gleblanc

We have Mitsubishi, IDEC, Toyopuc, and Allen Bradley PLCs in house, and the controls guy (me) knows enough to get by on almost anything. However, I'd prefer not to have to buy another piece of programming software. No other specs that I can think of, except that documentation should be in English. Greg

Hi folks. I'm looking for some quotes on a PLC and panel to integrate with a new Ingersoll-Rand DC tool and controller we have at the plant. 5 second overview: scan barcode, light config light, put DC tool into correct mode, light up OK when done. Please see the attached PDF for more details. Post here or email me directly with questions. Shifter Console DC tool Poka-Yoke.pdf

This can be done, although it doesn't seem as straight forward as I first thought. You'll probably need Workstation to get this done; I can't figure out how to pull it off with Player, even using the Virtual Network Editor, unless I create all new VMs (and even then it seems to crash). First, use the Virtual Network Editor to edit VMnet0 to bridge to your LAN adapter. Second, add another VMnet adapter, and set it to bridge to your WiFi adapter. The next part I'm not 100% sure if, since I don't have workstation anymore (apparently my 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 license keys don't work on 9.0). I think you should be able to add two bridged network adapters to the VM, and have one for each wireless and wired. I can't figure out how to tell/assign which one gets connected to which real network adapter, and when I try to add them to a new VM using Player it just crashes. Let us know how that goes, it might be the selling point to get me to move up to Workstation. HTH, Greg

I did post one in the For Sale, Employment, Services or Wanted forum. http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?showtopic=24845

Thanks, I got on the Mitsubishi Europe site. The US site doesn't seem to have anything similar.

Anybody have a link to a cool Mitsubishi Automation wallpaper? I googled a bit, but didn't come up with anything worthwhile. I need a quick visual to differentiate my AB virtual machine from my Mitsubishi one.

I haven't heard anything from Chris about an android app, and I can't start a topic for discussion, so... Has anybody tried Forum Runner? It's only 2 bucks, but if somebody has already confirmed it one way or another, that'll save me the work.

Are you doing all-grain, or just trying to heat and cool the wort? If you want to do this with your PC, then I'd probably look at some USB I/O modules. For the fans and the coil you would just need some digital I/O. Normally temperature and time are crucial elements to brewing as well. To track temperature you'll probably need at least one thermocouple (or possibly analog) input. None of this stuff is very hard, a friend and I built a system in college using microcontrollers instead of PLCs, but that was just what we had on hand. If you post a more complete description of what you want to do, we can probably make better recommendations.

Can anybody suggest a good primer on Safety Relays and the like that I can give to my electricians? I asked them to replace the standard relay they had on a motor with a safety rated one, so that hopefully we won't have another failure like the one yesterday (near miss, no injuries), and all I got back was a blank stare.

Are you using shielded terminations with your cable? I have a hard time seeing any benefit to the shielded Cat 5e/Cat 6e cable if you're not using shielded terminations. At the plant they ran shielded from our patch panels to the drops on the floor originally, but lately we have been running un-shielded in conduit and haven't had any interference issues (knock on wood). What brand/type of shielded connectors are you using?

I'm looking for somebody to program our Mitsubishi Q02U PLC to interface it with a Vorne Industries XL800 display. Please see the attached RFQ. Thanks, Greg Andon Upgrade Programming RFQ.zip

No, there is no centralized SCADA or control system. There is only one PLC of any size in the plant, and it controls the conveyor. The second largest PLC in the plant has 4 inputs and 5 outputs. Since there's no centralized SCADA system, putting the messages into the PLC would require walking out to the plant floor, connecting a laptop, and using GX developer. I'm 100% sure that management is not comfortable using GX Developer. Using the XL800 display means that changes can be made from any PC in the office using a standard web browser (with the right username/password). It also make it easier to change when we re-locate a sub-assembly process, or start using a different takt-time. Thanks for your excellent questions, Greg

Hi folks. I just got in a new control panel for one of our DC nutrunners here at the plant. The vendor supplied the complete control panel, which includes a MicroLogix 1400 (1766-L32BWA) and a PanelView Component C300 (2711C-T3M). I'm going to need to make some changes to this machine locally, and the vendor is too far away to make "house calls" for the small changes/tweaks I need to make. What version of RSLogix 500 will I need to be able to connect to this thing and upload new logic? I'm pretty sure that I can do all the programming via the ethernet port. What about the PV Component? I remember that I didn't need software for the last one I used, but it also had an ethernet port. Am I better off using the Connected Components Workbench Software to make changes, or is there a USB cable I can use to connect my laptop directly to the PV? Thanks.

I wound up using RSLogix Micro Developer for this. My AB rep told me that RSLogix 500 does everything from RSLogix Micro, plus support for SLCs. Since I don't have any SLCs, and plan to stay with Micro and CompactLogix in the future, it didn't make sense to get RSLogix 500.

OK, so I probably should have found this ages ago, but I just discovered http://www.meau.com/eprise/main/sites/public/Training/Industrial_Automation/Computer_Based_Training/default There's a 95MB zip file there called Q Series E-Learning which has a bunch of info on Mitsubishi PLCs and GX Developer. It seems a bit dated (GX Developer version 7), and the translation isn't great, but it's a whole lot better than bumbling around in GX Developer trying to figure out exactly how to make it do anything useful.

Bah, so confusing! Narrowed it down to 3 options, RSLogix Micro Starter (9324-RL0700NXENE) for $130, RSLogix Micro Developer (9324-RL0700NXENE) for $504, or RSLogix 500 Starter (9324-RL0700NXENE) for $700. I hate to go to the RSLogix 500 Standard at over $1500 for this tiny project (that should have come in working to begin with). As long as I stick with MicroLogix PLCs, will Micro Developer do more for me than 500 Starter? I tried to find a comparison of 500 vs Micro, but I haven't had much luck yet. I do need to buy a copy of Logix 5000 and FactoryTalk View for the new compact logix/PV+ machine we just installed in another part of the plant. The bundle with 5/500/5000 is like $10k, and 5000 standard is only a couple of grand. Doesn't seem to make financial sense, unless I were actually programming these things, and not just fixing them. Thanks.

I'm still arguing with RSLogix about this project. I've got RSLogix Micro Starter Lite, version 8.10.00. According to the release notes, This is the first release of RSLogix Micro. The following features are available in this release: · Support for MicroLogix1400 Series A: ML1400 processor type support When I fire up RSLogix and try to load the project file, I get a window that says "The project with unsupported processor can not be opened by RSLogix Micro." I get a similar message when I try to go online with RSLogix, though RSLinx sees the processor just fine, and was able to upload the EDS file from the device. I've attached the RSS file... Am I just on the wrong version? Is RSLogix Micro a no-go, and I just need to buy RSLogix 500 Starter? Thanks for any pointers. 142-06-3.RSS

I think this is a Mitsubishi unit, but the numbers look a little funky. Maybe post a picture of the front of the module where you found the part number?

Alright, this is a pet peeve, but... Either use the units for each quantity, or use the name for each quantity. V/A/kW (Volts, Amps, kilo-Watts), or V/I/P (Voltage, current, power). Unfortunately, I haven't got anything even remotely close to useful to suggest here.

A 1 hp motor is WAY bigger than what you want for the lead screw. I think the hard part of this project is going to be fabricating a lathe bed, and figuring out how to get the headstock aligned. Next will be figuring out a cross slide and/or compound. As far as replacing the traditional change gears with something electronic, it can be done. John from Automation Artisans has made a great product in the ELS. It can take a single PPR encoder on the spindle and some stepper motors and drive both the lead screw and the cross slide. Unless you're into re-inventing the wheel, I'd take a look at that. http://www.autoartisans.com/ELS/

I don't know if you've made any progress on this... I've been searching half the morning trying to find something decent. So far, I haven't found anything great for my application. I did find a WWVB receiver with an EIA-232 interface. http://www.beaglesoft.com/radsynreceiver.htm Looks like it would be quite a bit cheaper than the GPS box, and shouldn't need an outside antenna (maybe). It's a little more than I want to spend, since I'm only looking for 1 second accuracy. I've not found any cheap WWVB alarm clocks that plug in to the wall. Looks like my first test will be with something I can get for $20 shipped that runs on batteries. Depending on how much of a PITA it turns out to be, and if I can get reception, buying that receiver might turn out to be the cheapest solution.

I've got a couple of Mitusbishi PLCs on site here that I need to keep synchronized a bit more closely than their RTCs will allow. They tend to drift a few seconds a month, which gets a bit annoying when I have to go out on the first of the month with my laptop and try to re-sync their clocks with the time.gov server. I can generally get these down to within half a second by hand. I'd like to get to within, say, 0.1 seconds, but I haven't found a good way to do this yet. The best thought I've come up with is to buy a couple of those "atomic wall clocks", hack them open, and set up the alarm function on them to sound every day, and use a simple ladder rung to write that time of day to the PLC clock. I expect that this will work fine as long as the clock doesn't drift too far, but I wondered if anybody else had a better/easier idea. My biggest worry is that the atomic clock won't be able to pick up a time signal inside of the giant faraday cage that we call a plant. Thoughts? Greg

Attached is a small PLC program that runs the shift buzzers at work. It's in use on an FX1S-30MR here at the plant, so I know it works, but I'm still open to any comments or advice on how to make it better. I've tried to document it nearly to death, to make sure that next time I need to change it, I can figure out what's going on. I don't think the FX1S can hold comments, or maybe I've got too many for it to download, so I put a small thumb drive in the cabinet with the PLC, so that I won't lose the program and the comments. Background: We had an older "smart relay" in place, but when we went to mandatory overtime, and added a third break, we exhausted the limit on timers for that device. I had 3 FX1S CPUs sitting in a closet from a plant we shut down a few years ago, and figured they'd make a cheap alternative to buying another PLC, even though they've got FAR more I/O than is needed for this project. Shift starts at 6, half hour lunch is at 10, breaks at 8, 12:30, and 2:30 (which used to be the end of shift). There's a 2 minute buzzer before the work start bell, to remind people to get back to their stations before the line starts again. I though about using timers to do the 3s buzzers, but it turned out to be much easier to use the RTC. I also screwed up and implemented a double coil the first time through, which caused one set of buzzers not to work. Shift Buzzers.zip

Well, I just checked today, and the RTC on the FX1S was off by more than a minute. Looks like figuring out a way to sync the RTC daily is going to have to be a priority if this keeps up!

Cool topic of discussion! I've been doing some similar work, but mostly trying to achieve the best vacuum I can in the minimum time (looking for medium vacuum, below 300 Pa), so I've been looking at similar graphs for the past few weeks. I hadn't really thought about what caused the shape of the graph before now.