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this has bothered me since I first found MrPLC.com. I figured someone else would step forward and expose their ignorance, leaving me to not look so foolish. It hasn't happened though, so I'm going to have to have to ask.. What is "chako"? And why does it rule? Ok, there. I asked. Flame away :)

Hey, someone else from the "D"! Does that make three of us?

the oscillating ghostly face more than makes up for it

I convinced my parents to get me a modem for the computer in '85. (And a month later I saw my first $300 phone bill.. but that's a different story) That's when I first realized I needed an online "handle". Space Invaders was old news by then!

Why PdL? (why not pDl?) I can answer the "why gravitar" that may result. I picked it for my "handle" when the arcade game was popular, back in the 80s.. http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter...mp;game_id=8000

i must be the old geezer around here.. just turned 34

1988, and made by Dynapro. (So i guess that makes it a Dyna-saur? :) I thought they just made Panelviews! I wonder what it was used for

And by the way, if your SLC has an EEPROM installed, DON'T FORGET(!!) to manually update it whenever you make changes to the SLC's main memory. You'd think RSLogix would warn you if the contents of these two memories become unsynchronised, but it doesn't. You won't find out until the next time somebody cycles power on the SLC!

How about bridging through a controllogix chassis?

I just started a couple days ago with a company that has the toolkit. Wow, that's a lot of software! I learned about something else new, too.. EVRSI activations that expire! When I first came for an interview, they pulled out a notebook to give me a programming "test", but as luck would have it the contract expiration anniversary was the day before so they couldn't get it to launch RSLogix!

I don't know if this is still considered the BEST solution, but RSlinx Gateway can bridge between DH485 (or whatever else) and Ethernet. Might be what you need. http://www.rockwellautomation.com/rockwell...x/benefits.html

Hello! I've been asked to help in specifying a DC drive, and that isn't an area I'm familiar with.. I've only had to deal with low-HP drives that run on 120VAC mains. Anyway, I'm supposed to be using the A-B 1395 or 1397 family if possble. The application has been described as follows: Arm 152 Vdc / 32 A /3000 rpm Field : 10 A input : 380 V (is this enough information to select the drive?) Looking at the 1395 and 1397 brochures, it doesn't look like you can get a 150V armature voltage when you have 380VAC mains. Unless there's a parameter you can set to limit this voltage down to 150? If any of you that have experience with DC drives could give me their opinion, I'd be grateful!

So Chris Elston is "chako"? I guess i didn't make the connection. the assertion is correct then, he does rule :)

AutoCAD electrical looks like it has a lot of nice features that would make our lives easier. I haven't taken the time to learn them though, so I too do everything by hand in plain-vanilla autoCAD :)

what is a wicket? i thought that was one of the ewoks :)

Thanks for all the advise! I went over to my A-B distributor to pick up some literature, and lucky enough one of the drives people was at the front counter, so I told her what I was asked to supply. It was as if she had been on MrPLC.com or something.. First thing she said was why don't I try to convert over to an AC motor.. Second thing was, what's the application :) She said that the 1395 was a poor choice, and the 1397 isn't a wonderful one, either. She suggested I take a look at what Reliance has to offer (in DC drives), so I grabbed one of their catalogs too. The first roadblock I'm noticing with ANY of these DC drive families is trying to get ~150V output when the input is 380VAC. Seems that when you choose an input voltage that high, an output voltage that low isn't an option.

Whether it's good or not, if that's what they're using where you work then it will be time well-spent for you to learn it :)

Thank you for the advice. I will ask if there's a nameplate on the motor that I can get a picture of. As far as the 380V, I *THINK* that's referring to 380VAC incoming line voltage. This installation is in Indonesia, perhaps that is the standard for industrial equipment there as opposed to 460VAC or 575VAC.

Agreed, with the price charged for that particular model of card, it wouldn't make sense. If however there would be a way of using an el-cheapo PCMCIA interface with the PIC, it might be worth looking into.

I'm pretty sure I saw KUKA on the manipulator.. (The Wii one, that is.. The jackass episode in the original post featured a Fanuc)

If the guy that claimed to successfully use a PCMCIA card to connect with a 1747-PIC is to be believed, then this is a pretty significant development. I wonder if the Quatech card is the only one that will work? It's too bad they're so pricey.. I would like to get one just to see if it really works! I also noticed that Quatech sells PCMCIA RS485 cards... I wonder if one of those could be made to work WITHOUT a PIC? Yeah, I know that's really pushing it.. :)

Now **THAT** is cool! I'd like to get some of the particulars on the interface between the Wee and the Kuka controller!

If A-B was smart, they would do that.. I'm pretty certain that they don't give any kind of sales incentive to educational facilities though! This is probably due to the fact that Rockwell conducts their own training and doesn't see a need to subsidize what they probably see as competition. At least Rockwell Software does (or at least 'did') offer an educational discount. On the other hand, Haas Automation (the CNC mill/lathe manufacturer) has what I think is a great idea. If you are a college that wants to start a CNC program, Haas will load up your shop with as much of their latest & greatest equipment that will fit. The "catch": Haas still owns the equipment, and during the day (since all the classes are at night) Haas does sales demos. They regularly sell the equipment that's at the college and rotate other machines in, which gives us an opportunity to work on examples of their full product line. It's a win-win situation for everyone. The college gets the use of the equipment for free, the students get to work on brand-new latest technology, and Haas gets a well-equipped sales office without paying for it. I'm surprised other companies haven't adopted this model!

I think the automotive MAP sensor is a pretty good idea. You would probably want one for a turbocharged engine though, as NA engines don't expect to see anything greater than atmospheric pressure! Here's some info on the ubiquitous GM MAP sensor... http://www.robietherobot.com/storm/mapsensor.htm

I've never seen an industrial robot do something (other than stop or just plain mechanically fail) that it wasn't TOLD to do. Now with that said, I've seen "the best of the best" programmers pick up fixtures/transguns/etc and sling them across workcells when not using their best judgement. I don't think I'd entrust my health and safety to any of them!