Ausman

Thanks Saragini, I must be very tired. I would swear that it wasn't there when I looked and looked earlier today! ImaDumbkerfen! cheers, Aus

Hi Guy, I know I'm sometimes dumb, but I can't find this section on this page at all. cheers, Aus

Hi Peter, I know this is a little old, I've been away on leave. I would be considering not using timers at all. Instead use a fast acting counter, with easy resets, and compares being done that are altered according to your input using Linearisations. Counters are a neglected item that often perform a job much better than timers, due to all the things you can do with, and do to, a rolling count. Timers essentially have one aim....to get to the stopping point. cheers, Aus

T'riffic, I'll check it all out when I have a bit more time on my hands. cheers, Aus

HI Saragini, sorry for the delay. This appears to work ok, but is confusing as it doesn't show the files in a folder when you reach it. But it does remember the location. Can't remember if the old one showed files or not at the end folder, and too busy at present to change it all back again to see. For now, thanks for relieving my clicking! cheers, Aus

I agree, Flex, but if you look at the force box for outputs you will see that it is ok. That is why I have brought it up, it is confusing that the inputs box has the classic Windows "this won't work" appearance, leading one to think that nothing will work, yet all the right click functions work fine. Cheers, Aus

Hi all, further to this, and following some much appreciated advice from Joe T, you can just put the sends in series in the one scan and it works fine. I am still investigating how many I can do reliably. At present I have 3 going ok and will increase this slowly, but perhaps it can run up to the full 32 mentioned without issue. I have them all set as low priority at present. Cara, could we please have a bit more literature available about this? I can find nothing at all for this scenario which can't be unusual. It would be nice to know the official knowledge/version to save experimentation hassles. cheers, Aus

And I'm sure that the topic of SECS and GEMS has a myriad of funny lines available, that I better not even start to go into on here! cheers, Aus

Thanks Saragani, pls let us know how you go. cheers, Aus

Hi all, I'm still using 9.7.55/0 and perhaps this problem has been cured now. The inputs force box has always been "greyed out" which makes one believe that force isn't possible. However, actions still work ok. I've become used to it, but it might be confusing for new users and to my thinking this is a simple bug needing to be fixed. See the pic. cheers, Aus Inputforce.bmp

Hi all, asking if we could possibly have SD Card Explorer remember the previous location for local file saving. I store my logged data files to a particularly "deep" area of my folders, and it's a right pain in the butt to start from scratch each time at the Browse for Folders window and have to click your way to the relevant area before you can proceed. click click scroll click scroll click scroll click scroll click ohh for pete's sake! I know I could cut and paste from a simpler spot, but that's not the point. cheers, Aus

Thankyou, Sheldon! (And thanks for your help with everyone's issues, anyway.) cheers, Aus

Or it's completely missing some jumpers? It sounds like you have done everything ok, but perhaps you didn't have one of the plugs fully inserted, which you corrected in fitting the new module? cheers, Aus

Hi Protea, before everyone can help, some questions. How are your dampers controlled? If they are already done with damper motors, what type/brand, do they use 0-10v, or 4-20ma? Same for your other bits and pieces. What runs them and what signals do they accept or output? In some ways having all the control locally is easier, but you then have to use various types of multicores to your chamber, depending on what is needed. Yours doesn't sound too large a job and personally I'd have all the control bits local, given the short distance involved. Others here will likely disagree with this! That's what forums are about. But answers first, please. cheers, Aus

Hi all, I'm confused on this one and can't find anything in help files. I have been using Unican fine before in transferring data b/n V130s & 120s, running at 500Kb. But the data has always amounted to one lot which is less than 16 MIs. I now have to shift more info around and I can't figure out how to do this in one scan. I quote "A UniCAN application can send up to 32 messages, each containing 16 integer values, totaling 512 MI register values during a single program scan." If the Unican Send function only lets me do 16 MIs max, how do I send 32 x 16 of them in the extreme example? Is the statement only referring to the ability to send it to 32 different plcs? Ideally I want to assemble a single Mixed Data Struct that will end up at about 70MIs and send it out in one hit. But the only way I can think to send it, based on the info I have found, is to split it up into 5 x Structs at 16MIs max, and then do 5 sequential 16 MI sends on Unican, each one waiting clearance to have it's turn until starting over, and each one offsetting the required amount. I am obviously missing something here. Can someone please point me to a help file that explains this concept, or offer their solutions? Or have I got it right with the sequential sends? Cheers, Aus

Darn it Joe, here I was, thinking you were a literary genius after reading your other post as well....but you've just blown it big time! cheers, Aus

HI BM, I have not moved up to 9.8.2 yet as I don't need to. My systems work fine doing this procedure on Win 7, running 9.7.55 build 0. Perhaps something has changed in the later builds? But try some other things. Basics first, and apologies if that sounds insulting. At the end of the copy/paste you should have the entire VisiLogic_C copy as a folder under the main Unitronics folder. Other folders visible here are Data, Examples, Help etc. Next, I'd check the old nag of mine....make sure everything has been installed with, and is being run as, Administrator. If you didn't do the original 9.8.2 install like that, maybe that's the issue. If you did, then try installing 9.7.55 and see if you get the same result. If so, then it might be a Win 8 peculiarity and I don't know the answer that might just be a registry tweak somewhere. I am sure that Win8's run as Admin is just the same easy right click operation, or permanent setting in properties, as Win 7. Hope it helps, cheers, Aus

And now for my next trick........I found that you can also do multiple instances of Remote Access. Very useful if that is all that is needed, rather than running the full blown program. And, drum roll, the double whammy is that if you have different models on the same network, it actually "shows" them, reducing confusion even more! My pic shows two over the top of writing this post. Cheers, Aus

Hi all, attached is a little picture I've worked up of what I see as a simple but worthwhile addition to the Communication & OS Screen.......to include the name of the project in the PLC. Time for you all to play "spot the difference"! If added, this would save the tedious online interrogation via Info mode method when you need to check the name of the program to ensure a match. cheers, Aus AusProj.bmp

Hi all, a recurring theme in forum questions is Run as Admin issues. I believe it would be a simple but good idea to have an initial window appear at the very beginning of any Unitronics installation, saying that the install has to be run as Admin and also that the program has to be set to do so as well. Such a window could include a quick sentence or two on how to do this, and would go a long way to preventing significant, time wasting problems that give first users of Unitronics gear bad impressions because it doesn't work properly. I have seen so-called automatic admin installs not work correctly on many of the programs I use. I also think that whatever security program one uses is also involved in this regard. I'm likely wrong, but in my experience the only way to make sure it happens is to manually do it yourself from the word go. Even though I know of the issue, I still forget now and then, only to be caught later. cheers, Aus

Hi all, today I have had to work for the first time with a modbus device that uses numbers over 32767. I merrily coded away using the available options in the dropdowns, specifically ML and DW in the Slave start of vector and the Master start of vector. No matter what I did I couldn't get it to work when I had ML and DW in use on the Master start of vector. Works fine on the Slave start, but on the Master start only MI would work, and it then went inverted once 32767 was exceeded. I eventually went to the help file and discovered that only MIs are listed for the Master SOV. Not ML & DW. If they aren't available, they shouldn't be listed in the dropdown. See the pics. Lost quite a few hours on this as had to do it on a slow remote connection on a canbus slave, which all takes more time and makes one grumpy! I can do maths to get around the issue, but based on my results I politely request that it is a fault that should be cured. Cheers, Aus

That's great Dave, and it is a quirk that is worth knowing. I've had overlaps myself that do strange things...didn't think of it in this regard, though. And yes...we have to FLEX those smiley muscles now and then ha ha. cheers, Aus

Hi Dave, My first thought is that it is sequentially changing your numbers on you in each scan in the link to the display. The "direct" connection of the plc is quick enough to show this on the screen, but that is why it looks ok on remote access and live mode, as the rate of transfer there is much slower and it only picks up what is sent at a particular moment. Do the numbers change, but slower, during remote or live? I would be looking hard at your code relating to that area....is it out of whack in first to last net order; is it being affected by another bit of ladder or call/return that you've missed; is it being called incorrectly; is it somehow counting through your numbers as it assembles the string, etc etc? The little men (and women) running around inside the plc are very dumb and easily confused if you don't get their instructions exactly right! In this case it looks like their arms are getting very tired hanging the 4 digits up and down and up and down and up.........! And saying that...in the jpg I don't see a 0 in the overwrite, yet you say you are using it. Does it ever show up as part of the muddle, or is it just that the photo missed it? Maybe that's part of the issue, in that you've got something starting from 1 instead of 0, causing an each scan counting loop because a halt reference is wrong. Cheers, Aus

Hi Kezza, have you got the termination set correctly on the 430? Perhaps the mix of different manufacturers doesn't work properly if the net layout isn't perfect. I would have thought you would have the DIPs 1-6 off on on off on on. Maybe this is why it works with the add-on cards etc as you have missed them being set ok. cheers, Aus

Did you do the installation as "run as administrator". This is not clear from this reply. All parts of Unitronics installs have to run as Admin. If you did this, then it is time for some "official" help, please. Mr. Mozes, or Shane? If not forthcoming, the last thing I'd try would be to uninstall all of your unitronics programs (saving your data first of course!) and reinstall them using Admin rights on all of them. Perhaps some internal reference is still messing things up? And good work on the bit. cheers, Aus