Flex727

Thanks, Cara!

I hate to resurrect an old post, but it's a new year and the same issues persist. Any plans this year to address any of these?

Thanks, Joe. I did find a user-submitted file titled "V570 Trends SD Example" which has been extremely helpful, especially since I do foresee needing to save the trends to SD.

My latest project requires the "Trends" functionality available on the color vision products. This is a function I haven't used before and I'm trying to pick it up from the Help files. One of the Help topics says: "To learn more about Trends, check Trends - Color Vision.vlp in the Help> Examples", but I do not find that in my version of Visilogic (9.4.0). I also can't find it online at the Unitronics website. Anyone know where to find this? Also, I seem to recall a Webinar about Trends at one point in time, but it doesn't appear to be here anywhere. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I saw that Unitronics was asking for suggestions for webinars - Trends would definitely be a good one.

After years of working with Unitronics Vision PLCs, I'm still at a loss to understand the "Trigger" link that is necessary for the ASCII String Variable. The Help files says: "Display String 'Trigger'. When the linked MB turns ON, the string will be displayed." But the linked MB appears to have absolutely no effect. What does this MB do and how should it be handled in the ladder?

Two suggestions, as this error really can't happen under normal circumstances. 1) Re-check to confirm what the warning is referring to. Visilogic warnings can often be a bit misleading and can sometimes refer to something else and fool you, particularly HMI warnings when there are many elements on the screen. 2) If it turns out that the warning really is for the font on a binary image switch, then you might want to consider re-installing Visilogic. Something is seriously wrong.

Place a MB in the field called "Legal Entry" (near the bottom of the Numeric Entry function). Use a positive transition on that MB to trigger the Data Table function, or other logic you're performing that needs refresh when the MI entry is updated.

Fill the area you want to be transparent with a color not used in the icon or image. Make sure there is a pixel of that color in the upper left corner. When you assign the "Transparent" property to the image, Visilogic will make every pixel of that color transparent.

I've had a similar error when trying to save a project into a folder that's nested too deep. If you're saving to a folder other than C:\Program Files\Unitronics\Unitronics VisiLogic_C\Applications\, then try saving the file there, or elsewhere that doesn't have too many sub-folders.

This makes sense. In my case, almost none of the nets have more than one row, but most of them have 3 Data Table function blocks each. This subroutine creates a viewable log file using data tables. Because of the complexity of the equipment this program is controlling, this subroutine was larger than I normally need. There may be a more efficient way of doing what I'm trying to do using available Vision functionality, but I haven't figured it out yet.

Thank you. I posted here with the assumption that the information would be of general interest. I definitely appreciate your customer support and it's certainly a major reason that I prefer to use and recommend Unitronics whenever I can. Regarding the Timer Power Up check box, you say: "Power Up check box with timers is to state, that on power up the curent value of the timer will be reset", BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS! Whether the box is checked or not, the Timer Preset does not revert to the Power Up value on power cycle or manual RESET. When uploading a program from a laptop vlp file, the Visilogic software will always require the timer presets to be synchronized and will not proceed without changing the preset values in either the laptop or the PLC. However, when uploading a program from an SD card, the upload completely ignores the timer preset, whether from an application (v57 file) or from a clone (c57 file), AND WILL NOT CHANGE THE VALUE IN THE PLC. I consider both of these situations to be flaws. By the way, if it's important, I am using Windows 7 - 64bit, Visilogic 9.4.0, and a Vision 570 OPLC.

Is there some other limit beyond just number of nets? Visilogic is giving me a compile error on one subroutine with 118 nets (including the RET). The error message says "Subroutine ladder data size exceeds limit. Split subroutine to solve problem". It says it is "Type/Num" 55. It's no problem to split the subroutine, just want to know what I'm dealing with here.

I can't seem to find this information anywhere in the Help file. What is the maximum number of ladder rungs (nets) allowed in a subroutine? I am using Visilogic 9.4.0 and V570.

Here is what my testing reveals: 1) It makes no difference whatsoever if the "Power Up" box is checked for Timer Presets. If the Timer Preset is changed from its original value a Reset does not change the Preset and an Initialize returns the Preset to the original value whether the box is checked or not. 2) If the application is downloaded to the SD card, a subsequent upload to the PLC has no effect on Timer Presets no matter whether the Presets were changed or not. Whatever value was in the PLC at the time of the upload remains in the PLC. In other words, if the Timer Presets were messed up, whether inadvertently or otherwise, THEY CANNOT BE FIXED BY AN APPLICATION UPLOAD OR EVEN A CLONE UPLOAD! This caused me some embarrassment at a customer site last week. I expected a Clone to mean a Clone, not Clone everything EXCEPT Timer Presets. 3) If the Operands are downloaded to the SD card, then an Operand Upload WILL CHANGE THE TIMER PRESETS. Is this information helpful to anyone? Is this the behavior I should have expected?

I wonder if someone from Unitronics, or some other knowledgeable person could provide a detailed explanation of how Timer Presets behave. With Timers, there is an extra option besides just "Power Up" value being set or not set. I can enter a Timer Preset in Visilogic without checking the box for the "Power Up" value and that Preset gets transmitted to the PLC during program load. If I subsequently change that Preset, either in Visilogic or in the PLC, then there will be a dialog box requiring me to harmonize them if I do another program download. However, if I load the same program via the SD card I get different behavior. It appears to me that the Timer Preset in the program on the SD card (either .v57 or .c57 file) is ignored when downloaded. I would think, especially when I'm downloading a Clone program, that the resulting PLC would be identical to the PLC that uploaded the file. This is not the case with respect to Timer Presets. What is the behavior I should expect? And is it any different if I have checked the "Power Up" box in the programming?

This is very simple - just use the ASCII String Variable for input and display. It allows input as ASCII text and stores the data in a MI vector (2 charactors per MI).

Thanks also, linxchas. I have used UDP Raw before successfully, but have been hesitant to use it when the PLC is attached to a customer network. MODBUS UDP sounds like it would be useful to me in this situation because of the speed and simplicity. Should I infer that it will coexist harmoniously with a standard TCP/IP intranet as long as I keep the polling rate to about 100ms or so?

Thank you, Damian. That's actually a bit quicker cycle than I thought. I had assumed there was no way to complete the survey of all 15 slaves in less than 2 sec, even using multiple sockets. I also may not have to write to the slaves (not sure yet). I assume if I only need to read a vector of several contiguous MIs from each slave that this will also speed things up?

I have a project that I'm working on where I will need to communicate with about 15 slaves. I will be using a V570 for all 16 PLCs and communication must take place over Ethernet, but protocol is at my discretion. Can someone suggest the best way to accomplish this? It would be nice to complete the survey of all 15 slaves within a second or two, if possible, however, I'm thinking opening and closing sockets, four at a time, may take longer than that with MODBUS IP. I would, though, prefer to use MODBUS IP unless there is a protocol that dramatically improves this communication situation. Thanks for your help.

Take a look at the example project called V280_Ethernet_TCP_MODBUS_IP_Master.vlp, specifially ladder rungs 3-6. Note that you need to set a bit for Read and Write requests and then use a Direct Contact for the R.H.R & P.H.R functions with a Reset of the bit after. Note the inverted contact for Function in Progress in series. What this does is allow the request to remain open until the Function in Progress clears and then the Read or Write will occur.

Thanks, Gabriel, I didn't think of that. I'll check it out.

No, I want the USER to be able to toggle a bit. On the V570, the HMI element "Binary Text" has a checkbox labeled "Toggle" that when checked will toggle the linked bit when the user touches the Binary Text element. I am looking for that kind of functionality on the V130. I recognize that I can place text on the screen that says "Press #1 to toggle X" and "Press #2 to toggle Y", etc, but that is clunky. I was looking for something that would allow a user to "highlight" some element on the HMI screen and press a key to toggle a linked bit, then move to the next element and press the SAME key to toggle that next bit, and so on. I recognize that there would be some underlying code to make all that happen. This all not unlike the regular HMI numeric or string entry elements where the field is highlighted, the user presses "Enter" to make that element ACTIVE, then updates the variable. That's what I want for bits - fields on the screen that the user makes active and then toggles the underlying bit by pressing a key.

I normally work with the V570 PLC, but I have a project I'm working on right now using a V130. A common element in my V570 projects is a bit toggle where the user touches the "Binary Text/Switch" on screen to toggle a bit in the ladder. Is there something equivalent for the V130? I know I can create a keypad entry to enter a "1" or "0" and convert that to a bit, or I can place a message on the screen to press a specific key to toggle the bit, but I will have several of these on screen simultaneously. Ideally, I would like the user to "highlight" some text on the screen and press a key to toggle that text, then cursor over to the next entry and press the same key to toggle that next entry, etc. Is there any way to do this?

Just to keep you occupied until the resident geniuses drop by, take a look at the example projects available under the Help menu. Go to Help/Examples/Project Examples/Communications/Ethernet/Ethernet MODBUS IP for an example each for Master and Slave. The examples are for a v280, but it's the same for all the Vision PLCs.

Initial response: Yay! They're finally working on one! Second look: Oh, that reply was posted almost 2 years ago. I'm really surprised this is turning out to be so difficult.