I_rock_well

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Posts posted by I_rock_well

  1. Posted

    I am looking for e-learning or preferably classroom training which will enable me to better understand what I am doing when I am setting up statix switches. Things like VLAN, PTP, DLR and so forth. 

    I guess training for the 200-601 IMINS2 certification would have been good to take, but unfortunately Cisco retired it. Everything I can find now seems to be way to bradly based (Cisco ccna) or way to basic (rockwell training).

    Any recommendations besides reading white papers and stuff? Not saying that would be a bad thing, but my manager wants me to take a class.

     

    Thanks in advance!

  2. Posted

    16 hours ago, gclshortt said:

    https://cdn.automationdirect.com/static/specs/viewmarq4line.pdf

    The above will support Modbus TCP through the ethernet port.

    You could also look at an EA9-RHMI unit. An HDMI cable would attach to a large screen TV monitor. This would come in under your budget price and give a good display inside the plant.
    https://www.automationdirect.com/c-more/headless-hmi

    I hope this helps you out.
    Regards,
    Garry

    This is perfect! Thank you so much!

    If all I want is to display a few things, its hopefully not to difficult to set up?

  3. Posted

    I would like to add a 4 line led display or something similar to our lines to display parts produced, last cycle time and stuff like that.

    I did find the  https://www.electronicdisplays.com/industrial-message-signs-and-displays-14  . Unfortunately the price is a little steep when you factor in that you have to buy the EIP gateway separably to make it work over Ethernet/IP.

     

    Can anybody recommend something? ~1200 dollars, easy instructions and AOIs for Studio 5000 are my wishlist.

     

     

    Thanks in advance! 

     

     

     

     

     

  4. Posted

    Was just wondering what everybody is doing for door safety when combined with a safety PLC. I found a nice device from Allen Bradley (442G-MABRB-UR-E0JP4679)  that includes the lock, push buttons and everything and as the kicker has safety over Ethernet/IP but it comes with a somewhat hefty price tag. Can somebody recommend cheaper options? Does not need to be safety over ethernet, but something that is prewired internally for example would be nice, so that I do not have to buy a box for push buttons, wire it all, etc.
     

     

     

  5. Posted

    I would like to setup some kind of dashboard for our plant. Which machines are running, maybe parts counter, how long have they been down and so forth. I would like it to be viewable over a web browser, at least in the plant, but ideally also remotely. Of course my manager wants that to, but only if it costs him an arm and a leg like it would if we get it from Rockwell.

    Can any body recommend anything? I looked into PLCnext from PhoenixContact, but that seems like it is still in early development and more geared towards actual programmers and not junior automation guys such as myself.

     

    Any recommendations would be highly appreciated.

     

     

     

  6. Posted · Edited by I_rock_well

    9 hours ago, Izzybe said:

    yes - the 200mA is pretty much the standard thesedays. I have seen this current limit on Balluff's IO link, Rockwells and Phoenix Contact Versions as well. I think in the future they might up the size - since some solenoid valves can have a current draw of 2A and up. Festo has come up with some nice solutions such as CPX terminal with a CPI system - it might be useful to explore those options if your current draw is set for 300mA. I never had an issue with Festo Application engineers and they might have a solution for your older system.

     

    I contacted IFM, their reply was "The AL1322 can provide sensor supply power (US) of up to 3.6A over all 8 ports combined, this is more than sufficient for your 300mA devices (8x of these only draw 2.4A total).  This is a self-regulating internal supply, so you simply add up the power consumption requirement for all 8 ports, and as long as this does not exceed 3.6A, then it is acceptable."

    So I think I should be good.

     

     

  7. Posted · Edited by I_rock_well

    On ‎6‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 0:27 PM, pcmccartney1 said:

    We've standardized on ifmEfector AL1123 for Masters and AL2240 & AL2441 for Slaves.  We control SMC EX260 Valve Banks as a port off of the Master.  Reasonably priced.

    We were using Balluff IO Link Master and Slaves, but became too pricey.

    Thanks for the recommendation. As a German living in the US IFM always gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

    Quick question: Is the max 200mA current draw per IO link port pretty much standard? My pressure regulators need 300mA and I was hoping I could eliminate additional wiring.

    To answer my own questions, 200mA seems to be the IO-Link standard, so type B wiring has to be used for higher current draws. See 3 messages below. 300 mA seems to be OK with the AL1123.

     

  8. Posted

    We just started adding some IO-Link to our plant. In the first couple of implementations we had existing Point IO adapters, so a IO-Link point module was the obvious choice.

    Now I want to add a few more devices (Festo Proportional Pressure Regulators). I want to use 8 each in 2 different locations, about 50 yards apart. Is adding a brand new Point IO adapter still the best choice or are there any cheaper/better IO link masters that play well with Control/Compact Logix PLCs that you guys could recommend?

  9. Posted

    22 hours ago, Michael Lloyd said:

    BTW- the IOM Builder spreadsheet came about because I needed a way to map IO to tags that was quicker than typing 400-500 or more text strings. Mapping tags lets me build a program before I even know where the wiring lands in the PLC. Everything is addressed to a tag and the IO is mapped to it. The spreadsheet turned a day or more of work, that had errors, into a few minutes. I have another one for mapping analog data. And another one for documenting analog data. Also, if you map the IO they (the customer) can change their mind all they want. If they move wiring around, I just change a value in the map tag. 

    That is super interesting! How do you import that into studio 5000?

  11. Posted

    My problem earlier was that it was that the drive was in "Index Control Panel" mode. After I reset the drive it started working.

    Homing now works fine, at normal speed. However jogging painfully slow and sporadic. I can see on the device net screen that it is communicating, the selected preset changes as expected, but the velocity setting do not seem to matter.

     

    Also when I try to change over, it does not move at all. But for that I do not even know where those are stored.

     

     

  13. Posted

    Just now, pcmccartney1 said:

    Is the motion instruction for the "follower" a MAG or some other type of instruction?

    It's a PLC5, not sure what is instruction is being used. I am just hitting up and down on an HMI. I can try to hunt it downs but its a huge messy program and I do not have the software to check the connection in the ancient HMI.

    Everything was working yesterday though. The only thing that changed are that both drives and the motor of the follower was changed, so I doubt its a PLC problem.

  16. Posted

    On ‎10‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 0:23 AM, BobLfoot said:

    It's late and I'm not sure I'm following this.

    I would take the Backup or the Downloaded File, Go Online, Allow Studio to synchronize with the PLC and perform a save as to my AfterCommissioningBackup.

    That's fine and what I did. I just do not understand why the upload part was greyed out in the first place. Again, an older backup worked fine.

  17. Posted

    I made some changes which required me to do a download. Before I took the PLC offline I did a backup. After I was done I wanted to do another backup from my laptop over the network. I opened the backup from just before I did the edits, but was not able to do an upload, the option is greyed out. It would have let me do a download. Older backups work without a problem. Any idea what is happening?

    I am working with a L73S,  my PC is running 28.03, the other 28.02.

     

     

     

  18. Posted

    I have a PLC5 that basically runs 24/7, so that its difficult to in in program mode and new data files. However, any mess up would get very costly very quickly. I want to add a new functionality that requires me to use a large number of integers. There are a whole bunch that appear unused, i.e. they are all zeros and have no 'x' under usuage in the data table. However, the program makes heavy use of relative references, which do not show up under usuage. (and that's just what I am aware off). Is there any other way of checking whether or not those integers are actually free?

  21. Posted

    27 minutes ago, b_carlton said:

    You did not mention which CPU you are using. Looking at the Reference Manual for the Micrologix 1100 FFL instruction I can see that the newest entered data is at one address less than the current 'position' (it points to the next available storage address.) From your description of the operation as you view it it doesn't sound like you are using this CPU as (in the ML1100) the newest value is being stored in incrementally higher addresses.

    Please state your CPU.

    I am using a Controllogix CPU. Not at work so I can't double check, but I think it's a L73 running firmware 20.xx.

  22. Posted

    I would like to store values in an array, in a way that makes sure that the newest data point is always in myArray[0], the second newest in myArray[1] and so forth. FFL seems to do the trick, but only until it is full. If I try to use FFU to unload it, I can not keep it to storing the newest value in myArray[0]. I tried resetting the control bit, moving and copying a zero, or a bool with value zero into the .dn and .em bits, but nothing seems to help.

    I am very grateful for any suggestions, this starting to get frustrating. I do not care what happens to the oldest data, and my goal is to display the data on an HMI.

  23. Posted

    So I moved the comparator to rung 4 and bypassed the analog input if the gripper is closed. I think this actually a feature, not a bug.

    However, I found out I have a safety issue that I personally think is more important than the 2 hand stuff being tamper proof.

    When the PLC loses power, and the gripper is closed, the valve loses power and the gripper opens. I assume there is nothing I can do with the PLC and need a different valve, right? If anything this project taught me the importance of a good salesperson who knows his stuff and identifies problems before the customer does :)

  24. Posted · Edited by I_rock_well

    Thanks again for your help, I assume placing the comparator on rung 4 should do what I indented the plc to do. 

    Now to the question of what I intended to do is enough. This is for a senior design project, so it will eventually be used in industry. The sponsoring company will have safety people look over it, but frankly I don't know how professional they are. The problem with the current setup is that operators could jump the two inputs to circumvent the two hand control, and a dedicated safety relay would prevent that,  correct? My understanding is that a safety relay takes the two inputs from the buttons, has some internals that make sure that the output of that relay only triggers when both inputs energize (or deenergize I my case). Couldn't an operator just as easily wire the output of a single button switch to the input of the plc, bypassing the relay altogether? 

    Or would the relay be used after the plc, with plc outputs as inputs? 

     

    Another question, which I know is know might not be answerable due to legal reasons: is a dedicated safety relay neccesary for a non life threatening device? The only OSHA standard I found is for mechanical presses, which I don't think this falls under. It's a parallel gripper delivering 500 pounds force, with a stroke of ~3 inches.  I do not have a problem purchasing a relay, but I need to convince my partner who works for the company who sponsors our senior design who wants to show how economical he is by keeping everything cheap. 

     

    And I'm not discouraged, I spend 4 years doing heavy math by hand for stuff that could  be better done with software. My only programming class was c+, all this is new and self taught, I'm even a little proud of myself and find it very rewarding as I see results quickly. 

  25. Posted

    Thanks, for once something was easier than expected. :) One weird thing so: I'm using a mixrologix 1100 (1763-l16 awa) with 9 (or 10, don't remember) and two analog inputs. I:0/4 should definitely be digital, but that's where my analog signal us stored. I am using rslogix micro light, and I was only able to chose a generic mixrologix plc. I assume that is the reason? Will this cause problems when I or another person tries to modify the program with rslogix 500?