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So basically you cannot link the data tables directly to the HMI. You have to load the data into an operand (MI etc) and then link this to the HMI.

Right click on the trend and go properties. Run/Stop MB is at the bottom.

Just to expand on what Emil is saying. Inductive loads like motors require suppressors on the contacts to stop them from arching when they open. Inductive loads also draw high currents (up to 10 times their normal current for motors) when the contacts make. This can weld the contacts together inside the relays. I recommend you use contactors rated for the size motors you are controlling rather the PLC relays directly but this may not be necessary for very small motors.

Just FYI, I am running a Lenovo ThinkPad X201, Core i5 M580, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Using avast! free anti virus. I am using VirtualBox on my work server. Linux host and Windows VM guest so we can run our accounting software. VirtualBox works great and it's free. Not a as feature rich as VMware obviously but you can't beat free. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Hi Damian I'm running on Windows 7 64bit and had a few crashes with VisiLogic 9.3. Haven't had any trouble with VisiLogic 9.3.1 though, and no slow downs on any version. What anti virus are you using?

Linux is great!! I'm running 2 servers with Gentoo at home and 1 at work. My servers at home have been through more motherboards than I've had cooked dinners and they are still running the same install when I started about 6 years ago! Their roles have been continuously evolving and Gentoo allows me to keep all the software up to date without ever reinstalling. If only VM's would give direct access to the graphics card I wouldn't ever need to install Windoze directly onto hardware. That being said, I'm quite happy with Windoze 7 so I'm not a complete M$ hater.

Try using a baud rate of 9600. See here for more information: My link

Thanks Michael. This is very helpful.

I have a sim in my phone that with the correct APN setting I can ping my phone. If I put this sim in the Enfora and use the same APN I cannot ping the PLC. Hopefully when I've fixed the other issues you have pointed out this will work. We have a dynamic IP address and I am using the dyndns service to host services (email etc). I'm going to try and use the DNS Resolver FB to update the IP address before the GPRS Start Call FB. If this doesn't work, I will just SMS the current IP to the PLC before the GPRS Start Call FB. I've got plenty to go on for now. I'll keep you updated on my progress. Thanks, Justin

Thanks for your help guys. This new information allows me to push on and see if I can get this to work reliably. If I am using the GPRS_call FB with the IP address via MI, is the IP made up from 4 consecutive MI's? If not how do I put the IP into one MI?

Thanks for the info, this solves some of my issues. Should I be able to ping the PLC with it in listen mode? So far I have not and this not a limitation with the sim. Maybe I need to specify a port?

Well, after a full day of testing I'm giving up on remote access via the GSM modem. I managed to establish a remote connection with the PLC in call mode on Friday but it did not work on Monday (I checked the IP address etc). This mode is not desirable anyway because it will only work if port forwarding is set up in the adsl router. I never managed to establish a connection with the PLC in listen mode. Using the correct APN this should have worked but it did not. Using the same sim card in my android phone I could ping the phone from an adsl connection but I could not ping the PLC nor connect to it. I just couldn't get a response from the PLC. I don't know how to use the modem to establish a connection to the internet from my PC to test the modem any further. I imagine some drivers are needed but I couldn't find anything. I had another issue where the modem would not receive any SMS messages after a call to the PC was made and after unregistering from the GSM network. It will not work again until the PLC is reset. If anyone could shed some light on these issues I will have another go but it isn't looking promising.

. Sounds promising. I think I'll try and establish a connection from a PC on ADSL to another using the Enfora modem to confirm that it is possible using my sim card. I have 2 Enfora modems which may come in handy for diagnosing connection problems. Once I can get this to work I'll set it up on the PLC. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks Simon, you've been a great help explaining this stuff. Is it possible to initiate a connection from the PC end after PLC has established the GPRS connection. Setting up port forwarding on the PC ADSL modem will be a pain for various reasons.

Hi Simon. I'm in New Zealand, so it is likely that we use the same system over here. What is required to set up a Packet Switched Connection? I was trying to avoid the broadband band route because I need the SMS capabilities. Are you able to send SMS with a Packet Switched Connection set up?

Thanks Flavien. The modem will now initialise on the PLC. However I am not able to establish a connection at 57600. I get a dial time out error. I can still connect at 9600. Have you been able to establish a connection at 57600? Do you make any changes to the settings when initialising the PC side modem or before dialling out?

I'm having trouble with an Enfora modem. With a baud rate of 9600 it will initialise fine. Anything above this and it fails (SB81 = 1). Using Prepare PLC Side Modem completes successfully at 57600 and from the documentation I've read the V1040 should work with this. I would like to be able to connect remotely but at 9600 it is far to slow to be usable. Hopefully someone can shed some light on this problem for me. Thanks in advanced, Justin

Thanks Joe, that all makes sense. I think I'll go with both options. I'll buy the Ethernet module for development purposes and have a disable button somewhere and reboot the PLC if I need local access when the project is complete. Cheers, Justin

I have set up a Enfora modem on Com port 1 on the PLC and now I cant connect via the USB port. I get the following message: ***http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/220/comerror.png*** I am using Com 2 for Modbus so can't use this for the modem. I thought that connecting to the USB port would disable Com 1 and this would be OK. Can some please offer advice on how I can use Com 1 and USB but not at the same time. It would be OK if I could enable or disable the modem via an operand.

Thanks Joe. Net 2 was the key, SL4 in particular. I've already founds another use for SL4 before posting back. Cheers, Justin

Keith is correct in what he has said and it sounds like you have taken this on board. You will need 2 solenoid valves (or a double block valve ie. 2 valves in 1 unit) between the gas supply and the burner. Your control valve will then come after these valves. Also it is advisable that your safety devices are hard wired to your burner controller. In this case a separate low level device in the wort boiler that disconnects the power to your burner controller if the level goes low. Hope this helps. Justin

I've been drawing all my graphics from scratch using Paint.NET. This is a very good program for this sort of drawing. Using layers you can put together some complex background images that can me modified easily in the future. I've found out the hard way that you can't just take an image and scale it down. The low resolution of the HMI means that every pixel counts. You can take and image, scale it to correct resolution in Paint.Net. Then add a new layer and trace over the scaled image with a single pixel pencil or other tools. You can then fill in the outlines with the bucket tool etc. Using this method will give you a sharp image which can easily be filled with different colours to indicate different conditions etc. Just save the file as bitmaps for use in the HMI.

I have a modbus device that I would like to update the time on periodically. The date format is not quite the same as the PLC and I can't work out a simple way of sending the correct values. The data structure is detailed below (hopefully it will display correctly). All values are 16bit unsigned integers. Address Words Description 49 1 WEEKDAY 50 3 YEAR, MONTH, DAY 53 3 HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND My intention was to get the correct values into a vector of XI's and then write them to the modbus device in one operation. It looks simple enough but I can't get the correct YEAR, MONTH, DAY values into consecutive XI's in the correct order. There maybe be a better way to do this but I can't figure it out with my limited experience. Hopefully someone here can help me out with this one. Thanks in advance, Justin

Thanks for all your comments guys. I am referring to the flash memory not SD. Power up values are not being used because this would overwrite my set points when power is restored. Set points can only be altered by service personnel that have the password. I'm basically trying to insure that there is a recovery method in place that does not require access to the original program or use of a PC. I also want the set points (a vector MI's) recovered. I have been experimenting with tables. I can save the set points to the table and restore from the table. However I have just worked out that the data in the table is not stored in flash, only the structure. I can make the data part of the project, and therefore stored in flash but this prevents me from writing to the table. Is my understanding of this correct? If I try to recover the set points from the table after power up (battery removed) I just get random numbers. It looks like I may need to use a SD card instead of flash. This may work out better in the long run but will require more work initially.

As far as I can tell, an Init is performed when loading a program from flash. I decided to store all my set points in a table. This is then read into the MI's when the program is first loaded. So far this is working well and looks to be the correct method.