Ken Roach

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Posts posted by Ken Roach

  1. Posted

    That darn PIC driver in RSLinx is commonly unstable when you have a laptop computer with power-saving features that shut off the serial port after just a few minutes. Go through your BIOS settings and see if you can disable power management there. That might make the driver stable enough. Many users have gone to 1784-PCMK cards even for DH-485. A-B showed of a USB version of the PIC at Automation Fair but it's not on the market yet.

  3. Posted

    There was a bug in the SLC-5/05 controller operating system OS501 Series C firmware revision 5 that broke messages to Interchange clients. Revision 4 worked, and Revision 6 will work when it is released. If FRN5 is the revision of controller you have, give a call to Rockwell Automation support and they'll send you a firmware kit. This information is a public knowledgebase document on A-B's support website (document P1960081), and Rockwell technical support knows about it too.

  4. Posted · Edited by Ken Roach

    The RS-232 port on the ControlNet PanelView is for upload/download or printing only; you can't use it as a DF1 network port for communication to a ControlLogix. It is true that a DF1 PanelView can communicate to the ControlLogix serial port directly, at a lower cost than the ControlNet unit. If you do not intend to expand the system, or if the PanelView is less than 50 feet from the controller, and if the controller serial port is available for connection, then a DF1 PanelView might be a less expensive choice. Be sure before you purchase; the PanelViews cannot have their network daughterboards changed in the field.

  5. Posted

    If you're using ControlNet for the first time, don't overlook the ControlNet Cable Planning and Installation Guide. It will doubtless save you hours of heartache to read just the first two chapters. ControlNet is a trunk-and-drop network; you MUST have taps and terminators for it to work correctly. Although there's nothing physically keeping you from using only co-axial cable, the network will not function correctly without taps and terminators.

  6. Posted

    The classic way is to create a branch around the input and one-shot which includes an XIC instruction with the timer's Enable address, and an XIO instruction with the timer's Done address. That way the timer will remain enabled any time it is "enabled but not done". A-B timers have a single bit that fulfills this role, with the mnemonic code ".TT" for "Timing".

  7. Posted

    A classic, if mostly inconsequential, error. It really just shows up when you start the project and makes you unnecessarily nervous. It's telling you the truth; RSView is trying to open some Network DDE services (I know, you're not using DDE or Network DDE) from the operating system but can't "bind" to them because they're not running. It's a fairly easy fix; you go into Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services. You'll find a service called Network DDE, and next to it one called Network DDE DSDM. Both are by default set to Manual startup; set them to Automatic and next time you boot your PC and start the RSView project, you won't get that error message. I walked through this with one of my customers upgrading a project to Windows 2000 a while ago, and I'm cribbing all of the above from RSI Knowbase documen E4681.

  8. Posted · Edited by Ken Roach

    One of the paperwork things will be the numbering system; SLC's number their I/O slots and points in decimal format, just like the rest of us 10-fingered apes do. But the PLC-5 inherited it's I/O structure from the PLC-2, so it's I/O memory for slots and bits is numbered in octal format. This makes for some re-labeling at the terminal strip. Good luck with the search-and-replace; if I were doing the project I would change the code first in RSLogix 500 to use non-conflicting addresses, then copy-and-paste it into RSLogix 5. This is one of the most crash-happy procedures RSLogix performs, so back up early and often. Hopefully your individual SLC's aren't running super-fast routines for positioning or cutting or something of that sort; that kind of function seldom survives a centralization of processing.

  9. Posted

    I hoard them like a mad squirrel. About once a year some sort of fire drill comes along and I need to get my hands on an obsolete software package or one that's not included in RSRevs anymore. Four years ago I had a manager who "uncluttered" my software archive for me by throwing away dozens of diskettes with obsolete software and activations on them. Three months later he was working for Microsoft and I still get calls to support software that was obsolete when Reagan was President.

  11. Posted

    You probably can't afford a flatscreen PC with an "elborate thermal management system" to act as a data table tweaker for a MicroLogix. Most LCD's just won't operate below their freezing point; they need to be LIQUID ! All PanelViews use liquid-crystal technology in one form or another so if you need this to function below freezing you'll need a solid-state display like Vacuum-Fluorescent or Light-Emitting Diodes. Maple Systems makes a VFD display whose specs say it operates down to about -10 degrees Celsius, the OIT4160B. OptiMate makes an LED display that lets your adjust one varaible at a time; they sell several models like the OP-413 and OP-414 through Automation Direct. The specifications only say it operates down to zero C, but I would give an LED terminal a better chance of working at low temperatures (as long as there's no frost !) than an LCD terminal.

  13. Posted

    Gosh, can you do that without stopping the controller ? SLC's are generally extremely jealous about the stability of their backplane; that's why they Major Fault if an I/O card is missing. I've always thought that you couldn't reset a Major Fault and continue running, only User Faults (like overflows and so forth). I have some SLC's but I'm not willing to damage my controller or I/O modules to test this.

  14. Posted

    The MicroLogix, for better or for worse, are built on a processor and firmware platform very similar to the SLC-5/02, which does not support online editing. Jiri Toman in another thread posited a great analysis of how the nonvolatile memory feature of the MicroLogix 1000 prevents it from easily supporting online editing. I think we'll probably see a "MicroLogix 5000" type product for the Micro1500's I/O platform, which will run the ControlLogix execution engine. After all, there's already a "Pak-OC" embedded PC for that hardware platform. Maybe we'll see tiny ControlLogix-type controllers with fixed I/O too. But for the time being, the minimum A-B controller that supports online editing is the 8k version of the SLC-5/03 controller, part number 1747-L531.

  15. Posted

    Rockwell Automation has sixteen offices in Canada and dozens of distributors; the nearest office to your location in Kingston is probably the national HQ in Cambridge. Their office phone # is (519) 623-1810, and you can ask for their GMS Field Service Manager. You can also call Rockwell Tech Support in the USA at (440) 646-5800. The problem is that your controller is so very old; they don't support the PLC-2 except by paid contract anymore so you're better off asking your local office for a reference for a PLC-2 capable troubleshooter in your area. These phone numbers aren't hard to find.... my local Allen-Bradley office number is right in the regular old phone book, under "A".

  16. Posted

    It's possible your "Smart Screen" is one of the very old pushbutton-replacer panels. I think their Bulletin Number was 2700... check the label on the scanner card that runs to it, and try to figure out the Allen-Bradley part number of the device you need help with. This won't be a cheap fix; you're probably best off contacting your local Rockwell office for a reference to a freelance programmer in your area who has PLC-2 expertise. My own vintage controller guy is on long-term medical leave; we're helpless without him and we have to go deep into the barrel to find expertise for controllers as old as the PLC-2/16. Is the "Smart Screen" actually missing, or has it failed ? Is Eagle Bus in business anymore ? Most motor coach companies that use A-B controllers anymore use the SLC-500 and/or DeviceNet systems.

  17. Posted

    Post a little more information about what you perceive to be the incompatibility between your ControlLogix and your Weber printer. A model number for the Weber printer would be a good start, then a wiring diagram for the cable connecting the two. Next, a note about what you've already tried with Channel 0 configuration and ladder programming. It seems clear none of our readers has your precise printer make hooked up to their ControlLogix, so you might have to settle for similar configuration examples.

  18. Posted

    If your Channel 0 port is set up for DF1 Half Duplex Slave, your RSLinx driver has to be a DF1 Half-Duplex Master. This is a *different* driver than the usual DF1 Full Duplex driver. You'll have to set up your DF1 Master driver in RSLinx to match the baud rate / parity / handshaking of your SLC-500 serial port. The DF1 Half Duplex Master driver lacks the Autoconfigure feature of the Full Duplex driver. You need to put the DF1 Slave Node Address of the SLC into the polling list of the DF1 Master driver as well. You can use the same null-modem serial cable to connect to Channel 0 as you would use for DF1 Full Duplex. The 1747-CP3 is my usual cable. This is not my favorite way to connect to an SLC; you can't Autoconfigure, and if your modem was set to a low baud rate you're stuck at that low baud rate. Unusual handshaking settings for specific modems can also make this a difficult setup to configure. But, if you don't have your 1747-PIC box handy, or your computer lacks a serial port capable of driving it, you don't have another choice for getting online with this processor.

  19. Posted

    Which model of MicroLogix controller are you using ? The MicroLogix 1000 will use "AWT" instructions to send ASCII strings out of the serial port, but the port stays in DF1 Full Duplex Mode and won't accept incoming ASCII strings, only DF1 traffic. If you are using a Micro1200 or 1500, how about sharing some of the strings you're sending and what you're receiving, too ? This sounds like a really fun application. In setups like this I've found a Serialtest or SerialSpy type of device to be invaluable. ComLite32 and TAL Breakout are my favorites, and I have a 2-port PCMCIA/RS232 card so I can pass traffic through my card and basically insert it between controller and external device.

  20. Posted

    Your terminal part number tells you a lot about how to download, which is confusing in your above post. 2711-K        Keypad           5      PanelView 550, 5 1/2" diagonal screen             A    Amber screen, monochrome               5  Data Highway 485 protocol on an RS-232 DB9 connector. The K5A5 terminals are meant to plug either directly into the Channel 0 port of a MicroLogix controller, or into a 1761-NET-AIC for conversion from RS-232 to RS-485 electrical levels. They use the DH-485 protocol, despite the fact that they have a different physical connection (RS-232 signalling) than most DH-485 devices. Because the part number ends in 5, we know this unit has only the one communication port (no printer/download port). We also know from the firmware 1.07 that it does not support ATA Flash memory cards so we cannot use those to transfer the program. IMPORTANT: The RS-232 port on the PanelView terminal is NOT a standard RS-232 port. Pins 2 and 3 are REVERSED from ordinary RS-232 assignments, so that you use a straight-through serial cable to connect from a PC or a MicroLogix or an SLC-5/0x controller to the PanelView. You CANNOT use the same cable as you use for upload/download to a SLC-5/04 Channel 0 or MicroLogix Channel 0. In RSLinx, you use the "1747-PIC/AIC+" driver. Physically, you use a straight-through RS-232 cable or an Allen-Bradley 2711-NC11, -NC12, or -NC13 cable. Do not use your 1747-CP3 or other "null modem" type cable, unless you add another "null modem" adapter to it to switch the pin assignments back.

  21. Posted

    Agreed.   I have a handful of various AUI/10BaseT and /10Base2 transcievers that I use with the PLC-5E controllers and sidecars in my demo inventory. All of them have the SQE switch off (or in the case of the ones with jumpers, stolen for another application!)

  22. Posted

    I cannot explain what went through the minds of the KT card's creators.... "let's be really sure nobody, but NOBODY can ever build a cable for this...." You could get down to $130 by buying the 1784-CP8 adapter.  It's a big molded plastic triangle that connects pins 34,35,36 (the DH+ pins) to a 3-pin Phoenix connector like on the PLC-5 or SLC-5/04. Digi-Key was the supplier, but for the life of me I've never been able to find the part number.

  23. Posted

    You will need to give more information about the system.  Is the message only traveling over DH+, or is there an Ethernet link somewhere in the path that the message must take ?   What version of RSLogix 5000 are you using ? DH+ Messaging with the ControlLogix can be a little complicated because of the routing tables you need to enter in each DHRIO module. Transcribe the information from the MSG block (from all three tabs) and post it to this site and you might get some help. Rockwell Automation tech support can help you in French, too; they have a number of francophones in the UK support centre.

  24. Posted

    There was a wierd memory blanking issue in firmware prior to 5.24 where the L1 could lose memory on power loss if there were unused motion tags and no memory module installed.   Fixed in firmware shortly thereafter... if that matches your system description then a simple flash upgrade might do the trick. Logix controllers (like many industrial controllers) will blank out their application program if it doesn't pass a memory checksum;  that can be caused by a real hardware memory fault, or noise-caused corruption of the memory system... and sometimes by actual errors in memory handling by the operating system, as in the above example. I'm surprised that the system ran for years before having such a problem;  I would have expected a firmware problem to emerge prior to that.   Noise could be introduced post-installation... and of course real hardware failure could be gradual. If you have the opportunity to upgrade the system to eliminate firmware as the culprit, I'd say do it.   Swapping out the L1 controller will eliminate hardware failure, leaving you only with induced noise as the potential culprit.

  25. Posted

    More info that doesn't make sense to me but might to someone with a PROM programmer: "The format used when creating HEX files from the prom translator is INTEL INTELLEC 8/MDS for fixed, SLC 5/01, and 5/02. INTEL INTELLEC 8 /MCS-86 is used with SLC 5/03 and 5/04. "