Juan Castrillon Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Hi! Im currently working on a project with a Vision 130 OPLC. In my application, the people interacting with the HMI, have to press the keys many times, specifically the arrow keys and the ENTER key. I'm worried about the lifespan of the keypad and i dont want it to damage. As a solution for this, I've tought of having external buttons connected to the INPUT port of the PLC, and using them (in software) to act as the keys in the HMI keyboard (see attached image). However, I'm using a List of Text as Keypad Variable Entry, and whenever i go into keypad variable entry mode (blinking), the external buttons dont work as the keys anymore. I want to know if i'm doing anything wrong or if there is a better way to override the keypad keys. Thanks In Advance Juan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgull Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Hi Juan You should use a positive transition contact instead of using an input directly on the SB 53. With the I0 connected directly as shown SB53 will press multiple times (every scan of the PLC) as ling as the input is on. Regards Denis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Castrillon Posted February 16, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 Hi Denis Thanks for your help! Unfortunately my problem goes on, even if i replace the direct contact with a positive transition one. For example, to enter a keypad variable entry, i usually have to press ENTER twice, one to be able to enter the value, and another one to confirm. With my external button, i can "press" the first ENTER without problem, but i can't confirm the value, in ohter words, i can't "press" the second ENTER. Same thing happens with the arrow keys, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 (edited) Juan, Check out the following:http://www.unitronics.com/knowledgebase/visilogic/knowledgebase/visilogic/Displays/Display_Variables/How_Keypad_Entry_Variables_Work.htmhttp://www.unitronics.com/knowledgebase/visilogic/knowledgebase/visilogic/Displays/HMI_Displays/HMI_SB_and_SIs.htm I think you might be able to use SB 32 and SB 30 with the input to get the variable entry to complete(second press of enter key). You may be limited to 1 variable per screen though, I'm not sure as I've never tried this. --| |-- --|P|-- --( )-- SB32 I0 SB30 Edited February 17, 2017 by Cam spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Castrillon Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Hi Cam Thanks for your help I was trying your solution, but apparently SB32 and SB30 dont activate ever, even in a simple ladder code as the one in the picture Also, by doing what you suggest will i be able to use the arrow keys as well in the variable active mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP 2023 Ausman Posted February 17, 2017 MVP 2023 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Are you wanting to use JUST the external pad, or do you still want to have BOTH methods concurrently active? I think this is important, it might make the programming easier. Have a screen where you can choose which method, before you get to the settings screens. It then alters methods considerably. cheers, Aus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Castrillon Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Hi Aus I want to use just the external pad, can you explain what you mean when you say alter method? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP 2023 Ausman Posted February 17, 2017 MVP 2023 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Hi Juan, to clarify this, I need to do some testing. Pls give me a day, can't do it now. Someone else is welcome to look at this idea if they have time at present. cheers, Aus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Castrillon Posted February 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Sure thing..... Thanks a lot for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP 2023 Ausman Posted February 18, 2017 MVP 2023 Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 On 17/02/2017 at 4:02 AM, Juan Castrillon said: buttons connected to the INPUT port of the PLC, What exactly do you mean by this? Using 4 digital inputs for BCD? Using the serial port? cheers, Aus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Castrillon Posted February 18, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2017 I was thinking more like one push button for each key. Connected to the Input port Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP 2023 Ausman Posted February 19, 2017 MVP 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 OK. Still confusion. I'm assuming you are talking about having your push button "1" connected to Digital Input (DI) 1. Then your button 2 on DI 2 and so on. This will use many of the inputs, which is OK if you have them to spare. You saying "port" in some ways means the serial connection socket, hence my question. There are other ways of doing this, but......... Before I go any further, have you considered using a cheap touch screen computer running Remote Operator, directly linked to the PLC? In some ways this will be the easiest method of the lot as you can use the inbuilt number entry methods in Visilogic etc, but via a touch screen instead of the membrane keys. You may end in similar costs by the time you cost out keypads etc doing it the other way. You can find RO here to trial it: http://unitronicsplc.com/Download/SoftwareUtilities/Remote Operator V1.0.67.zip In the same thinking, maybe go up a PLC model to one that has a touchscreen as standard? cheers, Aus 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP 2023 Ausman Posted February 19, 2017 MVP 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2017 OK, in the meantime as well, check these links out to get ideas on other ways you can possibly go. These are just some of the methods that keypads can be interpreted into the PLC, saving on the number of inputs. You can consider them all during thinking about how you want to do things. For the idea of keypad matrix: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8653 (look at all the pictures on the page, one explains matrix) Taking it one step further and making it BCD: https://www.rapidonline.com/rapid-keyboard-encoder-project-kit-70902 This pdf (from the above page) explains it https://www.rapidonline.com/pdf/70-0325.pdf Another way: https://stevenengineering.com/pdf/18KP_612A.pdf cheers, Aus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juan Castrillon Posted February 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 Hi Aus Thanks for all your suggestions and your help After contacting Unitronics, i found out that the lifespan of the keyboard is pretty good (Aprox. 1 Million Clicking Cycles), and also that the HMI Keyboard is easily replaced. With this in mind and seeing the relative complexity of the solutions, i think i will just leave the keyboard from the HMI Thanks again adn Sorry for wasting your time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP 2023 Ausman Posted February 20, 2017 MVP 2023 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 No time is wasted if we all learn something. cheers, Aus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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