Joe Tauser

It's hard to troubleshoot a program without all the information. What are the online values of MI 57, MI 58, ML 81, and ML 80? Joe T.

The Alarm manager will do what you're asking - it's configured in the tree on the right in Visilogic. Read all the Help on Alarms before you dive into it. Photo 1 - you have the same register for Month and Day. These should be different. When you go online, what values do they contain? Photo 2 - a very nice screen but I have no idea what's under the hood Photo 3 - I don't see a timer. That logic will call a display once, as the coil triggering the transition is hanging on the power rail. Is the rail in a subroutine? Joe T.

The UniStream's memory is different from the Vision's. DataXport doesn't work with it. I haven't tried it out yet, but the UniStream has much more powerful email capabilities than the Vision and you can probably send the data directly from it. Has anyone on the forum done this? Joe T.

Screens are not available for the V570. Sorry. Joe T.

There is an example of the Unitronics alarm manager under Help->Examples->Version 900 -> Project examples -> ladder -> V1040 Alarm Example.vlp. The Unitronics alarm manager is a bit of a complicated beast for someone new to the product; you may be better off making your own alarm handler in logic depending on what your needs are. Can you describe what you want to do? Joe T.

You need to attach your entire project. You describe calling multiple subroutines, but only attached an export of one. We have no idea if you are doing the calling correctly. Please post your code. Joe T.

Sorry you feel that way. It is mostly run by volunteers such as myself, and sometimes it takes a bit of time to get questions answered. I haven't done much in UniStream. The Vision and U90 series are my thing, and I don't like to answer questions on something I don't have a lot of real world experience with. I opened UniLogic and was able to change the scaling, but I don't have a way to test it. So I don't really know for sure. If you've got a unit in hand I'd go try it and see if it works. I was able to create a PID config variable called PID 1. I dropped a numeric box and assigned the Numeric Value to PID 1.Set Point. So yes. You have to make your own counter with INC and DEC blocks and Compare blocks to operate with a preset value. Joe T.

As you've gathered, there's more to this program that meets the eye and it's not simple. It's not just a cut-to-length application. It's a do multiple operations on the same part and keep track of the one behind it at the same time application. Your idea of connecting the encoder to all three HSC inputs in parallel may be the simplest solution. The -R34 will definitely support it. The idea I suggested before only used one encoder input, but the encoder must have at least 10X the precision of your 1 mm tolerance once all the mechanical connections are taken into consideration. You're trying to write a precise program without all the data, and that's why you've spent so long on it - you're trying to solve a problem that can't be solved yet. The encoder data sheet you posted is 100 ppr, which is not very precise as encoders go. Before you do anything else you need to verify this is true and get the RPM of the shaft the encoder is connected to. If the machine is as slow as you say, you may be able to increment a register in logic as you show in a previous post in an interrupt routine. If you put that in a 1.25 mS interrupt routine you can see a pulse train at 400 Hz or less. This translates to 4 rev/sec or 240 RPM or slower. Let us know what you find after you examine the machine. Joe T.

Marko, Thanks for the picture and the explanation. If I understand you correctly, the machine is only working on one piece of metal at a time. I recommend you re-consider your approach - could you do calculations on your hole location dimensions to reference them all from a common point and go back to only considering a single encoder number? The distance between the tools looks fixed, so you should be able to do this. I would write a state machine sequence that had a separate step for each hole. I'm guessing you store all the hole locations in a data table based on the part number. Then you run it out to the cut and reset your encoder at that operation. Joe T.

No, that won't be fast enough as the inputs are limited by the scan time if you use them this way. Post your code the the model of the PLC you're using and give us the details of the installation- Encoder make and full model number, especially pulses / revolution Max RPM of the input shaft of the encoder Scaling of the encoder pulses to length Desired precision of the lengths you are feeding Joe T.

Send me a message with your contact information if you're in the US. Joe T.

No repairs on V130s. Good idea on using Remote Access! Joe T.

This is handled with PLC code. Unitronics has a password screen object which hashes the input value, but this limits you to one password only. I typically don't use the hashed input so I can have a backdoor password as well as a user-changeable password. Try your hand at HMI calls based on compare blocks in the PLC logic and post your code with what you've done so we can help. Joe T.

You can only assign one MI to the encoder in the hardware configuration. Depending on the precision of the encoder and the precision needed of your feed operations, you may be able to have the encoder count to a small value (like 10) and generate a pulse in an interrupt subroutine that would increment other MIs that you could independently manipulate. Is this possible? Joe T.

I don't know if you found it, but here's the link to the DLL and it's information - https://unitronicsplc.com/Download/SoftwareUtilities/ActiveX Communication Driver.zip You'll have to determine what strings to feed the DLL container in your LabView environment. It's not something Unitronics supports but it is possible. If anyone has done this feel free to chime in. Joe T.

I'm afraid your display driver has gone bad. Unitronics PLCs have a two year warranty - how old is it? Joe T.

The easiest way to get LabView to talk to Unitronics is to use the Modbus driver on NI's website. Set up the Unitronics unit as a Modbus slave, which is really easy. If you want to do testing before the PLC arrives, there are couple of free (but limited) Modbus slave programs you can find on the Internet. Search this forum and/or Google "Modbus simulator. Joe T.

That is the correct (and only) card, and $25 for shipping is crazy talk. I'd call the Unitronics sales office at (866) 666-6033 and get the name of a distributor that covers your area. Joe T.

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST ARE MINE ONLY AND DO NOT REFLECT THE POSITION OF UNITRONICS, INC. A few fond personal memories and my two cents.... 1. My favorite quote ever from a German product manager at a sales meeting on infrared sensors when I asked about the technology used to make the sensor - "Why do you want to know?" 2. Years ago as a younger man (late '90's), I put a Siemens drive by choice on a project. They are definitely good drives. The end user asked for the user manual and I showed him the CD that shipped with the drive. His reply - "Do you see a computer out here? I want a G***** manual I can read!!" I had to print the 400 page manual to get paid, as the Siemens dealer informed me a printed manual couldn't be ordered and didn't exist. 3. We used to use a lot of Benedict & Jager (Austrian) contactors. I always found their selection guide confusing, with some information in the middle and other information in the back regarding the same product. I met one of their people at a trade show in Chicago and asked about it. His response - "Our catalog is meant for engineers. You must read the whole thing". Tauser is a German name BTW, and I'm sure it's where my obsessive compulsive disorder behavior comes from. I do like to tell everyone I'm Bohemian. @selli69 - I wholeheartedly wish they had the resources to do this. Having sold the product for 17 years and a couple of national sales meetings later, I have gotten to meet many of the staff. I truly admire what they've done in a relatively short amount of time with the product lines. Unitronics is actually not a very large company, and most of their money goes into R&D, which is why the product stays fairly current. And don't forget about the FREE software for all the products, along with the utilities. I own a Unitronics distributorship. If you don't sell product and generate positive cash flow, all the wonderful documentation in the world won't keep the wolves at bay. I personally like all the marketing BS. The lack of documentation is why I'm so active on the forum. And for what its worth, I hate the Jazz. It's an excellent relay and timer replacer. Period. I tried it on a couple of projects early on and coined a term for the trouble I ran into shortly after numbers and calculations became involved - the "Jazz Wall". With the introduction of the Samba products, there's really no reason to consider it any more. Except for maybe the DIN foot. Look at all the trouble it's caused just in this thread. Joe T.

You're referencing an address outside the memory, probably with an indirect function. Please post your code. Joe T.

I'm curious why you want two PID loops, when the -R10 doesn't even have analog. I tried several hardware configurations, and it looks like you have to go to a -UA24 to get four loops. I didn't see anything with two loops. The Vision series does not have this built-in limitation - all PID loops are defined as part of the program. I would seriously consider moving up. Joe T.

Thanks for the datasheet. What happens when you put a voltmeter on I0 and I1? Joe T.

@hotwires - You're forgetting that Modbus is not a data broadcast, but a query/response protocol. The COM activities are serviced at the end of the scan, so communication is not instantaneous. And there has to be two. I don't know the exact reason for why Modbus isn't faster than it is - your calculations are a good and show why it should be. But my personal empirical data has shown that it isn't. A good exercise would be to get my Modbus simulator fired up and have the PLC hammer the simulator at different baud rates to determine the speed thresholds. You'll note in Meeg's post that he had partial success at 500 ms. If I had to guess I'd say that the UART buffer for the PLC serial port is filling up and the PLC CPU is having a hard time unloading it. You have to remember that a PLC CPU is not in the same league as a graphics card and it's prime directive is to solve the program logic and execute I/O operations. Joe T.

I'll have to look it up. It's something you have to ask them for - Unitronics is not in the habit of selling repair parts in the regular course of business but they will let them go on occasion. You have to promise them that you won't ask for help installing them. Joe T.

You've got the PLC configured correctly. You did not give us the full encoder part number with the supply voltage and output type. The picture I found online of an RSI 503 showed a 5V power supply. Joe T.