Walkerok

Not wanting to call your particular service provider any names, but Im sorry, what they have given you is not the same thing as all other providers and it is not correct to say everyone else will have the same result. The static IP address you have been given is not a public IP it is a private IP which means that you will only be able to access it after you have connected to your providers VPN. This does not mean that it can not be done, but it is more difficult. The provider we use is able to give us a public static IP so I can make connections direcly. I have never personaly tried to use a VPN to get to a private IP address so I am not able to help in determining what steps to take to make it all work, however I am sure that it can work. We took this approach a long time ago when we were first trying to use a Sweedish product that plastered their companies name all over everything when going through their VPN. We were not interested in sending our customers to get a sales pitch from the third party VPN so we worked our way arround them. I will have to deffer to anyone else out here that has done this using a private IP address with the need to go through a third party VPN to get there. Getting to the VPN should be easy enough but I am usure what to try after that to get it to work. On the plus side, being under a third party VPN when sending emails out would be easier because the PLC does not have the ability to use SSl encryption needed for almost every server in the world to accept an email. In the case of being behind a VPN the VPN will trust all communications from one of its own static IP addresses and then will pass your email on to its finall recipient having added the needed legitimacy for other mail servers to accept the email. We have a server that is ours that we tell what static IP addresses are OK to recieve emails from and then we just pass everything on from there and the rest of the mail servers accept our in house email server as being legit. Keith

The premade alarm screen and its functions are done pretty well, but if you need special requirements about how your alarms are acknowledged and how shutowns are reset there is no way for a pre-made alarm system to do what everyone wants. While writing your own alarm reset and acknowledge system is longer and more difficult it has the distinct advantage of being what you want and need. I personally do not use the pre-built alarm screens and functions in my programs so that I can maintain the control I want on how records are kept and how everything works. Others are perfectly happy with what all ready exists and thats good too. For example I have my programs written so that there is a main off-on switch and to reset shutdown faults you must switch this to the off position and leave it there for more than 5 seconds to be able to reset a shutdown. (I am forcing the user to come to the equipment and check it all out) Alarms on the other hand I allow more lattitude to the user and let them clear and alarm either on screen or remotely. Lets be clear on my definitions. 1) A fault that results in a shutdown is a fault that will result in the damage of either equipment or people and should not be remotely reset from an easy chair 300 miles away. (which is why they have to up front and personal with the control panel to be sure no one will be hurt and evaluate the cause of the shutdown) 1) An alarm on the other hand is an indication that something is not as it should be, but there is no need to shutdown the equipment. (such an oil filter getting plugged and it needs to be replaced or cleaned). In these cases, remote clearing of an alarm is aceptable and I allow end user to do this. (I keep a record of all alarm/shutdown faults for several hundred events so I can see where an when an alarm/shutdown hapened just in case a user wants to later state that no alarm was ever given). I am sure if you had everyone here polled we all have differences on how we preffer to handle alrms and shutdowns, but in the end I think we all agree that we want our control designs to be as safe as we can make them and have everything work the way we want it to work. Keith

Given your IO requirements If you want to use the JAZZ controller I would say it should be a JZ10-11-R31 or for better processing speed the new JZ20-R31. If you were wanting to try the M91 then It would e the M91-2-R34. These have 16 digital inputs, 11 relay outputs with 2 analog inputs and the high speed input you need. However, personally I would go with the V130-33-R34 so that I can have the built in long integers, a little bit faster possibility on the encoder speed (depends on wire length - look up the technical specification sheets to see what is possible) and extra functions that exist in the V130. Thanks Keith

I think the thought that is giving you trouble is that the load cell is giving you an actual weight value. It is not. The load cell is giving the load cell modual's resistance data off of the load cell bridge deflecting when weight is placed on the cell. These values allways stay the same at the same weight, but you do not manipulate these values, they just are what they are. So if what I said is true how do you get weight?? A load cell is not like a pressure transducer or temperature sensor. a pressure sensor has a difinative range. lets say that the sensor os a 0 to 10 BAR sensor you would have to define in your programming for a 0-10VDC output that 0 volts =0 Bar and 10V = 10 BAR. Load cell ranging does not work this way. Youir load cell has a maximum weight it has been rated for before the loac cell is damaged or breaks. You need this information to be sure that the weight of the mixer filled with the max aggregate product plus shock load does not exceed the maximum capability of the load cell(s) you are using. Beyond this that is all you care about. So back to scaling. You scale the load cell or group of load cells automatically when you run the calibration that was talked about in the earlier post. The whole point of the calibration is for you to calibrate the load cell(s) you have to the input module (IO-LC1 in this case) you have. Overt time the load cell values may change so recalibration may be necessary periodically. In this case you want cailbration point zero to be 0KG (even though you already have 200KG of mixer parts on top of the laod cell) so with everything that will normally be on the load cell when the mixer is empty is your first calibration point and you will tell the system that this is 0KG. Then you run your second calibration point with lets say a 10.0 KG weight you tell the system that the wieght you are applying is 10.0 KG (in you rladder you wil be telling that you are putting on a weight os 100 (10 + an extra zero to account for the decimal place). If you run a third calibratiion point at les say 50.0KG then you will tell the system that what you are putting on is 500 (50 + the extra zero for the decimal place). By telling the system that these values are what to expect the system will record and save that at this resistance I should poulate ML0 with a value off 100 (when 10KG is on/in the mixer) aty the same time it will use the change in resistance (because you cailbrated it for these values) that a different resistance equals a value of 500 in ML0 when 50KG is in/on the mixer. The system is smart enough to auto fill in any other values because of your calibration efforts. So for example if you were to put your self in the mixer and you weigh 88.5KG (195 LB) then the sytem will populate a value into ML0 with 885. In my world I would want pounds and not KG so for your exact test weights I would have cailbrated to: Calibration first point 0 Calibration second point 220 (10KB = 22.0 US pounds) Calibration third point 1102 (50KG = 110.2 pounds) At this point by my having told the system that the calibration points were my values and not yours I will have automatically changed the on screen readings from KG to LB. I hope this helps Im not sure how else to put it so it make sense. I would recomend just trying it and seeing for yourself it will make more sense faster than 50 conversations about it.n Playing with the calibration values is a great teacher as well. Good luck Keith

I noticed that you did not get an answer to your question. I am assuming that you have a V200-18-e3xb type snap in module given how you asked your question. No, ACM and CM should not be jumpered. CM is to be used only if you are using a 100 Ohm PT temperature input as where you land the 3rd wire of your RTD input. ACM is to be used for analog input commons only (0-10Vdc, 0-20ma, 4-20ma). If you were to use thermocouple inputs then you would land those on the Input + and input - terminals on the E3XB. Thanks Keith

Hi, Load cells are kind of magical when it comes to scaling (not really, but it is fun to say). The whole point to running the calibration is that it will calibrate to the exact weights you tell the system it is. So if you tell the system that calibration 1 is zero KG (this is not really zero this is the weight of the whole mixer assmbly with all of its parts and motors attached setting their weight on the load cell(s)) then the load cell(s) will recognize whatever the unloaded weight is of the mixer assembly as Zero Kg. Then for your second calibration point lets say you define that as 50Kg. Put a 50Kg weight onto the mixer (so you are now empty mixer assembly weight + 50Kg) and calibrate to the second point. Personally I calibrate 3 points but 2 will work (remember the first of your calibration points is always going to be zero Kg for the system to work and I like to have two more points). By telling the PLC that you are calibrating to an integer value of 0 and an integer value of 50 and you just put text on your screen than the units are Kg and let the PLC do all the rest of the work. At this point you will be able to stand on the mixer and you should be able to accurately read your body weight in Kg. A couple of notes: 1) your calibration weight(s) need to be placed as close to the center of the mixer as possible so that you do not load too heavily to one load cell or another (I am assuming you have more than one load cell on the mixer). 2) your integers must have the same number of places as what you want to show on screen. For example if you want to show xxxx.x Kg on your screen then your first calibration point will be 0 but your second calibration point will be 500 (50.0Kg). Thanks Keith

I just installed 9.5.0 on a Vista 64 bit machine (this is my test rig before I install new software to other computers). Just a small note: (I tried this for V570 and V1210 hardware) If you have the left hand window at its default width whenever you switch from HMI screen view to "Links and Jumps" for a screen, a portion of the links and jumps entry box is blocked out and a portion of the screen you were looking at remains. If you expand the width of the left hand window there is a wider point where at that size or larger you can make the affect go away. Thank You Keith

Hello Gerard, You realise that this forum is not here to write programs for people, but we try to help as best we can. The ability to get what you need done before 3/28 may not be possible. We all have our own projects to get done Tell us what all of your hardware is. What PLc model you are using, what IO modules you are attaching to the Ex-RC, and what snap IO (if any). Attach a copy of your program so far and a description of what you need to control and if possible a list of all inputs and outputs (if it is not allready in the hardware profile). Speaking for my self ........ no promises, but if I get a few minutes Ill give it a try (but you need to get the information requested). Keith

Your question indicates a need for some extensive training on the Unitronics overall. I would strongly recommend that you play through some of the 'Webinars" that you will find by clicking on the support tab then going to webinars and start from the beginning on buttons and switches and then timers. To answer your question, to put a timer on a screen you just have Visilogic loaded for a V130-33-t38 go to HMI then click timers and then draw a box on the screen in question. After making the box outline a menu will pop up giving you the ability to set all of the requirements for your timer. Thanks Keith

The easiest way to do this I would think is just to make an integer variable on the first screen that you have to enter the value of "485" in the ladder compare that if youenter a value of 485 for the MI you have slected tfor the integer entry then you set a MB that is apermisison bit that is in the front of every other ladder line in the program so that nothing can be executed unless that bit is true. (make the bit reset on startup). In addition if the MB is set start a one minute timer. if your second action is taken set a new MB. Use the new MB between yout first MB and the timer so that the timer will only count down if the second step is never taken. If the timer runs out then reset the first MB and the process starts all over again. Same thing for the E-stop. just keep adding timers and MBs until the logic of yout program does what you need it to do. (make sure you force the PLC to go back to the start up screen whenever the MB for the original password is not set) Good luck Keith

In this case make a read as one larger group even if you only need one or two items out of that read. What slows you down the most, is how many different read and write events you have in your unitronics program to any outside devices. The read command 3 block will allow you to read many registers at the same time 9as long as all of the registers you want to read are the same. The unitronics will allow you to read up to I think 124 integers (16 bit) or 62 double words (32 Bit). You can also use the code 16 write instead of the code 6 write you used in your example. Code six is one write at a time and 16 allows multiple writes. Again 124 integers and 62 doubles. Keep in mind these are the limitation on the Unitronics side. I personnaly hardley ever use Allen Bradley VFDs so I am not familliar with the maximun number of reads it allows for a code 6 and writes for a code 16. Sorry but you will have to look those up in the AB Modbus manual. Just an extra note. Unitronics does not allow any MI to be an unsigned integer and you may have integers on your pwerflex 700 side that will exceed the -32768 to +32676 that a Unitronics MI can have. You can always store this exra data into a ML or other register that will work, however it will require you to make 2 or 3 reads just to get one set of data if you do this. As long as you are picking up an integer (even if it is unsigned on the AB side) you can store this into the standard MI so you do not have to break your reads up and convert it in your ladder logic Or just keep in mind that a number greater than +32767 will show up as a negative number and make your decision acordingly keeping the data in the standard MI. Good luck and have fun Keith

I am going to assume you are using one of the color PLCs. The dissable view and marking view are linked to what colors you have chosen for the page those items are on. If you double click on any clear space in your page in visilogic a menu will pop up that lets you pick what colors the background and text will be whenever dissable or marking view is active. For example in a program where my customer wanted to make changes to a batching program by pressung an up and down button and not the touch keypad. I use dissable view to make all other possible entries as grey and marking view as green so that the item chosen will show in green to indicate that is what you are changing and the grey to indicate that you can not change any of these values at that time. One note, the color palette available to you for marking and dissable are only the colors avaialble for buttons and not the complete color wheel that would be available for a flot instead of the pressed or unpressed button. Thanks Keith

I would say use a box from whatever manufacturer you are using to supply you actual load cells. If they do not make one then I woould use the Ricelake. The website is www.ricelake.com and just go to theor junction boxes and pick the product you think will work the best for you. Thank You Keith

The answer to yoour summing question is no you do not have to have a summing box. Generally a summing box is used to ballance the number of load cells you have. For example if you were using a Ricelake box it has multiple potentiometers inside the box and you use these to isolate each sensor and make resistence readings on the load cell in question. When done correctly all of the load cells will match in resistance at the same load point. Read the instructions on your summing box (if you use one) on how to do this. However since you are doing concrete mixing the accuracy that you will have without bothering with the ballancing will be fine. You have so many other things that will throw you out when you are running a concrete or gypsum batching system. I do not have time to go through all of the finer points but the most important will be to either stop or dramatically slow the mixing blades as you reach the end of your fill for each of the individual ingredients (leave the mixer off entirely for the water fill process since water is the most important to be exact in a batch mix and you wont have any trouble starting the mixing blades after it is finished). Your cement powder and sand can be off by several pounds and not bother your overall mix too badly, but with mixing blades at full experience shows that the mixer needs to stop or slow at least 5 pounds before your final weight is achieved. Good luck and have fun Keith

I am not sure why you are not able to text off of an AT&T tower. Our issues have been with getting T-Mobile to change the MTU "maximum transmission units" to lower the size just a bit because it was causing a huge number of timeouts. In this case T-mobile had upgraded hardware and the settings were changed causing problems for us. it took a series of late night conference calls but everything was worked out. The other issues we have had are tower switching problems where we were approximately the same distance between a T-Mobile ans an AT&T tower and our unit was being confused by continuously swapping between the two towers. In that case we installed a two frequency YAGI antenna so that we could force one tower to have a much stronger signal than the other to stop the switching. We have not had any issues sending or recieving texts. One thing we do when we have mystery problems like this is to make sure that it is not a hardware issue. If you go to Wallmart or best buy and buy literally the cheapest T-Mobile pre-paid phone you can find (we got our last one for $23.95). Install your SIM into that phone and see if you can send and recieve messages on the prepaid phone and taking any PLC and modem hardware issues out of the mix. Granted when you are on a AT&T tower you will be in a roaming mode, but you should be able to send and recieve texts no problem. If you can with a phone but not the PLC and modem then you have at least cut your diagnostic view in half by determiniung that for sure there is a SIM card to carrier issue or if there might be some kind of PLC/modem issue. Keith

We use the Vynckier covers a lot to get a clear protective cover over operators and screens and they can mount to the outside of any existing panel as long as your component spacing and sizes are will fit inside. You can use these to fit up to a V570, but anything larger than the 5.7" screens will not fit in a Vynckier brand cover. http://vynckierenclosures.thomasnet.com/item/inspection-window-dtcover/apo-transparent-hinged-window-dt-covers/a31-dtcoverlg?&plpver=1005&origin=keyword&by=prod&filter=0 This is just one size and there are more avaialable, but at least you get to the correct website and the general description of the parts. the A31-DTCOVER is 7" x 12" the A41-DTCOVER is 12" x 12" the A51-DTCOVER is 12" x 20" the A61-DTCOVER is 12" x 24" They have both north american and several international standards certifications. Keith

I don't know if it is just me, but I am having a really hard time trying to visualize what it is you are doing. I get that it is an on screen event log and that it is twenty log items you want to show on screen. I assume this is some sort of time stamped event that you want a user to be able to look up to see what event/alarm/shutdown occured at whit time and date. If it is what I think you are trying to do. How I handle this is to have all of the vital data that I want recorded on an event stored into a data table. When the next event needs to be recorded I copy the entire data table down one row and then load the data for the new event on the first row of the data table. I then have a screen where I can see all of the historical events by loading the data from the table where the first row is the newest and the last row is th3e latest. By doing it this way I can record and show alarm/shutdown/event history for up to 1000 time stamped events. (I show as many as I can on one screen then use a page up/page down button structure to move forward or backwards in the event log). I apologize if this has nothing to do with what you want to do, but like I said I am having dificulty determining exactly what it is you want to do. Keith

Is it possible for you to put a copy of your program on the post? I do the same thing you do on most of my touch screen programs where I put binay images for an easy IO check and I have never recieved a message like this, but I would be willing to examine your program to see if I can figure anything out. Keith

Merry Christmas all

I'm glad you are on the short track to a solution. It is kind of amazing the monthly price difference with Jazz on T-mobile instead of the ATT offerings . Also Jazz has been very responsive to us whenever we had specific tower issues in certain parts of the country and has taken the initiative to get the correct T-mobile people in on the discussions. Also nice, is the low $1 fee for the static IP address. I have never used Kore Telematics, but I am sure they are good. Keith

I have gotten this same message on programs that are well under the known ladder size limit. I believe the reason is that in the programs this has happened to me in have a large number of nets that have multiple rows of actions within that single net. I have never taken to adding it all up but I believe that if I were to add all of the program rows (not the number of nets) it may exceed the 256 limit. Just a guess, but empirical evidence says that there is definately another limit other than just the quantity of nets. Keith

In addition to Joe's questions it would be good to know if any other device are in the 4-20ma loop. I am attaching 2 drawings one with just a JAZZ JZ10-11-R31 and one with the same JAZZ and a Specific connection to a FUJI MEGA variable speed drive. It is important to know about all of the devices that are involved. The sending device is obviously important, but you also need to know about any and all recieving devices. You can add multiple devices to a single 4-20ma loop, but you need to know about the grounding of the 4-20ma inputs on all of the devices to determine if it will actually work. If you are only connecting to a JAZZ and nothing else then in generic terms the one drawing without the VFD would be correct for the R31 model of the JAZZ but may not be correct for one of the other models of the JAZZ. Keith

Bump, Ok lets refrase the question has anyone tried this and failed. I would use the Profibus option that is possible in the VFD to make this happen, but there is no profibus card avaialbel for a V570, V1040, or V1210. Thanks Keith

I have been asked to communicated with a Siemens Micromaster 420 VFD. The standard VFD has one RS485 communications port but the only supported protocol is what Siemens call USS protocol (the U stands for Universal). Even though Siemens calls this universal I have never encountered it before and know exactly nothing about it. The only clue I see as a hopeful sign is that in Visilogic the drop down box "COM" has something at the bottom called "Telegram Parser". Apparently the not so universal "USS" protocal requires a telegram style communications (at least that what I could look up on the internet). Right now I have visions off anyone who programs out of the USA laughing at me about how it really is common the USS protocol is in your parts of the world . Has anyone successfully done this, and if so I could really use some guidance? The manual for the Micromaster 420 so far has been no help at all. Thank You Keith