LURBY

I am trying to finish my set up on the Kinetix 300-Micrologix 1100 project.  I have most of the bugs worked out but I am stuck on something.   I am communicating with the drive in velocity mode over Ethernet using messaging instructions.  I enable the drive, send it a speed and it accelerates to that speed per the acceleration rate that I set in the MotionView software.  When I want to stop the drive I disable it.  It immediately stops.  No decel.  No ramp.  It is as if I sent the drive a "0" speed.  It does not matter what I set for a decel rate.  Accel I can change so I know that it is active.   Any idea why I am not getting a decel?  Is there another way to stop in velocity mode besides disabling the drive?  If that is the only way then is there a place to change what happens when I disable the drive? I did look in the manual but it only tells you how to start not how to stop.   Thanks in advance.    

Thanks.  I did look at that.  In fact I am using a variation of the program tied to that manual.  Unfortunately that example is using indexing mode and the stop is an ABORT INDEX.  I want to use velocity mode.  There does not seem to be a STOP or STOP MOTION in velocity mode.  That is my problem.

I have been a faithful user of Allen Bradley products for over 20 years. My distributor has been good to me over the years with very good pricing. I have been good to him as well with lots of orders. That might change in the near future. My pricing is not what it used to be. I know that prices continue to rise but my discount structure has changed drastically   I am curious about what else is out there. I primarily live in the Micrologix PLC world. I also use the Kinetix 300 family of servo drives, the MPL series servo motors, the Powerflex family of VFD's, and 800T push buttons and switches.  What do the rest of you use?  Why do you use it?  How difficult is the migration for someone that has used AB their entire career? Thanks for your input, Chuck

I can view the motion software but as soon as I disconnect the cable I am no longer communicating with the drive so I can't see anything.  My distributor talked to Rockwell and they seem to think that it has something to do with the "ownership" of the drive. If the ownership is one way or the other the drive will disregard the communication altogether. I am looking into it now. Rockwell is as well. 

I am connecting a Kinetix 300 servo drive to a MicroLogix 1100 over Ethernet.  The connection works fine and the drive responds as it should.  When I disconnect the Ethernet cable I should get an E14 fault and the drive should shut down.  I am not getting that fault and the drive continues to turn.  I have a comm loss signal in the PLC because of a msg error but can't stop the drive because I am not connected anymore.  I can disable the drive but as soon as I enable it again the motor starts to turn again because the motion profile is retentive.  I tried the same thing on the Powerflex 525 that is connected the same way and it immediately goes into a fault. Why am I not getting the fault message on the Kinetix? 

If the Ethernet cable is unplugged or damaged then there is no way for the PLC to disable the drive.  I need the drive to go into a fault condition so that it stops the motion and the retentive motion command.  That way when I enable the drive again it will be waiting for a new motion command.

That KB is tech connect only so I can't read the whole thing.  So basically I would need to set the Fault Reset to "Upon Disable" but does this mean that if the drive disables it clears the fault? I know that there is a parameter on the PF that you need to change so that the drive does NOT go into fault of the Safe -Off is tripped. Maybe this is similar?

I do not see anything like that for the Kinetix.  I know that the PF is full of parameters that would alter faults but I do not see those options for the Kinetix 300.  It just shows a list of faults. I was able to get the drive to fault (by removing the encoder connector).  I wanted to check my sanity. If I am in Ethernet drive mode I would think that it would fault if you removed the Ethernet cable....

I have been a faithful user of Allen Bradley products for over 20 years. My distributor has been good to me over the years with very good pricing. I have been good to him as well with lots of orders. That might change in the near future. My pricing is not what it used to be. I know that prices continue to rise but my discount structure has changed drastically   I am curious about what else is out there. I primarily live in the Micrologix PLC world. I also use the Kinetix 300 family of servo drives, the MPL series servo motors, the Powerflex family of VFD's, and 800T push buttons and switches.  What do the rest of you use?  Why do you use it?  How difficult is the migration for someone that has used AB their entire career? Thanks for your input, Chuck

Hi everyone - I have been programming for several years.  I learned how to program using a SLC150!  Currently I am using Micrologix 1000 PLC's and plan on shifting to the 1100's when they stop making the 1000.  I had an electrical background so I looked at programming from that point of view.  How can I turn relays into ladder logic.  This got me by for several years.  I learned what I needed to learn and that was it. Now I am getting into more serious applications.  I want to use a Micrologix 1100 to communicate with a Kinetix 300 Servo drive and a Powerflex 525 drive over Ethernet.  There is a program done by AB that does everything for you.  It's great and it works but it makes me realize that my PLC knowledge only scratched the surface!  I never learned things like "long words", advantages/disadvantages of latch relays, advantages of using "symbols", and many many other things. Here is my question.  Is there a book, video, website, etc that I can use to learn some of this more advanced stuff that I should have learned 20 years ago?

My AB rep tells me the same thing.  Shift to Compact Logix.  The programming is much easier so they say. My concern is with my customer base.  I am trying to keep it user friendly for them.  MicroLogix software is available for free online so if they need to edit something or if there is a problem they can connect their laptop to the machine and I can walk them through it.  My customers are all over the country.  This saves me a plane ride.    

Hopefully a simple, basic question.  I want to utilize the on board Analog input on my Micrologix 1100.  What is it called??  How do I address it on my program?  It is not an expansion card.  Just the built in inputs. I am sure that I will have more questions about scaling and setting it up but I can't even get my foot in the door if I don't know how to find it. Thanks, Chuck

Thank you. I was able to connect after I changed the IP address. Took me forever to figure out how to do that. Now I know. Thanks for your help.

Hi folks I am trying a Kinetix 300 drive for the first time. I plan on driving it and a PF525 using a ML1100 all over Ethernet through a hub. I am a newbie to Ethernet stuff. Two minutes out of the box and I am already flustered. I have powered up the drive and connected an Ethernet cable to it and my laptop. According to the sketchy literature I should be able to find the software onboard the drive. I am sure that it is there but I can't find it!! I have tried the following: - I loaded Java because it said it wanted that - I turned off my wireless internet connection - I tried to access the drive on Mozilla and Internet Explorer The drive IP is 192.168.124.200 The literature says that I might need to reconfigure my laptops IP so that it can talk to the drive. How do I do that? And do I need to? Has anyone out there done this before? What am I missing? It can't be this difficult can it?

Every once in a while I will get a fault on a Micrologix 1000. The fault is "unexpected reset occurred" The fault always clears but you have to reload the program or it will go into fault again. Anyone ever experience this before? I use a LOT of 1000's and this occurs once every 20 or so PLC's. Thanks, Chuck

I would like to use the PTO output on a ML1200 to run a Ultra 3000 servo drive. The output of the PLC is 24vDC. The Ultra 3000 requires a 5vDC input. Any ideas on how to convert this voltage? I would think that there would be a ready solution from AB since they are both AB products? There is probably a way to do it with resistors and a soldering iron but I am not as "electronics" savvy as I should be! Thanks for your help. Chuck

I would like to use a ML1200 to drive an Ultra 3000 servo drive/motor using PTO I have found instructions for the PTO function file for the PLC. That seems straight forward. I have found an interconnect diagram for connecting the PLC to the servo drive. Also straight forward. How about the set up for the Ultra 3000? I have searched the manuals for the drive and for Ultraware and it doesn't mention PTO anywhere!! What mode do I put the drive in? Analog position? What is the "pulse" that the PLC is sending out? Is the "output frequency" value set in the function file of the PLC related to the speed that I want the motor to turn and if so how is it related? Thanks for your help Chuck

I am new to the "motion control" thing. I have used an Ultra 3000 for speed control only (analog signal). I read on AMCI's site that the PTO has a few limitations. 24 v output and only 20 khz frequency output. I have to admit that I am green and don't really know much about this. I might have to try out the PTO and see if it gives me the results that I am looking for. I do like the PTO price tag!

Has anyone ever used an AMCI 3102 card for driving a servo? How easy is it to set up, communicate with, integrate? I would like to create a SIMPLE motion controller with a Micrologix PLC and an Ultra 3000. PTO has been suggested but I stumbled on this card and it looks promising. Any thought/advise would be helpful. Thanks in advance, Chuck

I would like to create a simple motion control using AB products. I currently use an Ultra 3000 drive to control a MPL... servo motor. I put the drive in analog mode, give it a 0-10v signal and off it goes. I take the signal away (when I hit a limit switch) and the motor stops. Pretty basic... I would like to add position to the equation. This means some type of "motion controller" but Allen Bradley doesn't seem to offer anything called motion controller. I am currently using a PLC to control my I/O. It is a ML 1000. I have been told by my AB distributor that if I wanted to control the motion I would need to step into the CompactLogix world. That means RS5000 and a whole other ball game that I don't think I am ready for. I am pretty comfortable in the RS500/MicroLogix world and don't want to leave if I don't have to. I have a slide controlled by a ball screw/servo motor. I would like to be able to give the drive a position (say 12" away from home) and a speed (say 2 inches per minute). I could use a touch pad for the data entry. This info would go into the PLC. Calculations would be made inside the PLC that would convert these units into something recognizable by the servo. (I would need to know the pitch of the screw, RPM of the motor, etc.). The PLC would covert this to an analog signal and send it to the Ultra??? I know that they have come out with a number of new ML controllers. Are there any of them that will do something like this? Has anyone done it? Is it worth the hassle or should I bite the RS5000 bullet?!? Is there another way? Thanks for your input in advance! Chuck

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Category 3 safety requirements and the Ultra 3000. I am building a machine and am trying to satisfy some safety concerns. I will be using AB Guardmaster safety relays and a number of E-stops. I will have dual channel inputs. All of my outputs will also have "duality." My hydraulic pump will have two contactors in series. I will be using AB Powerflex 40P drives with the added "safe-off" option for my spindles. I also have an AB Ultra 3000 servo drive and motor. How do I integrate this into the system??? They do not appear to offer a "safe-off" option on the Ultra. I can't seem to find any documentation where it describes how to integrate this drive. One thought I had was to wire the enable thru one output and add a contactor in between the output of the drive and the servo motor. I can't be the only one who has ever wanted to do this, can I??

Anyone have any experience setting up an Allen Bradley Ultra 3000 in follower mode? I want to synchronize the rotation of a servo motor to the movement of a slide. It looks like all you need to do is connect an encoder to the aux encoder input on the drive. How accurate is something like this? Also, is there any way to change the presets with out the software? In other words can I make one of the preset gear ratios a variable and change it "on the fly" This would allow me to use any gear ratio that I wanted and not be limited to the 8 presets available. Thanks for your help. If I have neglected to mention something please let me know! Chuck

Are you confusing the serial communication for the preset change with the follower? I was under the impression that there would be very little to no lag if I set the drive up in follower mode and wired the encoder directly to the drive. The PLC would only be for changing the preset gear ratio. That shouldn't have anything to do with the accuracy of the master/slave, correct? I know that I could do this with a two axis CNC control or even possibly with a CompactLogix but I am trying to keep the cost as low as possible.

You are right. I can get all eight gear ratios. I guess it is too much to ask for more than that?

Thanks for the help. I have used both the Ultra 3000 and the Powerflex (40P). I have had success with both products. At least they have done the job that they were asked to do! I have a spare Ultra 3000 and matching motor. I think I will pick up an encoder and try to play around with it. I am looking to cut a spiral inside a tube. If I can make this work I would like to offer it to customers with the ability to choose whatever spiral you want. That is why I wanted to do more than just the eight presets. Actually now that I think about it I will have even less than 8 because I need to assign one as a drive enable. I am also trying to do this as simple as possible. The more complex it gets the more expensive it gets. I will still have a PLC, but I was thinking of a simple ML1000 just to control some push buttons and the output selection for the drive. My idea was to also use the PLC with a small HIM that the operator would use to enter a spiral pitch. The PLC would manipulate this number and spit out a gear ratio (integer) that I could then input into the drive as one of the presets. Crazy?