Joe Tauser

I went to help a customer the other day and he wanted to track part presence around a 50 position indexer. No problem (I thought), we'll just use the SHL instruction. Nay, Nay! I discovered SHL and SHR only work with one MI, not a block. I needed to shift the bits through 4+ words. Moving on to the "Shift Left" instruction (VEC. SHIFT) I determined that it moves whole bytes at a time. I was out of ideas for an easy solution, and envisioned a convoluted multiple network mess that AB can do with one instruction. We are blessed with a good team at Support HQ here in the US. I called them and they got back within an hour with a solution. Turns out the Vector Copy commands will take MB as an argument even though they default to MI and all the Help shows examples with MIs. So it can be done with one block. I never thought to slide up and look for MB on the source of the block. Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks, Unitronics Support! I've attached a sample program if anybody wants to see the magic in action. Joe T. Bit Shift Register.vlp

For starters you don't have an IO module defined in the hardware configuration that matches your Input and Output addresses. I added an IO-DI8-RO8 module to the expansion chain that seems to cover the inputs and outputs you've defined. I gather from your logic that I37 is the cutter retracted switch and I36 is the cutter extended. O34 looks like the cutter output. It's a good idea to use network comments to describe what you're trying to do. The main problem is you are trying to define a sequence using only bits. This is a common beginner's mistake and it can drive you mad, as the bits have a habit it turning themselves on and off at unexpected times. I always use a pointer-based state machine to program sequences. See my attached program. Joe T. transfer2tm_JT.vlp

Answered in another post Joe T.

I wouldn't worry about the DI16. Put a reversed-biased 1N4007 across any inductive loads on the TO16. You'll have to decide if you want to fuse the module's supply at 3A or fuse the individual outputs at 0.5A. Joe T.

You're going to have to do some more coding to search the returned string for spaces (20h) and replace them with zeros yourself (30h). A PITA, I know, but sometimes you just have to grab the bull by the horns. Joe T.

If you post your code I'll see if I can hack a solution in for you... Joe T.

I've rolled my own 5V pulse level shifter before and sometimes the circuit doesn't behave the way I think it should. The first thing I would do is put a scope on the output of the ISQ5 chip and see what the pulses it's making look like. Joe T.

Posting your code would be helpful. Joe T.

Do you have a limit switch on the other side of the cutter or is it a timed shot? Joe T.

Read the Help on the TE timer type. It will do what you want. Joe T.

I have talked with Steve over the phone and got a lot more detail on his application. The short version is he is working on an OEM piece of machinery and has no access to the original program. The machine was designed to communicate with a SCADA system over RS485 Modbus. The machine is datalogging to the SD card, and the end user wants to extract data via SDTools to his computer so he doesn't have to open the machine and take the SD card out to download the data. Here's where it gets weird. SDTools, like all Unitronics software, uses PCOM as it's protocol. PCOM is not working over RS485. At all. I set up a PLC on my table, set the dip switches to RS485, opened Visilogic, and tapped the "Get OPLC information" button. Nothing but a communication error. I set the PLC up as a Modbus slave and did the same with a Modbus simulator. Everything works perfectly with Modbus on RS485. I am sending a more detailed report to Unitronics support. I will update this post when I have more information. Joe T.

From an earlier post Info Mode shows the protocol as "Modbus" - the PLC program may be grabbing your port. Try loading a blank program and see if your luck changes. Post your code and I'll load it into something here and try my converter (I use a Novus Automation USB-i485)- http://www.novusautomation.com/downloads/Arquivos/flier%20usb-i485%20converter.pdf Shameless self-promotion: we stock them - $195.00. I am in St. Louis, MO. Joe T.

The document you posted states that the Horiba unit can use either F-Net on RS485 or DeviceNet. The Fujikin model also mentioned DeviceNet. The Fujikin didn't say anything about F-Net, so that would be a question for them as to whether it was the same thing. You have a couple of options: 1. Get DeviceNet on all controllers and get a DeviceNet to Modbus converter to communicate with all the meters. Unitronics does Modbus very well. 2. The best guide for learning to use the Protocol block is the example programs and the Help in Visilogic. You'll need the protocol definition for each of the devices you want to talk to and a computer with a terminal program and a USB to RS485 converter to help troubleshoot your code. 3. Use an Allen Bradley PLC which is capable of supporting DeviceNet natively. Unfortunately, Unitronics can't do everything. Joe T.

The Fjuikin manual states that it can be controlled via RS485, so you can use the Protocol block to create the commands needed. I didn't see much data on the Horiba website for that product. Do you have a link to the manual? Joe T.

If you're going to write a VB program you can definitely use the .NET driver. I'd download the driver, look through the documentation, and then read the posts on the .NET forum. The data in the PLC is mostly 16 bit signed integers and bits. The .NET driver will be able to write the values directly. Joe T.

Add a neck strap and you've got it. Necessity is the mother of invention. Joe t.

I see. The old "magic button appearing on the Communication Port Settings window" trick. (If you've never seen Don Adams in the old "Get Smart" TV series, you won't get that reference). I would suggest to the Creators that we put that factoid in the Help and/or put the driver on the website under the Jazz tab. Or have the U90 software install the driver automatically. I wasn't looking for the driver installation to be in a second-level dialog box. Joe T.

I upgraded the computer at my business desk to Windows 8.1 update 1 to see how it behaves (still running XP everywhere else). For the most part I really like it - it didn't take too long to get used to and now that they've added the desktop-friendly features it feels downright zippy. The downside is I think the new sounds are a little too "twinkle-y". I miss the "ga-dunk" when I put a USB drive in. Like you are really connecting something to the computer. A search of the Internet for Windows XP sounds proved fruitless. So while I was on my trusty XP programming laptop I zipped up the Media directory and grabbed them all. For anyone else who wants to set back the audio experience of their machine to 2001 here they are- http://www.jtauser.com/sounds/Media.zip Enjoy. Joe T.

Where is the STM32 driver for the Jazz units? It did not install when I installed U90 6.6, and I can't seem to find it on the Unitronics website. Is this it? http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/PF257938# Joe T.

+1 Joe T.

You can use the free Unitronics OPC server and access PLC registers from Excel or VB. Excel would initially be easier, and you can write VBA macros to control views and handle the data you're looking for. Google "OPC Excel" or "OPC VB" for some ideas on how to get started. Joe T.

Ah, the classic toggle coil conundrum. This is the first thing I teach in my PLC class and is a lot harder than it looks until you've seen it done. It takes a while to get a real feel for the way a PLC solves it's program and the power of bits. I'd highly recommend taking an hour or so with the Help file and going through each function in the first couple of menus - Boolean, Compare, Math, etc. It really helps to know what tools you have available and how they work. Joe T. plciolatches JT.vlp

It's always helpful to post your code when you have programming questions. One of us can edit it and post it back, showing what we did. Joe T.

You can find the first empty row using the Data Tables Find function block and searching for an empty field based on your data table structure. Joe T.

How much and what kind of expansion do you need? Is it in the local panel or remote? By the time you've added the CANbus card and the EX-RC1 (about $250) you have bumped the cost into the realm of a regular V350. Plus, you're very limited on the local I/O board you can choose. The SAMBA fits where you want a nice screen on a limited I/O application. I wouldn't push it past that. Joe T.