New Member After Any Help/Advice

[Stuart_Wales 5]

Hello, I am new to this forum, so I have decided to get stuck into my first post. I've spent alot of time on nights reading through here, and have took alot way already! I'm a 25 year old production technician with an automotive company based in South Wales, U.K. I did a 4 year apprenticeship with Bosch and spent the first 7 years of my engineering life working on Bosch PLC's. Due to the current economic situation, I was pretty much forced into taking voluntry redundancy from Bosch. I've jumped around 2 other jobs before settling where I am now; mainly due to chasing a job with as much PLC work as possible. Where I work now use 99.9% Mitsi PLC's using GX Developer and E-Designer for HMI. My main problem is working with ladder. All of my Bosch training was on DOS based 'Bosch Profi' software where everything was writen in instruction via keyboard. I have no problem troubleshooting on the ladder/misti, but i'm struggling modifying or writing new software. Are there any decent books specific to Mitsi/GX Developer that anyone would recommend? My programming 'skills' on the Bosch PLC were good to advanced as I had a very patient and very experienced engineer to answer any questions. I don't have the same luxury in my new job and I operate as a one man team. I'm picking up more and more by the day, but like I said, i'd like any advice, tips, potential reading material etc. Thanks in advance!

[nehpets 19]

You Don't say which mitsi PLC's your using, However try here you may find it helpful. Steve

[plcdp 11]

Like Steve said, it depends on the type of PLC you are using. I started out with mitsu using the FX family. If you are using an FX than I found the book "Mitsubishi FX Programmable Logic Controllers" by John Ridley to be helpful. -plcdp

[donny 0]

Hi Stuart Welcome to the forum. One book I would like to suggest is W.Bolton Programmable Logic Controllers ( Fourth Edition ) from Amazon uk. Very well presented book. Try it. donny

[phenesc 0]

Mitsubishi has a great little trainer and simulation software you can download for free. You can find the file at http://www.meau.com/eprise/main/sites/public/Training/Industrial_Automation/Computer_Based_Training/default The FX series PLC training is the best introduction I found. I hope this helps. I had a lot of friends in Northen Wales in the same situation when our company closed the plant. I am glad there are still opputunties around. Regards, Craig Edited 13 Jan 2011 by phenesc

[Crossbow 296]

And don't forget Mitsubishi does regularly scheduled training in the UK, as well as in the US.

[Stuart_Wales 5]

Thanks for the replys. I've got both books on order. The two main types of mitsi we use are the Q series (Q61P-A2, Q62P) and some FX on the older machines (FX2N-4AD). The majority of the work will be on the Q series though. First question is a simple one. Can I search for a comment? I know you can search for input, output, coil etc. but can you search directly for a comment? Again, any advice/help no matter how trivial will be more than welcome! Thanks.

[scorpio 0]

Yes, right click on the ladder logic screen and there should be an option for 'Find Comment'. But keep in mind, the comment search is case sensitive. Cheers.

[Crossbow 296]

Q61P and Q62P are power supplies. The CPU is just to the right of them, and will have CPU in the part number.

[Stuart_Wales 5]

I spent the past 5 night shifts solid on GX developer, and i've really started to click with it. For the newer mitsi's we use, there's two types of comms leads we connect to via our RS232 ports under the HMI's. In a previous job (short term contract), PLC connection was wireless. Is this possible on the mitsi's as it's something i'd like to recomend and maybe instal depending on price.

[Stuart_Wales 5]

I've managed to get my hands on a Q00JCPU with rack and an input and output card. I'm going to make this my little test rig to play with on afternoons/nights. This is the first time i've connected from scratch, so alot of it will be simple questions! Again, im picking loads up as I play. I've managed to connect and read from the PLC. So i'm ready to write/learn. First question is an error light flashing on the CPU. If I go to Diagnostics > PLC Diagnostics. . then I get a '2200 MISSING PARA' message. Anyone know what this is? Secondly, there's a clean 'MAIN' ready for me to play with now. How can I comment above the first rung, or any rung for that matter? Thanks in advance! Expect more simple/silly questions to follow!

[RTRBURN 0]

That fault it letting you know there is no program in plc. You may also have to write to the parameter also. To add comments, got to Tools/Options/ then check the box for Comment Input "Continues during write command". Then click on the whole data tab above and select 32. This will give you 4 lines of 8 characters in each line to comment. Then if you want to add statements to a section of your ladder describing what this part of the program does, then on the main ladder screen go to Edit tab then to documentation then select statement. But you have to turn statement off if you need to add comments to your I/O's. MEAU.com has a great learning tutorials online.

[Crossbow 296]

Create a new project, set communication settings, and write programs and parameters to CPU. Your CPU is empty.