Flex727

March 13, 2015

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?

March 12, 2015

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.

March 11, 2015

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.

March 11, 2015

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?

March 11, 2015

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?

March 11, 2015

This still doesn't seem to be working right. I took my Bitmap images, converted them to PNG, then used a program called "paint.net" to delete the background color, then saved. After loading into the UniLogic software, the background of the image is white, both on the screen in UniLogic and on the PLC screen. What am I missing? Is there some other setting I need to adjust?

March 5, 2015

Thank you for the terrific response, Cara! What you say makes a lot of sense. Yes, you're right that Vision is a GREAT product and I have been singing its praises for years. I have a better understanding now of what's going on with UniStream. I do think we have some need and application for UniStream with its unique features. I'm going to develop a sample application and let my employer review it. We'll see where that goes. We're all enthusiastic about the capabilities of the UniStream that we'll have available.

March 4, 2015

I've been using the Vision products for many years now and have been looking forward to moving up to UniStream for many of its advanced features. I have just begun that transition and I am already finding some problems that I don't understand.

1) Sluggish response from the HMI screen - on the V570, when you touch a button to move to another screen, the response is instant. Even with a very large and complex program with PLC cycle times of 7-9ms, the screen jumps, button presses, and various animations are instantaneous. With the UniStream, I find the sluggish response to be a very significant issue. It can be a large fraction of a second between a button press and initiation of a screen change. This is particularly bad when I press an ASCII String function to enter text. It can be over a full second before the keyboard pops up. By the way, the Caps Lock on that keyboard does nothing that I can tell.

2) There is a LOT of stuttering when I create a simple animation using a list of images. On the V570, I run a routine with 10 images that I want to execute with about a 100ms delay between each image. It runs very smoothly and looks great. The exact same routine on the UniStream 7 stutters with several of the images being delayed by something unknown. This is with a PLC scan time of about 0.5ms.

3) If I have code with two buttons positioned near each other where I want one button to appear when the other button is pressed and the pressed button to disappear, what actually happens seems to vary dramatically. Sometimes the second button appears before the first one goes away, sometimes after (and it can be a half second or so!), but never at the same time. On the V570, this is undetectable by the eye - one button disappearing while the other appears at the exact same instant - every time.

4) Just as a test I set a Binary Image to be triggered by the 1 second system bit (i.e. it will be image 1 for .5s then image 2 for .5s). It is easily discernible to the naked eye that the images are not cycling at .5s intervals. It varies constantly, and while the average remains a 1 second cycle, each pulse does vary by quite a bit.

My concern is that I'm comparing a V570 with a large and complex program with many HMI screens and lots of code to a UniStream 7 that is barely being taxed with very little code and very few screens - and the UniStream is comparing very unfavorably. What will happen when I have the full program developed? Is this sluggishness and stuttering going to be worse? Before I invest too much time in UniStream, I'd like to understand what the issue is.

By the way, I'm using the latest version of UniLogic and have upgraded the UniStream 7 to the latest firmware. Not that this matters, but I am running a Windows 7-64 bit PC.

March 3, 2015

Thanks, HigHTech. I'm looking for standard pushbuttons like you see in VisiLogic that need to have text on them. I don't really want to edit image files to add text for this purpose. Are you telling me there is no way for a Binary Text Switch to have a 3D button appearance in UniLogic?

March 3, 2015

Got it! Thanks, guys.

February 28, 2015

Are there equivalents in UniLogic to the following VisiLogic System Operands:

SB 36 - INFO Mode

SB300 - Reset PLC

SI 14 - Current PLC Temperature

SI 50 - INFO Delay Time

February 28, 2015

Still a bit new to UniLogic and I'm having some difficulty with a few simple items when building HMI screens. In VisiLogic on the V570, buttons have a very nice 3D effect and can look "pressed" or "unpressed". When using UniLogic on a UniStream 7, buttons look flat always. Am I overlooking something? I recognize there are 4 different button styles, but none of them appear very 3D and there doesn't seem to be an option to make any button appear "pressed".

Also, in VisiLogic, any type of text element, such as Binary Text Switch can be made to look like a button. All Binary Text Switch in UniLogic appear totally flat, as best as I can tell.

I am using the latest version of UniLogic (1.12.20), upgraded the UniStream 7 to the latest firmware, and my PC is 64-bit Windows 7.

February 26, 2015

I'm working on a UniStream project and I've got a simple question. In VisiLogic, an image could have a transparent background by checking the appropriate box in the image properties. When that box was checked every pixel in the image that was the same as the pixel in the upper left corner would assume the color of the background, thus rendering the parts of the image "transparent". I can't find a similar option in UniLogic. In the Help file, there is mention of something identified as "Background Color \ Image" which looks like it might apply, but that property is not present in my version of UniLogic (1.12.20) when I select the image. What am I missing?

February 24, 2015

I am a Unitronics Certified System Integrator with over 8 years of experience with Unitronics controllers. I have expertise in all three major Unitronics PLC software platforms - UniLogic, VisiLogic, and U90. I am available for small and medium projects by contract or can consult by the hour to assist on your project or train your personnel. I am based near Dallas, Texas, but can often help remotely by phone, email, or Skype to reduce or eliminate travel costs.

I'd love to help you meet your project goals. Message me directly through this forum for contact information, or see below:

blanier at arc-controls . com

( 972 ) 979 - 7781

February 24, 2015

I think it might be useful to pin a post at the top of this forum with general situations or attributes to consider when selecting Vision vs UniStream controllers. When might it be better to use Vision over UniStream? What situations or requirements call for using UniStream?

I can think of a few:

-Networking is superior with the UniLogic software, but if you wish to communicate by Ethernet with more than 4 other controllers or external systems, UniStream is FAR better.

-UniStream provides compatibility with VNC apps, which can be important to some customers.

-UniStream uses dynamic memory allocation and addressing. This can be important when developing very large projects.

-UDFBs in UniLogic can save a lot of programming time when there are repetitive situations.

-Vision provides for more choices in HMI screen size.

I think a list like this, with recommendations by the Unitronics staff, would be extremely useful to developers and System Integrators.

February 19, 2015

Yep, works now.

February 18, 2015

Still says "You do not have permission to view this forum."

February 17, 2015

Okay, I got one for you...

There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-one errors.

February 15, 2015

The job board that Eyal mentioned then, now is up and running at http://forum.unitronics.com/index.php?/forum/71-job-board/

I get "You do not have permission to view this forum" when I click on the link.

February 12, 2015

Thank you, Eyal. That's what I needed to know.

February 7, 2015

I have a V1210 in the field that I would like to replace with one of the large screen UniStreams to add certain capability that the UniStream offers. It currently has 4 I/O modules connected, which I DO NOT want to replace. They are: EX-D16A3-RO8 + 3 IO-D16A3-RO16 modules. Is that possible? I realize I will have to rewrite the software for the UniStream PLC, but will it connect to the Vision I/O modules?

January 29, 2015

This is engineering to make engineers proud. Your plan looks great! Keith, I hope you will report back your results.

Also, can you provide some specifics on the hardware for your external watchdog timer?

January 14, 2015

This application is available in the Unitronics' app store. It sounds like it would be extremely useful, but I'd like to know if anyone on this forum has used the product and what the experience has been. Are there issues when the Visilogic software is updated? Is the simulation 100% faithful to an actual PLC? Can I simulate multiple PLCs that are in communication? Are there any significant features lacking?

Thanks.

January 6, 2015

Thanks, Cara. I guess the bottom line is, should the PLC try to automatically re-connect with the SI 103-110 operands set to zero? It appears to me that it did in 9.4.0 and does not with 9.7.24. When I set the operands as Joe suggested, all works well.

Also, should the SI 103-110 operands be retained after power cycle if the Power-Up is not set? It appears they are not retained in 9.7.24.

Of course, this could be some sort of firmware issue, not Visilogic issue. Regardless, this issue is minor and setting the operands SI 103-110 takes care of the problem for me.

January 2, 2015

Thanks, Joe. That worked like a champ!

I notice that the values are zero by default and are not retained after a power cycle. That seems odd to me. I gave them Power Up values of 10 (for 103-106) and 20 (for 107-110). That seems to work fine.

I have never touched those System Integers before so it seems something has changed. I just pulled up an old project that used Visilogic 9.4, loaded up two PLCs, got them connected, and pulled the ethernet cable. When I put the cable back in the PLCs reconnected immediately. I checked the values of SI103-110 and they are all zero. Something has definitely changed between Visilogic 9.4.0 and 9.7.24.

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