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Ausman

MVP 2023
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Everything posted by Ausman

  1. FWIW, I had huge trouble with sensors in a large commercial indoor heated swimming pool environment until I started giving all their internals a liberal spray of circuit board lacquer when replacing with new. I know this doesn't directly relate to displays, but perhaps it's not the displays themselves, it's the pcb they're connecting to. Were the failed units disassembled and visually inspected? Would a coat of lacquer over everything have helped? The sensors in the above were actually built to withstand the conditions, but the rest of the gizmo wasn't. As for "fresh" air environment, it can be exceedingly difficult to get good air in some locations. I've seen enclosures with fan driven passive heat exchanger systems used in remote "middle of nowhere"gold mine sites, don't know how well they work and you still have the display "open" anyway as that's what it's for, likely allowing gas exchange into the enclosure through miniscule gaps. At those same gold mine sites repairing aircons "en masse", I also observed the aluminium finning on evaporators was mostly eaten away, leaving just the copper cores there, despite all sorts of scrubber systems in the "clean testing room" the systems were servicing. Some places simply do nasty things to electronics...and humans... and clean room air quality is really dictated by how much expense and trouble is warranted and installed. I was happy I wasn't at these sites for too long...... cheers, Aus
  2. Hi Paul, I haven't used Swapper for some years now. As I essentially have a low number of sites I work at, I made the decision to switch all the Visions to 9.8.65 and it made things so much easier. ( I have yet to switch to the latest "more secure" version, wanting/waiting for it to be proven....) However, the explanations in both the referenced Topics above pretty much state the process, but I'm a little vague on complete intricacies. They were complete installs done on a system that was devoid of anything Vision related. My favourite program for achieving this is Revo Uninstaller, and I use the paid version. Also note my comment.....Then start again with the different installs you need to have on your system, running all of them as Admin. I would use the latest swapper. This will be tedious doing all the previous version installs over again etc, but I think it is worth a try. Particularly the word "tedious" as all the copies must be done as Admin install if you haven't done them correctly! The virgin copy goes in a folder with the version name.....and all those version folders went under a folder called "Swapper Virgins" or similar. My current method for very occasionally having to use any different Visi version is to mostly do it via a virtual machine, and I'm happy to do a different VM that is just that version. But..... FYI. I now have 3 different PCs running different Windoze versions available on my desk, one is the up to date main system for everyday use, and the others for when I need to work with much older PLC or sensor programs, right down to DOS, that simply refuse to work correctly under more modern OS's, even as a VM or dosbox etc. (Re the VM comment above....both of these other systems each have a different older Visilogics version that I used to use) I used to have a single PC running caddies to enable easy changing of C drive to load those different Windows versions when needed, along with external power switching of drives to disable internal drives that would have been affected by running the other versions, but sadly discovered mid last year that the one failing of this seemingly terrific idea is when there is a complete motherboard failure. It was no fun. ðŸ˜ą Many on the forum also have different laptops doing the same thing for field work. Hope that helps. cheers, Aus
  3. You need to goggles "convert 232 to TTL" and vice versa to find a whole host of adapters that might work.
  4. @Cara Bereck Levy @Saragani As a non-Unistream user it does seem unacceptable to me that a faulty SD will cause a total boot halt. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to have the PLC able to continue to function when it sees/expects a card in place but can't access it properly. I understand that the card use might be a major part of someone's programming, but perhaps there needs to be an option for the user to dictate whether to ignore SD failure and run with OS driven popup screen alert or OS boot halt with screen alert. The second one seems to be what is occurring, but without an alert. @greml1n It would likely be useful in this case to know how much card use was being done. cheers, Aus
  5. And Van, welcome. FYI, the program you are using is Visilogic, not Unilogic. Just letting you know, as incorrect referencing could cause confusion because it is a totally different system from Unitronics. Kratmel's answer is the solution, but the reason as such is that Linearisation will continue to do it's instructed outputs if input parameters go outside the supposed maximum or minimum. this is especially confusing if using 4-20ma inputs. You may also like to get this to help with your learning: https://forum.unitronics.com/topic/3540-linearization-calculator-for-all/ cheers, Aus
  6. And another one to prove this New Year's resolution of retaining clear thinking went astray a little. I dislike using "off the shelf" mobiles with the likes of goggles etc incessantly talking to HO, amongst other things I find undesirable. So I have a little W7 laptop set up for adb work on suitable phones, it does nothing else. I've recently had to get a new phone, and in setting it up I couldn't understand why the laptop was suddenly refusing to let me do Shift Right click open command prompt here. Hunted for a while and then gave up, sourced cmd direct and then pointed it to the right folder. Worked, but a bit tedious. Anyone who's done this with adb trialling ROMs knows you can do it a few times to find the one you really like out of a number available. And each time the laptop refused the option. I had the laptop sitting on the desk in front of my main screens (when I say little...I meant it!) and last night it occurred to me that I was being so stoooopid. For accessing a few computers onto the same screens, I don't use a full on KVM switch as it gave issues with different monitor capabilities from the 3 innately different computers in use. I use a USB switcher that only handles the mouse and keyboard, and switch the monitors manually to whatever input I need. So...I am used to using the same keyboard and mouse regardless of what I am looking at. I guess you have just figured it out as well.......I was pressing Shift on the main keyboard, not the laptop. But was correctly using the other mouse direct connected to the laptop. Duuuhhh. It was absolutely incredible, fantabulous and amazing that once I pressed Shift on the laptop, the process worked correctly........ ðŸĪŠ If only there was an OEM reset button on the side of my head, that would retain most info but reset the occasionally scrambled stuff.
  7. In a world of troubles, I hope that everyone enjoys the Christmas period as best they can. Aus
  8. Gabriel, I saw this answer but thought it might have been a misunderstanding as I already use Hercules occasionally but haven't seen this ability. I've been so busy it delayed me asking the question....does Herc also do virtual serial port? Or is the reference to the piece of hardware mentioned on that page? cheers, Aus
  9. You've defeated your own argument here. Your "CD hard disk" ONLY has the data in it because either the PC or you have written data to the disk. The situation is exactly the same with the PLC. If you need optimised data to be saved by the system, you need to record it in some way. And then have the PLC programmed to be able to retrieve it as necessary. Kratmel has shown you a way of doing it which is very simple and effective, but I do things a little differently. Perhaps you have not considered the way many people would, perhaps accidentally, use NVM in a PLC. If it was written to every scan, MTBF would be markedly lower. Using RAM totally alleviates this issue, but it needs the battery. I have not personally used a plc without a battery, be it super-cap, rechargeable or standard. They may be out there, but I'm guessing it is not done much due to potential durability issues. My systems are 24/7 and constantly create optimised amounts for various parts of the program. These amounts are written every minute to a data table, and every 24 hours that table is written to the SD card as a new file, not FIFO. I routinely go through those files remotely or when next on site, and if it is worth changing any power up value to one of the optimised amounts, I do. Regardless, I have the latest best values, at most 24 hours ago in PLC run time, stored for use in a component that doesn't need a battery. Ready to reload as necessary by a few simple button pushes. Hmmmm......that sounds like...clicking the mouse on my computer and opening a file I have saved to be used by a program already installed on the PC, and all of it coming from the "CD hard disk!"
  10. Wait until your PC won't boot one morning because the bios battery is dead. Not as uncommon as you think!
  11. I"m no expert, but it's likely the sampler only has the FTDI chip to "make it easy to connect to with something that doesn't have a 232 port". On this basis, could you get into the PCB to get the older serial stream that is going into the chip, and access it directly with a bit of hacking. Lots of mucking around, but perhaps not as hard as it first seems. So many things these days have "USB ports" when in fact they're simply converting old serial data for "user convenience". The manufacturer pretends it's "modern" and has had a huge change, but in fact it's the old thing simply fitted with the converter. cheers, Aus
  12. and as well.... -- Split this into 2 rungs, -- Ensure that MB50 & 47 (and perhaps any other MBs that also dictate parameters) cannot be called at the same time...only one of them (all). Re the "routine that is never called anywhere" noted by Kratmel, read this: Point 11 in here: https://forum.unitronics.com/topic/6229-ongoing-24-topics-almost-worth-pinning/ cheers, Aus
  13. One of your gray code pics? Started around then, didn't it?
  14. A recent ask on the forum where I suggested clients search their computers for any files marked *.vlp, triggered the thought that I should tell about a favourite program of mine. (This is NOT a forum recommendation, just a personal one for great performance. I am not linked in any way to the program makers.) It is Everything and is truly a life saver at times. Fully adjustable for what it looks at, super fast and easy to manipulate results. On startup the program races through updating it's database and then displays......everything....! Which you can then whittle down as much as you like using wildcards etc if needed. It is available in a variety of formats, and once you find how useful it is you might also send a few $s to the creator.... cheers, Aus https://www.voidtools.com/
  15. I did a goggles what the sign might be and apparently the red symbol means that you have posted something marked NSFW. I did a little search for the supposed cure but couldn't find it...... "You can go into User Settings --> Profile and turn NSFW off and the sign will go away. " Regardless, my thinking is that one of your attachments has an incorrect flag on it that triggered an automatic thing from Invision. In your retirement spare time you could perhaps go through some of your recent posts and (temporarily) delete some attachments and see if it cures it. Even if it doesn't help, it will have kept thems old fingers busy and provided some tremendous enjoyment moving the mouse around whilst cursing intermittently! cheers, Aus
  16. If there is an SD already in the 350, have you carefully checked it for any files? There might be a backup of the program on the card, if the original developer thought it OK. If they thought this way, there might be various named files which could be backups...of sorts. If you locate any files within the directory structure you will find already exisiting on the SD, save them and ask the forum about them. Or consult Visilogic help. Has the customer fully checked all their computers for any file with *.vlp? cheers, Aus
  17. What is the 130 showing? What is it doing? Do you have the .vlp file that was already loaded in the PLC?
  18. We were out for a walk tonight and it occurred to me.... If a wife and husband are walking along a narrow path, perhaps it should be called "married file" instead of "single file". 😉 Take care in the world, cheers, Aus
  19. No, not without the name. Without the name you can't get in....to get the name. If you could get in...you've got the name! From this I assumed that you were working at that site. Physical access to the 130 is needed. But even with the PLC name and subsequent access, you may find that you can't get the project code out of the unit anyway...it depends on how the it was loaded into the plc.
  20. Assuming that Info mode is not password protected, the default is 1111. Once Info is opened, go to 2 System, and then 3 SW Ver, and the name will be at the bottom. But if the name is longer than can be displayed, you'll have to ponder...! At least you'll have a start. cheers, Aus
  21. @Saragani I think this one is for the creators, please. Jhav, if this doesn't get a response I suggest you contact support. But.... What windows version? Have you tried on a W7 or W10 OS? Disabled A/V?
  22. This is a great spread, but as it looks to be fully potted I'm intrigued how it happened. Has it just done it on the surface after blowing a hole in the potting? And given it has eight "legs" was it simply a spider walking over the board? 🙃
  23. John, the warning sign is saying that the mind is too busy and a brain error is occurring. Old retired guys have less RAM available due to so much already in use, and the various inputs can create an overload much quicker than usual. cheers, Aus
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