Flex727

Can you use Ethernet?

You can save your timer preset by using the function: Load Timer/Counter Preset (found under the Store drop-down menu). Use a ML (Memory Long) to save your timer preset value. You can update the timer preset either directly by HMI Timer Variable, or by storing from a ML using the function Store Timer/Counter Preset.

In Ladder Rung 2 you are continuously calling the screen called "Lift Alarm". You can't do that. You must call screens with single pulse or transition contacts.

You will need to define what you mean by "input stops". If the interval that defines "stops" is large compared to the largest (i.e. lowest frequency) count interval than the problem is easy. Otherwise the problem can be very difficult. Do you have some other signal available that will tell you when the input is off?

I've run into problems saving things in VisiLogic when the path name is too long. Try saving it someplace with a shorter path, or even as an experiment, directly to the root directory (C:\).

Yes! Thank you.

You can place a timer activated by a button press to create long and short button press actions.

"You do not have permission to view this image" This is on s.pratt's post only. I can see Hannari's attachment fine. I encounter this problem often. Is it something on my end or yours?

I've never used an extension cable - but only because I never thought of it - it sounds like a great idea. However, looking online, I see yours is a common problem across platforms. This is likely not something within Unitronics' control. If your process can tolerate it, you might try a quick reboot of the PLC (using SB 300) when you want to replace the card.

I use SB217 as the link to a Binary Text Variable on every project I write. I haven't ever seen this behavior. It should reset almost immediately when the SD card is removed. No other "check" is required.

Sounds like an application for UniStream.

Use MB0 as a contact for whatever you are needing to do on a weekly basis, but be sure to reset it - or you can change it to a Direct Coil and it will be True for a single PLC cycle.

If you're not using a SET coil, you will never see the coil switch on since it will switch on for only one PLC cycle and it will be too fast to see.

If the battery goes low in a V570, I can change it without disrupting the running PLC. However, the system bit SB8 appears to remain high until the PLC is power cycled. Is there any other way to reset this bit?

I'm looking for some information about these USB ports. The Help file seems to indicate they can be used for serial communications. Is there any other functionality? I find that 5 volts is available even if the ports are not enabled in the UniLogic software. This is very handy for certain applications I have in mind, but is there anything else I can do with these ports?

I've dived into UniLogic full time now and am thoroughly impressed with the capabilities. Here is a list of items I would like to provide feedback on. Most are minor, but issues I'd like to see considered. I am using version 1.12.20. I realize that version has now been superseded, so if any of these have already been addressed, please let me know. I'm adding issue #0 to the top of the list - the HMI screen does not update in a dependable way. There can be delay up to nearly a second for various HMI events to occur that should be simultaneous. Also, running animation by using "List of Images" is painfully bad, with strange stuttering delays. The delay when bringing up a keyboard for string element entry is way too long. I realize there are valid reasons for this, but it needs to be dramatically improved. 1) Can you adjust row height, font, and justification when displaying data tables on screen? If not, this needs to be added ASAP. 2) Runtime editing of slave IP addresses is critical and needs to be available. Network administrators sometimes want to make changes and I don't want to have to get on a plane to make that simple change. 3) How to create, upload, and download clone or application files (SD card)? I can't find any information about this in the Help file. 4) All HMI elements should have Touch properties (that was a great feature in VisiLogic). All text elements should have button appearance capability. 5) "OK" button in Message Box does not seem to trigger the associated action. Is this a known bug? 6) Replace function does not replace the tag name or alias. It also needs to be capable of handling an array. 7) A momentary contact pushbutton should be an Action selection (i.e. pushing the button energizes a coil while the button is being pushed) rather than needing two lines to Set the coil on Pushed and Reset the coil on Released. 8) Complex HMI screens can be very difficult to build due to not being able to see the edges of an element when it's selected. In VisiLogic, most elements can't overlap, so it was easy to just slide an element over until it stopped. At that point you knew the elements were precisely adjacent. You can't do that in UniLogic since elements can overlap. I find myself selecting an element, moving it a few pixels, deselecting it to see where it is in relation to an adjacent element, re-selecting it and moving another pixel, etc, etc. This is a time-consuming and painstaking process. Is there a better way? Also, in VisiLogic the selection box disappears briefly while the element is being moved to help in placing it precisely. 9) How do you select an HMI element for editing that is behind another element without moving the element that is on top? 10) In VisiLogic, every HMI screen element was exactly pixel perfect (i.e. what you saw on the PC screen in VisiLogic was exactly what you saw on the PLC screen. This is not the case in UniLogic. I've run across several instances already in my short time using UniLogic that what Is seen on my PC does not match the PLC screen. It looks to me like the HMI screen (for a UniStream 7) in UniLogic is 800x500 on my PC instead of the correct 800x480. This scaling might account for the problem. 11) It would be handy if a 2x magnification of the HMI screen was available, even if the whole screen didn't fit in the window, to allow for more precise placement of HMI elements. This was very helpful in VisiLogic. 12) Under the Tools menu, what does "Find Undersize Images" mean? I can't find any Help entry on this. 13) We desperately need an UNDO that works properly. 14) Rotating an image element 90, 180, or 270 degrees can blur it substantially. That shouldn't happen. Blurring at other angles is probably unavoidable, but those angles should be direct pixel translations, it seems to me. 15) There seems to be very little difference between 0% and 100% screen brightness. Can the screen be turned off to extend life? And, of course, these 3 age-old requests from the VisiLogic days: 1) Software PLC simulator 2) Ability to run 2 instances of UniLogic and be able to copy/paste between them 3) Ability to open multiple windows within a single instance of UniLogic so that we can look at ladder and HMI side-by-side. Thank you.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

I'm not sure what you're doing in that 3rd ladder rung, but this is how I'd do it.

Create a TD timer for 24 hours that increments an MI. When the MI gets to 7, trigger your event and reset the MI. Alternatively, if your event needs to occur at a specific time of day, do a comparison between the RTC and the time you want. When equal, increment the MI. When the MI equals 7, trigger your event and reset the MI.

Hey! I just found two String commands: "IP To String" and "String To IP". Perhaps those will allow me to modify slave IP addresses by ladder? I should be able to test this out tomorrow. VisiLogic had a real nice RTC To ASCII function block to provide a nicely formatted date and time in string form. Anything like that in UniLogic?

Still hoping to get an answer to this. Also how about the TCP/IP SBs, SIs, and SDWs? What's the best way to determine if I have a communications problem when using MODBUS IP? Is there any way to modify the Slave IP address by ladder in the Master PLC?

Many thanks, HigHTech. I got it working now. Paint.net works, but I didn't realize that you have to save the PNG as 32-bit. I was using 24-bit without realizing that the extra 8 bits is the transparency layer.

Yes, I am able to send and receive a vector of coils using MODBUS. Thanks for your help, s.pratt. What I am referring to in VisiLogic is the Struct function block listed under Vector in the Ladder menu. It allows non-contiguous coils and registers to be assigned to a contiguous vector of registers for ease in communications. It works in both directions by selecting "From vector to mixed data locations" or "From mixed data locations to vector". I can see that this wouldn't be as necessary in UniLogic as it is in VisiLogic, but it would be nice when I am sending a large amount of data to 10 different slaves so that I don't have to recreate the list for each Modbus slave definition. I'm presuming I can't send more complex structs nor can I send anything but Global variables.

I tried that and the tag is red unless I select a single bit from the array. Edit: I see now that it is automatically trying to select a single bit and I have to backspace over the opening bracket to select the whole array. How about an equivalent to the vector STRUCT function in VisiLogic? Does that exist?

It appears that there is no way to communicate via MODBUS with more than one coil or register per Operation. Normally I would send or receive a vector of coils or registers, either directly, or using the handy vector STRUCT function in VisiLogic. I'd like to send a thousand coils from one PLC to another. Obviously this cannot be done with one operation per coil in the MODBUS configuration in UniLogic. Are the true MODBUS commands #1, 3, 15, & 16 available?