Joe Tauser

Yes, they'll all run in the same scan. If it would make you feel better assign a bit to be on while the display is active and then call Sub2 from the Main routine with a contact tied to that bit. Joe T.

Did they also include a box lunch in your shipment? Joe T.

Please list what your sequence is supposed to be. Can't really troubleshoot code if we don't know what it's supposed to do. You've written a classic bit banger, which is the first instinct of a new programmer. As you've learned, they often don't work because they get themselves into a state that you didn't consider, and fixing that state requires piling on more coils and contacts. I replied to you on this same topic last October- http://forum.unitronics.com/topic/4333-when-set-coils-turns-on-it-turns-the-corresponding-reset-coil-on-also/#comment-15823 Go back and look that over, see if you can implement what I've put in the example and post your work. Joe T.

The Help says you get nine tries, and then if you reset the PLC you can try again. Did you cycle power on the V120? If that doesn't work, go into Information Mode and reset it from there. Joe T.

I'm guessing you can't post your code. All serial settings must match or it won't work. I personally use 9600 8,N,1, as setting the parity to even adds an extra level of complication. Is there any way to try this? Yes, 9600, 8E1 should work but it doesn't. You have to start trying other settings. Joe T.

I have seen ports fail if there's been an electrical surge in the system. If you have a programming cable you should be able to login via port 2 - the system will recognize the Visilogic request and change the port parameters. Joe T.

You should not be using Information Mode to make changes you want to keep. The PLC is just doing what you told it to. It's OK to have multiple Com Init blocks. Each time you call one from the program the port will immediately take on the personality of the last Com Init called. Joe T.

The Alarm Config Utility may be overkill for what you're trying to do. An alarm here goes into the alarm manager with a time and date stamp and is shown on the Alarm Manager display, which must be called. Are you looking for this functionality or do you just want a red box to appear on the display when the alarm happens? It's always a good idea to post your code when you have a ladder question. Joe T.

Here are Andrew's schematics- On to the question. The TetraCon 325 is the actual conductivity sensor, which must be connected to a conditioner/amplifer. You have mentioned a WTW LF96 for this. Clicking the English flag for the link you posted reports that particular item is not available, so we'll move on. Page 4 of your schematic shows the analog inputs, which you currently have as two wire loop powered sensors. If whatever conductivity amplifier you choose has an analog output, it is most likely powered by the amplifier. So you connect the + of the analog output to AN4 and the - to COM on the module. Joe T. electro schematics.1.pdf

So I answered a post yesterday where the user was concerned that the cost of the controller was over $500, implying that this amount was putting the project out of reach. This morning a few of the things we take for granted and never question came into my mind- Decent tires for my Jeep cost about $1,000 A new cell phone costs $600, but it's a "free upgrade" because it's rolled into your next 24 payments A trip to the grocery store for a week or so of food is $300 for a family of four My furnace/AC upgrade to a high efficiency unit was $7,000 Getting my car fixed by someone else is usually about $600, no matter what the problem is. Sometimes it's a lot more. Health insurance is >$700 / month And so on..... It seems like machine controls get the short end of the stick a LOT. Why is the perceived value of what we provide so small? Systems I've installed are still running fine after 20 years! I know not every customer feels this way, but it get this response frequently with people new to control systems. I'm afraid I'm not far from becoming a full-fledged curmudgeon. Joe T.

Adding Modbus I/O to a Samba will quickly push the system price above a Vision. The Samba is not intended to be expanded. I, too, know my way around electronics. The Nuts and Volts magazine I subscribe to has proven time and time again the ingenuity of what can be done with a basic microcontroller, some external function-specific ICs, and some well designed circuitry to connect a 5 volt brain to a 24 or 120 volt world. PLCs have gotten ALOT cheaper since I started in the biz, but they are not in the same leaque as a controller like an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. You're paying for a canned system where someone else has figured out the interface circuity, professional finished appearance housings, and ease of programming. So many programmers I know do not value their own time. You are wise in not wanting to make a system you'll be married to. If your experience is with microcontrollers you're going to experience sticker shock with PLC hardware. But you can have a finished PLC control system in a couple of days, once you've learned ladder logic. Unitronics is by far the best bang for the buck in PLC land. I can't say I've programmed them all, but as a system integrator I've programmed many. Your own research has proven this. Figure on spending about $1,000 on hardware for a capable V350 system as you describe, which includes a three channel load cell interface module. You can shave a few hundred dollars off with a monochrome V130. The color touchscreen does look a lot better, though. Joe T.

You've learned one of the PLC truths - they are a blank slate and their function is TOTALLY up to the programmer. There are no canned programs that fit everyone's needs, because at the end of the day a seemingly simple requirement has a little user twist - like your requirement for different temperatures on different days of the week. I don't know if you can adapt a commercial product, but I did a little searching on programmable thermostats and found a Honeywell RTH8500D that allows four setpoints on each of seven days- http://yourhome.honeywell.com/en/products/thermostat/7-day-programmable-thermostat-rth8500d It was definitely an interesting discussion! Joe T.

Email it to me and I'll upload it for everyone to see - joe@jtauser.com. Joe T.

Go to the software section of this website and get UniDownload - http://unitronicsplc.com/Download/SoftwareUtilities/UnitronicsUniDownloader_5_0_B25.exe It's designed for what you're trying to do. Joe T.

My MalwareBytes doesn't like zippyshare. Can you upload a pdf? Joe T.

Unfortunately, there is no data table screen object. I really wish there was but that's not going to happen. If you want to use data tables for storage you have to read and write row values to MIs for display on the screen. Do you want a different set of setpoints for each day of the week? How many setpoints per day can they have? Will you pass through midnight with the same setpoint? I would make an hour generator for the whole week (168 hours) and then look up the setpoint based on the hour of the current week, resetting the hour counter at midnight on Saturday. It would make looking up the sepoint easy. You could display day and time based on the hour value. Post one of you programs so we can see what you've done. Joe T.

Convert the date to a string and write it - chose option #7 in the RTC to ASCII block. If you need help post your code and I'll hack it in. Joe T.

There's not a specific example program for a thermostat, but start by looking at the RTC (Real Time Clock) examples under the Help menu. Which model PLC are you using? Have you started to write any experimental code yet? Joe T.

You have to answer all my questions if you want help. What is the fastest rotational speed of the rollers? Joe T.

You're limited to eight characters, so maybe something like DDDYYHH.csv would work, where DDD is the day of the year. You may want to keep in mind that you only get 64 files per directory and there a main and four sub directories, for a total of 320 files. The SD card is not a hard disk with virtually unlimited file names. I'd keep appending one or two big files. I've done this to thousands of rows with no problems. Joe T.

It looks like the HX711 handles the load cell interface and you'll have to talk to it to get the weight information out. Certainly do-able, but you'll need to convert the signal to RS232 to get it into one of the serial ports on the PLC. This board runs on 5V and is designed to talk directly to a microprocessor chip. An IO-LC1 is much easier to implement if you value your time. Joe T.

It does not actually erase your values. That window is just there to scare you. As Aus says, I don't know why they chose that verbiage when they wrote it. Joe T.

Thank you for the illustration. It makes your needs clear. Based on this, I was wrong about the module being able to do what you want. An E3XB (and all the other snap I/O) only has two high speed inputs. There are several V350 models that have three HSC inputs, but that's not what you have. Depending on the speed of the rollers, you may be able to use regular inputs with an interrupt to do what you want. How fast are the rollers turning? Are you picking up the pulses from the shafts? Could roller C's speed be calculated as a ratio from Roller B's speed? Is the tension between B and C relatively constant? Joe T.

I wasn't thinking when I answered that. My answer was for a Vision. I checked the Help and special Function 599 stored to SI 140 allows Slave functionality. I must admit I've never talked to a Jazz as a slave, so I am most curious how well this works. Open the U90 Help and Search for Modbus. The value 599 isn't very well documented - it's in the table Function description under the RTU Modbus Configuration topic. Let me know your results. Joe T.

Probably not. The Vision series is mostly mature from a functionality standpoint - they've literally filled it's little CPU brain with functionality. Converting file types is a job for a real computer, which is why this sort of application is pushed toward the new UniStream. Joe T.