AndrewG

The 2nd class (CCP 151 ) is more advanced, so since you are a beginner in my opinion you should take the 1st class (CCP146). Both of them look like they will teach you Studio 5000, which is basically the latest version of RSLogix5000 and it is used to program ControlLogix and CompactLogix PLC's. I took one of the Allen Bradley training classes years ago and it was very helpful, our professor was a retired Controls engineer. (I forget which class it was but it had to do with ControlLogix troubleshooting).

No, maybe try to get in touch with Rockwell and ask if they have anything like this?

Problem solved I had to look in the Event Manager Database

I have to made some changes to an Automation Direct HMI using C-More software (part # EA9-PGMSW). This is the first time I've used one. I need to update some of the alarm messages but I can't find the alarm messages/text. For example I need to change "Valve #3 Faulted" to "Valve #4 Faulted" but I can't figure out where these alarm messages are stored. The Tag Name database does have the alarm tags in it, but I don't see the descriptions/messages. See screenshot below.  

Can you see the Panelview in RSLinx? What kind of errors are you getting when you load the mer file, can you post the error description/screenshots.

I haven't seen this error before, but have you tried running Transaction Manager as an Administrator? (Either login to your computer as an administrator or right click on Transaction Manager and select "Run as Administrator". (This is assuming you know the administrative password to your computer). Hope this helps.

If you can't download your program, have you verified that your program is free of errors? I have not used CCW with the Micro820 (I've only used CCW with Powerflex drives and that was a few years ago), but maybe there is a way to verify your program before trying to download it.

I hear you, actually I am very interested if anyone knows how to deal with this issue, or if you figure it out eventually, as I did have this issue myself too but never figured out how to resolve it.

I've used them a few times, in my opinion the Pros are: -Easy to see where you are in a sequence, easy to see where a sequence is hung up as Gerry said -Easy to understand for programmers who aren't used to ladder logic (like Visual Basic programmers) Cons: -Programmers who are used to ladder logic (like me) find them difficult to understand -if there are a lot of different "branches" in your sequence it gets messy -Hard to print out on paper since you either have to fit everything on one page or print on several pages, which makes it hard to view the sequence -You may have to pay more for your RSLogix license if you want SFC capability as Joe mentioned

I was in this situation a couple years ago with a coworker, but we were working on a PLC5 (RSLogix5). We could not figure out what to do about this issue. Finally we did have to tell the managers that we had to stop the system to download to the PLC.

If you are using a USB to serial adapter, are you confident that this adapter works? Have you used this adapter before on another project? You may want to find some way to test the adapter like by using it with an old computer/old project that you used in the past. Another option is to use HyperTerminal and perform a loopback test on your serial cable to make sure the serial port and the USB to serial adapter works. Search for "use HyperTerminal to test serial port" and you should find some websites with detailed suggestions on this.

It's been a while since I used the Compare tool, but as far as I remember, sometimes it will tell you a rung is "deleted" even when it seems to exist in the actual code, if the rung has been modified. In some cases the rung has been modified and not deleted, but the Compare tool will tell you it's been deleted.

RSLinx 2.51 may not run on Windows 8.  Assuming you mean RSLinx 2.51 Classic, this is a pretty old version. I believe the latest version is 3.90. I'm running version 3.51 on my Windows 7 PC. If you have an old Windows XP PC/laptop, try installing your RSLinx 2.51 on that.  

http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/qr/9324-qr001_-en-p.pdf it depends which edition of RSLogix5000 you have. You can find out which edition you have, by going to "Help", then "About RSLogix5000" on your RSLogix5000 menu.

I try to keep them all Controller scope. This makes it much easier to look at all the tags you have on your system, and saves a lot of time troubleshooting in my opinion.

Check out Chapter 6 (Diagnostics) in this manual: http://www.molex.com/webdocs/mysst/pub/products/clx2000/715-0102%20SST-PB3-CLX-RLL%20User%20Reference%20Guide.pdf It looks like you can get diagnostic info from your ControlLogix (RSLogix5000 software) at address Local:Slot:S.Data[0]

Update: I was able to open the screen on another computer without errors, this allowed me to figure out what ActiveX controls were missing on the 1st computer I used.

I have to duplicate a FactoryTalk View SE v7 HMI built a few years ago. So I'm going thru all the screens, one of the screens is giving me errors when I open it: "cause: Microsoft Forms 2.0 TextBox: Newer file used" "Different ActiveX control loaded for display than when saved" Also when I tried to add a button to the screen and save it, I got the message: The display can not be saved with missing ActiveX controls I downloaded the latest FactoryTalk View SE patches from Rockwell's website, it didn't help. I called Rockwell, and they said to re create whatever ActiveX controls I need. There's a grey hashed out square on the screen that is apparently the ActiveX control that is "missing". My question is, how do I re create the ActiveX control if I don't know what it was originally? Any other advice about these errors? Thanks in advance.  

Thanks guys this is very helpful

I've been working for 6 years since graduating college, I've had 4 different jobs which all involved travel. At one job I was a field service technician which was 80% travel. At the other jobs, it was about 20% travel. Now my gf is pregnant and I'm in no position to travel much. In the automation/controls/PLC field it looks like most jobs involve travel. Any advice on how to get a job with little or no travel?

What kind of PLC do you have (SLC, ControlLogix etc)? In RSLogix5000, there is a GSV (get system value) instruction which may be useful. According to the Instruction Help, you can use the GSV instruction to access the FAULTLOG object, which includes a count of the number of major and minor faults.  

Is the main issue that, the PLC writes a 0 and the HMI writes a 1 to the same tag? Can you add some animation to the HMI to make the HMI controls invisible when you want the tag to get the value from the PLC only? Or add a button to the HMI that the operator presses to indicate they are going to operate the PIDE manually. Then only read the tag value from HMI when this button is pressed.  

I need to write a macro in FactoryTalk View SE v7.0. I need to take some HMI tags, multiply by a certain number, and write to PLC tags. For example: PLC_Tag1 = HMI_Tag1 * 0.75 The FactoryTalk Help says to do it like this: Equal ( = ) command [&] <tag_name>=<expression> but there are no examples shown and I don't understand the syntax. I have to do this offline so I can't test it. Do I write: [&] <PLC_Tag1> = <HMI_Tag1 * 0.75>   Thanks in advance

Thanks

I was told to avoid adding new PLC tags/logic to this project. I will look into the VBA option too.