Conor

MrPLC Member
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Everything posted by Conor

  1. SLC 500 faulted.

    For some idea's that may have caused it. I have 9 of these machines, all with the same program in them. The only time before that I saw one of the PLC's faulting was when an Analogue Input card had gone faulty. So after that I put in watchdog code to monitor each of the PLC's.
  2. Hi guys, I have a pump set that I have just installed three new Powerflex 40 Drives. I have set-up the drives and they are unning fine. I have a PID set-up and this will control ok too. Everything alright so far. Now I need to maintain a pressure of 7.5 bar with these pumps. One pump will not reach 7.5 on its own. I am not sure of which is the best way of running these pumps. Currently I have the Duty pump running flat out at 50 Hz. I am then using the PID to vary the speed of the Assist pump. Is this the normal way that this would be done? Or would I be better to run the two pumps from the PID and vary both? Any help would be great, Conor
  3. Hi guys, Yesterday in work we has a power "blip". A lot of the plant went down. One of these was a SLC. This SLC has Digital Input and Output card. It also has an Analogue Input card, 1746-NI8. When this piece of plant came back online, none of the Analogues were working. I checked out everything and found the power led was on but the channel led's were blank. I then went online and checked, no Analogues working. So I went off-line and checked the Channel configuration. I found that all the channels were set totally differently than what was originally programmed into them, the enable check box was even unchecked. I changed them all back to the correct settings and downloaded the code. Machine back online everything was ok. Has anyone seen this before or know of any issues that may have caused this to happen. The program was at the correct stage of the process where it had stopped at when the power blipped, so I don't think it was the battery in the processor. Conor
  4. Hi Ken, Without physically pullig out the processor, is there a way of checking to see if there is an EEPROM? I looked up the SLC manual and from there I was able to check system bit S:66 (Flash EEPROM size). This has a size of 512 in it. I also checked the N9 integers and they had the strange values in them again. I checked on my Scada and couldn't find anything that would be writing to this Integer either. Conor
  5. Hi Gromit, I just searched for this on the tech support website and it says that Last Scan S:8 and Max Scan S:9 can be reset by putting a zero into these bits via RSLogix5 software. The article number on tech support is 61150. I had checked the Enhanced user manual, 1785-UM012D-EN-P, but couldn't find anything in that about resetting. Conor
  6. Hi Ken, There is no HMI connected, but there is a Scada. I will check in the morning to see if there is anything writing to the PLC, but I don't think there is. I also don't think there is an EEPROM, again I will check in the morning Conor
  7. Hi guys, I was just checking this out again today and found what the issue was. I downloaded the NI8 manual as well, and found the Ladder Logic Configuration Examples on page 56. When I set up the card originally there was a line of code added to the Main routine SOR XIC S:1/15 COP #N9:0 #O:3.0 12 EOR S:1/15 is the first pass bit. Then I put in the correct values into N9 and checked Configuration of the card in the I/O cnfiguration and all seemed ok I had just started this reply and went back in to check the I/O Config and found that it was all over the place again. I checked the N9 integers and the had messed up figures in them again. I checked in the code and I can't seem to find anywhere that something is writing values into N9 I was wondering if anyone had any idea's? Thanks, Conor
  8. Thanks, I will try this tomorrow as am finished for day now P.S: I tried that this morning but it didn't work. The bit was flashing on and off, and therefore the Alarm was flashing on the Scada.
  9. Hi guys, I have a Flex I/O with an Analogue Input card. One of my Analogue Input connected instruments is gone faulty. I have an instrument fault on my Scada system. When I checked where this alarm is coming from, I found that it comes from the Under-range flag in the Flex I/O. My question is how can I move a zero into just this single bit? N9:85 is the word N9:85/4 is this instruments under-range flag I was looking into doing a Masked move, but I don't want to put zero's into all bit of the word Thanks, Conor
  10. Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone has done anything on Fingerprint recognition. I have an PanelView that I use to flash up Site-wide alarms to let the Operators know that there is a paritcular alarm in a certain area. I have a slience button that silences an alarm siren. The problem is that anyone can silence the alarm, and if the alarm is not for the area that they work in then they don't always let the other Ops know. I had suggested that the I force the Operators to Log On to a screen on the PanelView wit their employee number. I will then read this employee number and store it in an Historian. I have tested this and it works fine. The only thing is that an engineer in here has got a bone about Fingerprint readers and wants me to see if I can do the alarm slience this way. The way that I see it is that I would need the Fingerprint reader to be sitting on a PC with software to be able to recoginse a unique Fingerprint. I would then have to send an Output to my PLC to silence the alarm siren. The PLC that is connected to the PanelView is a SLC 5/04. I have an L35E close by as well. I would be very grateful if someone could recommend something as a solution for me, or if not I will have to go with the Logging on to the PanelView which I know will work. I think that the Enginerr is afraid that one Op will get to know some elses employee number and just use that, bu to me that would be a disiplinary issue. Thanks, Conor
  11. The PanelView is only in one area. It is a main area used as a Site-wide control room by most operators, so all Op's will have access to the room.
  12. Hi guys, I had a Powerflex 700 170 Amp drive go down on me the other day. Got the new one in on Express delivery today and am have a little problem. My drive is controlled by DeviceNet, which is connected to an L35E. I was able to go online and download to the new drive but it is not resetting. It is showing up ok on the DeviceNet. I seem to remember before when I had changed out a Powerflex 40 for a new one that I had to download to the HMI as well as but I maybe wrong there. Does anyone have any idea's? Thanks, Conor
  13. Hi guys, Got sorted this morning. The new Drive that I had installed was firmware version 10, and the old one was 4. I had to download the EDS for V10. I then was able to download by resolving the mismatch. I saved the mismatch report. I had done all of this yesterday before my first post. So this morning I was checking in the PLC code an found that I couldn't see the four DI's that were connected to the Drive on the PLC, even though these three were On. I thought that I checked all of the Parameters against the back-up version that I had from the original old drive. I was then talking to my local Rockwell support engineer. He asked me to check the Data in Parameters and crosscheck with the old back-up. I found that Parameters 310 to 313 had no values in them on the new drive where they had values in them on the old drive. I matched up the values and I got my drive to reset. When I checked the Mismatch report again I found that of course I hadn't looked at it correctly. I told me that it had deleted Parameters 300 to 317 and re-created these Parameters again. This must have zero'ed all of these Parameteres. Hopefully this may help some one in the future, as I was stumped. Conor
  14. Hi Ken, I meant that there are no errors on the scanner card, or online with the DeviceNet software. As said I downloaded to the card via the software ok. Conor
  15. Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone might have any idea's on this. I was called in yesterday evening for a PLC problem. I found that one of my main PLC's has "Lost" its program. I was able to download the program to the PLC, and got everything back up and running ok. I was wondering how the program was wiped? The only way that I can think is that there was a power outage and that the battery was dead. This PLC is backed up by a UPS. There are two redundant in-rack power supplies. Not sure when the battery was changed last, but think it was about 3 years ago. I have looked into the power outage, and can't seem to find any issues around the rest of the plant where the power dropped, so I don't think that this was the problem. I am a bit baffledand also worried that this could have happened. I was online to the PLC yesterday and had saved the program before leaving work at the normal time. If anyone has any idea's/thoughts/suggestions I would be very gratfeul. Thank, Conor
  16. I wouldn't believe that 99% of ControlNet is scheduled. I know that here on our site that we do a lot of messaging that is unscheduled. Unscheduled traffic is non time critical data. We do have scheduled ControlNet as well. The problem always with this is that you mayl need to re-schedule the network if you change certain parts. If you have a large network or a very critical process that can't be stopped only on very rare occasions, then this may cause problems. I know someone like Ken will be able to tell you a lot more on this subject.
  17. reset timers

    If you have N7:XX for the Preset then do a MOV N7:XX into T4:5.PRE. This works fine. This also means that someone can't change to Preset without knowing which N7 is being moved into it.
  18. Hi guys, I have not been at this issue for a while, but I am now able to get my Zebra printer to print from my L35E. As stated before I have a Prosoft MVI69-GEC and I set up the printer as a Client in this configuration, default port for the printer was 9100 (from the manual). I then read the Zebra manual and sent an ASCII string out to the printer. This printed. I was wondering what is the best way of copying the following into my ASCII string? ^XA ^FO50,50^ADN,36,20^FDxxxxxxxxxxx ^FS ^XZ Each one of these needs to be on a seperate line in the ASCII string sent out to the printer Conor
  19. Hi guys, I was wondering if anyone is printing via a CompactLogix. I need to get a printer to print out dockets for me. I need to be able to send the info out from my L35E processor. I will have a managed switch on the other end where the prnter will be installed. On the print out I would like to have a basic template and my PLC sending out the info to fill in the blanks (for want of a better word) on the printed out sheet. Conor I may have the answer already. I have a Prosoft MVI69-GEC. Would I be able to use this to send info out to a printer, and if so would any printer do here?
  20. Hi guys, I have a tank that had an Ultrasonic on it reading the level. There are two pumps in the tank, which are controlled by the level. The tank fills up with a lot of Steam, making the Ultrasonic very erratic. There is also a lot of turbulance in the tank. I have thought of using a differential pressure sensor, but the turbulance put me off this. The tank is filled with water and "watery" sludge. I don't really want to use a stick type probe, as i am afraid of it getting ragged up. Any suggestions would be great, Thanks, Conor
  21. Thanks for the idea's guys. I have a spare IFM PS3407 that I may try in this aplication. Currently I am waiting on a trial new Ultrasonic head for the controller that I am using. We normally use Pulsar Ultrasonics ( http://www.pulsar-pm.com/ ). We have been normally using a DB6 head, but the guy came out the other day and said that Pulsar have recommended a DB15. He has guaranteed me that this will work, no work no sale. He actually told me that he would put his b@lls on the chopping block he was that sure that it would work. I will let you know how I get on. I have being trying to get the issue resolved another way in here. I asked the question why is there so much steam? There wasn't as much steam in that tank a month ago? I also said that the last time this kind of thing happened it was a process issue with x, and x was cleaned out, problem solved. Do you think they would listen....... Anyway, lets see how this new stronger Ultrasonic works. Conor
  22. Hi guys, I was talking to my IT guy today and there maybe a chance that I could be doing a MicroSoft MCP. I was wondering if anyone had done any of these and which may be the best. As we have an Historian that is built on a server, I thought that one of the server exams woudl be best. I was also looking at Comptia certification. Are these any good either. Conor
  23. Hi guys, I have a new starter section for two motors going in to a part of my Plant. I wanted to put in Point I/O as well as two E3-Plus Overloads. I would prefer to run just one Ethernet cable, and not have to run a DeiveNet cable. I would be connecting the Devices to a Stratix Managed switch. I have been checking on the AB website but an not 100% sure of which product would suit my application the best. The following are the part numbers that I have dug up. 2100-ENET 193-DNENCAT 193-DNENCATR I think that the 193-DNENCAT or 193-DNENCATR would be the best for me, as each of these can connect to up to 6 Nodes on DeviceNet. I am not sure about the 2100- ENET. I was wondering about the 193-DNENCATR. Is the second port only for DLR? Could I connect the EtherNet cable from y Managed Swich into the first port and then connect the Point I/O to the second port on the 193-DNENCATR? Thanks, Conor PS: I rang Tech support for there advice on this. The guy was not very helpful, and couldn't give me an answer. He then told me that I should contact my local distributor. My experience with Tech support has been mainly very good up to this, but I am very p*&sed off with his answer. Maybe I rang him too close to his lunch time and he couldn't be bothered
  24. Hi guys, I have a new PowerFlex 40 that is connected to a PLC 5 on DeviceNet. I have the drive set-up on the DeviceNet and am able to read/write from it. I am trying to set-up a PID to set the output on the drive. This is based on an Analogue Input from a pressure switch. I have set-up the PID, but am having a bit of trouble to get it working as I would like. I have attached a word doc with some screendumps. F8:99 is my Pressure Scalle 0 - 10.66 bar I am able to MOV this into PD27:6.PV as you can see, but when I go to run the PID it uses Process Variable N13:212. If I put in a zero to N13:212 then the PV is not taken from the line above? I had originally did a MOV from F8:99 into N13:212. As can be seen from the screendump I tried to use PD27:6.PV in place of N13:212, but got an error (screendump). From the error I take it that I need to use a Word value i.e. N13:212. I have also added the PID config in the screendump. Thanks, Conor pid_pv.doc
  25. Thaks for that Mickey. I wasn't sure about the timer. So I need a .DN bit from a timer at the start of the rung that the PID is on? I thought that the 1 sec in the PID instruction would do. The PD27:6.PV would be used to diaplay values on a Scada or the likes? Conor