CHANGING RTC HOUR FROM HMI

[Bering C Sparky 7]

I have and application where I need to set up a way for factory personel to be able to change the clock (RTC) in a M.L. 1400 from a Panelview Plus. I have had an instuction that moves the value from RTC:0.HR to N7:0 and that has worked fine for years now. But now when i try to move N7:7 to RTC:0.HR it says invald data entry???? Can you only read from the RTC and not Write??? How do you write to the RTC to change time through logic? I have always just adjusted the time with my laptop at the start of each season, but I am planning on switching jobs soon and would like to set up a way for them to change the time from the HMI, as no one else on the ship is even remotly savey to this stuff. Thanks in advance for any feedback BCS

[IO_Rack 181]

The easiest way would be to sync it with the PanelView Plus. In FactoryTalk View ME, there are fields for Hours, Min, Sec in the Global Connections. No other programming will be necessary. I've done this with an SLC 5/05, I would think it should be possible with an ML1400.

[JRoss 84]

It can be done with the MLX 1400, but you need to use the CPW instruction for writing. Let me know if you have any other questions, as I have working code samples.

[Bering C Sparky 7]

Thank you both for the feedback. Not trying to be lazy or anything but could you both elaborate a bit more? By sinc in factory talk (global connections) i will be able to change the hour in micrologix RTC from the HMI?? (Just recently started using factory talk, no training here, so figuring it out on my own, and with the help of MR.PLC of course) (great site) And by use CWP do you mean i just use a copy instruction instead of a Move statement in the logic and this will be recognized as a valid data entry??? Our bandwidth is really bad right now, (internet and phone via sat link) is taking me almost an hour to load this forum, log in and respond. Any addition info you can supply is much appriciated, i am going to go and poke around with what you have said so far and see what happens. Thanks again for all the help. BCS

[IO_Rack 181]

Given JRoss's response, I'm not sure using the Global Connections will be that easy. I'll let him explain or share his code. To explain the Global Connections anyway... In FactoryTalk View ME, look to the left in the Explorer tree. Under your [Project] > System folder, double click Global Connections icon. In the dialog box there are several connections in which you can assign tags to share with the ML1400. Be sure to click the Help to see which tags are Read, Write or both.

[JRoss 84]

Since I've taken so long to respond, you've probably already figured this out. I'm not sure why, but you can only use the MOV instruction to pull information out of a function file (like the RTC), not to place it. The CPW instruction allows you to go both ways. It's similar to the COP instruction, in that it's a block move and you define the source head address, destination head address, and length (number of addresses to move). To answer your specific question, use it in place of the MOV instruction when writing to the RTC function file. I could share my code, but there isn't much to it. The Global Configuration setup is for passing date and time information between the PLC and HMI, usually for synchronization. The "Year", "Day of Week", etc. connections are for sending the HMI's clock information to the PLC. The connections starting with "Remote" are for setting the HMI's clock from a remote location. If you are using the "Date & Time" object on the HMI for display and using the ML1400 clock to control your process, you'll want to keep them in sync so that nobody gets confused or has to update the date/time in two locations.