Glenikins

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Posts posted by Glenikins


  1. Hi there, We have a pair of Modicon 984 PLCs on one of our offshore installations. Each PLC appears to have three in-use serial Modbus connections: - one each to a SCADA PC which provides various graphical displays showing data (read only from the PLC, no writes) - two each to another PC which runs two separate applications, each using one Modbus connection: a. ProWorx (used for monitoring the PLC application logic) b. What looks like a proprietary program by Restbury International which provides a simple mechanism for technicians to force digital inputs and outputs in the PLC on and off. The Restbury International package (known as "PSM") has recently ceased to work, and we have no documentation on it. Consequently we have lost the ability to easily force I/O. Of course, we could use the ProWorx package for this, but we require a simplified mechanism that the technicians can use that requires no training, and offers no scope for inadvertent modifications to logic, etc.! Our aim therefore is to utilise the working SCADA PC, and add to its functionality a graphic screen that does the same as the broken PSM package. We have been able to identify (almost beyond doubt...) that the PSM package wrote to the "raw" I/O addresses in the PLC in order to force inputs and outputs on and off. For example, address ranges 00033, 00034 etc. for digital outputs, and 10033, 10034, etc. for digital inputs. The implication of this is that the PSM package was effectively over-writing the values of digital inputs being read from the physical DI cards in the PLC, and also overwriting the coils driven by the PLC application logic before they are written to the DO cards in the PLC. We do not have a spare PLC to test this wih, and would like to be a little more certain that configuring our SCADA package to write 1's and 0's to these Modbus addresses will have the desired effect of overrding the PLC digital I/O. We would have expected the 10033... addresses to be overwritten by values coming in from DI cards and the 00033... addresses to be overwritten by the PLC application logic. So - the query (at last...) - does anyone have any experience with functionality like this, and the relationship between digital I/O addresses, I/O cards, logic, and Modbus? I hope that's clear, and thanks in advance for any help.

  2. Hi there, I have an old Modicon PLC logic application that I need to view (and possibly modify); the file extension is .pwx. I believe this identifies the associated programming/configuration software as Proworx. However I do not have a copy of the Proworx software and am unsure whether it's still available to buy. Can anyone clarify? Is there another product on the market that will open a .pwx file? Thanks in advance!

  3. Hi Crossbow, Thanks very much for the info. The functions that the unit carries out will probably eventually be subsumed within a DCS system, so I "just" need to keep the existing system up and running until that happens (3-5 years), hence the search for a suitable spare, plus programming software, programming interface (lead), etc. Having said that, if I did want to upgrade to a current model, do you know how straightforward that would be? For example would the logic need to be re-written in the new PLC or are there tools to transfer the original logic, is the footprint the same, are the connections the same, etc.?

  4. Hi all, I've become responsible for a small control system using a Mitsubishi F1-60MR PLC and so I'm spending a bit of time getting to know it, with a view to purchasing a spare at some point, programming software etc. One thing I've not yet been able to work out is what the last part of the full model numbers means. I see these PLCs listed online as F1-60MR-ES or F1-60MR-UL. What's the difference between an -ES and a -UL? If anyone can help I'd be grateful. Regards, Glen

  5. Hi there, I have a set of files from a PLC-3 application which I need to view: .ACH - archive file .XD$ - cross-reference file .X0$ - cross-reference file .B2$ - cross-reference file .TTL - title file for documentation I have a copy of the 6200 Series PLC-3 programming software for MS-DOS (release 3.02). I have so far been unable to convert the archive file into a format that this software can view offline (which I believe is a .AF3 format). Can anyone help? Thanks & Regards, Glen

  6. Ken, Thanks for the response. The reason I need to view the application is indeed because we suddenly need to reproduce part of what it did on the SCADA system that replaced the PanelView some years ago. Amusingly, one of the facilities on the old system was deemed "redundant" at the time and therefore not reproduced on the new system. Five years later the user has asked "where is that facility, we can't find it..." I've attached the .cfg file; if you or anyone else could turn it into something that I could examine I would be grateful. Regards, Glen

  7. Hi there, I have a PanelBuilder 1200 application file (.cfg) from a long-deceased PanelView system. I now need to view this application. I have a copy of PanelBuilder32 but this does not recognise the .cfg file. Can anyone advise on how I can go about converting the file. I don't want to have to buy additional software for this one-off task if I can help it. Thanks & Regards, Glen Chaplin