scottg

Thanks for the link Rocho, Doug always does a GREAT job in his videos. When you click on the link Rocho has provided it may not take you directly to the correct video, you may need to scroll down a bit just right of the video player to find Doug's "Program a one-shot" video. Doug uses a counter, a compare instruction, and a special instruction (_First Scan SP0) to accomplish the task of creating a one button toggle. This is a neat approach, and I want to thank you Rocho for posting the link. Like everything else in programming, there is usually more than many way to accomplish a task. Best regards to all.

OUTSTANDING reply, it is apparent that you know so much more than I do, I bow to your intelligence. I'll just drop this because obviously this is too sensitive for you to discuss like adults.

Here's an open question for you Panic. I remember a couple of years ago that Dell was making a big deal that their technical support was "not offshore". What they didn't tell you that the help was coming from Canada, but at least they spoke English, and there were no communication problems. My background is in both CNC and PLC's, so I have suffered through the Fanuc and other asian support systems. I was the west coast engineering support for a major asian machine tool builder in the 90's, and frequently I knew more than the Fanuc personnel did. This is not because I was some sort of super technician, but because Fanuc would 1) get their technicians straight out of college, 2) train them on how the Fanuc CNC controllers worked, and 3) ship them to America for at least two years. Most of those kids had not even cut a real chip, and forget about knowing how to really troubleshoot a machine tool. Do you think that if we (the customers who use Panasonic, Omron, etc.) would make a big deal through an email campaign that these companies would take note and provide an American speaking technician for the American service area? I am picking on Panasonic because it is the latest PLC I have been using, but you can almost plug any companies name in here EXCEPT AutomationDirect. The AutomationDirect PLC may be old in the tooth technology wise (I own several 405 systems and one 05 PLC system), but they DO provide American born technical support technicians. I know this is not politically correct, but I believe that companies like AutomationDirect should be publicly commended for their efforts. I know the whole story behind AutomationDirect, so I know this type of support was born out from a business necessity, but I don't care how or why they got there, the fact is that they did. What do you think? Scott

Hi Panic, Thank you for the response Panic; I have a less than a high opinion regarding Panasonic PLC support. I am sure that part of my prejudice is from the fact that at one time I did technical support for a PLC company, and I was damned good at it. START OF RANT I will pick on the Panasonic guys for the moment, but this holds so true for just about every other technology company (except AutomationDirect), the support persons grasp of the English language is not that great. Often they are hard to understand, and frequently they "talk down" to you even though you have concisely explained what your problem is. I know my problem is that when I did customer support, I WANTED to help people, now days many support people act like they are doing you the biggest favor. END OF RANT As to my recurring problem with the GT21C, I am more inclined to believe that the problem is with my "USB to RS-232" converter. Only one of my development computers (I have four laptops) has a true RS-232 port, and it is my newer "dual core" faster than lightening AMD computers that seem to have the most problems. If I use my 7 year old Compaq laptop that has a real RS-232 port, I do not seem to have such headaches. In the "wouldn't it be great" category, I wish someone (like PC Magazine or PC World) would do some benchmark testing of these devices. Over the years I have had more than 10 different converters, with the RadioShack converter being the least reliable and my Belkin converter being the most reliable. Just my experience. Best regards, Scott

Hi Panic, I too have a Panasonic GT21C HMI, and I am using it with FP0, FP2, & FP-X controllers. My only beef with the GT21C is the GTWin software trying to configure the GT HMI. Even though I have the latest version of GTWin, it still seems like the "GT Configuration" feature does not always pass new configuation parameters to the HMI. My experience has taught me to check & double check when I change a GT Configuration through GTWin. Other than that, the GT21C is an overall good product.

Hi Dave, I know this is just details, but which Allen-Bradley PLC are you going to use, and what type (just the basics) of application are you converting? The best you can hope for is someone in your area has the Siemens and Allen-Bradley tools to do the job. If you aren't able to find someone in your area, are you in a position to provide travel to your facility to do the initial work? I have the tools and experience needed to do this job, but I am in the LA area. Best regards, Scott scott@isdtech.com www.isdtech.com

Hi Guys, I had to come up with logic to solve this very problem quite awhile ago, and I came up with my own ladder logic method to work through this problem. You will need: 1 real world input 1 real world output 2 internal relays You will see that my solution is programmed using Panasonic's FPWIN Pro 5 software, but the logic can be applied to any PLC that has a rising edge input contact. I tested this solution using my FP-X C30 PLC that I use for goofing around, and I know it works. If you have any questions, just post a message.