David Larsson

Hi! Thanx for your help! I will look into it under the day and hopefully it will work... Omron should really write some more about this command in their manual. /David

Hi! I´m having trouble figuring out how the WP command works and how I should use it. The PLC is a CPM1A V1 I have a application that will be used alot of times and always will look the same so I want to be able to send a CD with the installer for our software and then it scans for connected plc´s of the right model. Well I have all that workng and when it finds a plc it adds it to the database and adds an ID to the plc´s memory and starts to read the status of the plc. Its all working as a charm but as it is now a small program is needed in the plc and that means that I need to send all plc´s here, unpack them, program them, pack them again and then send them to the customer. The solution is that if its a new plc which the pc-software knows if it is it could program it and then use it. But I cant get the command to work and I´m not sure if I get the right program out the plc. I use MultiWay to figure out what commands to send in my software but the WP command isnt really explained much. I use the RP command and get alot of data from the plc which seems to be the program. But if I use the download program function in MultiWay I get another Hex-code. And if I try to send it all I get is a message back that basicly says that it didnt work. (Should return 00 if it works but it returns 84) The command I´m trying to send now looks like this: @00WP0080081B9E00010C140C1480091D9E0C1600010C16800A1D9E0C1800010C18800B1D9E0C1A00010C1A800C1D9E0C1C00010C1C800D1D9E0C1E00010C1EA0081D9E0C2800010C28A0091D9E0C2A00010C2AA00A1D9E0C2C00010C2CA00B1D9E0C2E00010C2EA00C1D9E0C3000010C30A00D1D9E0C3200010C321814DEADDEAD18011801 + checkSum+*+\r Its the command first @00WP00 (Should the last two 00 be there?) then its the program that was in the textfile downloaded from the plc and then the same ending I use for all other commands that works. Could really need some help figuring out how to send this cause it would save me alot of work later on. /David

Thanx for your reply! That might just work actually. If I force it and then just after cancel the force. I´ll try it

Hi! I´m trying to set individual bits thru a com-port in the IR area but all I can find is a command to set the entire word. If I do that without knowing the present value of the other bits in the word I will overwrite those. So is there a method to write one bit in an area without altering the other bits except for reading the word first and then write it?

Yes this will help him if it wasnt done before. When I first started to work with FINS udp I didnt set up the routing table (didnt think I had to when I was accessing the plc from local network). If this isnt set and everything else is right it should reply some jibberish if you at all get any contact with it. I´m not sure if the software you are using mean jibberish with the "!! (0)" but for your sake I hope so cause then its the routingtable who is causing you trouble. I should have thought about this before when I replied cause I had some major problems with this myself... /David

You should get an answer if the ip, node, and network adress is correct and thats even if u send a faulty command. U should also set the unitnumber to 00 to send the messages to the plc´s CPU. /David

Ah thanks! I didnt think about their powersupplies actually. I´ll look into it. /David

Same old Festo. ´They didnt really thought on that people actually was going to use their stuff so its useability has much to ask. Personally I got rid of all festo-stuff when I came to the company I work in now (A total of 6plc´s have been replaced) not because they where old but just because that they just dont keep up with the competition today. Feels like they are about 10 years behind in some matters... Sorry about the "attack" against festo in this post but in my experience with their plc-products and their plc-support I could just recommend everyone to not use their products. Their programming-software FST doesnt work properly and hangs up frecuently and their plc´s act "strange" and actually doesnt follow the ladder-program as it should. After discussing with support that couldnt understand what was wrong they tried to fix the problem and they failed on it. This was ridiciolus because what that brand new PLC was supposed to do was to drive one servounit betwen 2 positions and one servounit a relative position ahead. And to do this it had simple I/O´s to drive the units with (enabled bit, drive bit, positions bit and positionreached input) It failed on doing this in a simple step-program. After the support was talking about strange programming and other stuff I took my old omron C20H (early 90´s) and did the exact same ladder-program and put it in the same place as the FESTO CPX where before. It worked perfectly at once. When the festo had the same program it sometimes didnt move the servo-unit and sometimes did in some sort of strange random pattern and whatever criteas I tried to add to make it not to it sure kept on in the same way. I think that its a securitydanger to have a plc that can ignore instructions and just go on and I did double and triple-check that it was the right program in the plc. What if it skipped security breaches and such?? I have never worked with a PLC-system with such a low quality and lack insecurity before and its strange that they in the competition today at all can sell products. When we finally had decided to replace all our Festo products and send back the new one the support actually confessed that they have a problem with their software and that its another company that does it for them. To have that kind of problem with a software at version 4 they really should take their products back and refund which they by the way didnt do 100% to us...

Thanx for the reply. Then this actually should work :) I think that the ideal for this application should be a CJ1M-CPU11-ETN. But even for its small size it gets kind of large for being in a car but I think I need that ethernet card. The idea is to get a small network in the car with the computer and plc and possibly a portabel-computer for a trip or something. And today here in sweden its getting really cheap to have portabel-broadband so I´ll put that in as well :D With that and a gps it should be easy to track the car if something happends and I could really do some fun webapplications to for it. The idea is to make it a project to show some of what I can do in my company (and more cause its fun´:) ) and maybe if it gets costefficient I know of some owners of the same car I have (porsche 928 s4) that are interested in this kind of system. I also just realized that why not use webcams as parkingaid :) The car has a so long hood that its impossible to se where it is so I really need it or I´ll bump into something (again) And with that PLC i get the option for temperature and analog inputs etc so that I can collect informaition about the car. This could really be a fun project :)

Ah nice with so many replies :) Yes I´m aware of the problem with the electrical system... but I think a converter as someone suggested would work. The ideal would be a circuit that could convert a 12-14V to stabil 24V. I have already found a ready built panelcomputer with 12.1" tochscreen that runs on 12V :) I thought that omron should have atleast one plc that runs on 12V or something but like some people say here I might have to look at other brands. I will work for trying to use omron thou cause I have constructed a FINS communication class for java to another project that I really want to use for this (to save some programming hours). So has anyone used a omron plc with converter 12->24V succesfully? And how much current does CJ1 series and such really use when just switched on and not used? (no outputs enabled)

Hi everyone! I have a project for my company that I´m doing most for my own interest and it includes my car. My idea is to switch the 80´s looking middlepanel with a panel-pc and with that also remove everything from that panel. To get room with the pc I need to remove the climate-controlsystem. Instead I want to control that system with a plc connected to the pc. What plc should I use that can communicate with the pc and control ordinary valves + would be fun with some analog inputs and stuff so that I can collect more info about whats happening with the car. The panel-pc will work as a GPS,Stereo,climate-control and whatever else I can come up with. The PLC needs to be small and I need it to somehow run on 12V. So what do u guys think? /David

Hi! As I can see it the header and the command seems to be right. I think the problem in your program is the conversion to hex. Have you tried any other command and are you sure of the pc-ip? When I developed a class-library for java I first had the same problem like you getting the same response all the time. In my case it was the conversion of decimal -> hex -> byte[] that was the problem and the information didnt get completely right. Could you post the code that does the conversion?

Ah thats a really good idea! I´ll use that in my next project :)

When I program I always set all outputs last in the program and all "help"-bits I use in the program is wired directly to the output with only emergency-stop and such things in betwen. It makes up big "or"-circuits but that makes the output easy to overlook,change and handle and there is never any need for any duplicated output cause if one bit is on the output is enabled. If a bit should cancel an output its just coupled as an "and-not"-circuit. This is my way of doing it and I usualy do it in a separet section last in the program.

good old days Actually did that thing on a tiny machine here cause there was to little logic for a plc. 4 relays and the machine worked perfectly. Did the thinking like I was programming a plc with the difference that u can only use a sensor once or you have to ad another relay :) Rally fun to test it thou and as u say we take to much for granted these days...