Shiner

Usually connecting process to a point accessable from the internet is not SOP due to security issues. The most common method I have come across for remote program interface is to have the programmer have the access to the address of the device but only hardwire it in while the programming changes are being made. To leave a connection bridged invites virus and other issues. If you trust your company's LAN and the programmer is someone on that network, then the concerns are less. Still, it is not advisable to leave a permanent connection like this open.

Program seems complex for this app. You could go with an add statement to a N register (1-3) and use the Equal compare to determine which motor to turn on in single, and which to turn on in double. To reset the cycle use if equal to 3 and timer complete move 1 to N1. Then in your output rung if you have a fault add one to N1 to move to the next blower. If it cycles around before fault is repaired it will just pass it by again. For the two blower mode each truth statement should be If in double and value of N1 is 1 or 2 for Blower A and not in hand then run or if faulted or in hand add 1 to N1

I have a customer with a 214 processor and there seems to be an issue with one of the M bits latching and not unlatching. I have found the location of the rung that enables the bit, and then in a different area the same bit is used to latch on a pump. The problem is, when you press the stop button, disabling the true statement for the bit, it does not reset to an off state, clearing the latch on the other rung. The problem went away when I reloaded the program and power cycled the controller last time, and about a month later it has returned. The customer is in a location with power transmission issues so another concern I have is spikes on the incoming. Has anyone heard of one of these having internal memory issues, should the processor be replaced, or am I missing something in the way Siemens does things.

Don't forget, every time you switch from one task to another, a small increment of time is lost. If your program is large enough, with enough periodic tasks of different priority levels that cause switching, and you do not leave the proper margin your watchdog will time out. Our instructor gave us a good demonstration of this where the math and the graph like Ron shows should have worked, but once running the switching ate up so much time we timed out the WD.

As i understand it, An Add- On's tags are their own set of tags, created specifically for the instruction and only 'seen' inside the instruction. you will have to change each manually. If the add on is the same as the rest, change one and replace the whole add on in the rest of the instances.

AD targeted alot of local coleges to get their product out into circulation, all the community colleges in our area (norhteast) and a good number of others are using them in their programs. The engineering depts are usually pretty liberal with the documentation they are given as it is (to AD) a sales platform if the college can recruit people to use them. I actually have the professors email (given not requested) in case I had any programing issues with AD processors. So far, none of our customers have requested the platform. Just a thought.

when i recently linked a pv600 to a ml1400 I used the Enterprice comms in FT View to run everything. establish the comms find the 1400 in the ftview software and then open the rs software and upload/ go online.

in the project window did you set up your processor with all your analog properties before you compile your tag file. also in your component software when you read from an address did you specify in a tab that you are reading a word and not a bit.

Would it make much of a difference if I am not looking to control but merely monitor things like current on all 3 phases and voltage rpms during startup, possibly faults too.

I too am about to connect a 1400 to a Benshaw Soft Start and am interested in setting this up. I was told by my local rep that the 1400 was capable, but he did not know how, and the Benshaw people told me their equip would comm as well.

It is different than most other drives. By determining the motors no load characteristics the drive forms a running parameter that is used to evaluate the response of the speed of the motor to the I/V input. It creates somewhat of a fuzzy logic function based on the motors other parameters besides inertia (coil groupings, iron density, air gap, cemf, ect).

pualengnr has some good thoughts on it

yes there needs to be a preset, if you are not sure how long it should run, maxing it out as kaiser will said at 32767 will give you 546 minutes or 9 hours. The other way to do it is if you need a minute based function, set the preset at 60, use the DN bit to toggle the rung that adds your minutes and use it to reset the timer continuously. I made changes also instead of moving 0 to integers it is cleaner to use the CLR function. I am making some assumptions because I do not know everything about your system, but you are clearing your integers as soon as you get an alarm state as well. I would clear them only when someone hits the reset button, this is more a personal preference, but can be cleaner in the code again in larger programs. In rung 1 you have the reset button bit in series with the output to latch as a one shot, it needs to be XIO so that it disables the rung while the reset button is being pushed and during this time the integer values are cleared so when it is released the rung will not be true again and you wont have a chase occurring. I used counters instead of integer functions for the minute and hour functions for ease of use...the minute done bit triggers a pulse to count an hour and the hour done bit sets the alarm Don't forget, in your data tables right click properties on your counters and set the memory type to static so that they will be retentive. I don't know what the one shot bit in rung 2 is for so I removed it as well. Unless absolutely neccessary one shots can be avoided. Some facilities will ask that you do not use them at all so it is good practice to find ways to do without them. There is a good discussion in this forum about the use of one shots and latches if you have some time search it and read it. Paulengnr

Yes, what is your system config? I just set up a 1200 to HMI through a switch two weeks ago....still fresh in my head.

We either use a small interposing relay sized for the output of the card, or if you check the cut sheets for the contactors they should give you data for installing the proper size component. When the coil loses its power, the collapse of the flux field can send a DC surge back to the card.

Not a fix but troubleshoot tool...when the expansion card loses power on the bus connection it causes a communication fault to the processor and locks the bit in the registry. if you can confirm that there is a Stop Processor bit 1 and a comm fault 1 then you know your connection may be the problem. if you have power problems....check the ground resistance at the panel, noise/spiking are only effectively reduced if there is a good path nearby. If your distribution is at the other end of the plant, your line filters can only do so much.

Sometimes their tech support is slow on the email front but they are usually pretty good on the phone. Free and no waits, Tommy and Ken know the product pretty well, had a recent catastrophe they helped us through. call the 800 then menus 2 5 2. email can take forever. As long as the drive supports the comms protocols of the controller you should be able to talk.

I am fairly new at this, as I am sure some of you may have figured out already, so I am looking for as much input as possible on methods ect. I have recently been asked to review my predecessor's program before loading it into a customer's unit (frequent re-orders). I have noticed several possible reductions and have made the changes I felt were easy enough without knowing the flow of the program. There are no notes of any kind, but I am wondering if, at a glance, an of you may have any suggestions on what I have done, as well as other things that can be done to the original program. Orig.zip Reduced.zip

On a multistate pushbutton, when trying to add an image to state 1 or state 0, I want to add from the given libraries. I have a standard looking three position switch that I would like to use (one image per position) yet the software will only find three of the buttons on the page that has these on it. Of course they are not the buttons that I would like to use. There are about 25 pages of Graphics, these are on page titled Buttons, which contains about 15 buttons, and the three that it finds are the AB stop start and reset. I have searched and tried various ways of importing with no success. Any ideas would be appreciated. FactoryTalk View Studio ME 5.1

If you use subroutines, say one is for automatic mode, and one is for manual mode, using a JSR to access each that is exclusive to each, I am curious about a few things. If each mode needs to energize the same contact, if I am scanning the auto mode and trying to turn on O:0.0/1, and it is also in the manual program will that be a conflict or because I am not jumping to it should it not be scanned. Or would I need to turn on separate B3s with the statments and AND them in a scanning ladder to the output in question. Or is there another way that I am unaware of. Micrologix 1400 serA

Because they are not Gif of JPG files they are not importable as an image into a device like I had wanted. You have to do a screenshot, open it with paint or something similar and manipulate the images there and save as a usable file type.

I would like to hear more opinions on this, it seems there are many ways to skin this cat, and there has been no established methodology when it comes to programming. Each teacher has his or her way, and each programmer the same, and they may or may not be similar, but while this is not a new science, there still seems to be a great debate on many of the ways to "properly' do things.

AD has a couple of nice sequential functions. I addition to the Stage function they have a very nice DRUM function that we have used a few times to replace some of the old sequential drum controls in machinery. It is a very handy tool in that it can implement several timers (one per step) or each step can be triggered by an input. Most importantly to one of my recent programs, the drum sequencer can be stopped at any time without loss of data, and when the activation bit is enabled again your program picks up where it left off. When it comes to support around here that part is easy, what you don't get direct, you can get at any of the local colleges. AD has marketed the state and county colleges to be the processor they teach with, so often the professors are a source of info.

i can see how that would happen, would it then be beneficial to have simple truth statements like I had said in a scanning routine, with anded B3 contacts that are exclusive to each subroutine being the statement in that routine, and the truths that trigger the B3s in each subroutine would then not interfere as you have described

I am having yet another FTVIEW Problem that is as frustrating as any. The 1400 and the panelview compact edition are talking via ethernet, some of my dispays are working, but I have made mods and wanted to update my programs. loaded into the 1400 fine. wanted to upload tags from the processor while online and I agree with Okie about the random faults, sometimes it just hangs, then you do exactly the same thing and it works. Junk.