mitsibushiman

Blatant Bump......New Mitsubishi Parts Added!! Cheers

Hi All I have recently opened an ebay shop to sell some of the assorted equipment I've gathered over the years. Some of it is new, some used, all of it is operational. I will ship internationally if required, just mail me first to confirm costs. visit it at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/DCS-Electrical-and-Automation Hopefully there's something in there that will help someone, somewhere!. I will consider any and all reasonable offers. I have some excellent mitsubishi stuff going online in the near future, so bookmark me for future reference. Cheers Lads! Edited....Just added some as near as new mitsubishi as you will see!

I find my dell ATG to be perfect for site work....not quite in the same category as a panasonic toughbook (my dream laptop) :-p. It handles everything I've thrown at it so far without a problem and the screen is superb!. Nice built in serial port and plenty of connectivity. Price wise a bit on the steep side but...but if you keep an eye on ebay they do appear from time to time. (I got mine new and boxed from ebay at 50pc the full Dell price! , ) As for the serial/usb debate, usb is certainly quicker but i am the only one that finds usb a bit quirky???. Serial ports are certainly more mechanically robust, thats about the only advantage I see them having these days. Dirt in usb ports can cause endless problems when on site.

Seems I've possibly started a "brand war" here!, :-p. Well, here's my view so far.....Siemens step 7, yes it's pernicity, but now that I'm getting into the swing of it, I find it's pretty sweet. I'm finding a lot of similarities between software now too, previously I did tons of work with mitsi's GX IEC (which I have to say I LOVE apart from the annoying upload download and code generation...for those unaware, in IEC if you don't have an identical copy of the program you're working on saved on your HDD you can only download STL from the target CPU it's a MAJOR bugbear!!!), and I think to a certain extent the IEC standardisation is now beggining to show through in most of the major brands software so cross migration IS becoming easier.. IEC instructions that I'm familiar with in mitsi, siemens and omron and all availible and even the layout of software is becoming similiar, so things are improving but i doubt we'll ever see a truly uniform system (too many vested interests IMHO). As for AB, I have only used RSlogix500 and thought it was a tidy piece of software given it's age....look at mitsi standard GX Dev in comparision...!!!. Omron are setting the standard at the moment as far as I am concerned software wise, I just wish I could get more Omron jobs!. Mitsi and Siemens are pretty prevalent in my field at the moment!. Apologies to Admin if off topic!

Evening gents! After a few years working solely on mitsubishi controllers I am now encountering more and more siemens controllers. Does anyone have some sample S5 and S7-3/400 programs they can post to allow me to get up to speed with them ASAP!. I have downloaded some sample S7-200 but would really like to see some more complex S7-3/400 programs and an S5. Also any S5 pdfs or programming manuals would be handy!. They seem to br quite rare. Many Thanks

I've just recently came across STL, I wasn't entirely struck on it!. The original program I believe was written using GX IEC and SFC As i did not have an original copy of the IEC code I had to go online with GX and download the code. I ended up with a program full of STL instructions that seemed to jump all over the place. I'm sure it is a good method of programming but in this particular example it made fault finding quite horrific!. (Another sizeable chunk of the program was in LAD) Out of cuiriousity is there anything i could have done to avoid this or does GX Dev interpret SFC as STL on an FX2N???? That was my understanding!??!! Cheers

I have found removing the battery solves this problem!. There is another way....MUCH more complicated. But it is ESSENTIAL you have a copy of the original program or you're dead in the water.... you have been warned!

Bits N Bytes I will do that, when I get the chance. I did do some siemens many moons ago. I hoping it comes back to me. STEP 5 is seriously showing it's age. At the moment I currently like the Omron CX programmer software. I find the most intuitive of all the current brands I use. which are GX IEC, GX Dev, RSlogix, Step5, Step 7 Pro, Telemec PL7, CX-Programmer.

Thanks for your reply Mike, I have PM'd you!.

I have just recieved rs logix500 and am intending on starting to use AB plcs for some of my projects, up until now i have exclusively used siemens or mitsubishi. I have successfully installed and activated rslogix, however i am confused as to how to set up the activation. From the instructions it seems it is possible to install the software on two computers ie in this case my office desktop and my laptop, i realise the point of the activation disk is to stop people from running unliscenseced copies on various machines and that is why you have to copy the activation from the master disk to the machine harddrive you wish to use rslogix to enable the software, but is it possible to install the software on two machines and just get the software to read direct from the activation disk, rather than copy the keys from the disk to the hdd to allow me to quickly jump from machine to machine just by popping the activation disk into the machine i wish to use at that moment in time?? Cheers

Aye!, im trying to run both ports individually! the RS422 for the HMI to communicate and the RS 232 for the westermo to communicate with the CPU via the QC24!!!, Unfortunately i only have the hardware manual supplied with the card so information is a bit limited!!! Am i attempting the impossible??, if so ill just use transparent mode on the HMI!!

Just been browsing through the forums looking to see if anyone knows the pinout connections to connect a westermo GD-01 to an A1SJ71QC24 card with RS 422 interface and a RS 232 interface?? The system i am working on is a Q2AS H S1 the CPU port is permanently used for online monitoring and the RS 422 on the QC 24 is connected to a E300 HMI, i am trying to connect the westermo to the GD - 01 but am unsure what pinout configuration i need!? does anyone have any ideas?, I have successfully went online with the westermo by using the RS 232 on the HMI in transparent mode but would like to direct through the 232port on the QC 24!. any ideas Any advice much appreciated

Yeah, would just like to say much much in enjoy this site!, v.informative and helpfulll! Sometimes even better than tech support! MR.PLC - top o the class o plc sites!

I have over the last year been using GX IEC Developer v5.0 for writing/modifying mitsi plc progs and am finally getting to grips with it!, with some help from regulars in this forum!. I have now also got GX Developer v6.0 after reading extensively about it here, and have to say that im struggling with it already! though my question is relatively simple when you d/l a prog from the cpu into GX Developer how do you toggle between the devices and their labels?. Also if the original program in the cpu was written using GX IEC then altered using GX Dev (rival contractors again <> grrrr!), when you download the prog using GX i only get the devices in X,Y,M,D format rather than in label format how do i get the labels back, as i wrote the prog i find it easier to work with the labels as it jogs my memory!. Or possibly more to the point am i totally missing the point, and when i upload the original prog using GX IEC are the labels uploded as well or just the devices??? Cheers all :*-(

This is something iv got a wee bee in my bonnet about, im based in the UK and the electrical wiring standards here are known as the "16th edition Requirements for electrical installation" recently there has been a change to the requirements and it has made me curious as to what standards are used elsewhere in the world!. Previously in the UK conductor colour codes where L1 - RED, L2 - YELLOW, L3 - BLUE and N - BLACK and EARTH - GREEN/YELLOW (For use in 415VAC Circuits) However due to "harmonisation" of standards accross the EU it has been decided the new colour codes are L1 - BROWN, L2 - GREY, L3 BLACK, N - BLUE, and EARTH - GREEN/YELLOW I personally feel that changing the colours codes is a bad idea!, especially with blue now becoming a neutral conductor whereas it was previously used a phase conductor, and believe this will lead to one or two BANGS eventually, was just wonderinf if any other UK sparks/techs/engineers had any feelings on this???? (i also know the regs state all conductors in mixed systems should be clearly marked but i know what some of the installations i have seen in the past where like!!!) So to cut a long story short what other conductor colour codes are used eg US and Asia????

Thanks for the replies! I just find it interesting to see the wide variation of different colours throughout varying regions!, I could be wrong but its also been suggested to me that the "harmonisation" with EU/UK wiring codes is to do with colour blindness!, , but i find that hard to believe! RED YELLOW BLUE FOREVER!!!! Also just for information this is the colours iv generally used in the past 240 VAC Phase - Red, Neutral - Black, Earth - Green Yellow 110VAC Phase - Yellow, Neutral - Black, Earth - Green Yellow 24VDC Positive - Light Blue, Common - White, Earth Green Yellow or Purple Others Orange - Low Voltage >50VDC,VAC, Conductors not switched from panel isolator Grey - Voltage >260VAC, Conductors not switched from panel isolator

At one of the plants where i work on a regular basis, there has just been a large electrical fire. (the fire appears to have been caused by a faulty 240VAC to 24VDC psu that has overheated severly) that has almost completely destroyed a large control panel!! . Althougth the plant is running (after some serious patch up work), the plant manger approached me and asked me about my opinion on fitting temperature sensors at strategic locations inside the other control panels to monitor the temperature and in the event of a sudden increase in temperature over a short period of time activate some kind of warning. Then if the rise continues shut off that part of the plant. I have never come accross or even heard of this kind of set up before, has anyone here??, What kind of systems where they??. How did they work??, Where they dedicated controllers or PLC??, Where they effective??. Any thoughts or answers much appreciated!

Cheers for the replies!! If anyone else has anything to add feel free! Checked out the icam website, an they look like a definate possibility, unfortunately though i get a nasty feeling they may be rather expensive!, im gonnae give them a fone next week and see what they ve got to offer. I also agree about the temp thing, my gut feeling is that by the time you register a temp jump the damage is probably already done. So im still mulling options over, but again thanks for your suggestions, its always guid tae hear over peoples ideas! :-p

Thanks for all replies above, Im on holiday at the moment, but when i get back ill be setting up an "activation disk". So I can jump from machine to machine. Looking forward to becoming a poster in AB forum as well!!

I use both GX IEC Dev (Ver 5.00) and GX Dev (Ver 6) and i can assure you GX IEC programs FX, A and QnA CPUs. I have personally used GX IEC ver 5.00 to program FX2N, A2SH and Q2AS CPUs. :-p I could be wrong but i think GX IEC Ver6.00 supports nearly all the current mitsi CPUs (Im still waiting for my upgrade (250 quid!!! ))

I have Autocad Electrical 2004, however i am unfamiliar with autocad software in general i was just wondering if anyone had any electrical schematics they could post that have been drawn using autocad electrical 2004 that they could possibly upload to allow me to see what is possible using this software Cheers

I use a usb to serial converter cable with the SC-09 cable The usb to serial converter is fom maplin elecytronics

Cheers for the links guys, this mp2 looks like it could be the one!

Just wondering if anyone here knows of any good "off the shelf" maintenance planning software packages. The kind of thing can be used to draw up ppm schedules and record spart parts lists and that kind of thing

Cheers Nav One final question though!, when i download a project into GX Dev from the cpu a nd save it to my laptop hdd, how when i reopen the project (offline from cpu and in workshop for example) do i insert device labels instead of having X1,X2 etc on the ladder??