+. This software is obsolete, you could contact your nearest Mitsi rep' to see it they can help you, but its a long shot I think. If you could get it you could then view/translate the program for E-Designer. Otherwise try asking for MAC Programmer+ on E-bay. Maybe you could get a working used MAC 40 on E-bay. Best regards. E&OE

  8. Posted

    Thanks IO_Rack, However since posting I've realised that connecting the Bejiers (Mistsubishi) HMI to a Siemens plc is not as 'easy' as connecting it to a Mitsi plc! The HMI RS422 signal needs to be converted to RS485 and vice versa so it looks like I may have to invest in a special lead with some level/protocol conversion bits in it.

  9. Posted

    Hi, Can anybody tell me how to make up a 9W (S7 end) to 25w (E300 end) cable ie which pins connect to each other? I found a drawing in th E-series manual but dont understand it because a); I'm thick and b); more than 9 pins are used at the 25W end. Its probably not even relevent to my application. I have previously made up a lead to connect to an FX 24 (25W to 25W) and FX0 (25W to mini din) and they worked fine but I dont have access to the manual with all the drawings anymore. Any help greatly appreciated.

  10. Posted · Edited by gruntstripe

    Hello, I wish to connect a CPU 226 to an E300. Is a special cable required or will a straight through 9 pin to 25 pin do? I cannot find sufficient information in either the Bejiers or Siemens PDF manuals. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance. Ok. I've found the pin outs in the E300 manual. I'll make the lead up.

  12. Posted · Edited by gruntstripe

    Hi Kmd, You have the correct cable 6XV1440-2KH32. Don't know what your error message is - cant see that one in the manual (available from the downloads section of this forum). Can you get into download mode ie. ESC + UP CURSOR when turning panel on or alternatively via System Settings/Opmode/Download ?

  14. Posted

    Hello, Can anyone suggest were I can obtain a manual for an Eberle PLS 508? Has anybody experience with this PLC - what software/cables do I require to go online? Thanks in advance.

  16. Posted

    Hi, If your still interested: Computer Link: "The FA-1J can easily be linked to a personal computer to make a total control system. A standard program for IBM 5150 and 5160 personal computers is optionally available for printing out programs using a personal computer". Computer link interface unit Pt #: PFA-1U51 You can (could?) use the Program Loader (hand held programming terminal) to write/edit programs and to back them up to audio cassette. Pt # PFA-1H401RE (1K steps) or PFA-1H404RE (4K steps). We have the program loader but not the software or interface unit - didn't know they did that 'till I read the manual today. I hope this is of use to you. I've no idea where you might obtain the above items. E-bay perhaps.

  17. Posted

    Hi, Found two little beige boxes: First is about 2.5" x 3" and has a 25w parallel port on one side and a 30w IDC type connector on the other. Inside it has a pcb with the Mitsi logo. The second box is about 1.5" sq. with just the IDC connector and has an eeprom inside with a Silver Mitsi sticker on it. Googling returns no results nor does Mitsubishi web site. Thanks in advance.

  18. Posted

    Hi, I will look in the manual we have and report back tomorrow evening. From memory I think you have to plug a tape recorder into a handheld programming unit to back-up. The programmer has a text display that you can use to write/edit programs. FA-1 programs are/can be stored on a plug-in memory cassette (eeprom). I will get the part numbers but it's all obsolete now.

  19. Posted

    Hi, We have an FA-1 Junior on site. It's ancient. You have to back-up to an audio tape cassette! (Do they still make audio tape cassettes?)

  22. Posted

    Hi, In the U.K. we call them R.C.D.s - Residual Current Device. They are available in trip currents of 10mA or 30mA. What one often finds over here is that most portable tools in factories and construction sites are supplied via a 240/110v isolating transformer. These were originally intended to protect construction site workers from shocks. 'Unfortunately' they are widely used in factories (maintenance depts.) so we technicians have to lug heavy transformers around whenever we wish to use a drill/grinder etc. I guess RCDs (robust portable ones) have only relatively recently become available. Hopefully the 'legacy' transformers wiil die out.

  23. Posted · Edited by gruntstripe

    Hi, What's the best way to clean dirty slip-rings? Can you use an abrasive paper (what grade?) or is a cleaning solvent (IPA?) better? Should slip-rings be dead smooth and shiny? Thanks in advance. (Sorry - I know it's nothing to do with PLCs)

  24. Posted

    Hi, We have one Keyance PLC - a KV80 and Ladder Builder s/w with Win 98. Whilst trying to diagnose a machine fault Ladder Builder was really slow to respond to user input when in monitor mode - it could take 10 or more seconds to respond and so made things really confusing and difficult. I just wondered if anybody could suggest a reason. I confess I have not had time to fiddle with comms configurations in the s/w if there are any. Perhaps you could fasttrack me. Thanks in advance.

  25. Posted

    Hi, Is it fact that a project can only be uploaded to an OP17 but not downloaded from it? I have been told this but having just pulled the manual of Siemens website and had a brief perusal can't see any statements to this effect. I need to backup the programs from 6 OP17s we have in our plant because this has not been undertaken previously and we will experience some serious bother if we 'lose' any of them. We have PRO-TOOL LITE V6.0. Tried to connect to a couple of panels lying around our workshop today but could not establish a comms connection. Using cable 6XV1440-2KH32. Any tips / pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.