nileshsurya

I have a Micrologix 1100 PLC which I have configured as a MODBUS RTU Master to communicate with Modbus Compatible feeder protection relays daisy chained using an appropriate cable and 1763-NC01 cable. There are about 8 feeder protection relays from which I am reading 20 integers each by sending messages on channel 0 and the function code is "Read Holding Registers" also I am sending a "Write multiple coils" message for each relay to start and stop it over modbus. This means I am sending in total 8 Read and 8 Write messages (Total 16) to communicate with those Feeder Protection relays. As far as Modbus polling is considered I am having no problem in polling the feeder relays, in read as well as write operations and I am able to do them, but not in a satisfactory way. The problem I am facing is that each message errors intermittently and gets done once only after is errors for say about 3-4 times, this is happening with each and every message. Ie:- it errors for 3-4 times and then again gets done and the cycle continues.( I am incrementing two counters for each message to count how many times its DN and ER bits fire to judge the message successful completion rate) This results that the data I am receiving is not received in proper timing and is generally slow updating due to those errors. As I watched the Scan time of the PLC it is about 2 miliseconds. This is too small as regards to modbus polling. I hope this errors can be controlled or minimized if I am able to set the polling interval of the Modbus messages(the same as we do in prosoft modbus modules), but micrologix 1100 modbus message setup does not seem to have such setting ( it only has slave timeout option, which is not of much use in this case). I also tried to employ some timing mechanism to fire the messages ( like the messages are fired sequentially one after other based on a timer) but this also doesn't seem to work, in this scenario all the messages error and no message gets done. Could anyone suggest me a solution to this problem it would be very helpful for me. Can I use the SVC Instruction to solve the purpose, could anyone explain me what it does exactly. Configuring channel 0 as Modbus Master gives two options in the Protocol control section, 1) InterChar timeout (x1ms) and 2) Pretransmit delay (x1ms), I reduced the errors by increasing the value of the 2nd option till 500 ms, but then I could not eliminate the errors totally or minimize them to a satisfactory level. Please could anyone help me or suggest a solution as it is very necessary for me to optimize the system Thanx in advance Nilesh Surya

Dear all, I managed to click some pics of a PLC controlled Low Voltage MCC panel made out of Allen Bradley PLC and electrical components,so i thought to share it with all you people,This panel is a MCC panel with almost 85-90% of its components from Allen Bradley / Rockwell Automation leaving some accessories and some components everything is an AB/RA device. I hope u enjoy it and gain some useful knowledge i have uploaded these pics on Flickr Photo Sharing service and giving here the URL Please do give a visit at this link http://www.flickr.com/photos/plcarena/ Do tell your comments bout this,will be uploading more pics soon Regards and Take care Nilesh

Dear Friends This week I came to know about something which can be useful to you all people as well,so i thought that i should share this information with all you people I experienced some problems with a 1756-L61/B series controller, the program from the CPU is vanishing without any reason,first thought was there is some problem with the power supply and grounding to the Controller,so i checked if some problems were with grounding of the panel and found them ok,i redownloaded the program in the controller, this time it ran for 10hrs and again the program vanished,now this is happening every 5 to 8 HRs now,now that we had rectified the power supply problems and checked the grounding for the panel thoroughly,my next doubt was that of faulty hardware,but why the fault was the question,so i just logged on to Rockwell KnowledgeBase and there found out the Product Service Advisory released by Rockwell in May - 2007, This can be found out by clicking the link below http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/cgi...amp;p_topview=1 and http://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/cgi...amp;p_topview=1 Click on the links above to access the two technotes which describe this issue in more detail,you must be logged in the KnowledgeBase to access these pages If you are unable to click the links above then log in to Rockwell Knowledgebase and search for two technotes numbered 40149 and 39980 respectively There is one survey tool given for download in the second technote,download and install in and check whether the hardware(if you have) with you is affected and comes under the service advisory or not.This PSA applies for products manufactured within a specified time period only and for specific models and not for all products The problem described is module shutdown due to erroneous data,but the problem i faced was that of the program wiping away,may be you ppl are facing some other similar problems,so it is advisable to check your control hardware with the tool. May be this program wiping away is not concerned with this advisory so i have to wait till i replace the CPU with a new one. I checked my controller with the tool and found it to be affected,whereas other control hardware was showing ok,we are now going for a CPU replace. Regards Nilesh Suryarao

hi thr even i had got the same problem some time back,i had a SLC 5/05 system in hot backup config with flex io's as remote I/O, i had a doubt with the 1747-BSN module for whose slot the same error was coming,so i replaced the BSN with other BSN but still that error was coming,i scratched my head for about 3 days but could not find a solution. then one day i realized that the logical rack configuration in the BSN module dialog box was not done properly,so i corrected that config and redownloaded the program,it got corrected this way can you give more details of the system you are talking about,like system configuration,PLC logic program etc Regards Nilesh Suryarao

go to http://support.rockwellautomation.com/ControlFlash/ , download the desired firmware file which comes with a software called ControlFlash, you need to first register with the website to get to that page you have to update a 1756-enbt card which is a CLX series card. Empty a Chassis and place the two ENBT cards in the rack and remove all the other modules including the Processor,SRM modules if any. I am assuming that there is an IP address configured in both the ENBT cards,if there is no IP address configured then use the BOOTP Server to assign an IP address first, make sure you disable the "Obtain IP address from the BOOTP server" option in the module properties in RSLinx after you have assigned an IP address to both your modules. for eg i am assuming here now tht ur two modules have IP addresses as 192.168.0.10 and 192.168.0.20,just for explaination purpose Install the file downloaded from the rockwell website,it will install a utility called as Controlflash,open control flash and then follow the procedure given there. You can do like first select the 192.168.0.10 and browse through it to reach the 192.168.0.20 module and set it as target to update the firmware then you when this procedure finishes you can do the reverse thing like select the 192.168.0.20 and browse through it to reach the 192.168.0.10 and set it as target to update the firmware ***or one more method is that you place one ENBT module at a time in the rack and place one controller in the rack,connect to the serial port of the controller by using a CP3 cable,then reach to that module by bridging it through your controller,in this way you can update the firmware by the serial port,my suggestion is that you try to avoid this method as far as possible because updating through serial port is very slow and will make your updation procedure about 10 times slow thus increasing the risks involved in flashing the module,use this as a last resort to update your module**** ***always try to update the firmware throught the fastest possible communication network available with you*** but there are some things which have to be taken care while updating the firmware of any hardware 1) Make sure there is no power loss while performing firmware upgrade(using a UPS is a good thought) 2) Make sure there is no communication loss while performing a firmware upgrade (also there are more considerations but right now not in the scope of this discussion) If any of the above things happen then you could end up in bricking up your module and making it useless so take care of these simple things and HAPPY FLASHING Regards Nilesh Suryarao

no other third party software installed,only software installed is rsv32 and rslinx the activation files here are of the new net based activation system based upon the factory talk activation concept,so no chance of rocksoft.ini interfering with the performance of rsv32 thnx for help dude still trying,will try till tomorrow after tht reinstall the OS Regards Nilesh Suryarao

Reinstalling the OS is one thing which will make it work and i have kept it as the last resort,i think the root cause of the problem should be found out and i am gonna give it a try till my customer does not have any urgency, after that will reinstall the OS if i cannot find out the root cause. Regards Nilesh Suryarao

Hello GlennLee there is one method in the new factorytalk view studio to convert the *.mer runtime file to .med, please see the attached PDF document for more details and check whether it is useful to you or not,also notify me if u get successful in doing tht best of luck Regards Nilesh Suryarao mer_to_med_conversion.pdf

Dear all PLC ppl, I have a SCADA terminal with RSView32 7.20 Runtime 300 license and RSLinx professional license loaded, it is facing very strange problem, when i start the SCADA the computer becomes very slow and the Startup graphic page comes up after 2-3 minutes,in between this time if i try to do some other operation on the PC then the PC hangs,if i dont do any operation and allow the SCADA to start then it starts but after a time delay as i have mentioned above,if i click again on some link then another 2-3 minutes the SCADA hangs. some more symptoms are a) i cannot see the value of system\user tag if i try to display it as a string b) no alarms are logged and displayed on the SCADA There is one issue of RSView32 not displaying system\user tag when it is run under a non-admin account under win XP,but i have made it sure that i am running the SCADA under admin account in win XP if i make some blank SCADA project then the same things happen as mentioned above,if i take the copy of SCADA on other machine then it works fine. so i am very sure it is some windows setting problem which i am not able to figure out, i have tried disabling the windows firewall and also i tried creating some other admin user account and running the SCADA from that account, i also tried uninstalling rsview32 and rslinx and then reinstalling it,but the result is same always. has anyone come across the same problem or does anybody has any idea what the possible solution will be,i would be very greatful if anybody helps me out Thanks in advance Nilesh Suryarao

just found out a good topic which is worth discussing in this thread its located in the Rockwell Automation Knowledge base titled "Using a 1784-CF64 Card with Logix Controllers to Load Applications and Firmware." Its ID is 34534 and prev TN# is G149027134 Take a look at it people if possible Regards Nilesh Surya

One rule of the Logix Platform is that for PLC processors you have to use the same version of the software and the firmware,for eg if you have V13 firmware loaded in your Logix CPU then you should program it in RSLogix 5K V13 ,if firmware 15 then software RSLogix 5K V15 and so on You can upgrade the firmware with a utility called as ControlFlash from Rockwell which is downloadable from the Rockwell/Allen-Bradley website. Look for a processor/module specific download file and you are all set to upgrade the firmware of the CPU,but there are some precautions to be taken while performing a Firmware upgrade, the first and foremost precaution is that there should not be a power failure while doing a firmware upgrade,next precaution is that there should not be a communication failure while doing the upgrade or you may end up "BRICKING" your controller . I generally prefer to do a firmware upgrade with a UPS supply and through EtherNET as it is a fast procedure and generally gets completed within 2-3 minutes with less chances of failure,the upgradation of the PLC firmware through onboard serial ports found on CLX,FLX and CPLX should be avoided as the data transfer is very slow and may take sometimes upto half an hour which may increase the frustration in you and also there are more chances of the PLC getting Bricked( If ever you upgrade through the serial port then make sure your laptop/desktop doesn't go into Sleep mode as in some computers the serial port is shutoff when the computer goes into sleep mode which may trigger a communication failure) CompactLogix is nowadays a part of the Compact Machine solutions newly introduced by Rockwell and the version 16 includes many enhancements like AOI's , Drive faceplates etc which speed up your programming and minimize use of other extra softwares. So wish you a very happy Flashing Regards Nilesh Surya

u mean that dropdown menu in channel editor? ya im selecting the same driver in the channel dropdown menu the one which i have configured in rslinx for SLC communication

i have already enabled the node

yes i make it sure that i select the SLC by browsing it from the browse utility which is there in the node editor utility in the RSView32

hello thr all PLC ppl i have a SLC 5/02 system to which i am communicating my PC via a 1747-UIC USB interface converter(as my PC has no COM port). I am able to go online to the SLC in RSLogix500 by using the UIC and it is operating normally,no problems with that point. But when i try to communicate my RSView32 SCADA which is on the same Computer i dont get any values of the SLC in the RSView32. I have properly made the Channel configuration and then Node configuration in RSView32. I use the direct driver for communication in the node editor of RSView32. I finish my configuration and then Run the SCADA to find that i am not getting any values in the SCADA. One of the common mistake that ppl make that they run RSLinx Lite which runs ur PLC program but not SCADA. But in my case i have RSLinx Gateway,so i think thats not the problem. I have RSLinx Classic Gateway ver 2.5. When i observed it carefully then i noticed that when i run the SCADA while loading any new graphic screen it shows momentarily the Animation on the graphics and then again greys out(the same what happens whn no communication is there). Then i configured a Local OPC topic for the SLC and tried to communicate it then also its showing the same results. i would be very helpful if anybody helps me out of this problem,it has become very urgent now thanks in advance Regards Nilesh