Joe Tauser

The V230 is an older unit with the Standard instruction set. It's not very powerful when it comes to numbers. You'll have to upgrade to one of the newer units with the Enhanced instruction set. If you were to open a new project in Visilogic and select a V570 or bigger you could explore the floating point operations and see if they will fit your needs. If you're stuck with the V230 then you're kind of out of luck. Joe T.

It's all the way at the bottom. Joe T.

This is really a Visilogic question, but I can't move only one thread. You can force an input on or off by first clicking on it while online. The little status dialog box will pop up. Right click on the dialog box and you'll get a small menu allowing you to force the input on and off, as well as cancelling the force. Joe T.

Post your code. Joe T.

That would be a UDFB, or User Defined Function Block. These are available in the UniStream, but unfortunately not on the Vision series. Depending on how good of a programmer you are, you could write one program and multiplex two sets of data in and out of it. Joe T.

That would be the easiest way. You'll need to put a limiting resistor on your input. Joe T.

Yes, the Visions remember variable values. Except the actual high speed counter value which always resets to zero, but you can program around that with a last value buffer. The M90 fits in a 1/4 DIN hole, so I'd stick with something the same size. You haven't specified what output speed you need, though. If you've got your heart set on a Samba, use an SM35-J-T20. It technically has stepper driving built in but is limited to 1 KHz on a sourcing output. I know the specs say .5 KHz, but I've run it faster. If you want a real stepper drive, you'll need one with the NPN high speed sinking outputs. Entry level with this functionality is a V130-x-TR20, and the outputs are rated to 200 kHz. You can also get this I/O board in the V350. Joe T.

You're going to have to get a lot more specific with that question. Joe T.

No, I would tell you to roll back to Windows 2000 for true VB compatability The Creators will be back online Sunday morning. Fridays and Saturdays are holidays in Israel. Joe T.

That's one for the Creators. It looks amazingly like I problem I had when I ported an old VB6 program to Windows 7 and I didn't have a new enough version of InstallShield. Joe T.

An HMI button is like a regular input - it will be on as long as you hold it. If you only want something to happen once then use the transitional. Only call one subroutine per network. I did a search on the coils you're resetting and found you are still using them as a regular coil. Don't do this; the logic driving the regular coil will always win. If you just want the extract and retract to be complimentary then drive them with a NC of the other. I don't see anything calling your Manual subroutine, but when you do call it O0 will go off regardless of what O0 is doing, unless the clamp MB 10 is on. Then it will go on or chatter. Use MBs to communicate between subroutines, and put all your outputs in one subroutine. I like to put one output per net and stack them in order. If you're going to use Sets and Resets, make sure you keep track of where they turn on and off. It's easy to get lost with this kind of coding. I've also attached a state machine example of how to code. This method uses a numeric pointer to jump between steps and limits what can be done in each step, as only one step can be active at a time. It will require you to re-think your program but it's way easier to troubleshoot. It really helps if you draw a flowchart of your program before you start writing it. Joe T. 1311-1 JT-SRP 1.vlp State machine example.vlp

OK. Some tips- 1. Always use a positive transitional with an HMI button. You don't want the PLC to keep setting the Reset. 2. You can only use a regular coil once in your program. You've got the two outputs in question assigned twice - the status of the output will be whatever it was in the last place it was used, which can be very confusing. 3. A timer consists of two parts - the timer coil, and then contacts referenced to it. It is a common mistake to think that a coil acts like a contact. 4. I'm guessing from your logic that O1 and O3 are on as long as I1 Anti-tiedown is on. Do you want them on after that? 5. It's a good idea to keep individual output control separated, even if you use redundant logic. 6. Notice the reset of MB 8 and MB 11 when the operator releases I1 with a negative transitional if they were on. If you don't know about transitionals, check the Help. Code attached. Joe T. 1311-1 JT.vlp

Can you post your code?

Chad, Are you using a Special Function as well? Kris put the -1 in the wrong place - it goes in SI 141, not SI 140. I have no idea what happens if you put a negative number in the Special Function pointer code register SI 140. He probably made the PLC barf. Joe T.

O3 and O1 will be on for one scan. You'll never see it. What exactly do you want to do? Joe T.

I don't have an example handy, but if you get a program started I can help. You'll be using one of the Special Functions to get it. Open the U90 Help and type "interrupt" under the Search tab. Something to consider is the interrupt is rather slow - 2.5 ms. Check your scan time online (SI 0) and see if you even need it, especially if you're not worried about response time. If creating steps with a couple of timers set to 0.01 seconds will do then that is much easier. Joe T.

You can put 24V into the pot, but that's not a good solution. When I run into this I engage my engineering brain and determine what resistor I need to put in series with the pot to create a 10V drop across it. What is the value of the pot you're going to use? Something to take into account is the input impedance of the Jazz voltage input is 20K, which is rather low. You'll probably want to use a 5K pot to try to minimize it's effect. Joe T.

Visilogic has a confusing way of displaying all coils of a certain address with the status of the coil. Your Reset coil shows it's on because the Set coil turned it on. If you call the Reset it will go off. You may want to write yourself an experimental program and test it while looking at it online to prove this to yourself. Joe T. PS - thank you for posting your code. So many people post problems on the forum and expect us to be mind readers. One of my pet peeves.

Use a multimeter to check continuity between the probe tip and either of thermocouple wires. If you get continuity, it's a grounded probe. This is how thermocouples are normally made, where the junction is actually part of the tip. It's perfectly fine until you start getting the problem you are experiencing. You can buy un-grounded thermocouples, but you have to specify that when you order them. Your problem is not going to be easy to solve. I'd start by pulling all the thermocouples out of the machine and raising the temperature of one with an isolated heat source, like a clothing iron. You'll obviously need a second device to measure the temperature of the heat souce while you try this. If you find they are accurate when they are out of the machine, then you have an electrical noise problem and the un-grounded units should solve it. Other suggestions from the forum are certainly welcome. We are going into hack land here. Joe T.

No, it is not normal for Socket 1 not to work on 20256. By default, this socket is initialized as a slave and you don't have to do anything. Did you happen to put a Socket Init in your program for Socket 1? If not, please elaborate on "breaking". Joe T.

Starting with Win 7 Visilogic is very picky about being Run as Administrator. You always have to do it. The easiest way is to change the property of each instance of Visilogic.exe in each folder it's installed in to Run As Administrator. Just adding the property to the whole folder doesn't cut it. A pain in the butt, yes. But it's the Microsoft world we live in. Joe T.

Any reason why you're using an M90 in a new application? This is an ancient model, and it's not suited for what you're trying to do. You could improve your speed with an Interrupt routine, but only to 2.5 ms per operation. There are several V130s that have hardware level stepper control. I would HIGHLY recommend switching platforms. What other I/O requirements do you have? Joe T.

You are correct on the decimal point. 18.5 is returned as 185. If you don't want the decimal you have to divide by 10 to get rid of it. If I understand correctly, the value in the PLC is larger than the actual temperature at the probe. I have had problems with electrical noise getting into thermocouple inputs and causing an offset. The IO-ATC8 is not electrically isolated. Are your thermocouple probes grounded or ungrounded? Joe T.

Does this product include a SIM card or is that up to the user to provide? Joe T.

Decimal point control is a weakness in Unitronics when it comes to floating point numbers. I hear you. Use the Font Manager in the graphic editor to load any font you have installed on your computer. Depending on your PLC model, you can go huge. I like to load a 24 and a 36 point in MS Sans Serif. It's the little button with the capital "A" on it or it's under the HMI menu. Joe T.