Ausman

Zoran, have you seen these things? I note you say "no line of sight", but perhaps they could go on small poles? Or you could perhaps use simple long distance "remotes" as it is such a simple switching action. Can you do away completely with one plc (likely at the tank end) if you did this? cheers, Aus https://www.ui.com/airmax/nanobeam-ac-gen2/

Once finally installed, what is the physical distance between the 2? It sounds like it might be kms, but if it is only 10s of metres, it would be much easier to use Unican. You would have the need to buy 2 cards and cable, but then it doesn't need any other mucking around to get great comms. As well, once it is done, you can remove one of the ethernet cards as you can use the plc with the card to communicate to the other via the UniCan link. Even up to 100m might be an easier and simpler thing long term. cheers, Aus

Whilst we're on the colours subject, Visilogic lets you change colours but only applies them to some areas. eg Background doesn't change all backgrounds, like the explorer, as well. Why not? Pretty much for the same reason as above. I remember playing with color settings in the registry ages ago on this, but could never get the entire screen to do what I want. cheers, Aus

Glad it's solved. Just FYI, (I've said this before in other posts) but I have had instances where in trying to make things fast, I progressively lower Canbus comms times back to what seems to be working ok for an entire day, only for them to fall over a few days later. Adding just a few scans into my call times fixes the issue. I have found that for anything comms-wise, you need to allow a few scans for full buffer clearance, even though the system may say that it is finished. I surmised that the comms would eventually fall over due to a slow "build-up" in the buffer that eventually overloaded things. Or perhaps a glichey (?) read added in more numbers than normal? Or the data fairies waved their mean and nasty wand✨ at just the right time as they flew past going to Joe's place to share a cigar! cheers, Aus

But Joe, you forget that Modbus is "old" and not trendy. Only oldies (those humans greater than 25 years according to youngies) know about it and how much it is really used. 🙄 cheers, Aus

+ to Flex. I still roam around the menus and find stuff I didn't know. "How did I miss that before" is muttered quietly, whilst inwardly cursing for being such a dumbo! cheers, Aus

Edit... for some reason I had this as being a Unistream issue. As I have said before on the forum, I'm only a Vision man. But some thoughts that might be relevant...... Initially, I'm with Kratmel in that you may need more time. It could even be a buffer not clearing completely issue. As well, as an experiment, can you change the node numbers around to see what happens? Does the error still happen on 2 & 3, or follow the physical connection? This would indicate that the values are mainly correct and the inherent stream delays in being online is not showing them. cheers, Aus

Kevin, in addition to what Joe has said re the actual frequency which is very relevant to whether the plc will handle things properly through normal inputs, have a look at this post and also the entire topic to get background. It might be exactly what you need. cheers, Aus

To me the essence of the question is for the plc to tell the user what colour it has showing at a particular single pixel, located either by touch or some sort of adjustable pointer system. But as to whether the SAMBA can do this, I don't think so, as it is a total reversal of the way the plc is designed to work in the first place. Maybe you could overlay a small colour window that you could scroll through to get a visual match, but I don't think there's an easy way to get the actual value, like an "eyedropper" does in image programs. Glad for someone to tell us otherwise for your sake, Uni. cheers, Aus

For interest's sake, have you tried the method described here: http://forum.unitronics.com/topic/6157-how-to-convert-programs-developed-in-9879-to-9865/?do=findComment&comment=25144 This might not work in your situation, but perhaps try variations on the basic idea. cheers, Aus

Dimitar, please do not make multiple posts in different topics about the same thing. It just gets confusing for everyone doing answers. cheers, Aus

@Cara Bereck Levy Hi Cara, are Webinars interactive? Of just a "how to do"? I've never done one via Registration, as it means I have to be up at 3AM for one at 10AM PT. I used to be available for work 24/7, but getting older I have progressed from that! I've always assumed that part of the process is a Q&A session, which isn't recorded for the later viewing capability. Is this assumption correct? If so, could we possibly have a different time, or perhaps 2 runnings? There are others in the world apart from the USA! cheers, Aus

Very funny Visco! 🤣 Seriously, that's how it is sometimes....magical gremlins. I have attached a link to another issue that sometimes arises that is also important, that of bearing failure. Inverters are capable of doing vaguely similar sort of damage you do if you arc weld using the bearing as part of the circuit. (I have often seen qualified welders put an earth clamp on a hub and then weld on something on the chassis/main frame! "That hub's the easiest connection point!") Page 19 gets into the solutions summary, if you can't be bothered reading it all. Which you should. cheers, Aus http://www.brookcrompton.com/upload/files/literature/MotorShaftVoltages_GAMBICA.pdf

That's good, Zoran. This is possibly an example of why Unitronics has Version Swapper. If you have an application that works fine on a particular O/S then there is no reason to upgrade it to a later version. Many times on the forum you will hear "If it isn't broken, don't fix it". The temptation is great to always update and run the very latest version of Visilogic, but it can often create issues. Many times "easy implementation" translates to "go backwards a bit to the older version that works". cheers, Aus

You are describing a classic case of interference from the inverter. Inverters need to be installed very carefully with regards to the interference they create. Physically and Electrically Isolated as much as possible from the PLC, even to the point of being in their own enclosure etc; All control lines done exactly as specified to minimise interference, generally as very well shielded; The motor they are driving having the same things in place to limit interference; often shielded lines and reactors. The machine the motor is in is all earthed very well to the PLC earth. 0 volts need to be well commoned. The list is sort of endless on solving this type of issue. One odd thing I have seen that is sometimes beneficial is if the inverter is 3 phase supply, find what phase it's control circuit is on, and ensure that the plc is on the same one. (edit...by changing input lines on the inverter around as necessary) Although this isn't meant to make a difference, I've found that sometimes it does.....I think it really relates to how well made the inverter is in the first place. This is one area where cheaper is often more expensive in the long run. No doubt others will chime in soon with further thoughts and specifics. cheers, Aus

There are basics to this, but the main extra thing we need to know is what Vision model you are using, as there are different methods for touch screen models vs non-touch. cheers, Aus

If your program previously worked, you likely have version conflicts. Reload the O/S you originally had in the PLC. Power reset. Load an empty program. Initialise and Reset. Power reset and reload your program. cheers, Aus

Hi all, stumbled on this little gem today that makes one really annoying aspect of W10 a little easier. If you already have it you can congratulate yourself! Create a new folder on your desktop. Rename the folder by copying this entire string, including the curly brackets, by using whatever rename method you do. GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} When you open the folder it will then display all the things you used to be able to get via Control Panel, and a whole lot more. Very useful at times. It doesn't show a name, but that's a small price to pay. With the folder opened, you can also dragndrop to create shortcuts as necessary. With joy and chocolate from the Australian Easter Bunny. 🍫 🥚 cheers, Aus (In doing those emojis, it did occur to me how odd it is that we have a bunny delivering eggs. Why don't we have the Easter Chook? oops...Chicken for you non-Aussies. Then again, perhaps the "Easter Bunny" is only an Aussie thing.)

I asked about the ability for the PLC to format the card ages ago, when the corruption of DTs issue arose for me. It still happens occasionally and I stil haven't figured it out. Kratmel is correct in saying about bigger sizes, reinforcing what I was saying about "off the shelf card sizes are getting bigger all the time, with smaller ones that used to be big now not even being available". For ages I have used partition manager programs to manipulate big cards to be smaller with various Fat formats. At present it is easily done, but perhaps in the future it might become harder as card systems evolve. Alex, we're not insulting you here, just pointing out an issue that is only going to get worse. The suite needs to be changed to accommodate what a user might encounter through buying an easily sourced, current production type card. Like Kratmel, I have 16Mb CF cards that I still use for some things. But try and buy one these days and it is not possible, so my method of doing images needs some size "fiddling" each time I need to do one. In some ways it is the same as modern computers not having onboard serial ports. It seems that makers only consider the "latest and greatest", conveniently forgetting that a lot of the world still needs a facility that was in very common use only a few years ago. The saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", seems to have evolved into "Let's constantly change things and create endless problems for some specialised end users, that they never had a while back". Even my terrific USB-serial converters fall over now and then, something the dedicated ports never do. cheers, Aus

You might want to talk to tmoulder, who had the same thoughts ages ago: I haven't seen him/her around for a while, don't know if they're still active etc. But my thoughts are that they would be the Ubuntu guru on this. cheers, Aus

Flex is correct in that Support is likely best, but in case you haven't got onto them yet, what happens if you install Visilogic on another PC etc that has never had it? Did you do the install as Right click/Run as Admin? After installation also confirmed the installed .exe is set to Run as Admin as well? What is using up the PLC memory? What happens if you use info mode on one of the Sambas to completely reset it? ie no program at all. cheers, Aus

Joe & Flex have given great advice here. I would like to add some comments, and reference particular help files. The most sophisticated plc I use is the 130 series. I have never had a need for touch screens, I only have knowledge of manual keypads. Using subs linked to screens for manual keypads is fraught with hazard, due to the fact that screens take a number of scans to load. It is also very easy to get an unexpected action because a button push might over-run into the next screen. There is much in the Help files about this sort of issue, but it is scattered around a bit. I strongly suggest that anyone new to Vision spends some time looking carefully at: How Keypad Entry Variables Work Program Sequencing: Modules, Subroutines, Labels & Jumps. In particular the image box near the bottom that is headed "Runs HMI Program" and the notes within. Take really good note of how the use of certain system bits lets you control things much better. On the comment "disable " that button which opens that display, that's the best way! There is one proviso though, the ONLY time I might have such a thing in a program that is accessible to the user, is if the machine may need careful manual control in an Emergency Stop situation. It is all well and good for a machine to have an emergency stop, but it's NO good if someone is trapped by the "Stop" situation that could be easily cured by very careful manual control of part of the machine that would otherwise be very difficult to do. Humans will always find a way of getting around the most stringent safety systems, often with bad (for the human) results. cheers, Aus

That's great SoCold, Everyone's done such a thing in missing a "typo" during programming. That important document you spend hours on proof reading till it's perfect? A minute after you send it you notice another error! cheers, Aus

I feel the need to add something to Denis's comment "if you need address 1, 5 and 7 on the device, it is better to read 1 and set a length of 7 than to try to read using 3 separate reads." On many devices I use, this is not possible. If the device itself doesn't have any knowledge or use of any register involved in the vector, it will often return an error. Many, many times I have to do separate reads on a single device to get all the info I need because of this quirk. It is a complete PITA, as the makers often spread the "most relevant to what the sensor does" registers many numbers apart, with gaps in b/n. Air sensors with temp at 013, Hum at 121, CO² at 217 ....... instead of all 3 in registers 2, 3 & 4; with the rest of the useless to the user garbage that they use internally but for some reason have them as register usage, placed everywhere else but often with number gaps. You get the idea. I'd really like to give the people who make the devices a big smack on the bottom and then send them to the dunce corner for the day. With NO coffee or chocolate allowed at all for the rest of the month. The vector method is certainly much faster, but you can only do it after initial testing using the PC to see if it is "actually" possible. cheers, Aus

+100, Joe. All of it, especially "Modbus via RS485 is nowhere near fast enough or reliable enough". 🐌 cheers, Aus